As mentioned yesterday, Master Hsuan Hua didn’t hold the Lotus Sutra as the highest teaching of the Buddha, but that doesn’t mean he did not revere the Lotus Sutra. From the first volume of his 14-volume commentary, he makes his position clear.

The Buddha taught the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the Āgama sūtras, the Vaipulya sutras, and the Prajña sutras over a period of several decades in order to pave the way for the Dharma Flower Sūtra. The previous teachings of the Avataṃsaka, Agama, Vaipulya, and Prajña Dharmas are known as “using the provisional for the sake of the ultimate.” Why did the Buddha teach those Dharmas? It was all for the Dharma Flower Sūtra. Now, in the Dharma Flower assembly, the Buddha “relinquishes the provisional to establish the ultimate.” That is, he discards the provisional and expedient Dharmas that he had taught previously and only preserves the Dharma Flower Sūtra.

The Dharma Flower Sūtra is the true mind of the Buddha. The Dharma Flower Sūtra is the true body, the Dharma body, the transformation body, and the reward body of the Buddha. Students of the Buddhadharma who have not thoroughly understood the Dharma Flower Sūtra have not yet tasted the true flavor of the Buddhadharma. The genuine and wonderful principles of the Buddhadharma are contained within the Dharma Flower Sūtra. That is why this Dharma is called “wonderful Dharma” and why the lotus flower is the metaphor for this sūtra.

The lotus flower is the king of flowers, the most precious of all. The lotus flower emerges from the mud yet is undefiled. Even though it is rooted in the mud, the flower is separated from the mud by water. It is said, “While in the muck, it transcends the muck.” The lotus flower is a wonderful flower, and this wonderful lotus flower is the most precious of all flowers. Similarly, this sutra is the ultimate sutra. There is a saying in Buddhism: “The Śūraṅgama is for opening wisdom, and the Dharma Flower is for becoming a Buddha.”

To open wisdom, one must study the Śūraṅgama Sūtra; to become a Buddha, one must learn the Dharma Flower Sūtra. In this way, the Dharma flower Sūtra and the Śūraṅgama Sūtra are the two most important sūtras in Buddhism. The Dharma Flower Sūtra is especially so, because all other sūtras were taught in preparation for the Dharma flower Sūtra. Thus it is the king of all sūtras. It is most rare and wonderful, beyond words and description, that we are now able to study the Dharma flower Sūtra.