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Publication Ceremony of the Sunskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts fromCambridge University Library (Add. 1682 and Add. 1683),
Facsimile Edition

Message

Daisaku Ikeda

A

LLOW me to extend my warmest greetings and felicitations on theholding of this lecture presentation, which commemorates the publication of the facsimile edition of the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts
from Cambridge University Library (Add. 1682 and Add. 1683), an
800-year institution standing at the pinnacle of human knowledge andlearning.
It is indeed a great joy and honour to know that this lecture is being
held here, at this Library so steeped in history and verdure. I wish to
express my heartfelt gratitude to every member of its administration for
graciously providing the presentation’s venue, and to the individuals
whose generous support led to its holding today.
I have the fondest memories of my visit to the University of Cambridge in 1972, when I was welcomed by Dr. Michael Loewe, Dean of
the Faculty of Oriental Studies, and had the privilege of speaking with
him there. We later shared dinner at the nearby University Arms Hotel,
where we exchanged views on the illustrious Cambridge tradition, theideals of higher education, the relationship of religion and education,and learning in general.
On my second visit to the United Kingdom in 1991, I met with Sir
Fred Hoyle, astronomer and Honorary Fellow of St. John’s College,Cambridge, and Dr. Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe, professor at theUniversity of Wales, Cardiff. Their insight into the mysteries of life andthe cosmos remain equally memorable and inspiring.
Preserved in the Cambridge University Library collection and madeavailable to the public are a number of the world’s most valued writings,including many Sanskrit texts found in Nepal in the 1870s by Daniel
Wright, and later by Cecil Bendall. The texts reproduced in SanskritLotus Sutra Manuscripts from Cambridge University Library (Add.
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1682 and Add. 1683) are among the oldest of the Nepalese-Tibetan
manuscripts in the Library’s collection and are of vital importance for
textual studies of the Lotus Sutra.
I wish to thank Librarian P. K. Fox, Deputy Librarian D. J. Hall andothers associated with the University Library, for without the tirelessand timely contributions they provided over the course of its publication, this facsimile edition would have never seen the light of day. I also
wish to acknowledge the Library’s Photography Department, for its outstanding work in producing the splendid colour photographs of the manuscripts, and to express my appreciation to everyone involved in making
this project such a success.
Soka Gakkai International undertook the effort to make available thefacsimile editions and romanized versions of Lotus Sutra manuscripts in
the hope that these would serve the needs of scholars of Buddhism
throughout the world. Since 1997, five volumes of four manuscripts
have been published. The first in the series was Sanskrit Lotus Sutra
Fragments from the Lüshun Museum Collection, Facsimile Edition andRomanized Text, with the second being Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscriptfrom the National Archives of Nepal (No. 4–21), Facsimile Edition andRomanized Text 1. This was followed by Fragments of a Manuscript ofthe Saddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra from Khådaliq, with Sanskrit Lotus Sutra
Manuscripts from Cambridge University Library (Add. 1682 and Add.
1683), Facsimile Edition representing the fourth in the series.
The facsimile edition of the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra manuscripts fromthe collection of Cambridge University Library will without question
lend further confidence in and utility to the academic value of our Lotus
Sutra Manuscript Series.
The fifth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, known as the “The Parables ofthe Medicinal Herbs,” includes the apologue, “Three kinds of medicinal
herbs and two kinds of trees.” In it, the Buddha describes the various
plants, trees and medicinal herbs of the world, each unique in name,shape and characteristic. The sky then darkens as dense clouds blanketthe world, and a downpour ensues. It nourishes the vegetation, falling on
every plant and tree equally. Yet each takes in the rain from the heavens
in its own way, according to its nature and variety.
The Sutra reads, “Though all these plants and trees grow in the same
earth and are moistened by the same rain, each has its differences andparticulars.”
By embracing the impartial blessings of the earth and rain, the trees
and plants are able to flourish, allowing their unique qualities and individuality to bloom. The blessings signify the impartial teachings andJ/Orient/03 03.10.10 10:55 AM ページ 121

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Law of the Buddha; the flora, the diversity of living beings. This biodiversity is also synonymous with the racial and cultural diversity ofhumankind, blessed by the immutable benevolence of a life-sustaining
cosmos, the endowments of nature upon which the survival of ourspecies depends.
The parable thus depicts a central ideal and lesson of the Lotus
Sutra—the need to build a “culture of peace” in which all civilizations
and peoples may live and flourish in harmony.
The Lotus Sutra has been described as “the king of sutras.” As withthe life-sustaining rain in the Medicinal Herbs Chapter, the sutra has
nurtured in the lives of millions in Asia the spirit of co-existence—with
nature, among cultures and peoples—and served over the millennia tobring about a flowering of diverse cultures in the region.
Modern civilization is founded on scientific and technologicalprogress and the ramifications of its market economy, vast communications networks and materialistic values continue to impact every culture,people and religion on this planet. Although it has its merits, the greattide of globalism exacts sacrifices as well. It corrupts time-honoured values and enforces conformity. It aggravates the disparity between the richand poor.
Among the most prominent perils of globalism is its proclivity todilute and reverse the wisdom for community that human beings haverefined over the ages, from our capacity to co-exist with nature to ourinclination to live in peace alongside those of diverse origins and religious beliefs. At its worst, globalism undermines the very foundationsof cultures and our respective ways of life.
I have long believed that the Lotus Sutra encapsulates the quintessential insight of the East, and that its message of harmonious co-existence
is both timeless and universal. It is my abiding hope that this lecture andthe Cambridge manuscripts will serve as an opportunity to broaden theunderstanding of the Lotus Sutra, especially in this age wracked by division and strife in which we live.
Allow me to close my words of appreciation with a passage from thepoem, “Rainbow,” composed by the celebrated nature poet from Cambridge, William Wordsworth, whom I have admired since the days ofmy youth:
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began,
So is it now I am a man,

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So be it when I shall grow old
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man:And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

Thank you very much.
29 March, 2003