Within Tendai Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra functions as the decisive center of gravity for both doctrine and practice. It is regarded as the highest and most complete expression of the Buddha’s teaching, the standard against which other scriptures are interpreted and harmonized. Tendai inherits the Tiantai vision that all earlier teachings find their fulfillment in this text, so that the Lotus Sutra becomes the lens through which the entire Buddhist canon is reread. On this basis, Tendai develops an inclusive system in which diverse doctrines and methods are not rejected but gathered into a single, overarching framework grounded in the sutra.

Doctrinally, the Lotus Sutra’s teaching of the “one vehicle” is pivotal: all beings, and all apparent paths, are ultimately oriented toward full Buddhahood. This supports the Tendai affirmation that every being possesses Buddha-nature and that enlightenment is not a remote ideal but the deepest truth of existence. The sutra’s revelation of the eternal Buddha and its emphasis on skillful means provide the theoretical foundation for Tendai’s harmonizing of different teachings, and for its understanding of the non-duality of worldly life and nirvana. Tendai’s doctrine of original enlightenment draws on this vision, presenting practice as the uncovering of an enlightenment that is already, in some sense, present.

On the practical side, the Lotus Sutra permeates Tendai religious life. Recitation, copying, lecturing on, and contemplating the sutra are central disciplines for both monastics and lay followers, and major rituals and liturgical assemblies are structured around its chapters. Meditation is shaped by efforts to penetrate the sutra’s deeper meaning, so that contemplation of its teaching becomes a direct means of realizing the Buddhahood it proclaims. In this way, the text is not merely studied but enacted, serving as a scriptural backbone for Tendai’s comprehensive approach to practice.

Institutionally, the Lotus Sutra provides the charter for Tendai identity. It is the primary object of monastic study and training, the source of doctrinal authority, and the touchstone that legitimizes Tendai’s claim to transmit the Buddha’s ultimate teaching. Philosophically, ritually, and organizationally, Tendai presents itself as a community gathered around this single scripture, treating it as both the summit of the dharma and the living wellspring from which its diverse practices flow.