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Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Lotus Sutra

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Sutra

The Lotus Sūtra (Sanskrit: Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtram, Sūtra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, Chinese: 妙法蓮華經) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. It is the main scripture on which the Tiantai, Tendai, Cheontae, and Nichiren schools of Buddhism were established. It is also influential for other East Asian Buddhist schools, such as Zen. According to the British Buddhologist Paul Williams, "For many Buddhists in East Asia since early times, the Lotus Sūtra contains the final teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha—complete and sufficient for salvation." The American Buddhologist Donald S. Lopez Jr. writes that the Lotus Sūtra "is arguably the most famous of all Buddhist texts," presenting "a radical re-vision of both the Buddhist path and of the person of the Buddha."

Two central teachings of the Lotus Sūtra have been very influential for Mahāyāna Buddhism. The first is the doctrine of the One Vehicle, which says that all Buddhist paths and practices lead to Buddhahood and so they are all merely “skillful means" of reaching Buddhahood. The second is the idea that the lifespan of the Buddha is immeasurable and that therefore, he did not really pass on into final Nirvana (he only appeared to do so as upāya), but is still active teaching the Dharma.

Title

The earliest known Sanskrit title for the sūtra is the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, which can be translated as "the Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma" or "The Discourse on the White Lotus of the True Doctrine." In English, the shortened form Lotus Sūtra is more common.

Translations of this title into Asian languages include the following:

Chinese: 妙法蓮華經; pinyin: Miàofǎ Liánhuá jīng. This is the title of Kumarajiva's Chinese translation. The characters mean:

妙

miào

subtle

法

fǎ

dharma

蓮

lián

lotus

華

huá

exalted

經

jīng

sutra

- Shortened title: Chinese: 法華經; pinyin: Fǎhuá jīng ("Dharma Exalted Sutra")
- The title of Dharmaraksha's Chinese translation is Chinese: 正法華經; pinyin: Zhèngfǎ huá jīng ("True Dharma Exalted Sutra")
Japanese: 妙法蓮華経, romanized: Myōhō Renge Kyō (short: Hoke-kyō)
Korean: 묘법연화경/妙法蓮華經; RR: Myobeop Yeonhwa gyeong (short: 법화경; Beophwa gyeong).
Tibetan: དམ་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོའི་མདོ, Wylie: dam chos padma dkar po'i mdo, THL: Damchö Pema Karpo'i do.
Vietnamese: Diệu pháp Liên hoa kinh (short: Pháp hoa kinh).
Tangut (romanized): Thyo tsye fa se ldwi rye

According to Donald S. Lopez Jr., the puṇḍarīka (the white lotus) is "a symbol of particular purity in Indian literature," while the term "saddharma" ("true doctrine") is "used to distinguish the Lotus Sūtra from all other previous teachings of the Buddha." The lotus flower imagery is also said to point to the earthly connection of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The lotus is rooted in the earthly mud and yet flowers above the water in the open air, just like the bodhisattva lives in the world but remains unstained by it.

The Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) regarded the title as the summary of the Lotus Sūtra's teachings. The chanting of the title is the basic religious practice he advocated during his lifetime.

Main themes

One Vehicle, Many Skillful Means

The Lotus Sūtra is known for its extensive instruction on skillful means (Sanskrit: upāyakauśalya or upāya, Ch.: fangbian, Jp.: hōben), which refers to how Buddhas teach in many ways adapted to the needs of their disciples. This concept of Buddhist pedagogical strategies is often explained through parables or allegories. In the Lotus, the many 'skillful' or 'expedient' practices and teachings taught by the Buddha (including the "three vehicles" to awakening) are revealed to all be part of the "One Vehicle" (Skt.: ekayāna, Ch.:一乘; yīchéng), the supreme and all encompassing path that leads to Buddhahood. Moreover, this single vehicle is none other than the myriad skillful means which are its expressions and modes. As the Buddha says in the sutra "seek as you will in all ten directions, there is no other vehicle, apart from the upāyas of the buddhas."

The One Vehicle is associated with the Mahāyāna ("Great Vehicle"), which is a path that rejects the cutting off of rebirth (the individual nirvana or "extinction" of the Buddhist saint) and seeks to heroically remain in the world of suffering to help others attain awakening, all while working towards complete Buddhahood. In the Lotus Sūtra, the One Vehicle encompasses many different and seemingly contradictory teachings because the Buddha's great compassion and wish to save all beings (bodhicitta) led him to adapt the teaching to suit many different kinds of people and contexts. As the Buddha states in the Lotus Sūtra: "Ever since I became a buddha, I have used a variety of causal explanations and a variety of parables to teach and preach, and countless skillful means to lead living beings."

The Lotus Sūtra declares also all other teachings are subservient to, propagated by and in the service of the ultimate truth of the "One Buddha–Vehicle", a goal that is available to all. This can and has been interpreted by some figures in an exclusive and hierarchical sense, as meaning that all other Buddhist teachings are to be dispensed with. However, Reeves and other interpreters understand the one vehicle in a more pluralist and inclusive sense which embraces and reconciles all Buddhist teachings and practices. Some have even applied this universalism to non-Buddhist teachings.

Reeves also notes that the theme of unity and difference also includes other ideas besides the one vehicle. According to Reeves "on more than one occasion, for example, the many worlds of the universe are brought together into a unity." Similarly, though there are said to be many Buddhas, they are all closely connected with Shakyamuni and they all teach the same thing.

All beings have the potential to become Buddhas

The dragon king's daughter offers her priceless pearl to the Buddha. The narrative of her instantaneous attainment of Buddhahood was understood as a promise of the enlightenment of women. Frontispiece of a 12th century Lotus Sutra handscroll.

Another important teaching of the Lotus Sūtra is that all beings can become Buddhas. The sutra sees the awakening of a Buddha as the only and ultimate goal and it boldly claims that "of any who hear the dharma, none shall fail to achieve buddhahood". Numerous figures in the sutra receive predictions of future Buddhahood, including the ultimate Buddhist villain Devadatta. In chapter 10, the Buddha points out that all sorts of people will become Buddhas, including monks, nuns, laypeople, along with numerous non-human beings like nagas. Even those, who practice only simple forms of devotion, such as paying respect to the Buddha, or drawing a picture of the Buddha, are assured of their future Buddhahood.

According to Gene Reeves, this teaching also encourages this potential for Buddhahood in all beings, even in enemies as well as "to realize our own capacity to be a buddha for someone else." According to Reeves, the story of the little Dragon Girl promotes the idea that women can also become Buddhas just like monks. Reeves sees this as an inclusive message which "affirms the equality of everyone and seeks to provide an understanding of Buddha-dharma that excludes no one."

Although the term buddha-nature (buddhadhatu) is not mentioned in the Lotus Sūtra, Japanese scholars Hajime Nakamura and Akira Hirakawa suggest that the concept is implicitly present in the text. An Indian commentary (attributed to Vasubandhu), interprets the Lotus Sūtra as a teaching of buddha-nature and later East Asian commentaries tended to adopt this view. Chinese commentators pointed to the story of Bodhisattva Never Disparaging in chapter 20 as evidence that the Lotus taught buddha-nature implicitly.

The nature of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

Another key concept introduced by the Lotus Sūtra is the idea that the Buddha's lifespan is immeasurable and that he is still present in the world. The text states that the Buddha actually achieved Buddhahood innumerable eons ago, but remains in the world to help teach beings the Dharma time and again. The lifespan of the Buddha is said to be incalculable, beyond imagination, "ever enduring, never perishing." The biography and apparent death (paranirvana, "final nirvana") of Sakyamuni Buddha (i.e. the Buddha Gautama) are portrayed as an illusory manifestation, a skillful means meant to teach others.

The idea that the physical death of a Buddha is the termination of their life is graphically refuted by the appearance of another Buddha, Prabhūtaratna, who has taught the Lotus countless aeons ago. The Lotus Sūtra indicates that not only can multiple Buddhas exist in the same time and place (which contrasts with earlier Indian views), but that there are countless streams of Buddhas extending throughout all of space and through unquantifiable eons of time. The Lotus Sūtra illustrates a sense of timelessness and the inconceivable, often using large numbers and measurements of space and time.

Jacqueline Stone writes that the Lotus Sūtra affirms the view that the Buddha constantly abides in our present world. As the Lotus states in chapter 16, the Buddha remains "constantly dwelling in this Sahā world sphere, preaching the dharma, teaching and converting." According to Stone, the sūtra has also been interpreted as promoting the idea that the Buddha's realm (buddhakṣetra) "is in some sense immanent in the present world, although radically different from our ordinary experience of being free from decay, danger and suffering." In this view, which is very influential in Tiantai and Japanese Buddhism, "this world and the pure land are not, ultimately, separate places but are in fact non dual."

According to Gene Reeves, the Lotus Sūtra also teaches that the Buddha has many embodiments and these are the countless bodhisattva disciples. These bodhisattvas choose to remain in the world to save all beings and to keep the teaching alive. For Reeves "the fantastically long life of the Buddha, in other words, is at least partly a function of and dependent on his being embodied in others."

Overview

The sutra is presented in the form of a drama consisting of several mythological scenes. According to British writer Sangharakshita, the Lotus uses the entire cosmos for its stage, employs a multitude of mythological beings as actors and "speaks almost exclusively in the language of images."

According to Gene Reeves the first part of the sutra "elucidates a unifying truth of the universe (the One Vehicle of the Wonderful Dharma)", the second part "sheds light on the everlasting personal life of the Buddha (Everlasting Original Buddha); and the third part emphasizes the actual activities of human beings (the bodhisattva way)."

The following chapter by chapter overview is based on the expanded Chinese version of Kumārajīva, the most widely translated version into other languages. Other versions have different chapter divisions.

Chapter 1

During a gathering at Vulture Peak, Shakyamuni Buddha goes into a state of deep meditative absorption (samadhi), the earth shakes in six ways, and he brings forth a ray of light from the tuft of hair in between his eyebrows (ūrṇākośa) which illuminates thousands of buddha-fields in the east. Maitreya wonders what this means, and the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī states that he has seen this miracle long ago when he was a student of the Buddha Candrasūryapradīpa. He then says that the Buddha is about to expound his ultimate teaching, The White Lotus of the Good Dharma. In fact, Mañjuśrī says this sutra was taught by other Buddhas innumerable times in the past.

Chapters 2–9

Modern scholars suggest that chapters 2–9 contain the original form of the text. In Chapter 2 the Buddha declares that there ultimately exists only one path, one vehicle, the Buddha vehicle (buddhayāna). This concept is set forth in detail in chapters 3–9, using parables, narratives of previous existences and prophecies of awakening.

Chapter 2: Skillful Means

A depiction of a hell realm from the “Jigoku-zōshi”, a 12th-century scroll from the Heian period. Tokyo National Museum.

Shakyamuni explains his use of skillful means to adapt his teachings according to the capacities of his audience. He also says that his ways are inconceivable. Śāriputra asks the Buddha to explain this and five thousand monks leave because they do not want to hear this teaching. The Buddha then reveals that the three vehicles (yānas) are really just skillful means, and that they are in reality the One Vehicle (ekayāna). He says that the ultimate purpose of the Buddhas is to cause sentient beings "to obtain the insight of the Buddha" and "to enter the way into the insight of the Buddha."

