Wondering about the authenticity of The Lotus Sutra

Freethinker_23

Am I the only one that thinks it's odd that a teaching of the Buddha would remain hidden for 500 years, because the world "wasn't ready" yet? Isn't the only real teaching, that there is no separate self, that misery comes from clinging, and meditation is required to see clearly, already expressed well enough in the Dhammapada? Are these "New" truths needed? Could it have been some monks or one monk in particular that wanted to start his own form of Buddhism or his own religion and so made it all up? Just asking.

bodhipunk

I have heard that the Lotus Sutra was introduced at a time when there was an intense debate between the conservative (e.g. Theravada) and liberal (e.g. Mahayana) schools, as an effort to unite all schools of Buddhism into a single vehicle (ekayana) that was to be followed by all people. This is evident when the Sutra speaks about the triyana, or "three vehicles". These are: 1. people who realize enlightenment by hearing the Buddha's sermons (sravaka), 2. people who realize enlightenment for themselves through their own effort (pratyekabuddha), and 3. the path of the bodhisattva. However, the Lotus Sutra says that these three vehicles actually constitute one vehicle (ekayana) on the path to nirvana.

sukhita

I'm not sure if we can really authenticate any of the suttas and sutras as historical facts. However, all the existing schools (Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana) have the Four Noble Truths and the Eighfold Path as the core teaching; so we can at least take this to be pretty authentic.

thickpaper

Forget authenticity and focus on indubitablity, there is lots of that in the suttras:)

shanyin

very good questions.

One suttra that I read and wondered about the authenticity was the suttra called "The Total Annihilation Of The Dharma".

shanyin

ps I don't have an answer.

Jeffrey

I think people worry a lot about stuff like this intially. You almost have the attitude like "ok whats the real dharma?" "What do I have to do?" "Oh and when does enlightenment start?"

Well guess what you can practice the best dharma you can find (whatever that is) for 20 and 30 years and yes it is benefitial but you will still not be enlightened.

That puts this question in perspective. Read the lotus sutra and see if it helps your practice. If your only understanding of buddhas teachings is "Yes this is the magic pill for happiness" then all teachings fail.

Someone's whole practice could be keeping the 5 precepts and doing the om mani padme hum mantra. Someone's whole practice could be reading the pali canon and living the teachings. Someone's whole practice could be mindfulness meditation.

It is not as if we have to decide: Ok this is IT. With a capital I and T. With the idea that everyone should practice THE teaching that is THE best one and THE one that leads to enlightenment and ALL OTHERS are wastes of time and false.

Cinorjer

The Lotus Sutra is a very early writing, and a brilliant preaching that includes some of the most well known parables in Buddhism to make its point. It's also highly mystical in nature and seems to be an obvious counterpoint to the Theravadans. At the time it was "rediscovered", different Buddhist camps were busy creating Canons of written sutras to support their particular understanding of what Buddha taught.

Whoever wrote it, and whether it was one or several inspired authors, and how much of it contains the spoken words of Buddha, can be debated. We don't have any copies in the original language.

The sutra reflects a belief that Buddhas did not simply die, but are elevated and continue to take an active interest in helping people and are capable of communicating from beyond death, so the writers would have seen no problem "channeling" the Buddha's words from beyond. None of the ancient spiritual scripture writers of any religion have ever had a problem assigning authorship to earlier more famous founders.

Whatever your beliefs, the beauty and wisdom of the writing cannot be denied.

zombiegirl

The Lotus Sutra is a very early writing, and a brilliant preaching that includes some of the most well known parables in Buddhism to make its point. It's also highly mystical in nature and seems to be an obvious counterpoint to the Theravadans. At the time it was "rediscovered", different Buddhist camps were busy creating Canons of written sutras to support their particular understanding of what Buddha taught.

Whoever wrote it, and whether it was one or several inspired authors, and how much of it contains the spoken words of Buddha, can be debated. We don't have any copies in the original language.

The sutra reflects a belief that Buddhas did not simply die, but are elevated and continue to take an active interest in helping people and are capable of communicating from beyond death, so the writers would have seen no problem "channeling" the Buddha's words from beyond. None of the ancient spiritual scripture writers of any religion have ever had a problem assigning authorship to earlier more famous founders.

Whatever your beliefs, the beauty and wisdom of the writing cannot be denied.

i agree with this. the lotus sutra helped deepen my understanding of many things, however, i was first introduced to buddhism via a buddhist sect that believed the lotus sutra was the end all/be all and saw no reason to read any of the other sutras. which is quite strange... because after reading the lotus sutra, i simply felt like i needed to read the others to truly understand, lol. but i do still hold some of it's teachings very close to my heart.