Nichiren: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher}} |
{{short description|Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher}} |
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{{about|the Japanese Buddhist priest|the book|Nichiren (book)|the film|Nichiren (film)}} |
{{about|the Japanese Buddhist priest|the book|Nichiren (book){{!}}''Nichiren'' (book)|the film|Nichiren (film){{!}}''Nichiren'' (film)}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=April |
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} |
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{{Infobox religious biography |
{{Infobox religious biography |
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|name = Nichiren |
|name = Nichiren |
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|native_name = {{nobold|日蓮}} |
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|image = |
|image = Nichiren Daishonin Hakii Portrait.jpg |
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|image_size = 235px |
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|alt = Nichiren Daishonin Hakii Portrait |
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⚫ | * {{nihongo||大日蓮|Dai-Nichiren|<br />Nichiren the Great}}<ref>{{cite |
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⚫ | * {{nihongo||日蓮大聖人|Nichiren Daishōnin|<br />Great Sage Nichiren}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/D/10|title=Daishonin|website=The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism|access-date=11 September 2018}}</ref><ref name=Yampolsky1990>{{Cite book |title=Selected writings of Nichiren |last=Nichiren |date=1990 |publisher=Columbia University Press |editor-last=Yampolsky |editor-first=Philip B. |isbn= |
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⚫ | * {{nihongo||日蓮聖人|Nichiren Shōnin|<br />The Sage Nichiren}}<ref name=Petzold1995 >{{Cite book |title=The classification of Buddhism = Bukkyō kyōhan: comprising the classification of Buddhist doctrines in India, China and Japan 1873–1949|last1=Petzold |first1=Bruno|date=1995|publisher=Harrassowitz|last2=Hanayama |first2=Shinshō |editor-last=Ichimura |editor-first=Shōhei |isbn= |
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⚫ | * {{nihongo||大日蓮|Dai-Nichiren|<br />Nichiren the Great}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Dai Nichiren ten: rikkyō kaishū 750-nen kinen|author=Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan|date=2003 |publisher=Sankei Shinbunsha|oclc = 52227561}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dainichiren.com/index.php?id=29#m_dainichiren|script-title=ja:大日蓮出版|date=2013|script-work=ja:日蓮正宗の専門書を扱う大日蓮出版|publisher=Dainichiren Publishing Co., Ltd.|access-date=22 June 2018|archive-date=23 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623011132/http://www.dainichiren.com/index.php?id=29#m_dainichiren|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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⚫ | * {{nihongo||日蓮大聖人|Nichiren Daishōnin|<br />Great Sage Nichiren}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/D/10|title=Daishonin|website=The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism|access-date=11 September 2018|archive-date=24 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024063422/http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/D/10|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Yampolsky1990>{{Cite book |title=Selected writings of Nichiren |last=Nichiren |date=1990 |publisher=Columbia University Press |editor-last=Yampolsky |editor-first=Philip B. |isbn=0-231-07260-0 |location=New York |oclc=21035153 |page=[https://archive.org/details/selectedwritings00nich/page/456 456] |url=https://archive.org/details/selectedwritings00nich/page/456 }}</ref> |
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⚫ | * {{nihongo||日蓮聖人|Nichiren Shōnin|<br />The Sage Nichiren}}<ref name=Petzold1995 >{{Cite book |title=The classification of Buddhism = Bukkyō kyōhan: comprising the classification of Buddhist doctrines in India, China and Japan 1873–1949|last1=Petzold |first1=Bruno|date=1995|publisher=Harrassowitz|last2=Hanayama |first2=Shinshō |editor-last=Ichimura |editor-first=Shōhei |isbn=3-447-03373-8|location=Wiesbaden|oclc=34220855}}</ref>{{rp|610}} |
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* {{nihongo||{{nowrap|日蓮大菩薩}}|Nichiren Dai-Bosatsu|<br />Nichiren Great Bodhisattva}} |
* {{nihongo||{{nowrap|日蓮大菩薩}}|Nichiren Dai-Bosatsu|<br />Nichiren Great Bodhisattva}} |
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</small> |
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|dharma name = {{ubl|Rencho (1234) | Nichiren (1253)}} |
|dharma name = {{ubl|Rencho (1234) | Nichiren (1253)}} |
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|birth_date = {{birth date|1222|2|16|df=yes}} |
|birth_date = {{birth date|1222|2|16|df=yes}} |
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|death_date = {{death date and age|1282|10|13|1222|2|16|df=yes}} |
|death_date = {{death date and age|1282|10|13|1222|2|16|df=yes}} |
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|death_place = Ikegami Daibo Hongyoji Temple, [[Musashi province]], Japan |
|death_place = Ikegami Daibo Hongyoji Temple, [[Musashi province]], Japan |
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|nationality = |
|nationality = Japanese<ref>{{Cite book|title=Nichiren Daishōnin to sono oshie: Nichiren and his doctrine|last=Yamamine|first=Jun|publisher=Kōfukan, University of Michigan|year=1952}}</ref> |
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|religion = [[Buddhism]] |
|religion = [[Buddhism]] |
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|denomination = [[Nichiren Buddhism]] |
|denomination = [[Nichiren Buddhism]] |
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|school = {{ubl|[[Mahayana]] | [[Tendai]]}} |
|school = {{ubl|[[Mahayana]] | [[Tendai]]}} |
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|education = ''[[Seichō-ji|Kiyozumi-dera]]'' Temple (Seichō-ji), Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei |
