A Brief History of the Lotus Sutra — from the Buddha to Today — and Where You and I Fit In

Lotus Sutra Buddhism is a labor of love that I create for people like you. If it resonates, please share it so others can learn about the Lotus Sutra. And subscribe to get new episodes by email as soon as I drop them. Update, July 11 2026: This episode is the first of a trilogy. The other two are “No Nichiren Buddhist Sect Today Actually Teaches the Lotus Sutra’s Main Point: We Are All Buddhas (https://lotussutrabuddhism.substack.c...) ” and “Nichiren unintentionally shut the door on the Lotus Sutra's core teaching — We Are All Buddhas. Teachers who followed him added new locks (https://lotussutrabuddhism.substack.c...) .” The Lotus Sutra (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ls...) has been around for over 2000 years. Here are key people who shaped how we understand it today, starting with the Buddha himself and ending with me and you. The concepts that I talk about are linked in this post. The Buddha (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/di...) Shakyamuni Buddha (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/di...) held back his highest teaching for most of his life. But in the “Expedient Means (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ls...) ” chapter, Chapter Two, he let it rip. For over 40 years, he had told his voice-hearer disciples (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/di...) and the group right above them, the cause-wakened ones (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/di...) , that they would never attain enlightenment. Then in Chapter Two, he tells his voice-hearer disciple Shariputra that he will (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ls...) . That showed that in theory everyone can do it. Then in the same chapter, the Buddha says that the true aspect of all phenomena (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ls...) consists of the Ten Factors of Life (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/di...) . They are: appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect, and their consistency from beginning to end. Because all things have these same ten factors, they show that every person, every thing, and every place is the true reality, not separate from it. This is Oneness (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/di...) . Therefore, just like Shakyamuni was a Buddha (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/di...) , so are we. Shakyamuni’s prediction about Shariputra and his list of the Ten Factors gives us a lot to think about. But also in “Expedient Means,” he states his main point plain and simple. He says: “At the start, I took a vow (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ls...) , hoping to make all persons equal to me without any distinction between us. And what I long ago hoped for has now been fulfilled.” Did you see what Shakyamuni did here? He says we are equal to him. We are Buddhas (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/di...) right now, full stop. Nichiren quotes this statement in the “Opening of the Eyes (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wn...) ” and “The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wn...) ,” but in my opinion, he totally undersells its power. Later in the “Lifespan of the Thus Come One (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ls...) ” chapter, Chapter 16, the Buddha says, “There is no ebb and flow of birth and death (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ls...) , and there is no existing in this world and later entering extinction.” And in the chapter’s verse section, he says: “I am always here preaching the law (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ls...) . I am always here. But living beings in their befuddlement do not see me even when close by.” If you don’t connect what the Buddha says in the “Expedient Means” chapter to what he says in the “Lifespan” chapter, then the statement “I am always here” turns Shakyamuni, the man who lived in India, into a type of supernatural being, a god. And that’s how most Buddhist schools view him today. Or they view some other Buddhist figure as too high above for ordinary people to ever reach. This would include symbolic figures in sutras, Nichiren, a priest, a teacher, a master, or in the case of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), their now deceased president, Daisaku Ikeda. Nagarjuna (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/di...) After the Buddha’s death, various teachers studied and taught Buddhism. In 2nd-century India, Nagarjuna laid the foundation for what followed in Buddhist thought and study. Nagarjuna taught the concept of emptiness (https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/di...) . He said that nothing has a permanent identity that comes into existence by itself. Everything arises in relation to other things...