The “Lotus Sutra”: The Dialogue between Buddhism and Poetry in Medieval Japan

The “Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra” (further the “Lotus Sutra”) is one of the fundamental texts of Buddhism, which came to Japan from the mainland in the middle of the 6th century. The profound and multifaceted doctrinal elements, core ideas and potent symbols and motifs intrinsic to the “Lotus Sutra” have deeply permeated many aspects of Japanese culture, traditional and modern. This article examines how the “Lotus Sutra” was interpreted in the Japanese culture from the 8th to early 13th centuries, drawing on Japanese waka poetry. The comprehensive approach combining the cultural historical method with textual and intertextual analysis enables us to trace the ways in which sutra’s ideas were represented in poetry. The article outlines how Japanese poetry was ascribed a capacity to articulate the teachings of the “Lotus Sutra”, directly and figuratively.The study focuses on primary sources: poetry written in Japanese from the 8th to early 13th centuries. By analyzing these poems, the author has identified the main periods in the process of adapting the Lotus Sutra into Japanese poetry. They are: 1) the origins of Japanese-language poetry inspired by the sutra; 2) the earliest poetry cycles on the twenty-eight chapters of the sutra; 3) poems based on the “Lotus Sutra” incorporated into the established canonical repertoire of the Japanese waka tradition and the evolution of both court and folk poetry; 4) a new theory of Japanese poetry that reconfigured these poems not as mere art, but as a vehicle for spiritual awakening.