|education = ''[[Seichō-ji|Kiyozumi-dera]]'' Temple (Seichō-ji), Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei |
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|teacher = Dōzenbo of Seichō-ji Temple<ref name=Stone1999a>{{Cite journal|last=Stone|first=Jacqueline I.|date=1999|title=REVIEW ARTICLE: Biographical Studies of Nichiren |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/Biographical%20Studies%20of%20Nichiren%20(1999).pdf |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26/3–4 }}</ref>{{rp|442}} |
|teacher = Dōzenbo of Seichō-ji Temple<ref name=Stone1999a>{{Cite journal |last=Stone |first=Jacqueline I. |date=1999 |title=REVIEW ARTICLE: Biographical Studies of Nichiren |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/Biographical%20Studies%20of%20Nichiren%20(1999).pdf |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26/3–4 |access-date=14 September 2018 |archive-date=28 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328140344/http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/Biographical%20Studies%20of%20Nichiren%20(1999).pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|442}} |
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|lineage = {{ubl|[[Shakyamuni Buddha]] | [[Tiantai]] ([[Zhiyi]]) | [[Saichō]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/studies/nichiren/|title=Understanding the Social and Religious Meaning of Nichiren|last=Bloom|first=Alfred|website=Shin DharmaNet|access-date=11 September 2018}}</ref>}} |
|lineage = {{ubl|[[Shakyamuni Buddha]] | [[Tiantai]] ([[Zhiyi]]) | [[Saichō]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/studies/nichiren/|title=Understanding the Social and Religious Meaning of Nichiren|last=Bloom|first=Alfred|website=Shin DharmaNet|access-date=11 September 2018|archive-date=11 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911152204/http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/studies/nichiren/|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
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|students = |
|students = |
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|spouse = |
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'''Nichiren''' (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a [[Buddhism in Japan|Japanese Buddhist]] |
'''Nichiren''' (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a [[Buddhism in Japan|Japanese Buddhist]] priest and philosopher of the [[Kamakura period]]. His teachings form the basis of [[Nichiren Buddhism]], a branch of [[Mahayana|Mahayana Buddhism]]. |
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Nichiren<ref name=Lopez2016>{{Cite book|title=The Lotus Sūtra: a biography|last=Lopez|first=Donald S. |
Nichiren<ref name=Lopez2016>{{Cite book|title=The Lotus Sūtra: a biography|last=Lopez| first=Donald S. Jr. |isbn=978-1-4008-8334-9 |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2016 |oclc=959534116 |quote=Among all of the preachers of the dharma of the Lotus Sutra over the past two thousand years, there has been no one like Nichiren. In the long history of the sutra in Japan, he is the most famous—and the most infamous.}}</ref>{{rp|77}}<ref name=Rodd1978 />{{rp|1}} declared that the [[Lotus Sutra]] alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the [[Three Ages of Buddhism|Third Age of Buddhism]], insisting that the [[Emperor of Japan|sovereign of Japan]] and its people should support only this form of Buddhism and eradicate all others.<ref>{{Cite book|author=[[H. Byron Earhart]] |editor-last=Huffman|editor-first=James L.|chapter=Value Creation Society (''Sōka Gakkai'') |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YWLhAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA281 |page=281|title=Modern Japan: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism|date=31 October 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-63490-2|language=en|quote=Buddhism and the state have always been closely allied in Japan. Nichiren insisted, however, that the Lotus Sutra was the only true Buddhism, that the state should support only this form of Buddhism, and that it should abolish all other Buddhist sects as heretical.|access-date=1 December 2020 |archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601090721/https://books.google.com/books?id=YWLhAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA281 |url-status=live}}</ref> He advocated the repeated recitation of its title, ''[[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|Nam(u)-myoho-renge-kyo]]'', as the only path to [[Buddhahood]] and held that [[Shakyamuni Buddha]] and all other [[Buddhist deities]] were extraordinary manifestations of a particular Buddha-nature termed ''Myoho-Renge'' that is equally accessible to all. He declared that believers of the Sutra must propagate it even under persecution.<ref name=Rodd1995>{{Cite book|title=Great thinkers of the Eastern world: the major thinkers and the philosophical and religious classics of China, India, Japan, Korea, and the world of Islam|date=1995|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|editor1-first=McGreal|editor1-last=Ian Philip|last1=Rodd|first1=Laurel Rasplica|page=[https://archive.org/details/greatthinkersofe00mcgr/page/327 327]|isbn=0-06-270085-5|edition=1st|location=New York|oclc=30623569|url=https://archive.org/details/greatthinkersofe00mcgr/page/327}}</ref><ref>Jack Arden Christensen, Nichiren: Leader of Buddhist Reformation in Japan, Jain Pub, page 48, {{ISBN|0-87573-086-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |first=Jacqueline |last=Stone |author-link=Jacqueline Stone |title=The Final Word: An Interview with Jacqueline Stone |magazine=Tricycle |date=Spring 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Stone |first=Jaqueline |year=2003 |title=Nichiren |editor-last=Buswell |editor-first=Robert E. |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Buddhism |volume=II |location=New York |publisher=Macmillan Reference Library |isbn=0-02-865718-7 |page=594}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Shuxian Liu |author2=Robert Elliott Allinson |title=Harmony and Strife: Contemporary Perspectives, East & West |year=1988 |publisher=The Chinese University Press |isbn=962-201-412-7}}</ref><ref name=about>{{cite web|url=http://buddhism.about.com/od/nichirenbuddhism/a/nichiren_over.htm|work=About.com|title=Nichiren Buddhism|access-date=21 September 2012|archive-date=18 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118160334/http://buddhism.about.com/od/nichirenbuddhism/a/nichiren_over.