The Buddha also states the various benefits for those who preserve the sutra, and that those who perform even the simplest forms of devotion will eventually reach Buddhahood. The Buddha also states that those who reject and insult the Lotus Sūtra (and those who teach it) will be reborn in hell.

Chapter 3: The Parable of the Burning House

The Buddha prophecies that in a future eon (kalpa) Śāriputra will become a Buddha called Padmaprabha. Śāriputra is happy to have heard this new teaching, but says that some in the assembly are confused. The Buddha responds with the parable of the burning house, in which a father (symbolizing the Buddha) uses the promise of various toy carts to get his children (sentient beings) out of a burning house (symbolizing samsara). Once they are outside, he gives them all one large cart to travel in instead. This symbolizes how the Buddha uses the three vehicles, as skillful means to liberate all beings – even though there is only one single vehicle to Buddhahood, i.e. the Mahāyāna. The sutra emphasizes that this is not a lie, but a compassionate salvific act.

Chapter 4: Belief and Understanding

Four senior disciples including Mahākāśyapa address the Buddha. They tell the parable of the poor son and his rich father (sometimes called the "prodigal son" parable). This man left home and became a beggar for 50 years while his father became incredibly rich. One day the son arrives at the father's estate, but the son does not recognize his father and is afraid of such a powerful man. The father therefore sends low class people to offer him a menial job cleaning trash. For over 20 years, the father gradually leads his son to more important and better jobs, such as being the accountant for all the father's wealth. Then one day he announces his identity and the son is overjoyed. The senior disciples say that they are like the son, because initially they did not have the confidence to accept full Buddhahood, but today they are happy to accept their future Buddhahood.

Chapter 5: The Parable of Medicinal Herbs

This parable says that the Dharma is like a great monsoon rain that nourishes many different kinds of plants in accordance with their needs. The plants represent Śrāvakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas, and all beings which receive and respond to the teachings according to their respective capacities. Some versions of the sutra also contain other parables, such as one which compares the Dharma to the light of the Sun and moon, which shine equally on all. Just like that, the Buddha's wisdom shines on everyone equally. Another parable found in some versions says that just like a potter makes different types of pots from the same clay, the Buddha teaches the same One Vehicle in different forms.

Chapter 6: Bestowal of Prophecy

The Buddha prophesies the future Buddhahood of Mahākāśyapa, Mahāmaudgalyāyana, Subhūti, and Mahākātyāyana.

Chapter 7: A Past Buddha and the Illusory City

The Buddha tells a story about a past Buddha called Mahābhijñājñānābhibhū, who reached awakening after aeons under the Bodhi tree and then taught the four noble truths and dependent origination. At the request of his sixteen sons, he then taught the Lotus Sūtra for a hundred thousand eons. His sons proceeded to teach the sutra. The Buddha then says that these sons all became Buddhas and that he is one of these.

The Buddha also teaches a parable about a group of people seeking a great treasure who are tired of their journey and wish to quit. Their guide creates a magical illusory city for them to rest in and then makes it disappear. The Buddha explains that the magic city represents the "Hinayana Nirvana", created merely as a rest stop by the Buddha, and the real treasure and ultimate goal is Buddhahood.

Chapter 8: Prophecy for Five Hundred Disciples

Pūrṇa Maitrāyaṇīputra is declared by the Buddha to be the supreme teacher in his saṅgha and is given a prediction of future Buddhahood (his name will be Dharmaprabhāsa). The Buddha then gives prophecies of future Buddhahood to twelve hundred arhats. The five hundred arhats who had walked out before confess that they were ignorant in the past and attached to the inferior nirvana but now they are overjoyed since they have faith in their future Buddhahood.

The arhats tell the parable of a man who has fallen asleep after drinking and whose friend sews a jewel into his garment. When he wakes up he continues a life of poverty without realizing he is really rich, he only discovers the jewel after meeting his old friend again. The hidden jewel has been interpreted as a symbol of Buddha-nature. Zimmermann noted the similarity with the nine parables in the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra that illustrate how the indwelling Buddha in sentient beings is hidden by negative mental states.

Chapter 9: Prophecies for the Learners and Adepts

Ānanda, Rāhula, and two thousand bhikṣus aspire to get a prophecy, and the Buddha predicts their future Buddhahood.

Chapters 10–22

Chapters ten to twenty two expound the role of the bodhisattva and the concept of the immeasurable and inconceivable lifespan and omnipresence of the Buddha. The theme of propagating the Lotus Sūtra which starts in chapter 10, continues in the remaining chapters.

Chapter 10: The Dharma teachers

The Buddha states that whoever hears even just one line from the sūtra will attain Buddhahood. This chapter presents the practices of teaching the sutra which includes accepting, embracing, reading, reciting, copying, explaining, propagating it, and living in accordance with its teachings. The teachers of the Dharma (dharmabhāṇaka) are praised as the messengers of the Buddha. The Buddha states that they should be honored as if they were Buddhas and that stupas should be built wherever the sutra is taught, recited or written. Someone who does not know the Lotus is like digging a well and finding only dry earth, while a bodhisattva that knows the Lotus is like striking water. The Buddha also says that he will send emanations to protect the teachers of the sutra.

Chapter 11: The Emergence of the Jeweled Stupa

A massive jeweled stupa (a stylized Buddhist reliquary burial mound) rises from the earth and floats in the air. Then a voice is heard from within praising the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha states that another Buddha resides in the stupa, Prabhūtaratna, who attained awakening through the Lotus Sūtra and made a vow to make an appearance to verify the truth of the Lotus Sūtra whenever it is preached.

Countless manifestations of Shakyamuni Buddha in the ten directions are now summoned by the Buddha into this world, transforming it into a Pure Land. The Buddha then opens the stupa. Thereafter Prabhūtaratna invites Shakyamuni to sit beside him in the jeweled stupa. This chapter reveals the existence of multiple Buddhas at the same time as well as the idea that Buddhas can live on for countless aeons. According to Donald Lopez "among the doctrinal revelations that this scene intimates is that a buddha does not die after he passes into nirvāna."

Chapter 12: Devadatta

The Buddha tells a story about how in a previous life he was a king who became the slave of a rishi just so he could hear the Lotus Sūtra. This rishi was none other than Devadatta, who is destined for Buddhahood in the future as the Buddha Devarāja.

In another story, Mañjuśrī praises the nāga king Sāgara’s daughter and says she can attain Buddhahood. The bodhisattva Prajñākūṭa is skeptical of this, and then the nāga princess appears. Śāriputra says that women cannot attain Buddhahood. The nāga princess makes an offering to the Buddha of a precious jewel and then says she can reach Buddhahood faster than she made that offering. She then turns into a male bodhisattva and becomes a Buddha. Through these stories, the Buddha teaches that everyone can become enlightened – men, women, animals, and even the most sinful murderers.

Chapter 13: Encouraging Devotion

The Buddha encourages all beings to embrace the teachings of the sutra in all times, even in the most difficult ages to come. The bodhisattvas Bhaiṣajyarāja, Mahāpratibhāna and two hundred thousand others promise to teach the sutra in the future. The Buddha prophecies that the six thousand nuns who are also present, including Mahāprajāpatī and Yaśodharā, will all become Buddhas.

Chapter 14: Peaceful Practices

Mañjuśrī asks how a bodhisattva should spread the teaching. The Buddha explains the four qualities they should cultivate to teach the sutra. First, they should be self-controlled and correctly see the characteristics of phenomena and they should stay apart from worldly life. Secondly, they should see the emptiness of phenomena. Thirdly, they should be happy and never criticize and discourage people from enlightenment. Finally, they should have compassion for people and wish to attain Buddhahood so they may help liberate others. Virtues such as patience, gentleness, a calm mind, wisdom and compassion are to be cultivated.

Chapter 15: Emerging from the Earth

The bodhisattvas from other world systems say they will help the Buddha teach this sutra here, but the Buddha says their help is not needed—he has many bodhisattvas here. Then the ground splits open and countless bodhisattvas spring up from the earth (lead by Viśiṣṭacāritra, Anantacāritra, Viśuddhacāritra, and Supratiṣṭhitacāritra‍), ready to teach. Maitreya asks who these bodhisattvas are since nobody has heard of them before. The Buddha affirms that he has taught all of these bodhisattvas himself in the remote past after attaining Buddhahood. Maitreya then asks how this is possible, since these bodhisattvas have been training for aeons.

Chapter 16: The Life Span of Tathagatha

The Buddha (Tathagatha) states that he actually attained Buddhahood countless quintillions of eons ago. He has only appeared to become awakened recently as a skillful means to teach others. The Buddha also says that he only appears to pass into final nirvāṇa, but actually he does not really do so. This is just a expedient teaching so that beings will not become complacent. The Buddha then teaches the Parable of the Excellent Doctor who entices his poisoned sons into taking an antidote by feigning his death. After they hear this they are shocked and take the medicine. The doctor then reveals he is still alive. Because the Buddha uses skillful means in this way, he should not be seen as a liar, but as an intelligent teacher.

Chapter 17: Merit

The Buddha explains the merit (punya) or benefits that come from listening to and believing in this teaching on the Buddha's lifespan. He says that this teaching has led countless bodhisattvas, as many as the sands of the Ganges, to various levels of spiritual accomplishment. He also says that there is greater benefit in hearing and believing the Lotus Sūtra than practicing the first five perfections for eons. The Buddha states that those who have faith in this teaching will see this world as a pure land filled with bodhisattvas. Those who have faith in the sutra have already made offerings to past Buddhas and they do not need to build stupas or temples. These beings will developed excellent qualities and attain Buddhahood. This chapter also says that Caityas should be built to honor the Buddha.

Chapter 18: Rejoicing

The Buddha states that the merit generated from rejoicing in this sutra (or in even just a single line from it) is far greater than bringing thousands of beings to arhathood. The merits of listening to the sutra, for even a moment, are extensively praised in this chapter.

Chapter 19: Benefits of the Teacher of the Law

The Buddha praises the merits of those who are devoted to the Lotus Sūtra. He states that their six sense bases (ayatanas) will become purified and develop the ability to experience the senses of billions of worlds as well as other supernatural powers.

Chapter 20: The Bodhisattva Never Disparaging

The Buddha tells a story about a previous life when he was a bodhisattva called Sadāparibhūta ("Never-disparaging" or "Never-disrespectful") and how he treated every person he met, good or bad, with respect, always remembering that they will become Buddhas. Never-disparaging experienced much ridicule and condemnation by other monastics and laypersons but he always responded by saying "I do not despise you, for you will become a buddha." He continued to teach this sutra for many lifetimes until he reached Buddhahood.

Chapter 21: Supernatural Powers of the Thus Come One

This chapter reveals that the sutra contains all of the Buddha's secret spiritual powers. The bodhisattvas who have sprung from the earth (in chapter 15) are entrusted with the task of spreading and propagating it and they promise to do so. Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna extend their tongues into the Brahmā realm, emitting numerous rays of light along with countless bodhisattvas. This miracle lasts for a hundred thousand years. Then they clear their throats and snap their fingers, which is heard in all worlds and all worlds shake. All beings in the universe are then given a vision of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. All Buddhas praise Śākyamuni for teaching the Lotus. The Buddha says that the merits of teaching the sutra is immeasurable and that any place where it is being taught or copied is a holy place.

