Tricycle | Awake in the World

In the third part of the discussion series, "Buddhist History for Buddhist Practitioners," Princeton's Jacqueline Stone discusses the Lotus Sutra: Q: What is the Lotus Sutra about? In it we read how to hear the sutra, how to preach the sutra, who was gathered to hear it preached, what happened before it was preached, why it is so important, how it was preached in the past, what will happen in the future to those who hear it, and so on. It is like an extravagant preamble to an event that never seems to arrive. A: Some scholars of the Lotus Sutra have noted just that point, and I think it is a fair reading. If we just read the sutra, and set aside later interpretations, one thing we see going on is that the sutra is establishing its own authority. For example, at the beginning the Buddha emerges from meditation and begins to preach spontaneously, and not, as is usually the case, in response to a question. More »

At the Tricycle Community we're beginning part 3 of our "Buddhist History for Buddhist Practitioners" series. This time we'll be discussing an interview with Princeton's Jacqueline Stone about the place of the Lotus Sutra in Buddhist history. More »