Lotus Sutra Dharma Discussion Group

Course Information

The Lotus Sutra  (Sanskrit: Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, or “Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma”) is a highly revered and influential Mahayana Buddhist text.  The Lotus Sutra teaches that all sentient beings can attain Buddhahood, that the Buddha’s teachings are given with compassionate skill, and that the Buddha is eternally present in the world. It encourages practitioners to have faith in the ultimate truth, engage in devotional practices, and work tirelessly for the liberation of all beings. Key topics in the Lotus Sutra include: discussion of expedient means, parables and symbolism, and the one vehicle.

Scholars place the origin of the Lotus Sutra around 50-150 CE while a translation from Sanskrit to Chinese in 255 CE is the earliest documentation of the Sutra.  The Lotus Sutra is the main scripture on which the Tiantai School, and its derivative schools, the Japanese Tendai and Nichiren are based.

Information on How the Class will Operate:

Our Lotus Sutra class will meet on Zoom every Thursday at 7–8:30pm, beginning on Thursday, January 8. We will spend two weeks on each chapter. The first week will focus on the specific content of the chapter and its meanings, including how it fits into the broader Buddhist teachings. The second week of each chapter will focus on how this information can be used in our practice, and what new insights it opens for our understanding of Chan Buddhism. There is some weekly homework; participants will be given 4–5 discussion questions to reflect on as they read the material, and the small discussion groups can use this material as a starting point. You will not be asked to submit your homework to anyone, but use it for your own reflection and learning.

Each class will begin with a 10-minute meditation, and then I’ll spend 10–15 minutes going over key points of the chapter that we will cover that evening. Then we’ll break into discussion rooms; and depending on how many people enroll, we may change rooms twice. We’ll spend the last 20 minutes or so as a group relaying what we and our group thought were the most important comments and issues. This is the planned format, but we may adapt and change as we get into the class and figure out what works best.

Readings and Materials

Guo Gu chose the Burton Watson translation of the Lotus Sutra for our study so that we can collectively refer to the same text, but if you wish to investigate other translations, he suggested that of Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama, sponsored by the Numata Center (on the web as The Lotus Sutra: 2007 BDK version), or Leon Hurvitz’s Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma—both of these are excellent. The PDF for Burton Watson’s translation is also free on the web, but the chapter titles differ somewhat and the text contains many typos.

A recent book—Readings of the Lotus: Sutra, co-edited by Stephen Teiser and Jacqueline I. Stone—contains eight chapters written by eight scholars who tackle the Lotus Sutra from different perspectives and on specific topics, such as Art in the Lotus Sutra, and Gender and Hierarchy in the Lotus Sutra. The PDF is also available on our class website.

Instructor
Fran took refuge as a Buddhist in 1980 in Lexington, KY at a meditation center affiliated with Tibetan Rinpoche Chögyam Trungpa, founder of Shambhala Meditation. She began studying with Guo Gu in January 2010, after attending English meditation instructions and retreats at Dharma Drum Mountain Monastery in Taiwan. Fran took Bodhisattva Precepts in 2010.  Fran is currently the President of the Board of Directors of the Tallahassee Chan Center, and has been teaching Beginning Meditation Workshops and other meditation classes since 2015. She has also taught Taiqi (Tai Chi) for 25 years. Fran has been married for over 40 years and is a retired Professor of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University.