In editing “Nichiren, The Buddhist Prophet” by Masaharu Anesaki I’ve had no trouble changing “Scripture” to Lotus Sutra or “Sole Road” to One Vehicle, as I attempt to reduce potential distractions caused by Anesaki’s insertion of Christian vocabulary into his explanation of Buddhism and the teaching of Nichiren. But Anesaki’s description of the Lotus Sutra as Johannine gave me pause.

The first reference comes in Chapter 2, in a short section entitled, “The Lotus of Truth; its general nature”:

Critical study of Buddhist literature will doubtless throw more light on the formation and date of the compilation; but even apart from minute analysis, we can safely characterize the book as occupying the place taken in Christian literature by the Johannine writings, including the Gospel, the Apocalypse, and the Epistles.

Google Johannine and one quickly finds that it relates to the Apostle John the Evangelist or to his Gospel and epistles in the New Testament.

Clearly this is an important distinction to Anesaki.

My Googling failed to find a description of “the place taken in Christian literature by the Johannine writings” that might shed some light on what Anesaki was trying to point out.

Later in the book, in discussing T’ien T’ai’s teachings, Anesaki writes:

This book [the Lotus Sutra], as has been observed above, may be called the Johannine Gospel of Buddhism. It tries to solve the problems of reality by the key given in the identification of Buddha’s enlightenment with cosmic truth.

Identifying the Śākyamuni of Chapter 16, the Eternal Original Buddha, with cosmic truth is reasonable. The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva, the concluding sutra of the Threefold Lotus Sutra, says, “Śākyamuni Buddha is Vairocana.”  But how that relates to the Johannine Gospel is lost on me.

Perhaps it’s as simple as the opening lines of the Gospel of John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

Perhaps not. I don’t know. I’m self-taught in almost all aspects of my education, the product of California public schools and limited higher education. It is at times like this that I feel the loss.