Today I’ve begun publishing quotes from The Beginnings of Buddhism and additional quotes from The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism.

I have 90 quotes that I expect to publish from The Beginnings of Buddhism. In the past when I’ve finished a book, I’ve added all to the quotes to the website and scheduled one to be published per day until they run out. I don’t want to do that this time because of the nature of the topic. These quotes, while valuable in understanding the roots of early Buddhism, need to be kept in perspective of the Ultimate Truth revealed in the Lotus Sūtra.

From The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism:

With regard to the Four Teachings, Chih-i argues that the positions of the Tripiṭaka, the Common, and the Separate Teachings must be abandoned. This is because, once they have fulfilled their roles as tentative positions, i.e., after one has progressed from these three teachings to the Perfect Teaching, and attained the ultimate position of the Perfect Teaching, these tentative positions are no longer needed. Moreover, at the moment when these tentative positions hinder one’s attainment of the ultimate position on the path of religious practice, they must be abolished too.

Moving forward I expect to publish something from The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism each time I publish something from The Beginnings of Buddhism.  This will be more haphazard than my rigid daily schedule, but potentially more useful.