Within Tendai, the Lotus Sutra is regarded as the supreme scripture and the doctrinal apex of the tradition. It is treated as the Buddha’s final, complete, and most profound teaching, the standard by which all other sutras are interpreted and ranked. Tendai reads the Lotus as revealing the “One Vehicle,” the insight that the diverse paths of śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas ultimately converge in a single Buddha Vehicle. In this way, the Sutra becomes the key to Tendai’s comprehensive classification of teachings and its vision of a unified Buddhist path.

From this central text, Tendai draws its conviction that all beings possess Buddha‑nature and can attain enlightenment. The Lotus Sutra’s affirmation that every being can become a buddha undergirds Tendai’s inclusive stance toward both monastics and laity, and toward those whom earlier traditions sometimes saw as excluded from liberation. This universal accessibility of Buddhahood gives Tendai an optimistic orientation, emphasizing the possibility of awakening in this very life rather than in some remote future.

The Lotus Sutra also shapes Tendai’s understanding of the Buddha as an eternal, ever‑present reality rather than merely a historical teacher. Śākyamuni as revealed in the Lotus becomes the central focus of devotion, informing Tendai cosmology and ritual life. On this basis, reciting, copying, expounding, and protecting the Sutra are regarded as especially meritorious acts, believed to generate profound benefit and protection for practitioners.

Finally, the Sutra functions as the integrative principle for Tendai practice and philosophy. Because it is seen as encompassing all paths, it authorizes a broad synthesis of contemplative disciplines, devotional acts, and ritual observances. Foundational Tendai doctrines such as “three thousand realms in a single moment of thought” are grounded in Lotus‑based insights and provide a philosophical framework for understanding how all phenomena interpenetrate and how enlightenment is ever‑present. In this sense, the Lotus Sutra is both the doctrinal cornerstone and the living heart of Tendai’s vision of the Buddhist way.