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Altruism in World Religions|last=Habito|first=Ruben L. F.|publisher=Georgetown University Press|year=2005|isbn=1-58901-235-6|editor-first1=Jacob|editor-last1=Neusner|editor2-first=Bruce|editor2-last=Chilton|chapter=Altruism in Japanese Religions: The Case of Nichiren Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy-6HiyApXsC&q=Nichiren|pages=141–143|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602194053/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy-6HiyApXsC&q=Nichiren|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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Nichiren was a prolific writer and his biography, temperament, and the evolution of his beliefs has been gleaned primarily from his |
Nichiren was a prolific writer and his biography, temperament, and the evolution of his beliefs has been gleaned primarily from his writings.<ref name=Iida1987>{{Cite book |title=Modernity and religion|date=1987|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |first=Shotara |last=Iida |article=Nichiren 700 years later |editor-first=Nicholls |editor-last=W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtbfAgAAQBAJpl |isbn=978-0-88920-154-5 |location=Waterloo, Ontario|oclc=244765387}}</ref>{{rp|99}}<ref name=Stone1999a />{{rp|442}} He claimed the reincarnation of [[Viśiṣṭacāritra|Jōgyō bodhisattva]] in a past life,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EloL0g-A0h0C&pg=RA1-PA85|title=Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Doctrine 1 |date=2003|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2733-5|page=285|language=en|quote=Realizing himself to be an avatar of Jōgyō Boddhisattva, Nichiren strived to spread the ''Lotus Sutra''.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3dklAQAAIAAJ|title=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|date=1994|publisher=International Institute for the Study of Religions|page=314|quote=The Lotus Sutra states that this person would be a reincarnation of Jogyo bosatsu, a status that Nichiren did, in fact, claim for himself on numerous occasions.}}</ref> and designated six senior disciples, of which the claims to successorship are contested. After his death, he was bestowed the title {{nihongo||日蓮大菩薩|Nichiren Dai-Bosatsu|Great Bodhisattva Nichiren}} by the [[Emperor Go-Kōgon]] in 1358<ref>{{Cite book|title=Foundation of Japanese Buddhism|first1=Daigan.|last1=Matsunaga|date=1974|publisher=Buddhist Books International|last2=Matsunage|first2=Alicia|isbn=0-914910-25-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/foundationofjapa0000mats/page/156 156]|location=Los Angeles|oclc=1121328|url=https://archive.org/details/foundationofjapa0000mats/page/156}}</ref> and the title {{nihongo||立正大師|Risshō Daishi|Great Teacher of Correction}} was conferred posthumously through imperial edict by the [[Emperor Taisho]] in 1922.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Japanese Buddhism 1862–1931|last=Eliot |first=Charles |date=1935 |publisher=Curzon Press|editor-last=Sansom |editor-first=George Bailey |page=421 |isbn=0-7007-0263-6|location=Richmond, Surrey|oclc=28567705}}</ref> |
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Nichiren Buddhism today includes traditional temple schools such as [[Nichiren-shu]] sects and [[Nichiren Shōshū]], as well as lay movements such as [[Soka Gakkai]], [[Risshō Kōsei Kai]], [[Reiyūkai]], [[Kenshōkai]], [[Honmon Butsuryū-shū]], [[Kempon Hokke]], and [[Shōshinkai]] among many others. Each group has varying views of Nichiren's teachings<ref name=about /> with claims and interpretations of Nichiren's identity ranging from the rebirth of [[Bodhisattva]] [[Visistacaritra]] to the {{nihongo|[[Adi-Buddha|Primordial or "True Buddha"]]|本仏|Honbutsu}} of the Third Age of Buddhism.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=34vGv_HDGG8C&q=nichiren+buddha&pg=PA225|title=World religions in America: an introduction|date=2009|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|editor-last=Neusner|editor-first=Jacob|isbn=978-1-61164-047-2|edition=4th|location=Louisville, Kentucky|page=225|oclc=810933354|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601220316/https://books.google.com/books?id=34vGv_HDGG8C&q=nichiren+buddha&pg=PA225|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/O/46|title=Original Buddha|work=Nichiren Buddhism Library|publisher=Soka Gakkai|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=21 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171221233948/http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/O/46|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/T/262|title=True Buddha|work=Nichiren Buddhism Library|publisher=Soka Gakkai|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=21 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171221234242/http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/T/262|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/L/15|title=Latter Day of the Law|work=Nichiren Buddhism Library|publisher=Soka Gakkai|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=21 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421115132/http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/L/15|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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== Overview == |
== Overview == |
