The Seba library treats Lotus Sutra in 9 passages, across 6 authors (including Hakuin Ekaku, Dōgen, Eihei, Pargament, Kenneth I).
Does a person who practices the teachings of the Lotus Sutra feel the heat of a burning fire? ‘A true practicer,’ replies Nisshin, ‘can enter a raging fire without being harmed.’
Hakuin’s autobiographical account presents the Lotus Sutra as the scriptural ground for a heroic psychology of invulnerability, dramatized through the Nisshin puppet-play that first ignited his religious vocation.
, Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, 1999thesis
In the Tendai school, the teachings taught before the Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra were considered to be temporary expedients, while those in the Lotus Sutra were believed to be his real teachings.
The passage establishes the Lotus Sutra’s doctrinal supremacy within the Tendai classification system that formed Dōgen’s intellectual environment, distinguishing provisional from ultimate Buddhist teaching.
, Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki, 1234thesis
This relates to a passage in the third chapter of the Lotus Sutra: Now, this threefold world Is all
Dōgen’s scholastic annotations in the Zuimonki directly cite the third chapter of the Lotus Sutra to illuminate the nature of the threefold world, anchoring Zen commentary in Mahāyāna scriptural authority.
, Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki, 1234supporting
The sutra itself ‘Nam myoho renge kyo’ (‘Adoration to the Lotus of the Wonderful Law’), has little meaning to Americans or Japanese. But potential converts are steered away from attempts to understand the sect’s beliefs.
Pargament analyzes Nichiren Shoshu’s chanting of the Lotus Sutra’s title as a behavioral coping mechanism whose efficacy operates independently of doctrinal comprehension, framing it within self-perception theory.
, The psychology of religion and coping theory, research,, 2001thesis
Reeves, Gene, trans. The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2008.
The bibliographic citation of Gene Reeves’s translation signals the Lotus Sutra’s textual presence as a primary reference within the scholarly apparatus surrounding Dōgen studies.
, Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki, 1234supporting
For commentaries on the Lotus Sutra, see Thich Nhat Hanh, Peaceful Action, Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra.
Thich Nhat Hanh positions the Lotus Sutra as a source for engaged-Buddhist practice, cross-referencing it within a broader argument about interbeing and conscious action.
, The Sun My Heart, 1988supporting
FROM THE Buddhist Lotus Sutra IN the deep bamboo forest I sit alone. Loudly I sing and tune my lute.
Harvey and Baring cite the Lotus Sutra as devotional source for Kuan Yin’s compassionate power, situating the text within the Divine Feminine’s iconographic and poetic tradition.
, The Divine Feminine: Exploring the Feminine Face of God Throughout the World, 1996supporting
Lotus Sutra ref1
David Brazier’s index entry for the Lotus Sutra indicates its presence as a referenced concept within Zen Therapy, though without extended discursive treatment in this passage.
, Zen Therapy: Transcending the Sorrows of the Human Mind, 1995aside
‘Dharma Flowers Turn the Dharma Flower,’ 338
The index reference to the Shōbōgenzō fascicle ‘Dharma Flowers Turn the Dharma Flower’ signals Dōgen’s own engagement with Lotus Sutra themes as a distinct locus within his broader doctrinal corpus.
, Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki, 1234aside