Chapter 22: Entrustment

The Buddha transmits the Lotus Sūtra to all bodhisattvas in his congregation and entrusts them with its safekeeping and its propagation far and wide. The Buddha Prabhūtaratna in his jeweled stupa and the countless manifestations of Shakyamuni Buddha return to their respective buddha-fields. According to Donald Lopez, the Lotus Sūtra "appears to end with Chapter Twenty-Two, when the Buddha exhorts his disciples to spread the teaching, after which they return to their abodes...scholars speculate that this was the final chapter of an earlier version of the Lotus, with the last six chapters being interpolations." This is the final chapter in the Sanskrit versions and the alternative Chinese translation. Shioiri suggests that an earlier version of the sutra ended with this chapter and that chapters 23–28 were inserted later into the Sanskrit version.

Chapters 23–28

These chapters are focused on various bodhisattvas and their deeds.

Chapter 23: "Former Affairs of Bodhisattva Medicine King"

The Buddha tells the story of the 'Medicine King' (Bhaiṣajyarāja) bodhisattva, who, in a previous life as the bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, set his body on fire, lighting up many world systems for twelve years, as a supreme offering to a Buddha. This chapter teaches the practice "offering the body", which involves burning a part of one's body (such as toe, finger, or a limb) as an offering. The hearing and chanting of the Lotus Sūtra is also said to cure diseases. The Buddha uses nine similes to declare that the Lotus Sūtra is the king of all sutras.

Chapter 24: The Bodhisattva Gadgadasvara

Gadgadasvara ('Wonderful Voice'), a bodhisattva from a distant world, visits Vulture Peak to worship the Buddha. Gadgadasvara once made offerings of various kinds of music to the Buddha Meghadundubhisvararāja. His accumulated merits enable him to take on many different forms to propagate the Lotus Sūtra.

Chapter 25: The Universal Gateway Or The Universal Door of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (普門品)

This chapter is devoted to bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Skt. “Lord Who Looks Down”, Ch. Guanyin, “Regarder of the Cries of the World”), describing him as a compassionate bodhisattva who hears the cries of sentient beings, and rescues those who call upon his name.

Chapter 26: Dhāraṇī

Hariti and several bodhisattvas offer sacred dhāraṇī (magical formulas) in order to protect those who keep and recite the Lotus Sūtra.

Chapter 27: Former Affairs of King Wonderful Adornment

This chapter tells the story of the conversion of King 'Wonderful-Adornment' by his two sons.

Chapter 28: Encouragement of Samantabhadra

A bodhisattva called "Universal Virtue" or "All Good" (Samantabhadra) asks the Buddha how to preserve the sutra in the future. Samantabhadra promises to protect and guard all those who keep this sutra in the future. He says that those who uphold the sutra will be reborn in the Trāyastriṃśa and Tuṣita heavens. He also says that those who uphold this sutra will have many good qualities and should be seen and respected as Buddhas.

History and reception

According to Lopez, the Lotus "is clearly a work of high literary quality. Its authors are unknown, but they were likely highly educated Buddhist monks, fully at ease among the doctrines and tropes of Buddhism as it existed in India at the time." According to Peter Alan Roberts, the Lotus Sūtra may have had its origin among the Mahāsāṃghika school and may have been written in a middle Indic language (a prakrit) that was subsequently Sanskritized. The idea that the sutra was originally in prakrit remains a contested claim among both secular and religious historians.

The Lotus Sūtra was frequently cited in Indian scholarly treatises and compendiums and several authors of the Madhyamaka and the Yogacara school discussed and debated its doctrine of the One Vehicle. According to Jonathan Silk, the influence of the Lotus Sūtra in India may have been limited, but "it is a prominent scripture in East Asian Buddhism." Jacqueline Stone and Stephen F. Teiser meanwhile write that "it is perhaps no exaggeration to say that the Lotus Sūtra has been the most influential Buddhist scripture in East Asia." The sutra has most prominence in Tiantai (sometimes called "The Lotus School") and Nichiren Buddhism.

Early development

According to Donald Lopez "the general scholarly consensus is that the Lotus Sūtra took shape in four phases." One of the earliest four layer theories of the development of the sutra was Kogaku Fuse's.

Lopez and Seishi Karashima outline these phases as follows:

The composition of Chapters 2–9. According to Seishi Karashima, this first layer includes the tristubh verses of these chapters which may have been transmitted orally in a Prakrit dialect.
The composition of the prose sections of chapters 2–9. According to Karashima, this layer consists of the śloka verses and the prose of chapters 2–9.
The third phase, which according to Lopez, saw the addition of Chapter One , as well as Chapter Ten through Chapter Twenty-Two (with the exception of Chapter Twelve). However, according to Karashima, this layer is comprised by Chapters 1, 10–20, 27, and a part of Chapter 5 that is missing in Kumarajiva's translation.
The fourth and final phase. Lopez writes that this comprises "chapter Twenty-Three through Chapter Twenty-Seven, as well as Chapter Twelve, the Devadatta Chapter, with Chapter Twenty Eight added at some later date." Karashima argues that this comprises Chapters 21–26 and the section on Devadatta in chapter 11 of the Sanskrit version.

Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline Stone opines that there is consensus about the stages of composition but not about the dating of these strata. Author Yoisho Tamura argues that the first stage of composition (Chapters 2—9) was completed around 50 CE and expanded by chapters 10–21 around 100 CE. He dates the third stage (Chapters 22—27) around 150 CE.

Reception in India

According to Lopez, "the number of surviving manuscripts and manuscript fragments of the Lotus Sūtra suggests that the text was copied often." The Lotus Sūtra is also cited in numerous scholarly treatises and compendiums, including in the Compendium of Sūtras (Sūtrasamuccaya, which cites four passages from the Lotus), in the Compendium of Training (Śiksāsamuccaya, three passages), in the Dazhidu lun (23 citations) and in the Great Compendium of Sūtras (Mahāsūtrasamuccaya) by the eleventh-century Bengali master Atiśa. It is cited by Indian Buddhists such as Vasubandhu (in his commentary on the Mahāyānasaṃgraha), Candrakīrti (Madhyamakāvatāra-bhāṣya), Śāntideva, Kamalaśīla and Abhayākaragupta.

According to Paramārtha (499–569 CE), there were over fifty Indian commentaries on the Lotus. However, there is now only one surviving Indian commentary (which only survives in Chinese). It is attributed to Vasubandhu (but this has been questioned by scholars). This commentary asserts the superiority of the Lotus above all other sutras.

The Lotus Sūtra's doctrine of the One Vehicle was not received equally by all Indian Buddhist traditions. While this doctrine was fully embraced by the Madhyamaka school, the Yogācāra school saw the Lotus Sūtra as a provisional text. Thus, for the Indian Yogācāra thinkers, the doctrine of the One Vehicle should not be taken literally, since it is merely provisional (neyārtha). According to Donald Lopez "the Yogācāra commentators argue in turn that the declaration that there is but one vehicle is not definitive but provisional, requiring interpretation; it is not to be taken to mean that there are not, in fact, three vehicles. When the Buddha said that the buddha vehicle was the one vehicle, he was exaggerating. What he meant was that it was the supreme vehicle." For Yogācāra scholars, this sutra was taught as an expedient means for the benefit of those persons who have entered the lesser śrāvaka vehicle but have the capacity to embrace the Mahāyāna.

An Indian version of the Lotus Sūtra was translated into Tibetan by Yeshé Dé, and the Indian translator Surendrabodhi during the reign of King Ralpachen (r. 815–38). This version most closely matches the Chinese version of Jñānagupta and Dharmagupta, as well as the Nepalese Sanskrit version.

In China

Translations

Three translations of the Lotus Sūtra into Chinese are extant. It was first translated into Chinese by Dharmarakṣa's team in 286 C. E. in Chang'an during the Western Jin Period (265–317 CE).It was initially held that the source text was in Sanskrit, however, the view that the source text was actually in a Prakrit language has gained widespread acceptance.

This early translation by Dharmarakṣa was superseded by a translation in seven fascicles by Kumārajīva's team in 406 C.E. which became the standard translation in East Asian Buddhism. According to Jean-Noël Robert, Kumārajīva relied heavily on the earlier version. The Sanskrit editions are not widely used outside of academia. Kumārajīva's version is missing the Devadatta chapter which had been present in the Dharmaraksa version.

The third extant version, The Supplemented Lotus Sūtra of the Wonderful Dharma (Chinese: Tiān Pǐn Miào Fǎ Lián Huá Jīng), in 7 volumes and 27 chapters, is a revised version of Kumārajīva's text, translated by Jñānagupta and Dharmagupta in 601 C. E. This version included elements that were absent in the Kumārajīva text, including the Devadatta chapter, various verses and the concluding part of chapter 25. Later, these elements were added back to the Kumārajīva text.

The Chinese Lotus Sūtra has been translated into other Asian languages including Uighur, Tangut, and more recently colloquial Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean.

Commentaries

One of Kumārajīva's great disciples, Daosheng (355–434), wrote the oldest surviving Chinese commentary on the Lotus Sūtra (titled the Fahua jing yishu). For Daosheng, the central teaching of the sutra is the One Vehicle. According to Lopez, Daosheng divided the sutra into three parts (omitting the Devadatta Chapter): "the first thirteen chapters demonstrate that the cause of the three vehicles becomes the cause of the one vehicle. The next eight chapters demonstrate that the effect of the three vehicles is also the effect of the one vehicle. The final six chapters demonstrate that the followers of the three vehicles are the same as the followers of the one vehicle." Daosheng was also known for promoting the concept of Buddha nature and the idea that even deluded people will attain enlightenment.

Already during the Tang Dynasty, Daoxuan (596–667) was writing that the Lotus Sūtra was "the most important sutra in China". Kuiji (632–82), a disciple of Xuanzang, wrote a commentary on the Lotus. This commentary was translated into Tibetan and survives in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. Numerous other commentators from different Chinese Buddhist traditions wrote commentaries on the Lotus". One topic of debate among Chinese commentators to the Lotus was the "three carts or four carts" debate which focused on whether the One Vehicle was the same as the bodhisattva vehicle or a different vehicle that transcends the Mahāyāna.

Chinese exegetes also disagreed on whether the Buddha of the Lotus Sūtra had an infinite life or a finite life (of immeasurable length) as well as on the issue of whether the ultimate, primordial Buddha of the Lotus referred to the Dharma-body (dharmakaya), to the reward body (sambhogakaya), or to the manifest, physical body (nirmanakaya).

Tiantai

Perhaps the most influential Chinese commentator on the Lotus Sūtra was Zhiyi (538–597), a patriarch of the Tiantai School, who was said to have experienced awakening while reading the Lotus Sūtra. Zhiyi was a student of Nanyue Huisi who was the leading authority of his time on the Lotus Sūtra.

