On Skillfulness In Ways & Means: An in-depth examination of the second chapter of The Lotus Sūtra Paperback – October 1, 2023

The Lotus Sūtra is regarded by many as the most profound teaching of Buddhism. It is certainly one of the great treasures of literature we have inherited from the ancient world. The second chapter, On Skillfulness in Ways &Means, is generally considered to be the oldest part of the scripture and serves as the key to understanding the rest of it. This book is an in-depth examination of this chapter, including English translations of:* The chapter itself* The definitive commentary on it by Zhìyǐ of the Tiāntāi School in his ‘Words & Passages of The Lotus Sūtra’ (C. Fǎhuá Wénjù, J. Hōkke Mongu, 法華文句)* Supplemental translations of commentaries attributed to Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu & Zhìyǐ on this chapter’s ‘ten mutually dependent aspects found in the transcendental meaning of all of life’s purposes’ that help clarify the origin and design of Zhìyǐ’s ultimate meditation system, known as ‘the three thousand aspects in a singlemoment of thought’.* Commentaries on passages from this chapter from ‘The Oral Transmission of the Meaning’, said to be given by Nichiren to his disciple Nikkō* Comprehensive footnotes that offer a background on Buddhist concepts and history relevant to the subject.The author/translator Peter Lunde Johnson has already published translations of several important Buddhist works, such as Xuánzang’s commentary on Vasubandhu’s Thirty Stanzas of Verse About the Virtual Nature of Consciousness (Vijnapti Matratā Siddhi, 成唯識論), Shàndǎo’s Commentary in Four Parts Explaining the Sūtra About Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life (Amitāyur Dhyāna Sūtra, (觀無量壽佛經疏四帖) and commentaries on the Heart Sūtra by Fǎzang and Kūkai Read more