i read the lotus sutra last year for my class 'world scriptures'. there are many aspects of the book that would make fascinating topics for discussion, but presently i would like to focus on one.
the lotus sutra references itself constantly throughout its pages. it is very common to encounter a story in which some bodhisattva or some king in some age during the age of whatever, is looking for the teaching of the lotus sutra, or is being taught by the lotus sutra, or directly speaks the name of the lotus sutra. the buddha himself will say things like, 'if you take in the teaching of the sutra of the lotus of the wonderful law (the lotus sutra), then you will reap many benefits..' this charactersitic gives the book a certain dimension, almost a consciousness that is crucial in transmitting the totality of its teachings, which are vast and intricately interwoven.
i am not one to take anything piece of information for absolute truth the minute it is given to me, from anyone. i figure out its validity over time through my own processes. and this is how i approached the lotus sutra. however, i found that whenever i started to doubt it and question it in anyway, it would always find someway to counterargue whatever was already in my head, and many times it was somehow associated with this self-referencing. it was very strange.
almost as if the lotus sutra was reading my mind...because it referenced itself in distant epochs, it gave me the impression that the lotus sutra was an eternal teaching that had always existed. in fact, it even says this about itself.
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