Published by the Soka Gakkai
Edited by Haruaki Kotsuki
Coordination by the Institute of Orienatal Philosophy
Date of publication: March 31, 2008
ISBN: 978-4-88417-018-9
Collection of the Société Asiatique
Copy date: unknown
Number of pages: lx + 284 (total 344 pages)
Language: Sanskrit, French, Japanese, and English
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Toward the end of 1873, Brian H. Hodgson (1800-1894), British minister resident in Nepal, had sent a number of precious Buddhist manuscripts obtained in Nepal to the Société Asiatique in Paris. A paper manuscript of the Lotus Sutra was among them. Eugène Burnouf (1801-1852), a pioneer of Buddhist studies in Europe, found it and immediately started translating it into French. He completed it in 1939 and, after adding meticulous notes, the French version was published as Le Lotus de la bonne loi (Paris 1852), very first version in a European language, shortly after the death of Burnouf. It has long been hoped that the original manuscript of the French version would be published in the form of romanized text. This issue is the first great development some 150 years after the French version was completed.