Zhiyi adopted Daosheng's division of the sutra into three parts. For Zhiyi, the first fourteen chapters are "the trace teaching" (Ch. jimen; shakumon in Japanese) and the second fourteen chapters are the "fundamental" or "original" teaching (benmen; Jp. honmon). For Zhiyi, the key message of the first part is the One Vehicle, while the key message of the second half (the fundamental teaching of the whole text) is the immeasurable lifespan of the Buddha. According to Lopez, "Zhiyi compares the fundamental teaching with the moon shining in the sky and the trace teaching with a moon reflected in a lake; the first is the source of the second." The Chinese practice of developing systems of doctrinal classifications (panjiao) was adopted by Zhiyi, which he interpreted through the doctrine of the One Vehicle. For Zhiyi, while other sutras provide different messages for their intended audiences, the Lotus is uniquely comprehensive and holistic.

Zhiyi's philosophical synthesis saw the Lotus Sūtra as the final teaching of the Buddha and the highest teaching of Buddhism. There are two major commentaries from Zhiyi on the sutra, the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra (Fahua xuanyi) which explains the main principles of the text and the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra (法華文句 Fahua Wenzhu), which comments on specific passages. These two works were compiled by Zhiyi's disciple Guanding (561–632). For Zhiyi, the central principle of the Lotus Sūtra's One Vehicle is the "Threefold Truth", a doctrine he developed out of Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka philosophy which posited a twofold truth. For Zhiyi, this was the unifying principle which included all of the teachings of the Buddha's teachings and practices. According to Lopez and Stone, Zhiyi's view of the Lotus was an inclusive vision which had a place for every Buddhist sutra, teaching and practice.Zhiyi also linked the teachings of the Lotus Sūtra with the Buddha nature teachings of the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. Zhiyi also interpreted the Buddha of the Lotus Sūtra as referring to all three Buddha bodies of the Trikaya. According to Stone and Teiser, for Zhiyi "the dharma body is the truth that is realized; the reward body is the wisdom that realizes it; and the manifest body, a compassionate expression of that wisdom as the human buddha who lived and taught in this world." For Zhiyi, Vairocana (the primordial Buddha) is seen as the "bliss body" (sambhogakāya) of the historical Gautama Buddha. Zhiyi also wrote texts which outlined various spiritual practices that made use of the Lotus Sūtra. For example, chanting the sūtra is an element of one of the "Four samādhis" (sizhǒng sānmèi) in Zhiyi's magnum opus, the Mohe Zhiguan. He also composed the Lotus Samādhi Rite of Repentance (Fahua sanmei chanyi) based on the sūtra.

The later Tiantai scholar Zhanran (711–778) wrote sub-commentaries to Zhiyi's works on the Lotus. Based on his analysis of chapter 5, Zhanran would develop a new theory which held that even insentient beings such as rocks, trees and dust particles, possess buddha-nature. This doctrine would be adopted and developed by Japanese Buddhists like Saichō and Nichiren.

The Chinese "Threefold Lotus Sūtra"

Hangzhou edition of the Lotus Sutra printed in the 5th year of Jiayou in the Northern Song Dynasty (1060). Unearthed at Yanta Tower, Shenxian County, Shandong, China.

Due to the religious and sacred emphasis on the Buddhist text, some East Asian traditions have compiled the Lotus Sūtra together with two other sutras which serve as a prologue and epilogue

The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings (Chinese: 無量義經; pinyin: Wúliángyì jīng; Japanese: Muryōgi kyō); and
The Sutra of Meditations of (according to) Samantabhadra (Chinese: 普賢經; pinyin: Pǔxián jīng; Japanese: Fugen kyō).

The combination of these three Sutras is often called the Threefold Lotus Sūtra or Three-Part Dharma Flower Sutra (Chinese: 法華三部経; pinyin: Fǎhuá Sānbù jīng; Japanese: Hokke Sambu kyō).

Japan

The Lotus Sūtra has also been an extremely influential text in Japanese Buddhism. One of the oldest Japanese texts is the Hokke Gisho, a commentary on the Lotus Sūtra based on the Chinese commentary by Fayun (467–529 CE). By the 8th century, the sūtra was important enough that the emperor had established a network of nunneries, the so-called "Temples for the Eradication of Sins through the Lotus" (Hokke metsuzai no tera), in each province, as a way to protect the royal family and the state. There were also various Lotus Sūtra rituals that were held throughout Japan, at both temples and aristocratic households. They were believed to help the dead and to grant long life to the living. These rituals are mentioned in The Tale of Genji. The sūtra was also very influential on Japanese art and some copies of the text are highly elaborate and ornate.

Tendai

The Tiantai school was brought to Japan by Saichō (767–822), who founded the Japanese Tendai tradition and wrote a commentary to the Lotus Sūtra, which would remain central to Tendai. Saichō attempted to create a great synthesis of the various Chinese Buddhist traditions in his new Tendai school (including esoteric, Pure Land, Zen and other elements), all which would be united under the Lotus One Vehicle doctrine. Saichō also understood the Lotus Sūtra to be a "great direct path" to Buddhahood which could be reached in this very life and in this very body. Saichō taught that the Dragon king's daughter story was evidence for this direct path (jikidō) to Buddhahod which did not require three incalculable eons.

Like Zhiyi, the Japanese Tendai school (as well as the Nichiren tradition which is influenced by Tendai) divided the Lotus Sūtra into two parts, the trace or provisional teachings (shaku-mon, Chapters 1–14) and the essential teaching (hon-mon, Chapters 15–22) of the true and original Buddha.

Post-Saichō Tendai leaders like Ennin and Enchin also adopted further teachings from Esoteric Buddhism (mikkyō) into their interpretation and practice of the Lotus. These figures interpreted the Lotus as an esoteric text, and the Buddha of the Lotus Sūtra became seen as timeless and omnipresent cosmic reality that is immanent in all things. By reciting mantras, performing mudras and using mandalas in esoteric rituals, Tendai monks sought to unite their body, speech and mind with that of the Buddha and attain "Buddhahood in this very body" (sokushin jōbutsu). According to Jacqueline Stone, in Tendai esotericism, "the cosmic buddha is identified with the primordially enlightened Sakyamuni of the "Life Span" chapter, and his realm—that is, the entire universe—is conceived in mandalic terms as an ever-present, ongoing Lotus Sūtra assembly."

As a result of this interpretation, all the provisional Buddhas (such as Amida, Dainichi, and Yakushi) were integrated into the Primordial Buddha of immeasurable life from the latter half of the Lotus Sūtra. These esoteric influences also led to the development of the Tendai concept of original enlightenment (hongaku hōmon). According to this theory, Buddhahood is not a distant goal, but is always present as the true inherent nature of all things. Buddhist practice is a way to realize this nature.

Apart from the major Heian period Tendai temples, there also arose groups of independent Lotus Sūtra devotees (jikyōsha) or "Lotus holy ones" (hokke hijiri). Many of them were mountain ascetics, or recluses (tonsei) who disliked the large established temples and saw them as more concerned with worldly gain. They focused instead on practices based on the simple recitation, listening or reading of the Lotus Sūtra in solitary places (bessho), something which did not require temples and ritual paraphernalia. Hokke hijiri also engaged in esoteric taimitsu and Daoist immortality practices. These figures feature prominently in the Hokke Genki, a collection of Lotus Sūtra stories and miracles by the priest Chingen, which sees the hokke hijiri as being superior to aristocrats or traditional monks.

Tendai Buddhism was the dominant form of mainstream Buddhism in Japan for many years and the influential founders of later popular Japanese Buddhist sects including Nichiren, Honen, Shinran and Dogen were trained as Tendai monks.

Nichiren Buddhism

Calligraphic mandala (Gohonzon) inscribed by Nichiren in 1280. The central characters are the title of the Lotus Sūtra.

The Japanese monk Nichiren (1222–1282) founded a new Buddhist school based on his belief that the Lotus Sūtra is "the Buddha's ultimate teaching", and that the title is the essence of the sutra, "the seed of Buddhahood". He was originally a Tendai monk, but grew to believe that Tendai had become corrupt and had turned away from the Lotus Sūtra and embraced all sorts of useless practices, such as esoteric Buddhism and Pure Land devotionalism. Nichiren taught that chanting the title of the Lotus Sūtra in a phrase called the daimoku (Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, "Glory to the Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra") – was the only effective Buddhist practice in what he believed was the current degenerate age of Dharma decline (Skt. saddharmavipralopa, Jp. mappo). This was to be recited in front of a gohonzon ("object of veneration"). According to Stone, Nichiren believed that "the immanent Buddha realm is an ever-present reality" which one could access by this practice.

Nichiren held that all other Buddhist sects were gravely mistaken and doomed to Avīci hell because they "slandered the true Dharma" (Skt. saddharmapratiksepa; Jp. hōbō) by seeing other teachings as being above or equal to the Lotus Sūtra. He also held that the current social and political chaos in Japan was caused by this sinful behavior. He therefore tasked himself and his followers with rescuing as many people as possible by getting them to abandon their heretical forms of Buddhism through direct confrontation (shakubuku) and converting them to the one vehicle of the Lotus. He believed that establishing the true Dharma of the Lotus in Japan would lead to lasting peace and he identified with the bodhisattva Viśiṣṭacāritra, leader of the bodhisattvas of the earth which appear in chapter 15.

Nichiren thus vehemently attacked the teachings of all other Japanese Buddhist sects in person and in print. This behavior would often lead to the persecution of Nichiren and Nichiren Buddhists. Nichiren saw this persecution as a compassionate act of self-sacrifice, which needed to be endured. He found this ideal in chapters 10–22 as the "third realm" of the Lotus Sutra (daisan hōmon) which emphasizes the need for a bodhisattva to endure the trials of life in the defiled sahā world. For Nichiren, these trials and tribulations were termed shikidoku ("reading [the Lotus Sūtra] with the body") and they were believed to burn off negative karma. Nichiren Buddhism went through various developments and schisms after the death of Nichiren.

Zen Buddhism

The Lotus Sūtra was also a key source for Dōgen (1200–1253), the Japanese founder of Sōtō Zen Buddhism. Dōgen writes in his Shōbōgenzō that "compared with this sūtra, all the other sūtras are merely its servants, its relatives, for it alone expounds the truth." According to Taigen Dan Leighton, "While Dogen's writings employ many sources, probably along with his own intuitive meditative awareness, his direct citations of the Lotus Sūtra indicate his conscious appropriation of its teachings as a significant source" and that his writing "demonstrates that Dogen himself saw the Lotus Sūtra, 'expounded by all buddhas in the three times,' as an important source for this self-proclamatory rhetorical style of expounding."

In his Shōbōgenzō, Dogen directly discusses the Lotus Sūtra in the essay Hokke-Ten-Hokke, "The Dharma Flower Turns the Dharma Flower". The essay uses a dialogue from the Platform Sutra between Huineng and a monk who has memorized the Lotus Sūtra to illustrate the non-dual nature of Dharma practice and sutra study. During his final days, Dogen spent his time reciting and writing the Lotus Sūtra in his room which he named "The Lotus Sutra Hermitage". The Soto Zen monk Ryōkan also studied the Lotus Sūtra extensively and this sutra was the biggest inspiration for his poetry and calligraphy.

