Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra: Discrimination of Merit & Virtue; Rejoicing in Accord With Merit & Virtue; The Merit & Virtue of a Dharma Master

by Buddhist Text Translation Society, Bhikshuni Heng Yin, Hsüan Hua

The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra, more commonly known in English as the Lotus Sutra ( Saddharma-pundarika-sutra), is one of the major Buddhist texts of East Asia. It was spoken in the last period of Shakyamuni Buddha s life, proclaiming the ultimate principles of the Dharma, which unites all previous teachings into one. With many parables e.g. those of the burning house, the lost son, and the rain the Buddha teaches that all beings can become fully enlightened and that this achievement, and not that of becoming Shravakas or Pratyekabuddhas, has always been the ultimate intent of his teaching. This Sutra also includes separate chapters on several important bodhisattvas within the Mahayana tradition, such as Avalokiteshvara (Guan Shi Yin) and Samantabhadra (Pu Xian). There are many other translations in English of the Lotus Sutra. The uniqueness of this sixteen volume series is that all twenty-eight chapters include extensive commentary by the late Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua, whose accessible explanations show this ancient text s meaning as instruction for practice on the spiritual path in the modern world. The English translation of this Sutra and the commentary of Master Hua was done by the Buddhist Text Translation Society (BTTS). The translation process of the Society is modeled after the translation assemblies of earlier times and publishes work only after it has passed through four committees for primary translation, revision, editing, and certification. The leaders of these committees are bhikshus (monks) and bhikshunis (nuns) who have devoted their lives to the study and practice of the Buddha s teachings. For that reason, works published by the Society emphasize the practical applications of the Buddha s teachings. Other books in the series include
Vol 1 Introduction by Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua, 0-88139-433-5 (2001, 2nd edition).
Vol. 2 Ch 1: Introduction, ISBN 0-917512-22-7 (1977).
Vol. 3 - Ch 2: Expedient Devices, ISBN 0-917512-26-X (1979).
Vol. 4 - Ch 3: A Parable, ISBN 0-917512-62-6 (1979).
Vol. 5 Ch 4: Belief and Understanding, ISBN 0-917512-64-2 (1980).
Vol. 6 Ch 5: Medicinal Herbs, Ch 6: Conferring Predictions, ISBN 0-917512-65-0 (1980).
Vol. 7 Ch 7: The Analogy of the Transformation City, ISBN 0-917512-67-7 (1980).
Vol. 8 Ch 8: Five Hundred Disciples Receive Predictions, Ch 9: Bestowing Predictions, ISBN 0-917512-71-5 (1980).
Vol. 9 Ch 10:Masters of the Dharma, Ch 11: Vision of the Jeweled Stupa, ISBN 0-917512-85-5 (1981).
Vol. 10 Ch 12: Devedatta, Ch 13:Exhortation to Maintain, ISBN 0-917512-34-0 (1982).
Vol 11 Ch 14 Happily Dwelling Conduct, 978-0-88139-443-2.
Vol 12 Ch 15 Welling Forth from the Earth, Ch 16 Thus Come One s Life Span, 978-0-88139-444-3.
Vol 13 Ch 17: Discrimination of Merit and Virtue, Ch 18: Rejoicing in Accord with Merit and Virtue, Ch 19 The Merit and Virtue of a Dharma Master, ISBN 978-0-88139-445-0.
Vol 14 Ch 20 Never-Slighting Bodhisattva, Ch 21 The Spiritual Powers of the Thus Come One, Ch 22 The Entrustment, Ch 23 Medicine King Bodhisattva, Ch 24 Bodhisattva Wondrous Sound, ISBN 978-0-88139-446-7.
Vol 15- Ch 25 Guanshiyin Bodhisattva, ISBN 978-0-88139-447-4.
Vol 16- Ch 26 Dharani, Ch 27 King Wonderful Adorment, Ch 28 Universal Worthy Bodhisattva, ISBN 978-0-88139-448-1. Chinese Miao Fa Lian Hua Jing, 0-88139-429-7, text only with pinyin for chanting.
Miaofa Lianhua Jing 978-986732-839-7, 10 volumes Chinese text with explanation

252 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1998

Reviews

[W M]

Found the answer to the doubts that puzzling me all this while in this Sutra. The roadmap to the ultimate destination (Home) is described here.

While this home journey may be long, the scenes and conditions anticipated along this journey are described and the applications to overcome these conditions using the right tools and methods contained within the Sutra.

This book incorporated both the Sutra in English and Chinese, with dual languages contained within the same book, coupled with precise reference guide on the margin of the page, it makes the cross referencing easy and fast by flipping the pages between English and Chinese texts. I find this dual-language structure unique and enabled the readers to better grasps the meaning/principle underlying in the message intended by cross referencing. In fact, one gets to learn three languages, besides English and Chinese, one gets to learn some Sanskrit words too, where Sanskrit is referred and romanised throughout to book. Apart from learning languages, one could learn some skills to do translation too.

Will read this Sutra text over again, as I believe this Sutra text will guide the reader to stay in the right path at the right pace for this long journey.

[Jasmine Tang]

Merit is generated from doing good deeds. Virtue is the happiness gained from that merit. "If you only study and don't cultivate, it's like talking about food or counting other people's money. You can talk about food, but if you don't eat any, you won't get full."