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A Buddhist Kaleidoscope: Essays on the Lotus Sutra

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The Lotus Sutra is much admired among Buddhists but its value isn't immediately apparent to Westerners who expect all scripture to be of the style and intent of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. The Lotus Sutra is in fact a series of stories and parables which also include examples of lives of several extraordinary enlightenment beings, bodhisattvas. The saving truth of the Sutra is that every sentient being will become a buddha; that The Buddha is eternal, and with various and appropriate means is actively involved in curing the sufferings of our world; and that the way to buddhahood is by walking the bodhisattva path of compassionate action for others.

The greatness of KALEIDOSCOPE is that it doesn't just stare at the Lotus Sutra, or venerate it, or treat it as a talisman. The contributors have looked at it from a variety of angles: Buddhist and non-Buddhist, literary and hermeneutical, historical and mythological, Asian, European American, academic, feminist, etc. And what they produced was a unique compendium of insight and knowledge about a book as vital to world religion as the Torah, the Bible, the Qu'ran, and the Upanishads.

First of all, let's specify who this book is for: someone who has read the Lotus Sutra, and preferably has also read a reliable commentary, such as Nikkyo Niwano's "Buddhism for Today".

For those who haven't read it, the Lotus Sutra is the pre-eminent scripture of Mahayana Buddhism, and sects like Tendai, Nichiren Shu, Reiyukai, and Rissho Kosei-kai are built around it. It's not only influenced religion, but Japanese and Chinese culture. It's a symbolic, multi-leveled, complex work that reveals fresh insights with consistent study.

The contributors to this book of essays (edited by the insightful Dr. Gene Reeves under the auspices of Rissho Kosei-kai)have clearly done their homework. Each essay reveals another facet of the sutra, from its echoes in the works of great writers, to its view of women, to its compatibility with inter-religious dialogue.

Yes, this is a scholarly book, and some background in theology will make for easier reading. But the essays are as accessible as possible, and overall, the book makes an enjoyable read for any Buddhist or student of world religions.

Although the book is published by the well-respected Japanese Buddhist organization Rissho Kosei-kai, the authors don't shy away from taking a hard look at parts of the Lotus Sutra, and, because the contributors come from a variety of backgrounds, there is no doctrinal bias whatsoever.

Overall, a very rewarding (and, pardon the pun, enlightening) book.

The lotus sutra, along side with the Prajnaparamitra sutras, is considered by many as the corner stone of Mahayana Buddhism. The teachings of Emptiness, the idea of the Buddhisatva and the "ever present Buddha", are well recorded throughout the sutra, and give everyone that reads in it a taste of pure Mahayana style philosophy. This "Buddhist Kaleidoskope" takes many many points of view on the sutra and try to explain them in a broader context. I find this collection to be amazing as far the subjects being delt with, and I think that anyone who has an interest in the Lotus should ,at least, check the table of content....
If you want to have an idea of how great this collection is, read these numbers : 6 chapters about various subjects regarding the sutra, more than 30 articles, more than 25 different writers . I found it very helpful indeed....
P.S - If you're looking for the stories within the sutra, from a folclorist point of view, I would suggest reading the : "Miraculous tales of the Lotus sutra from ancient Japan" by priest Chingen. .