The Rinzai Zen master Hakuin Ekaku (1687–1768) achieved enlightenment while reading the third chapter of the Lotus Sūtra. Hakuin writes that when he first read the sutra at age sixteen, he was disappointed with it. However, sixteen years later, after experiencing an awakening, he wrote,

“One night, after some time, I took up the Lotus Sūtra. Suddenly I penetrated to the perfect, true, ultimate meaning of the Lotus. The doubts I had held initially were destroyed and I became aware that the understanding I had obtained up to then was greatly in error. Unconsciously I uttered a great cry and burst into tears.”

Modern developments

According to Shields, modernist Japanese interpretations of the Lotus Sūtra begin with the early 20th century nationalist applications of the Lotus Sūtra by Chigaku Tanaka, Nissho Honda, Seno'o, and Nisshō Inoue. Japanese new religions began forming in the 19th century and the trend accelerated after World War II. Some of these groups have pushed the study and practice of the Lotus Sūtra to a global scale. While noting the importance of several Japanese New Religious Movements to Lotus Sūtra scholarship, Lopez focuses on the contributions made by the lay groups Reiyukai and Soka Gakkai and Stone discusses the contributions of the Soka Gakkai and Risshō Kōsei Kai.

According to Jacqueline Stone, several of these new Lotus based groups, such as Risshō Kōsei Kai and Soka Gakkai, are also known for their social activism, international relief work and peace work. According to Stone, Soka Gakkai generally follows an exclusivist approach to the Lotus Sūtra, believing that only Nichiren Buddhism can bring world peace. Meanwhile, Risshō Kōsei Kai follows an ecumenical, and inclusive approach and is known for its interfaith efforts and focus on world peace. According to their co-founder Niwano Nikkyō (1906–1999), "Lotus Sūtra is not a proper noun, but the fundamental truth—God, Allah, or the one vehicle—at the heart of all great religions."

In a similar fashion, Etai Yamada (1900–1999), the 253rd head priest of the Tendai denomination conducted ecumenical dialogues with religious leaders around the world based on his inclusive interpretation of the Lotus Sūtra, which culminated in a 1987 summit. He also used the Lotus Sūtra to move his sect from a "temple Buddhism" perspective to one based on social engagement. Nichiren-inspired Buddhist organizations have shared their interpretations of the Lotus Sūtra through publications, academic symposia, and exhibitions.

According to Lopez, "the most famous and successful of the Japanese new religions", "was Sōka Gakkai." Sōka Gakkai ("The Value Creation Society") was a lay organization founded by the Nichirenists Tsunesaburō Makiguchi (1871–1944) and Toda Jōsei (1900–1958). It became known for its aggressive conversion efforts based on confrontational shakubuku as well as for its emphasis on "this-worldly benefits" (genze riyaku), such as good health and financial prosperity which would accrue to those who helped spread the message of the Lotus. Sōka Gakkai was originally affiliated with Taisekiji, a Nichiren Shōshū temple, but it was excommunicated from Nichiren Shoshu in the 1990s. Sōkka Gakkai no longer teaches the differences between the two gates or "divisions" of the Lotus Sūtra. Instead, the modern organization teaches that only the sincere recitation of the daimoku is the "Doctrine of Essential Teaching" and that this does not require any clerical priesthood or temples since the true sangha comprises all people "who believe in the Buddha Dharma of Nichiren".

In the West

One of the first mentions of the Lotus Sūtra by a westerner can be found in the work of the Catholic missionary Matteo Ricci. In his The True Doctrine of the Lord of Heaven (Tianzhu shiyi), published in 1603, Ricci mentions the Lotus Sūtra and denounces its teaching.

19th century

Eugene Burnouf's Introduction à l'histoire du Buddhisme indien (1844) marks the start of modern academic scholarship of Buddhism in the West. According to Lopez, this tome "seems to have been originally intended to aid readers in understanding the Lotus Sūtra," the translation of which Burnouf had completed in 1839. Burnouf decided to delay the publication of this translation so that he could write an introduction to it, that is, his 1844 Introduction. Burnouf's French translation of a Nepalese Sanskrit manuscript of the Lotus Sūtra, titled "Le Lotus de la bonne loi traduit du Sanscrit accompagné d’un commentaire et de vingt et un mémoires relatifs au Buddhisme", was published posthumously in 1852.

Burnouf really appreciated the "parables" (Sanskrit: aupamya, "comparisons", "analogies", more accurately described as allegories) found in the Lotus, which reminded him of the parables of the New Testament. He would write "I know of nothing so Christian in all of Asia" and saw the Lotus as containing a "moral Christianity, full of compassion for all creatures." He also understood the Lotus Sūtra (as well as other Mahayana works) to be later, more "developed" texts than the "simple" earlier sutras which contained more historical content and less metaphysical ideas.

A chapter of the Lotus Sūtra was published in 1844, prior to Burnouf’s translation being published. This chapter was published in the journal The Dial, a publication of the New England transcendentalists, and had been translated from French to English by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody. This chapter was the first English version of any Buddhist scripture.

An English translation of the Lotus Sūtra from two Sanskrit manuscripts copied in Nepal around the 11th century was completed by Hendrik Kern in 1884 and published as Saddharma-Pundarîka, or, the Lotus of the True Law as part of the Sacred Books of the East project.

Western interest in the Lotus Sūtra waned in the latter 19th century as Indo-centric scholars focused on older Pali and Sanskrit texts. However, Christian missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, based predominantly in China, became interested in Kumārajīva's translation of the Lotus Sūtra. These scholars attempted to draw parallels between the Old and New Testaments to earlier Nikaya sutras and the Lotus Sutra. Abbreviated and "Christianized" translations were published by Richard and Soothill.

20th century translations

After the Second World War, scholarly attention to the Lotus Sūtra was inspired by renewed interest in Japanese Buddhism as well as archeological research in Dunhuang in Gansu, China. In 1976, Leon Hurvitz published The Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, a scholarly English translation of the Lotus Sūtra based on Kumarajiva's Chinese. Whereas the Hurvitz work was independent scholarship, other modern translations were sponsored by Japanese Buddhist institutions. For example the 1975 Bunno Kato and Yoshiro Tamura translation of the "Threefold Lotus Sutra" was promoted by Rissho-kosei-kai, the Burton Watson translation was backed by Soka Gakkai and the Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama translation was sponsored by Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai ("Society for the Promotion of Buddhism").

Translations into French, Spanish and German are also based on Kumarajiva's Chinese text. Each of these translations incorporate different approaches and styles that range from complex to simplified.

Lotus Sūtra practice

According to Gene Reeves, "the Lotus Sūtra frequently advocates concrete practices, which are often related to the sutra itself. They are often given as sets of four to six practices, but include receiving and embracing the sutra, hearing it, reading and reciting it, remembering it correctly, copying it, explaining it, understanding its meaning, pondering it, proclaiming it, practicing as it teaches, honoring it, protecting it, making offerings to it, preaching it and teaching it to others, and leading others to do any of these things." The Sūtra also promotes the building of stūpas wherever the Lotus Sūtra is being preached.

The Lotus Sūtra also mentions the six paramitas and the eightfold path. Other passages from the sutra have been seen as promoting certain ways of living. For example the story of Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva in chapter 20 has been seen by some as teaching that we should see all beings as potential Buddhas and treat them accordingly. Similarly, other parts of the sutra have been interpreted as exhortations to share the Dharma of the Lotus with other people.

In East Asia

The sūtra became an extremely important text for religious practice in East Asian Buddhism, especially through ritualized devotional practice. A particularly important set of practices are the "five practices of the preacher of the dharma" (found in Chapter 19), which are preserving (or "upholding"), reading, reciting, explaining, and copying the sūtra.

According to Daniel Stevenson, "upholding the sutra," "does not connote a specific regimen of practice but functions as a generic designation for Lotus Sūtra devotion in all its guises, above all devotion that is focused and sustained." Thus, it is a general term for enthusiastic embrace of the sutra. The term derived from the Sanskrit root dhr, related to dharani and could refer to the memorization and retention of the teaching as well as to the more abstract "apprehension" of the Dharma in meditative states of samadhi. It could also refer to the storing, enshrining and safekeeping of the physical copies of the sutra.

It was said that these practices were very meritorious and could lead to miracles. Stories dealing with Lotus Sūtra miracles, such as Huixiang's Accounts of the Propagation of the Lotus Sūtra (c. 7th century) became a popular genre in China and Japan. The popularity of these practices can be seen from the fact that a thousand copies of the text were sealed in the Dunhuang caves in the 11th century. The Lotus Sūtra was also one of the most widely memorized Buddhist texts, a practice which became a requirement for Buddhist monastic ordination at various points throughout Chinese history.

These practices were often sponsored by Asian states as a way to protect the nation but they were also carried out by people from all social classes. Ritualized recitation, copying of the text and lectures explaining the Lotus Sūtra were performed at temples, shrines, and private residences. It was believed that these practices generated many benefits, from spiritual benefits like visions of Buddhas, rebirth in a pure land, awakening, and helping deceased relatives, to worldly benefits like peace, healing and protection from harm. In a similar fashion, the creation of different forms of visual, plastic, calligraphic, performance arts based on the Lotus Sūtra also came to be seen as a form of spiritual practice and a skillful means. The production of these works, which included Lotus Sūtra manuscripts themselves, could become highly ritualized processes. Likewise, the telling of miracle stories and composition of literature based on the Lotus Sūtra was also seen as another way to practice its teachings.

In China, the practice extracted from chapter 20 of seeing all beings as Buddhas or "universal veneration" (pujing 普敬) was adopted as the main practice of Xinxing (540–594) "Three Stages Movement". Meanwhile, the self immolation of bodhisattva Medicine King inspired a controversial tradition of cremating parts of one's body as a kind of devotion. Chapter 25 has also been very influential on Asian Guanyin (觀音) devotionalism.

The chanting of the Lotus was and remains widely practiced in Chinese Buddhism. It is often accompanied by the wooden fish instrument and preceded by various ritual acts, invocations, offerings and visualizations. The works of the Tiantai master Zhiyi include various Lotus Sūtra based practices like the "Lotus samādhi" and the "Rite of Repentance for the Lotus Samādhi". Zhiyi was also said to have memorized the entire Threefold Lotus Sūtra. Zongxiao (1151–1214) mentions a practice which consisted in performing one or three prostrations for every character of the sutra.

In the Japanese Tendai school, the Lotus Sūtra is an important part of Taimitsu ("Tendai esotericism") where it is part of certain rituals, such as the "Lotus rite" (Hokke ho), "performed to eradicate sin, build merit, and realize awakening." According to Stone and Teiser, "the mandala used in this ritual depicts the two buddhas Sakyamuni and Many Jewels seated together in its central court, as they appeared in the jeweled stūpa of the Lotus Sūtra."

In Nichiren Buddhism, the central practice is the recitation of the title of the Lotus Sūtra, called the daimoku. This formula is Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. Nichiren Buddhists believe that this phrase contains the meaning of the entire sutra and contains and supersedes all other Buddhist practices (which are seen as provisional and no longer effective). By chanting this phrase with faith, one is said to be able to achieve Buddhahood. Nichiren Buddhists often chant this phrase while facing a "great mandala" (daimandara), or "revered object of worship" (gohonzon), a practice that was promoted by Nichiren himself. Nichiren believed that chanting while contemplating the gohonzon allowed to enter the mandala of the Lotus assembly.

