Roshi continued with the second half of Chapter 12 of the Lotus Sutra, right after Shakyamuni’s revelation that Devadatta was once his teacher. At this point Prajnakuta asks, “Well, are we done here now? We’ve been here a while, can we leave?” Shakyamuni says, “Let’s stay, and talk about wisdom.”  So he calls on Manjushri,…

Having reached Chapter 12 of the Lotus Sutra, Roshi wondered aloud whether we had yet asked ourselves an important question: was the author, the person who actually wrote down all of this dramatic, fantastical material, on drugs? Roshi offered four states of mind that he thought could have inspired the Lotus Sutra. First, it could…

Roshi continued with Chapter 11 of the Lotus Sutra. Chapter 11 starts with a contradictory pair of statements: those who live by the Lotus Sutra will find that their pain and suffering are relieved, however the Lotus Sutra may also cause more pain and suffering. It’s an interesting question: how can something that eases our…