1. The 16 publications of the series contain some important manuscripts belonging to the three lineages of the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra manuscripts, i.e., the Nepalese group, the Gilgit group, and the Central Asian group.

2. Of seven manuscripts and two partial texts that were used for the collation of the Kern-Nanjo edition, six manuscripts have been published in the series.

The edition, formerly Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, Bibliotheca Buddhica, 10, published in five fascicles during the years 1908-1912 in St. Petersburg. It has since been widely used as the standard critical edition of the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra. In the process of the collation, seven manuscripts and two partial texts (a lithographic text of chapter 4 published by P. E. Foucaux and a xylographic text of chapter 24 in the possession of A. Wylie) were used. It is safe to say that the series has covered all the available manuscripts related to the Kern-Nanjo edition, since the whereabouts of the seventh manuscript (once owned by T. Watters) is currently still unknown.

The six manuscripts are included in the following:

④Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from Cambridge University Library (Add. 1682 and Add. 1683), Facsimile Edition

⑤Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from Cambridge University Library (Add. 1684), Romanized Text  

⑥Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from University of Tokyo General Library (No. 414), Romanized Text

⑦Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Mnauscript from the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (No. 6), Romanized Text

⑨Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the British Library (Or. 2204), Facsimile Edition

⑩Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the British Library (Or. 2204), Romanized Text

⑮Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SI P/5, etc.), Facsimile Edition

3. The Lotus Sutra Manuscript Series could provide fundamental materials for the further study of Sanskrit Lotus Sutra texts, including the original and collating manuscripts used for the Kern-Nanjo edition, and the original manuscripts used for translating the first French and English versions.

④Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from Cambridge University Library (Add. 1682 and Add.

1683), Facsimile Edition, and ⑥ Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from University of Tokyo

General Library (No. 414), Romanized Text. (These include the texts Nanjo used for collation.)

⑦Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (No. 6), Romanized Text. (Manuscript no. 6 is the original text for the Kern-Nanjo edition.)  

⑧Manuscript sanscrit du Sûtra du Lotus de la Société asiatique (N° 2), Texte romanisé [Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the Société asiatique (No. 2), Romanized Text]. (This manuscript is the original text for Burnouf’s French translation, the first modern language version of the Lotus Sutra, Le Lotus de la bonne loi, Paris 1852).

⑨Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from the British Library (Or. 2204), Facsimile Edition and ⑩Romanized Text, (Manuscript Or. 2204 was used for the collation of his edition by Nanjo. It is a manuscript bearing typical readings representing a subgroup of the Nepalese manuscripts “Group B”).

⑤Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscript from Cambridge University Library (Add. 1684), Romanized Text. (Manuscript Add. 1684 was used for the collation of the Kern-Nanjo edition, and as the original text for Hendrik Kern to translate into English, Saddharma Puṇḍarīka or The Lotus of the True Law, Oxford 1884.)

⑮Sanskrit Lotus Sutra Manuscripts from the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SI P/5, etc.), Facsimile Edition. (Manuscript SI P/5 was used by Kern, who finally added readings of this Central Asian text to the collated edition prepared by Nanjo. Therefore, this manuscript is indispensable for further textual studies of the Lotus Sutra in relation to the Kern-Nanjo edition, especially from the viewpoint of the lineage difference between the Nepalese and the Central Asian manuscripts.)

One of the most important aspects of this series was to provide materials that enable the arrangement and classification of the Nepalese palm-leaf and paper manuscripts into groups according to lineage. Through these measures, one can present a clear perspective toward the relation of a critical edition of the Gilgit-Nepalese Sanskrit Lotus Sutra. The concept that the classification of the Nepalese manuscripts into groups is possible and essential for editing a critical edition was initially created by H. Toda, and the romanized texts of major manuscripts need to be prepared as the first important steps. It is, therefore, our great pleasure to present the romanized texts of the Lotus Sutra into book form to experts and colleagues in Japan and abroad.