It is not simple to understand the Lotus Sūtra. Depending on the standpoint from which you approach the Lotus Sūtra, your understanding will take a different direction.

You might start with the original Sanskrit version of the Lotus Sūtra and consider it as one of the early Mahāyāna sūtras. Doubtless this is meaningful work for Buddhist studies.

On the other hand, one cannot ignore the Chinese translation of the Lotus Sūtra. This translation led to a wide range of belief and was a great influence on the development of Buddhist thought. Grand Master Tiāntái Zhizhe, 538-598 CE, Grand Master Dengyō Saichō, 767-822 CE, and Nichiren Shōnin, 1222-1282 CE, immediately come to mind as leaders who made great strides in Buddhist thought through their study of the Chinese version of the Lotus Sūtra. If you use these leaders as guides to your understanding of the Lotus Sūtra, it is not necessary to consider the Sanskrit version; the Chinese translation is all you need.

In this discussion, we keep the Chinese version in mind as we explore the teachings of the Lotus Sūtra. We Japanese have long used the Chinese version of the Lotus Sūtra, or its Japanese translation, rather than the Sanskrit version. Therefore, when quoting the Lotus Sūtra, we will use passages from the Chinese translation as translated by Bishop Senchu Murano.

That being said, we have no intention of preventing your study of Buddhism from understanding the Lotus Sūtra as one of the early Mahāyāna sūtras. Only by combining approaches can one understand the necessity of the cornerstones of the teachings of the Lotus Sūtra. These are, “opening the three vehicles to reveal the One Vehicle,” “attainment of buddhahood by the people of the two vehicles,” “opening the near to reveal the far,” and “attaining awakening in the remotest past.”