In East Asian culture

The Lotus Sūtra has had a great impact on East Asian literature, art, and folklore for over 1400 years. James Shields of Bucknell University remarked that, with regard to cultural influence, the Lotus Sūtra "plays a role equivalent to the Bible in Europe or the Qur’an in the Middle East."

Art

Various events from the sutra are depicted in religious art.Wang argues that the explosion of art inspired by the Lotus Sūtra, starting from the 7th and 8th centuries in China, was a confluence of text and the topography of the Chinese medieval mind in which the latter dominated.

Motifs from the Lotus Sūtra figure prominently in the Dunhuang caves built in the Sui era. In the fifth century, the scene of Shakyamuni and Prabhutaratna Buddhas seated together as depicted in the 11th chapter of the Lotus Sūtra became arguably the most popular theme in Chinese Buddhist art. Examples can be seen in a bronze plaque (year 686) at Hase-dera Temple in Japan and, in Korea, at Dabotap and Seokgatap Pagodas, built in 751, at Bulguksa Temple.

Literature

Tamura refers to the "Lotus Sūtra literary genre." Its ideas and images are writ large in great works of Chinese and Japanese literature such as The Dream of the Red Chamber and The Tale of Genji. The Lotus Sūtra has had an outsized influence on Japanese Buddhist poetry. Far more poems have been Lotus Sūtra-inspired than other sutras. In the work Kanwa taisho myoho renge-kyo, a compendium of more than 120 collections of poetry from the Heian period, there are more than 1360 poems with references to the Lotus Sūtra in just their titles.

According to Gene Reeves, "Japan's greatest twentieth-century storyteller and poet, Kenji Miyazawa, became devoted to the Lotus Sūtra, writing to his father on his own deathbed that all he ever wanted to do was share the teachings of this sutra with others." Miyazawa implicitly references the sutra in his writings.

Theater

According to Jacqueline Stone and Stephen Teiser "the Noh drama and other forms of medieval Japanese literature interpreted Chapter 5, "Medicinal Herbs", as teaching the potential for buddhahood in grasses and trees (sōmoku jōbutsu)."

Folklore

The Lotus Sūtra has inspired a branch of folklore based on figures in the sutra or subsequent people who have embraced it. The story of the Dragon King's daughter, who attained enlightenment in the 12th (Devadatta) chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, appears in the Complete Tale of Avalokiteśvara and the Southern Seas and the Precious Scroll of Sudhana and Longnü folkstories. The Miraculous Tales of the Lotus Sutra is a collection of 129 stories with folklore motifs based on "Buddhist pseudo-biographies."

Gross National Happiness

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_National_Happiness

Gross National Happiness, (GNH; Dzongkha: རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་དགའ་སྐྱིད་དཔལ་འཛོམས།) sometimes called Gross Domestic Happiness (GDH), is a philosophy that guides the government of Bhutan. It includes an index which is used to measure the collective happiness and well-being of a population. Gross National Happiness Index is instituted as the goal of the government of Bhutan in the Constitution of Bhutan, enacted on 18 July 2008.

History

The advent and concept of "Gross National Happiness" (GNH) germinated in the mind of Bodhisattva Druk Gyelpo, the 4th King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, groomed with the evolution of "Gaki Phuensum" (Peace and Prosperity) and the modernization period of Bhutan during the reign of Druk Gyelpo, the 3rd King of Bhutan, Jigme Dorji Wangchuk.

The term "Gross National Happiness" as conceptualized by the 4th King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972 was declared as, "more important than Gross Domestic Product." The concept implies that sustainable development should take a holistic approach towards notions of progress and give equal importance to non-economic aspects of wellbeing.

In 2011, The UN General Assembly passed resolution 65/309, "Happiness: towards a holistic approach to development", urging member nations to follow the example of Bhutan and measure happiness and well-being and calling happiness a "fundamental human goal."

In 2012, Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigme Thinley and the Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon of the United Nations convened the High Level Meeting: Well-being and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm to encourage the spread of Bhutan's GNH philosophy. At the meeting, the first World Happiness Report was issued. Shortly afterward, 20 March was declared to be International Day of Happiness by the UN in 2012 with resolution 66/28.

Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay proclaimed a preference for focusing on more concrete goals instead of promoting GNH when he took office, but subsequently has protected the GNH of his country and promoted the concept internationally. Other Bhutanese officials also promote the spread of GNH at the UN and internationally.

Definition

GNH is distinguishable from Gross Domestic Product by valuing collective happiness as the goal of governance, by emphasizing harmony with nature and traditional values as expressed in the 9 domains of happiness and 4 pillars of GNH. According to the Bhutanese government, the four pillars of GNH are:

sustainable and equitable socio-economic development;
environmental conservation;
preservation and promotion of culture; and
good governance.

The nine domains of GNH are psychological well-being, health, time use, education, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards. Each domain is composed of subjective (survey-based) and objective indicators. The domains weigh equally but the indicators within each domain differ by weight.

Bhutanese GNH index

Several scholars have noted that "the values underlying the individual pillars of GNH are defined as distinctly Buddhist," and "GNH constructs Buddhism as the core of the cultural values of the country (of Bhutan). They provide the foundation upon which the GNH rests." GNH is thus seen as part of the Buddhist Middle Way, where "happiness is accrued from a balanced act rather than from an extreme approach."

Implementation in Bhutan

The body charged with implementing GNH in Bhutan is the Gross National Happiness Commission. The GNH Commission is composed of the Prime Minister as the Chairperson, Secretaries of each of the ministries of the government, and the Secretary of the GNH Commission. The GNH Commission's tasks include conceiving and implementing the nation's 5-year plan and promulgating policies. The GNH Index is used to measure the happiness and well-being of Bhutan's population. A GNH Policy Screening Tool and a GNH Project Screening Tool is used by the GNH commission to determine whether to pass policies or implement projects. The GNH Screening tools are used by the Bhutanese GNH Commission for anticipating the impact of policy initiatives upon the levels of GNH in Bhutan.

In 2008, the first Bhutanese GNH survey was conducted. It was followed by a second one in 2010. The third nationwide survey was conducted in 2015. The GNH survey covers all twenty districts (Dzonkhag) and results are reported for varying demographic factors such as gender, age, abode, and occupation. The first GNH surveys consisted of long questionnaires that polled the citizens about living conditions and religious behavior, including questions about the times a person prayed in a day and other karma indicators. It took several hours to complete one questionnaire. Later rounds of the GNH Index were shortened, but the survey retained the religious behavioral indicators.

The Bhutan GNH Index was developed by the Centre for Bhutan Studies with the help of Oxford University researchers to help measure the progress of Bhutanese society. The Index's function was based on the Alkire & Foster method of 2011. After the creation of the GNH Index, the government used the metric to measure national progress and inform policy.

The Bhutan GNH Index is considered to measure societal progress similarly to other models such as the OECD Better Life Index of 2011, and SPI Social Progress Index of 2013. One feature distinguishing Bhutan's GNH Index from the other models is that the other models are designed for secular governments and do not include religious behavior measurement components.

The data is used to compare happiness among different groups of citizens, and changes over time.

According to the World Happiness Report 2019, Bhutan is 95th out of 156 countries.

The holistic consideration of multiple factors through the GNH approach has been cited as impacting Bhutan's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dissemination

In Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a shortened version of Bhutan's GNH survey was used by the local government, local foundations and governmental agencies under the leadership of Martha and Michael Pennock to assess the population of Victoria.

In the state of São Paulo, Brazil, Susan Andrews, through her organization Future Vision Ecological Park, used a version of Bhutan's GNH at a community level in some cities.

In Seattle, Washington, United States, a version of the GNH Index was used by the Seattle City Council and Sustainable Seattle to assess the happiness and well-being of the Seattle Area population. Other cities and areas in North America, including Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Creston, British Columbia and the U.S. state of Vermont, also used a version of the GNH Index.

The state of Vermont's Governor declared April 13 (President Jefferson's birthday) "Pursuit of Happiness Day", and became the first state to pass legislation enabling development of alternative indicators and to assist in making policy. The University of Vermont Center for Rural Studies Vermont perform a periodic study of well-being in the state.

At the University of Oregon, United States, a behavioral model of GNH based on the use of positive and negative words in social network status updates was developed by Adam Kramer.

In 2016, Thailand launched its own GNH center. The former king of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, was a close friend of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, and conceived the similar philosophy of sufficiency economy.

In the Philippines, the concept of GNH has been lauded by various personalities, notably Philippine senator and UN Global Champion for Resilience Loren Legarda, and former environment minister Gina Lopez. Bills have been filed in the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives in support of Gross National Happiness in the Philippines. Additionally, Executive Director of Bhutan's GNH Center, Dr. Saamdu Chetri, has been invited by high-level officials in the Philippines for a GNH Forum.

Many other cities and governments have undertaken efforts to measure happiness and well-being (also termed "Beyond GDP") since the High Level Meeting in 2012, but have not used versions of Bhutan's GNH index. Among these include the national governments of the United Kingdom's Office of National Statistics and the United Arab Emirates, and cities including Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, and Bristol, United Kingdom. Also a number of companies which are implementing sustainability practices in business that have been inspired by GNH.

Criticism

GNH has been described by critics as a propaganda tool used by the Bhutanese government to distract from ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses it has committed.

The Bhutanese democratic government started from 2008. Before then, the government practiced massive ethnic cleansing of the non-Buddhist population of ethnic Nepalese of Hindu faith in the name of GNH cultural preservation. The NGO Human Rights Watch documented the events. According to Human Rights Watch, "Over 100,000 or 1/6 of the population of Bhutan of Nepalese origin and Hindu faith were expelled from the country because they would not integrate with Bhutan's Buddhist culture." The Refugee Council of Australia stated that "it is extraordinary and shocking that a nation can get away with expelling one sixth of its people and somehow keep its international reputation largely intact. The Government of Bhutan should be known not for Gross National Happiness but for Gross National Hypocrisy."

Some researchers state that Bhutan's GNH philosophy "has evolved over the last decade through the contribution of western and local scholars to a version that is more democratic and open. Therefore, probably, the more accurate historical reference is to mention the coining of the GNH phrase as a key event, but not the Bhutan GNH philosophy, because the philosophy as understood by western scholars is different from the philosophy used by the King at the time." Other viewpoints are that GNH is a process of development and learning, rather than an objective norm or absolute end point. Bhutan aspires to enhance the happiness of its people and GNH serves as a measurement tool for realizing that aspiration.

Other criticism focuses on the standard of living in Bhutan. In an article written in 2004 in the Economist magazine, "The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is not in fact an idyll in a fairy tale. It is home to perhaps 900,000 people most of whom live in grinding poverty." Other criticism of GNH cites "increasing levels of political corruption, the rapid spread of diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis, gang violence, abuses against women and ethnic minorities, shortages in food/medicine, and economic woes."