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The main narrative of Nichiren's life has been constructed from extant letters and treatises he wrote, counted in one collection as 523 complete writings and 248 fragments. Aside from historical documents stored in the repositories of various Nichiren sects, the first extensive non-religious biographical account of Nichiren did not appear until more than 200 years after his death.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|ix}} |
The main narrative of Nichiren's life has been constructed from extant letters and treatises he wrote, counted in one collection as 523 complete writings and 248 fragments. Aside from historical documents stored in the repositories of various Nichiren sects, the first extensive non-religious biographical account of Nichiren did not appear until more than 200 years after his death.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|ix}} |
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He launched his teachings in 1253, advocating an exclusive return to the Lotus Sutra as based on its original [[Tendai]] interpretations. His 1260 treatise {{nihongo||立正安国論|Risshō Ankoku Ron|On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land}} argued that a nation that embraces the Lotus Sutra will experience peace and prosperity whereas rulers who support inferior religious teachings invite disorder and disaster into their realms.<ref name=Lopez2016 />{{rp|88}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/letters-of-nichiren/|title=Letters of Nichiren|last=Fremerman|first=Sarah|work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review|access-date=18 September 2018}}</ref> In a 1264 essay, he stated that the title of the Lotus Sutra, ''"Nam(u)-myoho-renge-kyo,"'' encompasses all Buddhist teachings and its recitation leads to enlightenment.<ref name=Rodd1995 />{{rp|328}} As a result of his adamant stance, he experienced severe persecution imposed by the [[Kamakura Shogunate]] and consequently began to see himself as "bodily reading the Lotus Sutra (''Jpn. Hokke shikidoku'')."<ref name=Stone1999a />{{rp|252}}<ref name=Stone2012>{{Cite book |
He launched his teachings in 1253, advocating an exclusive return to the Lotus Sutra as based on its original [[Tendai]] interpretations. His 1260 treatise {{nihongo||立正安国論|Risshō Ankoku Ron|On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land}} argued that a nation that embraces the Lotus Sutra will experience peace and prosperity whereas rulers who support inferior religious teachings invite disorder and disaster into their realms.<ref name=Lopez2016 />{{rp|88}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/letters-of-nichiren/|title=Letters of Nichiren|last=Fremerman|first=Sarah|work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review|access-date=18 September 2018|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918230954/https://tricycle.org/magazine/letters-of-nichiren/|url-status=live}}</ref> In a 1264 essay, he stated that the title of the Lotus Sutra, ''"Nam(u)-myoho-renge-kyo,"'' encompasses all Buddhist teachings and its recitation leads to enlightenment.<ref name=Rodd1995 />{{rp|328}} As a result of his adamant stance, he experienced severe persecution imposed by the [[Kamakura Shogunate]] and consequently began to see himself as "bodily reading the Lotus Sutra (''Jpn. Hokke shikidoku'')."<ref name=Stone1999a />{{rp|252}}<ref name=Stone2012>{{Cite book|title=Sins and sinners: perspectives from Asian religions|date=2012|first=Jacqueline I|last=Stone|chapter=The sin of slandering the true Dharma in Nichiren's thought|chapter-url=http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/The%20Sin%20of%20Slandering%20the%20True%20Dharma%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20%282012%29.pdf|publisher=Brill|others=Granoff, P. E., Shinohara, Koichi|isbn=978-90-04-23200-6|location=Leiden|oclc=809194690|access-date=24 September 2018|archive-date=13 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113124441/http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/The%20Sin%20of%20Slandering%20the%20True%20Dharma%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20%282012%29.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|128–130}} In some of his writings during a second exile (1271–1274) he began to identify himself with the key Lotus Sutra characters [[Sadāparibhūta]] and [[Visistacaritra]]<ref name=Lopez2016 />{{rp|99,100}} and saw himself in the role of leading a vast outpouring of [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]].<ref name="Olson 2005 196–197">{{Cite book|last=Olson|first=Carl|title=The different paths of Buddhism: a narrative-historical introduction|url=https://archive.org/details/differentpathsof0000olso |url-access=registration|date=2005 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/differentpathsof0000olso/page/196 196]–197 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=0-8135-3778-9 |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |oclc=62266054}}</ref> |
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In 1274, after his two predictions of foreign invasion and political strife were seemingly actualized by the first [[Mongol invasions of Japan|attempted Mongol invasion of Japan]] along with an unsuccessful coup within the [[Hōjō clan]], Nichiren was pardoned by the Shogunate authorities and his advice was sought but not heeded.<ref name=Yampolsky1990 />{{rp|9–10}} The ''Risshō Ankoku Ron'' in which he first predicted foreign invasion and civil disorder is now considered by Japanese historians to be a literary classic illustrating the apprehensions of that period. |
In 1274, after his two predictions of foreign invasion and political strife were seemingly actualized by the first [[Mongol invasions of Japan|attempted Mongol invasion of Japan]] along with an unsuccessful coup within the [[Hōjō clan]], Nichiren was pardoned by the Shogunate authorities and his advice was sought but not heeded.<ref name=Yampolsky1990 />{{rp|9–10}} The ''Risshō Ankoku Ron'' in which he first predicted foreign invasion and civil disorder is now considered by Japanese historians to be a literary classic illustrating the apprehensions of that period. |
