Assess the Importance of the Lotus Sutra in Mahayana Buddhism

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Assess the importance of the Lotus Sutra in Mahayana Buddhism. [35] The Lotus Sutra is one of the most fascinating, diverse and popular scriptures within Mahayana Buddhism. The popularity of this scripture is so high, especially in the eyes of East Asian Buddhists, that the Mahayana scholar Paul Williams has argued that it is “the nearest Buddhist equivalent to a Bible – one revealed work containing the final truth, itself sufficient for salvation”. This essay will examine and evaluate the reasons for the centrality of the Lotus Sutra within Mahayana Buddhism. To achieve this we will need to place this scripture within a wider Buddhist, and specifically Mahayana Buddhist, context. One key reason for the importance of the Lotus Sutra to Mahayana Buddhists is that it outlines beliefs and concepts that are central to Mahayana Buddhism. Examples of these include the importance of the Bodhisattva path, the notion of upaya or `skilful means` and the idea of the one vehicle or ekayana. The Lotus Sutra makes it clear to Mahayana Buddhists that the true path to full Buddhahood is that of the Bodhisattva who, by following the path of great compassion, aspires to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. In establishing the Bodhisattva ideal as the highest goal, the Lotus Sutra also asserts the superiority of Mahayana Buddhism over earlier forms of Buddhism which, with their limited and selfish goal of the Arhat, are described as Hinayana (or `lesser vehicle`). This positioning of the Mahayana as a superior form of Buddhism to the Hinayana is clearly a key objective of the Lotus Sutra which, at the time of its composition, would have played an important role as the Mahayana movement jostled to assert itself on the Indian Buddhist landscape. In order to make complete sense of the Bodhisattva ideal, which appeared at a significantly later moment in the

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