The Lotus Sutra: An Introduction

A beginner’s look into a key teaching of Mahayana Buddhism

The “Lotus” Sutra is just what people who speak English have learned to call this teaching. Another interpretation could be the “Dharma Flower” or “Dharma Flowering” sutra.

Dharma means truth or cosmic law. So the Lotus Sutra is trying to explain something about how the universe on some deep level is like a lotus flower.

We’re going to explore that metaphor more, soon.

Everyone Can Become A Buddha

Originally, traditional Buddhism saw a distinction between lay-people and “real” Buddhists. Lay-people could benefit from the teachings, but it was thought that to become truly enlightened, one must be separated from regular life to become a monk, and those that didn’t merely had to hope that in their next life they would have a better opportunity for that.

Mahayana Buddhism is an outgrowth (hint) of that philosophy. In the Lotus Sutra, it is taught that everyone, regardless of gender, wealth, occupation, or any other particular identity and constraint, has “Buddha-nature” within them.

That means that everyone is capable of becoming a Buddha. Everyone has in them, right now, the ability to transform themselves from whatever they…