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Several [[hagiography|hagiographies]] about Nichiren and are reflected in various pieces of artwork about incidents in his life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kuniyoshiproject.com/Illustrated%20Abridged%20Biography%20of%20Koso.htm |title=Kuniyoshi Project |publisher=Kuniyoshi Project |date= | |
Several [[hagiography|hagiographies]] about Nichiren and are reflected in various pieces of artwork about incidents in his life.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kuniyoshiproject.com/Illustrated%20Abridged%20Biography%20of%20Koso.htm |title=Kuniyoshi Project |publisher=Kuniyoshi Project |date= |access-date=29 April 2022 |archive-date=2 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602012408/http://www.kuniyoshiproject.com/Illustrated%20Abridged%20Biography%20of%20Koso.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zb1LPTPJLaYC&q=death+nichiren&pg=PA115|title=The material culture of death in medieval Japan|last=Gerhart|first=Karen M.|date=2009|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|page=115|isbn=978-1-4416-7117-2|location=Honolulu|oclc=663882756|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602160315/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zb1LPTPJLaYC&q=death+nichiren&pg=PA115|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HI1GAQAAMAAJ&q=nichiren+komatsubara&pg=PA339|title=Nichiren Tradition in Pictures|last=Kinyabara|first=T.J.|publisher=Open Court Publishing Company|year=1913|location=Chicago|pages=344–350|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601165027/https://books.google.com/books?id=HI1GAQAAMAAJ&q=nichiren+komatsubara&pg=PA339|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Stone1999a />{{rp|442}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzeODCVG26UC&q=nichiren&pg=PA397|title=The Religious Traditions of Japan 500–1600|last1=Bowring|first1=Richard|last2=Bowring|first2=Professor Emeritus of Japanese Studies Richard|date=15 September 2005|page=334|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85119-0|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601212046/https://books.google.com/books?id=GzeODCVG26UC&q=nichiren&pg=PA397|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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Nichiren remains a controversial figure among scholars who cast him as either a fervent nationalist or a social reformer with a transnational religious vision.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Habito|first=Ruben L.F.|date=1999|title=The Uses of Nichiren in Modern Japanese History|url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2691|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious History|volume= |
Nichiren remains a controversial figure among scholars who cast him as either a fervent nationalist or a social reformer with a transnational religious vision.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Habito|first=Ruben L.F.|date=1999|title=The Uses of Nichiren in Modern Japanese History|url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2691|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious History|volume=26:3–4|page=438|via=Nanzan Institute|access-date=21 October 2018|archive-date=4 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704203533/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2691|url-status=live}}</ref> Critical scholars have used words such as intolerant, nationalistic, militaristic, and self-righteous to portray him.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KHnWCgAAQBAJ&q=nichiren+intolerant&pg=PA152|title=Conflict and harmony in comparative philosophy: selected works from the 2013 Joint Meeting of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy and the Australasian Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy|date=2015|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|others=Creller, Aaron B.|first=Tony|last=See|article=Nichiren and War|page=152|isbn=978-1-4438-8125-8|location=Newcastle upon Tyne|oclc=922704088|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601090721/https://books.google.com/books?id=KHnWCgAAQBAJ&q=nichiren+intolerant&pg=PA152|url-status=live}}</ref> On the other hand, Nichiren has been presented as a [[revolutionary]],<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/faith-revolution/|title=Faith in Revolution |date=Winter 2008|magazine=Tricycle Magazine}}</ref> a classic reformer,<ref name=King1996 />{{rp|403}} and as a [[prophet]].<ref name=King1996>{{Cite book|title=Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia|last=King |first=Sallie B. |chapter=Conclusion: Buddhist Social Activism|publisher=State University of New York Press|year=1996|isbn=0-7914-2844-3|location=Albany, NY|others=Queen, Christopher S and King, Sallie B. (eds.)|page=430|quote=Nichiren, of course, it is possibly the most outstanding exemplar of the prophetic voice in the entire Buddhist tradition. His fiery denunciations of both the religious and the political status quo of this time and his dogged insistence upon their total displacement earned him the hatred of the powerful and the love of the common people.}}</ref><ref name=Anesaki1916>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ub0KAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA3|title=Nichiren, the Buddhist Prophet|last=Anesaki|first=Masaharu|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1916|location=Cambridge, MA|quote=If Japan ever produced a prophet or a religious man of prophetic zeal, Nichiren was the man. He stands almost a unique figure in the history of Buddhism, not alone because of his persistence through hardship and persecution, but for his unshaken conviction that he himself was the messenger of Buddha, and his confidence in the future of his religion and country. Not only one of the most learned men of his time, but most earnest in his prophetic aspirations, he was a strong man, of combative temperament, an eloquent speaker, a powerful writer, and a man of tender heart. He was born in 1222, the son of a fisherman, and died in 1282, a saint and prophet.}}</ref>{{rp|3}}<ref name=Harvey2013>{{Cite book |title=An introduction to Buddhism: teachings, history and practices|first=Peter|last=Harvey |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-85942-4|edition= Second|location=Cambridge|oclc=822518354}}</ref> |
