"The Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka (The Lotus of the True Law), one of the Mahayana sutras, is perhaps the single most important Mahayana Buddhist work. Composed originally in India, some sections written as early as the beginning of the Christian era, the Lotus is held in enormous esteem by the Northern schools of Buddhism and by Chinese and Japanese Buddhists, particularly Tendai and later developments. Described as "the most eminent" of all the sutras,...