Lotus Sutra
Mahayana Buddhist scripture of anonymous and collective authorship, probably composed in several stages between the first century BCE and the second century CE in India, and one of the most influential and revered texts of all East Asian Buddhism. Its full title, 'Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma', alludes to the image of the lotus flower growing pure out of the mud, a symbol of how an enlightened nature can emerge intact amid the impurities of the world. Its most far-reaching teaching is the doctrine of the single vehicle (ekayana): the different Buddhist paths that seemed distinct —that of the arhats, that of bodhisattvas, that of each school— are merely 'skilful means' (upaya) that the Buddha temporarily adapted to the capacities of each listener, but which ultimately all converge into a single universal vehicle toward full Buddhahood, which every sentient being without exception is destined to reach, including those who seemed hopelessly astray. The text also reveals that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, did not attain enlightenment under the bodhi tree but incalculable eons ago, and that his apparent death was merely a pedagogical device, since in reality an eternal, cosmic Buddha continues teaching without cease from a transcendent 'Vulture Peak'. This vision of universal Buddhahood, accessible even to laypeople and, in a famous and much-debated passage, to an eight-year-old dragon king's daughter who attains enlightenment instantaneously, directly inspired such influential schools as Chinese Tiantai, Japanese Tendai and Nichiren, and is regarded by many practitioners —especially within the Nichiren tradition, where the mere recitation of its title is venerated as the supreme salvific practice— as the culminating and definitive teaching of the Buddha's entire preaching.