Within Tendai, the scriptural heart is the Lotus Sutra, regarded as the fundamental source for its vision of universal Buddhahood and the “one vehicle.” Around this central text, a constellation of Mahāyāna scriptures and treatises is gathered, forming a comprehensive curriculum that seeks to harmonize doctrine and practice. The Nirvana Sutra stands beside the Lotus, articulating the teaching of Buddha‑nature and the enduring reality of the Buddha, and thus deepening the Lotus Sutra’s promise of liberation. Prajñāpāramitā literature, including the Mahāprajñāpāramitā and especially shorter texts such as the Diamond Sutra, supplies the philosophical articulation of emptiness that undergirds this vision.

Alongside these, the Avataṃsaka (Flower Garland) Sutra is esteemed for its portrayal of the interpenetration of all phenomena and the vast, cosmic dimension of Buddhahood. Texts such as the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sutra further illuminate nondual wisdom and the bodhisattva ideal active within everyday life, while the Golden Light Sutra appears in the curriculum as part of this broad Mahāyāna tapestry. In this way, Tendai does not rest on a single scripture alone, but reads a range of sutras as mutually illuminating facets of one overarching Dharma.

Equally central are the great Tiantai treatises that shape Tendai’s contemplative and doctrinal method. Zhiyi’s works—Mohe zhiguan (Great Calming and Insight), Fahua xuanyi (Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra), and Fahua wenju (Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra)—serve as authoritative guides for interpreting the Lotus Sutra and integrating it with meditative discipline. These texts systematize calming and insight, and articulate how the rich scriptural corpus can be read as a single, coherent path. In the Japanese context, the writings of Saichō and later Tendai masters, together with certain esoteric and Pure Land materials, are taken up within this same synthetic spirit, so that the curriculum becomes not a mere list of books, but a living mandala of teachings oriented around the Lotus Sutra’s vision.