Read the Lotus Sutra for free online
I love the Lotus Sutra. I’ve read it multiple times and it has changed my life. I found a website called, sacred-texts.com that has the Lotus Sutra online so you can read it for free. It is a slightly different version than the one I’ve read, which was the Kumarajiva version so I am going to read it again online and see if there are any major differences. The Lotus Sutra is a Buddhist text that has a tremendous amount of good in it. The version I read had a glossary so I could look up the words that I was unfamiliar with in the back. But if you check out the link above you could always just have a tab of Wikipedia open so you can look up any words or phrases you are unfamiliar with. The wikipedia entries aren’t as concise as the glossary definitions that I read in the printed book form, but they should do well to clear up major questions and ambiguities. The Lotus Sutra has a special place in my mind and heart because every time I have read it I have had a different experience. The text brings up ideas that are both thought provoking and stillness invoking. I remember reading the Lotus Sutra one day at a Starbucks in Orange and I felt like I was having a mild out of body experience. It wasn’t like what I expected the experience to feel like.
Out of all the books and texts I’ve read in my life I can say hands down that I am most thankful for the opportunity to read the Lotus Sutra.
The Lotus Sutra changed my life in more than one way. It altered my perception on the world that I live in. I no longer viewed the world as a finite experience. After reading the text, I no longer viewed my fears in the same way.
It took me a long time to decompress after reading The Lotus Sutra the first time. But I’m glad I did it.
I love spiritual and religious texts so reading The Lotus Sutra was very enjoyable. One of the great things about The Lotus Sutra is that it is presented in an interesting way. There are descriptions before each chapter of the situation and the beings in the area. Then there is spoken words. So the information is presented in an interesting fashion and you always know who is talking. It is very clear and if you have patience with the longer names and words it will flow easily. One personal suggestion that I have is that you try and pronounce the longer and unfamiliar names slowly out loud in order to remember and get to know them. Some names in the text are very long and beautiful and sound like poetry when spoken aloud. It isn’t a big deal if you don’t pronounce them perfectly, it is more about paying respect to the entities in the text. By doing so you will probably have a more enjoyable and fruitful reading experience.
Another cool thing about The Lotus Sutra is that it is divided into easily manageable chapters. I read each chapter usually during one reading session and then took time to reflect on what I read. You may find yourself reading at a different pace, but that’s what worked for me.
Here’s a link to The Lotus Sutra so you can read it for free at sacred-texts.com.
-Tyler
