The Lotus Sutra is one of the earliest Mahayana texts, its title in Sanskrit is the Saddarma-Pundarika Sutra (Sutras of the Ultimate Dharma such as the White Lotus).

Dharmaraksa translated it into Chinese as Zheng Fahua Jing (The Lotus Sutra of the Ultimate Dharma) and Kumarajiva translated it as Miaofa Lian Huajing, the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law.

The title “The Lotus Sutra” is the Sangkita that is often used. It is estimated that the Lotus Sutra was translated into Sanskrit in a form closest to the current version between the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD. The Lotus Sutra expounds the teaching that all sentient beings have the potential to attain Buddhahood (one Buddha vehicle) and recounts the incident when Sariputra
and the other disciples of the Buddha were prophesied to attain enlightenment in the future. In addition, Shakyamuni revealed that he had actually attained enlightenment in the distant past. He also stated that the Bodhisattva of the earth was a disciple
directly, who will carry out the mission of spreading the Lotus Scripture.

One of the distinctive features of the Lotus Sutra is the emphasis on belief in the scriptures themselves, this may be because these teachings were previously transmitted orally and were only recorded in written form at a later date.

The appearance of many popular Bodhisattvas attests to the benefits to be gained from having faith in this scripture.