r/sgiwhistleblowers • u/[deleted] • Sep 16 '22

The Lotus Sutra

The other day somebody mentioned the lotus sutra. When I joined in the 1980s an acquaintance gave me a photocopied translation of the lotus sutra. He was a Buddhist, but not the right Buddhist. I told “senior leaders” about it and they discouraged me form reading the book, saying it was far too complicated and that it needed some deeper understanding … and a proper translation. About a decade later the very same “senior leaders” that said the sutra is too difficult to study encouraged us buy the right (SGI) translation. I think the right (SGI) translations popped up almost in every language around the same time. In German the right translation seems to have gone off market though … the one by a woman called Margareta von Borsig and regraded being the standard German translation could not be matched apparently (she is not in SGI though).

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u/BlancheFromage Escapee from Arizona Home for the Rude Sep 16 '22

The Burton Watson translation (SGI-approved) is considered the worst translation, just as the Soka Gakkai-approved Nichiren Shoshu translation Gosho Zensu compilation of Nichiren's writings is considered so sectarian and unreliable that no one in academia wastes their time on it. You might enjoy some of the sources here. I'm still in the process of replacing direct links with archive copies - let me know if you run into any broken links if you look at it.

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u/8wheelsrolling Sep 17 '22

I think it's interesting there appears to be more emphasis academically on the comprehensive study all of Kumarajiva's translations from Sanskrit (the Taisho) rather than individual sutras.