The life of the Lotus Sutra, with Donald S. Lopez, Jr. [MIPodcast #60]

Maxwell Institute Podcast

Christianity, Education, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 809 Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2017

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When the Lotus Sutra arrived in Boston in 1844 the few people who could read it were intrigued by its parables that reminded them of the Bible. For these westerners, the Lotus was like a gateway into a mysterious and profound culture from across the world. But it took a long time to get there, from India to China, Japan, and beyond, and the most exciting history occurred before it ever reached Europe. The Lotus is a book that explains how you can be a Buddha, too. But its explanation challenged earlier Buddhist texts and led to disagreements that have lasted for centuries. Donald S. Lopez, Jr. joins us to talk about his new book, The Lotus Sutra: A Biography. Special Episodes: “Lives of Great Religious Books” This ongoing series of MIPodcast episodes features interviews with authors of volumes in Princeton University Press’s impressive “Lives of Great Religious Books” series. Leading experts examine the origins of books like the Book of Mormon, the Bhagavad Gita, Augustine’s Confessions, and C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. They trace shifts in the reception, influence, and interpretation of these landmark texts. By looking at other religious texts from a variety of perspectives—worthwhile in their own right—we come to understand other faiths better, as well as our own. We begin to see the different ways scholars and believers and believing scholars grapple with sacred texts. About the Guest Donald S. Lopez, Jr. is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the University of Michigan. His many books include The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, and a biography of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. His latest book is The Lotus Sutra: A Biography from Princeton University Press’s Lives of Great Religious Books series.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Maxwell Institute podcast.
0:14.7	I'm Blair Hodges.
0:16.5	Today we're continuing our series on the lives of great religious books.
0:20.0	Princeton University Press recently published the latest volume in the series.
0:23.5	It focuses on a Buddhist text called The Lotus Sutra.
0:26.9	It's a book that explains how you can be a Buddha, too.
0:30.0	Donald S. Lopez Jr. is the scholar who joins us from the University of Michigan,
0:33.8	where he teaches Buddhist and Tibetan studies.
0:36.3	Questions and comments about this and other episodes can be sent to MIP Podcast at BYU.edu. And don't forget to rate and review the show in iTunes.
0:46.0	Donald S. Lopez Jr. joins us today from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Thanks for coming on the Maxwell Institute podcast, Don. My pleasure.
0:52.5	So we're talking today about a biography that you wrote for
0:55.3	Princeton's Lives of Great Religious Book series. It's a biography of the Lotus Sutra. But I wanted to
1:00.3	begin by talking a little bit about your background and how you came to do this book. So let's go back in time
1:05.3	to 1972. You're at this place at an apartment, I believe. There's a guy who reminds you of Matt Foley from Saturday
1:12.0	Night Live, the motivational speaker. There's another guy talking about an ounce of hash. This is a really
1:16.3	interesting scene you set the book up with. Yeah, so I was an undergraduate at University of
1:20.6	Virginia in the early 70s, and one of my friends said that his roommate was going to invite a Buddhist
1:26.4	teacher over to the apartment that night and would I like to come over.
1:29.9	So I did that.
1:31.0	And as I say in the book, I was surprised to find a gentleman who was probably in his 40s, slightly overweight jacket.
1:39.9	And I think it was a plaid jacket and a tie, a white short-sleeved shirt.
1:45.0	And he didn't have long hair.
	...

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