Happiness economics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_economics

The economics of happiness or happiness economics is the theoretical, qualitative and quantitative study of happiness and quality of life, including positive and negative affects, well-being, life satisfaction and related concepts – typically tying economics more closely than usual with other social sciences, like sociology and psychology, as well as physical health. It typically treats subjective happiness-related measures, as well as more objective quality of life indices, rather than wealth, income or profit, as something to be maximized.

The field has grown substantially since the late 20th century, for example by the development of methods, surveys and indices to measure happiness and related concepts, as well as quality of life. Happiness findings have been described as a challenge to the theory and practice of economics. Nevertheless, furthering gross national happiness, as well as a specified Index to measure it, has been adopted explicitly in the Constitution of Bhutan in 2008, to guide its economic governance.

Subject classifications

The subject may be categorized in various ways, depending on specificity, intersection, and cross-classification. For example, within the Journal of Economic Literature classification codes, it has been categorized under:

Welfare economics at JEL: D63 – Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
Health, education, and welfare at JEL: I31 – General Welfare; Basic needs; Living standards; Quality of life; Happiness
Demographic economics at JEL:J18 – Public policy.

Metrology

Given its very nature, reported happiness is subjective. It is difficult to compare one person's happiness with another's. It can be especially difficult to compare happiness across cultures. However, many happiness economists believe they have solved this comparison problem. Cross-sections of large data samples across nations and time demonstrate consistent patterns in the determinants of happiness.

Happiness is typically measured using subjective measures – e.g. self-reported surveys – and/or objective measures. One concern has always been the accuracy and reliability of people's responses to happiness surveys. Objective measures such as lifespan, income, and education are often used as well as or instead of subjectively reported happiness, though this assumes that they generally produce happiness, which while plausible may not necessarily be the case. The terms quality of life or well-being are often used to encompass these more objective measures.

Micro-econometric happiness equations have the standard form: $W_{i t} = α + β x_{i t} + ϵ_{i t}$ . In this equation $W$ is the reported well-being of individual $i$ at time $t$ , and $x$ is a vector of known variables, which include socio-demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

Macro-econometric happiness has been gauged by some as Gross National Happiness, following Sicco Mansholt's 1972 introduction of the measure, and by others as a Genuine Wealth index. Anielski in 2008 wrote a reference definition on how to measure five types of capital: (1) human; (2) social; (3) natural; (4) built; and (5) financial.

Happiness, well-being, or satisfaction with life, was seen as unmeasurable in classical and neo-classical economics. Van Praag was the first person who organized large surveys in order to explicitly measure welfare derived from income. He did this with the Income Evaluation Question (IEQ). This approach is called the Leyden School. It is named after the Dutch university where this approach was developed. Other researchers included Arie Kapteyn and Aldi Hagenaars.

Some scientists claim that happiness can be measured both subjectively and objectively by observing the joy center of the brain lit up with advanced imaging, although this raises philosophical issues, for example about whether this can be treated as more reliable than reported subjective happiness.

Determinants

GDP and GNP

Typically national financial measures, such as gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national product (GNP), have been used as a measure of successful policy. There is a significant association between GDP and happiness, with citizens in wealthier nations being happier than those in poorer nations. In 2002, researchers argued that this relationship extends only to an average GDP per capita of about $15,000. In the 2000s, several studies have obtained the opposite result, so this Easterlin paradox is controversial.

Individual income

Historically, economists have said that well-being is a simple function of income. However, it has been found that once wealth reaches a subsistence level, its effectiveness as a generator of well-being is greatly diminished. Happiness economists hope to change the way governments view well-being and how to most effectively govern and allocate resources given this paradox.

In 2010, Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton found that higher earners generally reported better life satisfaction, but people's day-to-day emotional well-being only rose with earnings until a threshold annual household pre-tax income of $75,000. This particular study by Kahneman and Deaton showed the relationship between experienced happiness and the maximum amount of income at $75,000. Experienced happiness is the happiness received on a daily basis-"the frequency and intensity of experiences of joy, fascination, anxiety, sadness, anger, and affection that make one's life pleasant or unpleasant." The other finding from Kahneman and Deaton is there is no evidence supporting a maximum income to what is called reflective happiness. This data is supported by the use of the Cantrill Ladder and revealed that there is a direct relationship between income and reflective happiness. This can conclude, to a point, that money does buy happiness.

Other factors have been suggested as making people happier than money. A short term course of psychological therapy is 32 times more cost effective at increasing happiness than simply increasing income.

Scholars at the University of Virginia, University of British Columbia and Harvard University released a study in 2011 after examining numerous academic paper in response to an apparent contradiction: "When asked to take stock of their lives, people with more money report being a good deal more satisfied. But when asked how happy they are at the moment, people with more money are barely different than those with less." Published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the study is entitled "If Money Doesn't Make You Happy, Then You Probably Aren't Spending It Right" and included the following eight general recommendations:

Spend money on "experiences" rather than goods.
Donate money to others, including charities, rather than spending it solely on oneself.
Spend small amounts of money on many small, temporary pleasures rather than less often on larger ones.
Don't spend money on "extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance."
Adjust one's mindset to "pay now, consume later," instead of "consume now, pay later."
Exercise circumspection about the day-to-day consequences of a purchase beforehand.
Rather than buying products that provide the "best deal," make purchases based on what will facilitate well-being.
Seek out the opinions of other people who have prior experience of a product before purchasing it.

In their "Unhappy Cities" paper, Edward Glaeser, Joshua Gottlieb and Oren Ziv examined the self-reported subjective well-being of people living in American metropolitan areas, particularly in relation to the notion that "individuals make trade-offs among competing objectives, including but not limited to happiness." The researchers findings revealed that people living in metropolitan areas where lower levels of happiness are reported are receiving higher real wages, and they suggest in their conclusion that "humans are quite understandably willing to sacrifice both happiness and life satisfaction if the price is right."

Social security

Ruut Veenhoven claimed that social security payments do not seem to add to happiness. This may be due to the fact that non-self-earned income (e.g., from a lottery) does not add to happiness in general either.^{[citation needed]} Happiness may be the mind's reward for a useful action. However, Johan Norberg of CIS, a free enterprise economy think tank, presents a hypothesis that as people who think that they themselves control their lives are happier, paternalist institutions may decrease happiness.

An alternative perspective focuses on the role of the welfare state as an institution that improves quality of life not only by increasing the extent to which basic human needs are met, but also by promoting greater control of one's life by limiting the degree to which individuals find themselves at the mercy of impersonal market forces that are indifferent to the fate of individuals. This is the argument suggested by the U.S. political scientist Benjamin Radcliff, who has presented a series of papers in peer-reviewed scholarly journals demonstrating that a more generous welfare state contributes to higher levels of life satisfaction, and does so to rich and poor alike.

Employment

Generally, the well-being of those who are employed is higher than those who are unemployed. Employment itself may not increase subjective well-being, but facilitates activities that do (such as supporting a family, philanthropy, and education). While work does increase well-being through providing income, income level is not as indicative of subjective well-being as other benefits related to employment. Feelings of autonomy and mastery, found in higher levels in the employed than unemployed, are stronger predictors of subjective well-being than wealth.

When personal preference and the amount of time spent working do not align, both men and women experience a decrease in subjective well-being. The negative effect of working more or working less than preferred has been found across multiple studies, most finding that working more than preferred (over-employed) is more detrimental, but some found that working less (under-employed) is more detrimental. Most individuals' levels of subjective well-being returned to "normal" (level previous to time mismatch) within one year. Levels remained lower only when individuals worked more hours than preferred for a period of two years or more, which may indicate that it is more detrimental to be over-employed than under-employed in the long-term.

Employment status effects are not confined to the individual. Being unemployed can have detrimental effects on a spouse's subjective well-being, compared to being employed or not working (and not looking for work). Partner life satisfaction is inversely related to the number of hours their partner is underemployed. When both partners are underemployed, the life-satisfaction of men is more greatly diminished than women. However, just being in a relationship reduces the impact unemployment has on the subjective well-being of an individual. On a broad scale, high rates of unemployment negatively affect the subjective well-being of the employed.

Becoming self-employed can increase subjective well-being, given the right conditions. Those who leave work to become self-employed report greater life satisfaction than those who work for others or become self-employed after unemployment; this effect increases over time. Those who are self-employed and have employees of their own report higher life-satisfaction than those who are self-employed without employees, and women who are self-employed without employees report a higher life satisfaction than men in the same condition.

The effects of retirement on subjective well-being vary depending on personal and cultural factors. Subjective well-being can remain stable for those who retire from work voluntarily, but declines for those who are involuntarily retired. In countries with an average social norm to work, the well-being of men increases after retirement, and the well-being of retired women is at the same level as women who are homemakers or work outside the home. In countries with a strong social norm to work, retirement negatively impacts the well-being of men and women.

Relationships and children

In the 1970s, women typically reported higher subjective well-being than did men. By 2009, declines in reported female happiness had eroded a gender gap.

In rich societies, where a rise in income doesn't equate to an increase in levels of subjective well-being, personal relationships are the determining factors of happiness.

Glaeser, Gottlieb and Ziv suggest in their conclusion that the happiness trade-offs that individuals seem willing to make aligns with the tendency of parents to report less happiness, as they sacrifice their personal well-being for the "price" of having children.

Freedom and control

There is a significant correlation between feeling in control of one's own life and happiness levels.

A study conducted at the University of Zurich suggested that democracy and federalism bring well-being to individuals. It concluded that the more direct political participation possibilities available to citizens raises their subjective well-being. Two reasons were given for this finding. First, a more active role for citizens enables better monitoring of professional politicians by citizens, which leads to greater satisfaction with government output. Second, the ability for citizens to get involved in and have control over the political process, independently increases well-being.

American psychologist Barry Schwartz argues in his book The Paradox of Choice that too many consumer and lifestyle choices can produce anxiety and unhappiness due to analysis paralysis and raised expectations of satisfaction.

Religious diversity

National cross-sectional data suggest an inverse relationship between religious diversity and happiness, possibly by facilitating more bonding (and less bridging) social capital.

Happiness and leisure

Much of the research regarding happiness and leisure relies on subjective well-being (SWB) as an appropriate measure of happiness. Research has demonstrated a wide variety of contributing and resulting factors in the relationship between leisure and happiness. These include psychological mechanisms, and the types and characteristics of leisure activities that result in the greatest levels of subjective happiness. Specifically, leisure may trigger five core psychological mechanisms including detachment-recovery from work, autonomy in leisure, mastery of leisure activities, meaning-making in leisure activities, and social affiliation in leisure (DRAMMA). Leisure activities that are physical, relational, and performed outdoors are correlated with greater feelings of satisfaction with free time. Research across 33 different countries shows that individuals who feel they strengthen social relationships and work on personal development during leisure time are happier than others. Furthermore, shopping, reading books, attending cultural events, getting together with relatives, listening to music and attending sporting events is associated with higher levels of happiness. Spending time on the internet or watching TV is not associated with higher levels of happiness as compared to these other activities.

