Beginning today I will be posting excerpts from Source Elements of the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Integration of Religion, Thought, and Culture as part of my daily 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra posting. The excerpts won’t align perfectly with the daily section being considered.

Keisho Tsukamoto’s Source Elements of the Lotus Sutra is not a book about the teaching of the Lotus Sutra as much as it is a book about how the evolution of Buddhism is reflected in the Lotus Sutra. As such it is filled with archeological and historical minutia that is of little interest outside academic circles. Today’s post, Embracing the Nāga cult, is a good example.

The book was originally published in Japanese in 1986 and republished in English by Kosei Publishing in 2007. When I purchased this book last year, it was going for $50 used. The cover price was originally $26.95. Today you would be hard-pressed to find this book for sale for less than $300. This is the Pokemon card in my Lotus Sutra library – do I hold on to it or sell it for a big profit.