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Nichiren is often compared to other religious figures who shared similar rebellious and revolutionary drives to reform degeneration in their respective societies or schools.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/subdivisions/nichiren_1.shtml|title=Nichiren Buddhism|website=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=noZ9kkXGX5oC&pg=PA15|title=Japan's modern prophet |
Nichiren is often compared to other religious figures who shared similar rebellious and revolutionary drives to reform degeneration in their respective societies or schools.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/subdivisions/nichiren_1.shtml|title=Nichiren Buddhism|website=BBC|access-date=24 September 2018|archive-date=6 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106083318/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/subdivisions/nichiren_1.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=noZ9kkXGX5oC&pg=PA15|title=Japan's modern prophet: Uchimura Kanzō, 1861–1930|last=Howes|first=John|page=111|date=2005|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=0-7748-1145-5|location=Vancouver|oclc=60670210|quote=Uchimura compares him to Luther on two counts. The first is his concern over the wrongs of the religious establishment, and the second is his adoption of a single book as the source of his faith. He depended on the Lotus Sutra, Uchimura begins, much as Luther relied on the Bible....In sum, Nichiren was 'a soul sincere to its very core, the honestest of men, the bravest of Japanese.'|access-date=24 September 2018|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601212046/https://books.google.com/books?id=noZ9kkXGX5oC&pg=PA15|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Doctrinal Accommodations in Buddhist-Musli Relations in Japan: With Special Reference to Contemporary Japan|last=Obuse|first=Kieko|publisher=University of Oxford (dissertation)|year=2010|location=Oxford|pages=177–78, 225}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Discovery of Japanese Idealism|last=Satomi|first=Kishio|publisher=Routledge|year=2007 |orig-date=1924 |isbn=978-0-415-24533-3|location=Oxon|pages=67–77}}</ref> |
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=== Birth === |
=== Birth === |
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According to the lunar [[Chinese calendar]], Nichiren was born on 16th of the second month in 1222, which is 6 April in the [[Gregorian calendar]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ott/Introduction/2 |title=Introduction: The Life of Nichiren}}</ref> |
According to the lunar [[Chinese calendar]], Nichiren was born on 16th of the second month in 1222, which is 6 April in the [[Gregorian calendar]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ott/Introduction/2 |title=Introduction: The Life of Nichiren |access-date=20 April 2021 |archive-date=20 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420080716/https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/ott/Introduction/2 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Nichiren was born in the village of Kominato (today part of the city of [[Kamogawa, Chiba|Kamogawa]]), Nagase District, [[Awa Province (Chiba)|Awa Province]] (within present-day [[Chiba Prefecture]]). Accounts of his lineage vary. Nichiren described himself as "the son of a [[chandala|''Sendara'']] (''Skt: chandala'', despised outcast), "a son born of the lowly people living on a rocky strand of the out-of-the-way sea," and "the son of a sea-diver." In contrast, [[Hōnen]], [[Shinran]], [[Dōgen]], and [[Eisai]], the other founders of religious schools who predated Nichiren, were all born in the Kyoto region and came from noble or samurai backgrounds. Although his writings reflect a fierce pride of his lowly birth, followers after his death began to ascribe to him a more noble lineage, perhaps to attract more adherents.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ways of thinking of Eastern peoples |
Nichiren was born in the village of Kominato (today part of the city of [[Kamogawa, Chiba|Kamogawa]]), Nagase District, [[Awa Province (Chiba)|Awa Province]] (within present-day [[Chiba Prefecture]]). Accounts of his lineage vary. Nichiren described himself as "the son of a [[chandala|''Sendara'']] (''Skt: chandala'', despised outcast), "a son born of the lowly people living on a rocky strand of the out-of-the-way sea," and "the son of a sea-diver." In contrast, [[Hōnen]], [[Shinran]], [[Dōgen]], and [[Eisai]], the other founders of religious schools who predated Nichiren, were all born in the Kyoto region and came from noble or samurai backgrounds. Although his writings reflect a fierce pride of his lowly birth, followers after his death began to ascribe to him a more noble lineage, perhaps to attract more adherents.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ways of thinking of Eastern peoples: India, China, Tibet, Japan|last=Nakamura|first=Hajime|date=1968|publisher=University Press of Hawaii|others=Wiener, Philip P. (Philip Paul), 1905–1992.|isbn=0-585-34905-3|page=433 |location=Honolulu|oclc=47009998}}</ref><ref name="sgilibrary202">{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=202&m=1&q=chandala |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006 pp, 202: Banishment to Sado |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-date=21 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054534/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=202&m=1&q=chandala |url-status=live }}</ref> Some have claimed his father was a [[rōnin]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Broughton|first=B.L.