Original and Development of Buddhist Education Reflected in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature Important from the Saddharmapundarika-sutra

Original and development of Buddhist Education reflected in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature Important from the Saddharmapundarika-sutra The Saddharmapundarika-sutra also called the Lotus Sutra, White Lotus Sutra, Sutra of the White Lotus, or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma; (Sanskrit: Saddharmapundarika-sutra). Probably composed in its earliest form in the period 100BCE - 100CE, the White Lotus proposes that the three yanas (Shravakayana, Pratyekabuddhayana, and Bodhisattvayana) are not in fact three different paths leading to three goals, but one path, with one goal. The earlier teachings are said to be of "skilful means" in order to help beings of limited capacities. Notable for the (re)appearance of the Buddha Prabhutaratna, who had died several a earlier, because it suggests that a Buddha is not inaccessible after his parinirvana, and also that his life-span is said to be inconceivably long because of the accumulation of merit in past lives. This idea, though not necessarily from this source, forms the basis of the later Trikaya doctrine. Later associated particularly with the Tien Tai in China, Tendai school in Japan, and the Nichiren schools in Japan. The earliest known Sanskrit title for the sutra is the SaddharmaPundarikaSutra, which translates to the Good Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra. In English, the shortened form Lotus Sutra is common. The Lotus Sutra has also been highly regarded in a number of Asian countries where Mah?y?na Buddhism has been traditionally practiced. Translations of this title into the languages of some of these countries include Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, English.