Dutch scholar Hendrik Kern offers a rare translation of the Lotus Sutra directly from the Sanskrit. Rather than starting from the Chinese of Kumarajiva, Kern worked principally from a manuscript written on palm leaves in Nepal in 1039. The original was part of the collection of Dr. Daniel Wright at the University Library of Cambridge, England. In the present edition, Sanskrit terms are set with modern diacritical marks.

The Lotus Sutra is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras, and the basis on which several schools of Buddhism were established.The oldest parts of the text (Chapters 1-9 and 17) were probably written down between 100 BC and 100 AD: most of the text had appeared by 200 AD. The earliest known Sanskrit title for the sutra is the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra, which translates to "the Lotus Flower Formula (or Rule) of Good Dharma." The Lotus Sutra presents itself as a discourse delivered by the Buddha toward the end of his life. The tradition in Mahayana states that the sutra was...