|date=1936|title=Nichiren Shonin|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.70784|journal=Maha Bodhi Society of India|volume=44|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.70784/page/n341 317]}}</ref> a manorial functionary (''shokan''),<ref name=Rodd1978>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o-xJAAAAIAAJ&q=Shigetada|title=Nichiren: A Biography|last=Rodd|first=Laurel Rasplica|publisher=Arizona State University|year=1978|isbn=978-0-939252-07-7|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601212046/https://books.google.com/books?id=o-xJAAAAIAAJ&q=Shigetada|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|5}} or a political refugee.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kr0KAAAAYAAJ&q=nichiren+nukina|title=Buddhist Prophet Nichiren: A Lotus in the Sun|last=Petzold|first=Bruno|date=1978|publisher=University of Virginia, republished by Hokke Jānaru|others=Iida, Shotaro and Simmonds, Wendy|page=2|access-date=28 September 2018|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601175053/https://books.google.com/books?id=kr0KAAAAYAAJ&q=nichiren+nukina|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="sgilibrary202"/><ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|4}} |
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Nichiren's father was Mikuni-no-Tayu Shigetada, also known as Nukina Shigetada Jiro (died 1258) and his mother was Umegiku-nyo (died 1267). On his birth, his parents named him {{nihongo||善日麿|Zennichimaro}} which has variously been translated into English as "Splendid Sun" and "Virtuous Sun Boy" among others.<ref>Robert S. Ellwood, Introducing Japanese religion, Routledge, {{ISBN| |
Nichiren's father was Mikuni-no-Tayu Shigetada, also known as Nukina Shigetada Jiro (died 1258); and his mother was Umegiku-nyo (died 1267). On his birth, his parents named him {{nihongo||善日麿|Zennichimaro}} which has variously been translated into English as "Splendid Sun" and "Virtuous Sun Boy" among others.<ref>Robert S. Ellwood, Introducing Japanese religion, Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415-77426-8}}</ref> The exact site of Nichiren's birth is believed to be currently submerged off the shore from present-day {{nihongo|Kominato-zan [[Tanjō-ji]]|小湊山誕生寺}} near a temple in Kominato that commemorates his birth. |
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=== Buddhist education === |
=== Buddhist education === |
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Between the years 1233 and 1253 Nichiren engaged in an intensive study of all of the ten schools of Buddhism prevalent in Japan at that time as well as the Chinese classics and secular literature. During these years, he became convinced of the preeminence of the ''Lotus Sutra'' and in 1253 returned to the temple where he first studied to present his findings.<ref name=Green2000>{{Cite book|title=Engaged Buddhism in the west|date=2000|publisher=Wisdom Publications|others=Queen, Christopher S. (Ed.) |isbn= |
Between the years 1233 and 1253 Nichiren engaged in an intensive study of all of the ten schools of Buddhism prevalent in Japan at that time as well as the Chinese classics and secular literature. During these years, he became convinced of the preeminence of the ''Lotus Sutra'' and in 1253 returned to the temple where he first studied to present his findings.<ref name=Green2000>{{Cite book|title=Engaged Buddhism in the west|date=2000|publisher=Wisdom Publications|others=Queen, Christopher S. (Ed.) |isbn=978-0-86171-841-2|first=Paula |last=Green |chapter=Walking for Peace: Nipponzan Myohoji |location=Boston, MA|oclc=844350971}}</ref>{{rp|129}}<ref name=Stone1999a />{{rp|443–444}}<ref>The Gosho Translation Committee: ''The Writings of Nichiren, Volume I'', Soka Gakkai, 2006. {{ISBN|4-412-01024-4}}, introduction p. XXV</ref><ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|17}}<ref>Jack Arden Christensen, Nichiren: Leader of Buddhist Reformation in Japan, Jain Pub, Page 44, {{ISBN|0-87573-086-8}}</ref><ref name=Lopez2016 />{{rp|90}} |
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In a 1271 letter Nichiren outlined his rationale for deeply studying Buddhism: |
In a 1271 letter Nichiren outlined his rationale for deeply studying Buddhism: |
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{{Blockquote|[D]etermined to plant a seed of Buddhahood and attain Buddhahood in this life, just as all other people, I relied on Amida Buddha and chanted the name of this Buddha since childhood. However, I began doubting this practice, making a vow to study all the Buddhist sutras, commentaries on them by disciples, and explanatory notes by others[.]<ref name="nyoningosho">{{cite book |last1= Hori |first1=Kyotsu |title=Nyonin Gosho: Letters Addressed to Female Followers |publisher=Nichiren-shu Overseas Propagation Promotion Association |year=1995 |page=182}}</ref>}} |
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At the age of 12 he began his Buddhist study at a temple of the [[Tendai]] school, {{nihongo|[[Seichō-ji]]|清澄寺||also called Kiyosumi-dera}}.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|13}} He was formally ordained at sixteen years old and took the Buddhist name {{nihongo||是生房蓮長|Zeshō-bō Renchō}}, ''Renchō'' meaning "Lotus Growth." He left Seichō-ji for [[Kamakura]] where he studied [[Pure Land Buddhism]], a school that stressed salvation through [[nianfo]] (Japanese ''nembutsu'') or the invocation of [[Amitābha]] (Japanese ''Amida''), and then studied [[Zen]] which had been growing in popularity in both Kamakura and [[Kyoto]]. He next traveled to [[Mount Hiei]], the center of Japanese [[Tendai]] Buddhism, where he scrutinized the school's original doctrines and its subsequent incorporation of the theories and practices of Pure Land and [[Esoteric Buddhism]]. In the final stage of this twenty-year period he traveled to [[Mount Kōya]], the center of [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]] esoteric Buddhism, and to [[Nara, Nara|Nara]] where he studied its [[Nanto Rokushū|six established schools]], especially the [[Risshū (Buddhism)|Ritsu]] sect which emphasized [[Vinaya|strict monastic discipline]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nichiren|title=Nichiren: Japanese Buddhist monk|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=3 October 2018|first=Pier |last=Paolo del Campana}}</ref><ref name=Stone2003>{{Cite book|title=Original enlightenment and the transformation of medieval Japanese Buddhism|last=Stone|first=Jacqueline I.|date=2003|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|isbn= |
