The Lotus Sūtra is one of the most important sūtras in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Translated by Kumārajīva in the 5th century, its teachings have inspired many Buddhist scholars such as Chih-i and Saichō from the Tiantai (Tendai) tradition, Dōgen from the Zen tradition and Nichiren the 13th century Kamakura founder and reformer. There is a relative lack of scholarly works that are devoted to an examination of how its philosophical ideas were received and developed throughout history. This book remedies that lack by tracing the origin and development of Lotus Sūtra thought, and interprets the text from the perspective of the doctrine of Buddha-nature in Mahāyāna Buddhism.

Study of Miao fa lian hua jing xuan yi, Chinese commentary on SaddharmapunĐdĐarikasutra by Zhiyi, 538-597, on Tiantai Buddhism.

Peace, culture, and education from a Buddhist perspective.

A work of literary merit which is one of the most important of all Mahayana sutras influenced the development of several major schools of East Asian Buddhism.

"The central idea of the Lotus Sutra is integration, that the teaching of three vehicles is an expedient to enable all to reach enlightenment. The Lotus Sutra can be considered the scripture of a religious movement within Mahayana Buddhism that set out to integrate the religion, thought, and culture of the peoples who lived in northwestern India around the beginning of the common era. This book verifies the historical background, together with the relevant social and cultural factors that encouraged such religious harmony and fostered establishment of the idea of integration. It approaches those phenomena through not only philology but also historical science, archaeology, art history, paleography, epigraphy, and numismatics."--Publisher's website.