Lotus Sutra
![A Goryeo-illustrated manuscript of the Lotus Sutra, c.1340](/Images/godic/202502/08/Goryeo-Illustrated_manuscript_of_the_Lotus_Sutra_c.13400620.jpg")
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![Illustrated Lotus Sutra handscroll, Kamakura period, c. 1257; ink, color, and gold on paper.](/Images/godic/202502/08/Sugawara_Mitsushige_Lotus_Sutra,_010620.jpg")
The Lotus Sūtra (Sanskrit: Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, literally Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma) is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras and the basis on which the Tiantai, Tendai, Cheontae, and Nichiren schools of Buddhism were established. For many East Asian Buddhists, the Lotus sutra contains the ultimate and complete teaching of the Buddha and the reciting of the text is believed to be very auspicious.