Research has shown that culture influences how we measure happiness and leisure. While SWB is a commonly used measure of happiness in North America and Europe, this may not be the case internationally. Quality of life (QOL) may be a better measure of happiness and leisure in Asian countries, especially Korea. Countries such as China and Japan may require a different measurement of happiness, as societal differences may influence the concept of happiness (i.e. economic variables, cultural practices, and social networks) beyond what QOL is able to measure. There seem to be some differences in leisure preference cross-culturally. Within the Croatian culture, family related leisure activities may enhance SWB across a large spectrum of ages ranging from adolescent to older adults, in both women and men. Active socializing and visiting cultural events are also associated with high levels of SWB across varying age and gender. Italians seem to prefer social conceptions of leisure as opposed to individualistic conceptions. Although different groups of individuals may prefer varying types and amount of leisure activity, this variability is likely due to the differing motivations and goals that an individual intends to fulfill with their leisure time.

Research suggests that specific leisure interventions enhance feelings of SWB. This is both a top-down and bottom-up effect, in that leisure satisfaction causally affects SWB, and SWB causally affects leisure satisfaction. This bi-directional effect is stronger in retired individuals than in working individuals. Furthermore, it appears that satisfaction with our leisure at least partially explains the relationship between our engagement in leisure and our SWB. Broadly speaking, researchers classify leisure into active (e.g. volunteering, socializing, sports and fitness) and passive leisure (e.g. watching television and listening to the radio). Among older adults, passive leisure activities and personal leisure activities (e.g. sleeping, eating, and bathing) correlate with higher levels of SWB and feelings of relaxation than active leisure activities. Thus, although significant evidence has demonstrated that active leisure is associated with higher levels of SWB, or happiness, this may not be the case with older populations.

Both regular and irregular involvement in sports leisure can result in heightened SWB. Serious, or systematic involvement in certain leisure activities, such as taekwondo, correlates with personal growth and a sense of happiness. Additionally, more irregular (e.g. seasonal) sports activities, such as skiing, are also correlated with high SWB. Furthermore, the relationship between pleasure and skiing is thought to be caused in part by a sense of flow and involvement with the activity. Leisure activities, such as meeting with friends, participating in sports, and going on vacation trips, positively correlate with life satisfaction. It may also be true that going on a vacation makes our lives seem better, but does not necessarily make us happier in the long term. Research regarding vacationing or taking a holiday trip is mixed. Although the reported effects are mostly small, some evidence points to higher levels of SWB, or happiness, after taking a holiday.

Economic security

Poverty alleviation are associated with happier populations. According to the latest systematic review of the economic literature on life satisfaction: Volatile or high inflation is bad for a population's well-being, particularly those with a right-wing political orientation. That suggests the impact of disruptions to economic security are in part mediated or modified by beliefs about economic security.

Political stability

The Voxeu analysis of the economic determinants of happiness found that life satisfaction explains the largest share of an existing government's vote share, followed by economic growth, which itself explains six times as much as employment and twice as much as inflation.

Economic freedom

Individualistic societies have happier populations. Institutes of economic freedom are associated with increases wealth inequality but does not necessarily contribute to decreases in aggregate well-being or subjective well-being at the population level. In fact, income inequality enhances global well-being. There is some debate over whether living in poor neighbours make one happier. And, living among rich neighbours can dull the happiness that comes from wealth. This is purported to work by way of an upward or downward comparison effect (Keeping up with the Joneses). The balance of evidence is trending in favour of the hypothesis that living in poor neighbourhoods makes one less happy, and living in rich neighbourhoods actually makes one happier, in the United States. While social status matters, a balance of factors like amenities, safe areas, well maintained housing, turn the tide in favour of the argument that richer neighbours are happier neighbours.

Democracy

"The right to participate in the political process, measured by the extent of direct democratic rights across regions, is strongly correlated with subjective well-being (Frey and Stutzer, 2002) ... a potential mechanism that explains this relationship is the perception of procedural fairness and social mobility." Institutions and well-being, democracy and federalism are associated with a happier population. Correspondingly, political engagement and activism have associated health benefits. On the other hand, some non-democratic countries such as China and Saudi Arabia top the Ipsos list of countries where the citizenry is most happy with their government's direction. That suggests that voting preferences may not translate well into overall satisfaction with the government's direction. In any case, both of these factors revealed preference and domain specific satisfaction rather than overall subjective well being.

Economic development

Historically, economists thought economic growth was unrelated to population level well-being, a phenomenon labelled the Easterlin paradox. More robust research has identified that there is a link between economic development and the wellbeing of the population. A <2017 meta-analysis shows that the impact of infrastructure expenditure on economic growth varies considerably. So, one cannot assume an infrastructure project will yield welfare benefits. The paper doesn't investigate or elaborate on any modifiable variables that might predict the value of a project. However, government spending on roads and primary industries is the best value target for transport spending, according to a 2013 meta-analysis. 7%+/−3% per annum discount rates are typically applied as the discount rate on public infrastructure projects in Australia. Smaller real discount rates are used internationally to calculate the social return on investment by governments.

Alternative approach: economic consequences of happiness

While the mainstream happiness economics has focused on identifying the determinants of happiness, an alternative approach in the discipline examines instead what are the economic consequences of happiness. Happiness may act as a determinant of economic outcomes: it increases productivity, predicts one's future income and affects labour market performance. There is a growing number of studies justifying the so-called "happy-productive worker" thesis. The positive and causal impact of happiness on an individual's productivity has been established in experimental studies.

Related studies

The Satisfaction with Life Index is an attempt to show the average self-reported happiness in different nations. This is an example of a recent trend to use direct measures of happiness, such as surveys asking people how happy they are, as an alternative to traditional measures of policy success such as GDP or GNP. Some studies suggest that happiness can be measured effectively. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), published in November 2008 a major study on happiness economics in Latin America and the Caribbean.

There are also several examples of measures that include self-reported happiness as one variable. Happy Life Years, a concept brought by Dutch sociologist Ruut Veenhoven, combines self-reported happiness with life expectancy. The Happy Planet Index combines it with life expectancy and ecological footprint.

Gross National Happiness (GNH) is a concept introduced by the King of Bhutan in 1972 as an alternative to GDP. Several countries have already developed or are in the process of developing such an index. Bhutan's index has led that country to limit the amount of deforestation it will allow and to require that all tourists to its nation must spend US$200 Allegedly, low-budget tourism and deforestation lead to unhappiness.

After the military coup of 2006, Thailand also instituted an index. The stated promise of the new Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont is to make the Thai people not only richer but happier as well. Much like GDP results, Thailand releases monthly GNH data. The Thai GNH index is based on a 1–10 scale with 10 being the happiest. As of 13 May 2007, the Thai GNH measured 5.1 points. The index uses poll data from the population surveying various satisfaction factors such as security, public utilities, good governance, trade, social justice, allocation of resources, education and community problems.

Australia, China, France and the United Kingdom are also coming up with indexes to measure national happiness. The UK began to measure national wellbeing in 2012. North Korea also announced an international Happiness Index in 2011 through Korean Central Television. North Korea itself came in second, behind #1 China. Canada released the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW) in 2011 to track changes in wellbeing. The CIW has adopted the following working definition of wellbeing: The presence of the highest possible quality of life in its full breadth of expression focused on but not necessarily exclusive to good living standards, robust health, a sustainable environment, vital communities, an educated populace, balanced time use, high levels of democratic participation, and access to and participation in leisure and culture

Ecuador's and Bolivia's new constitutions state the indigenous concept of "good life" ("buen vivir" in Spanish, "sumak kawsay" in Quichua, and "suma qamaña" in Aymara) as the goal of sustainable development.

Neoclassical economics

Neoclassical, as well as classical economics, are not subsumed under the term happiness economics although the original goal was to increase the happiness of the people. Classical and neoclassical economics are stages in the development of welfare economics and are characterized by mathematical modeling. Happiness economics represents a radical break with this tradition. The measurement of subjective happiness respectively life satisfaction by means of survey research across nations and time (in addition to objective measures like lifespan, wealth, security etc.) marks the beginning of happiness economics.

Criticism

Some have suggested that establishing happiness as a metric is only meant to serve political goals. Recently there has been concern that happiness research could be used to advance authoritarian aims. As a result, some participants at a happiness conference in Rome have suggested that happiness research should not be used as a matter of public policy but rather used to inform individuals.

Even on the individual level, there is discussion on how much effect external forces can have on happiness. Less than 3% of an individual's level of happiness comes from external sources such as employment, education level, marital status, and socioeconomic status. To go along with this, four of the Big Five Personality Traits are substantially associated with life satisfaction, openness to experience is not associated. Having high levels of internal locus of control leads to higher reported levels of happiness.

Even when happiness can be affected by external sources, it has high hedonic adaptation, some specific events such as an increase in income, disability, unemployment, and loss (bereavement) only have short-term (about a year) effects on a person's overall happiness and after a while happiness may return to levels similar to unaffected peers.

What has the most influence over happiness are internal factors such as genetics, personality traits, and internal locus of control. It is theorized that 50% of the variation in happiness levels is from genetic sources and is known as the genetic set point. The genetic set point is assumed to be stable over time, fixed, and immune to influence or control. This goes along with findings that well-being surveys have a naturally positive baseline.

With such strong internal forces on happiness, it is hard to have an effect on a person's happiness externally. This in turn lends itself back to the idea that establishing a happiness metric is only for political gain and has little other use. To support this even further it is believed that a country aggregate level of SWB can account for more variance in government vote share than standard macroeconomic variables, such as income and employment.

Technical issues

According to Bond and Lang (2018), the results are skewed due to the fact that the respondents have to "round" their true happiness to the scale of, e.g., 3 or 7 alternatives (e.g., very happy, pretty happy, not too happy). This "rounding error" may cause a less happy group seem happier, in the average. This would not be the case if the happiness of both groups would be normally distributed with the same variance, but that is usually not the case, based on their results. For some not-implausible log-normal assumptions on the scale, typical results can be reversed to the opposite results.

They also show that the "reporting function" seems to be different for different groups and even for the same individual at different times. For example, when a person becomes disabled, they soon start to lower their threshold for a given answer (e.g., "pretty happy"). That is, they give a higher answer than they would have given at the same happiness state before becoming disabled

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Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Lotus Sutra

Title

Main themes

One Vehicle, Many Skillful Means

All beings have the potential to become Buddhas

The nature of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

Overview

Chapter 1

Chapters 2–9

Chapters 10–22

Chapters 23–28

History and reception

Early development

Reception in India

In China

Translations

Commentaries

Tiantai

The Chinese "Threefold Lotus Sūtra"

Japan

Tendai

Nichiren Buddhism

Zen Buddhism

Modern developments

In the West

19th century

20th century translations

Lotus Sūtra practice

In East Asia

In East Asian culture

Art

Literature

Theater

Folklore

Gross National Happiness

History

Definition

Bhutanese GNH index

Implementation in Bhutan

Dissemination

Criticism

Happiness economics

Subject classifications

Metrology

Determinants

GDP and GNP

Individual income

Social security

Employment

Relationships and children

Freedom and control

Religious diversity

Happiness and leisure

Economic security

Political stability

Economic freedom

Democracy

Economic development

Alternative approach: economic consequences of happiness

Related studies

Neoclassical economics

Criticism

Technical issues

Regions of Europe