At the age of 12 he began his Buddhist study at a temple of the [[Tendai]] school, {{nihongo|[[Seichō-ji]]|清澄寺||also called Kiyosumi-dera}}.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|13}} He was formally ordained at sixteen years old and took the Buddhist name {{nihongo||是生房蓮長|Zeshō-bō Renchō}}, ''Renchō'' meaning "Lotus Growth." He left Seichō-ji for [[Kamakura]] where he studied [[Pure Land Buddhism]], a school that stressed salvation through [[nianfo]] (Japanese ''nembutsu'') or the invocation of [[Amitābha]] (Japanese ''Amida''), and then studied [[Zen]] which had been growing in popularity in both Kamakura and [[Kyoto]]. He next traveled to [[Mount Hiei]], the center of Japanese [[Tendai]] Buddhism, where he scrutinized the school's original doctrines and its subsequent incorporation of the theories and practices of Pure Land and [[Esoteric Buddhism]]. In the final stage of this twenty-year period he traveled to [[Mount Kōya]], the center of [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]] esoteric Buddhism, and to [[Nara, Nara|Nara]] where he studied its [[Nanto Rokushū|six established schools]], especially the [[Risshū (Buddhism)|Ritsu]] sect which emphasized [[Vinaya|strict monastic discipline]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nichiren|title=Nichiren: Japanese Buddhist monk|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=3 October 2018|first=Pier |last=Paolo del Campana}}</ref><ref name=Stone2003>{{Cite book|title=Original enlightenment and the transformation of medieval Japanese Buddhism|last=Stone|first=Jacqueline I.|date=2003|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|isbn=0-8248-2771-6|location=Honolulu|oclc=53002138}}</ref>{{rp|243–245}} |
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=== Declaration of the Lotus Sutra === |
=== Declaration of the Lotus Sutra === |
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According to one of his letters, Nichiren returned to Seicho-ji Temple on 28 April 1253 to lecture on his twenty years of scholarship.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|246}} What followed was his first public declaration of ''[[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|Nam(u) Myoho Renge Kyo]]'' atop Mount Kiyosumi that same day. This marked the start of his campaign to return [[Tendai]] to the exclusive reliance of the Lotus Sutra and his efforts to convert the entire Japanese nation to this belief.<ref name=Harvey2013 />{{rp|233}} This declaration also marks the start of his efforts to make profound Buddhist theory practical and actionable so an ordinary person could manifest Buddhahood within his or her own lifetime in the midst of day-to-day realities.<ref>Khoon Choy Lee, Japan: Between Myth and Reality, World Scientific Pub Co, page 104,{{ISBN| |
According to one of his letters, Nichiren returned to Seicho-ji Temple on 28 April 1253 to lecture on his twenty years of scholarship.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|246}} What followed was his first public declaration of ''[[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|Nam(u) Myoho Renge Kyo]]'' atop Mount Kiyosumi that same day. This marked the start of his campaign to return [[Tendai]] to the exclusive reliance of the Lotus Sutra and his efforts to convert the entire Japanese nation to this belief.<ref name=Harvey2013 />{{rp|233}} This declaration also marks the start of his efforts to make profound Buddhist theory practical and actionable so an ordinary person could manifest Buddhahood within his or her own lifetime in the midst of day-to-day realities.<ref>Khoon Choy Lee, Japan: Between Myth and Reality, World Scientific Pub Co, page 104,{{ISBN|981-02-1865-6}}</ref> |
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At the same event, according to his own account and subsequent hagiography, he changed his name to ''Nichiren'', an [[portmanteau|abbreviation]] of {{nihongo||日|nichi|"Sun"}} and {{nihongo||蓮|ren|"Lotus"}}.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|34}} ''Nichi'' represents both the light of truth and the sun goddess [[Amaterasu]], symbolizing Japan itself. ''Ren'' signifies the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren envisioned Japan as the country where the true teaching of Buddhism would be revived and the starting point for its worldwide spread.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vu6f6DfYxNAC&q=nichiren|title=Sources of Japanese tradition|date=1964|publisher=Columbia University Press|last=De Bary |
At the same event, according to his own account and subsequent hagiography, he changed his name to ''Nichiren'', an [[portmanteau|abbreviation]] of {{nihongo||日|nichi|"Sun"}} and {{nihongo||蓮|ren|"Lotus"}}.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|34}} ''Nichi'' represents both the light of truth and the sun goddess [[Amaterasu]], symbolizing Japan itself. ''Ren'' signifies the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren envisioned Japan as the country where the true teaching of Buddhism would be revived and the starting point for its worldwide spread.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vu6f6DfYxNAC&q=nichiren|title=Sources of Japanese tradition|date=1964|publisher=Columbia University Press|last=De Bary|first=William Theodore|page=215|isbn=0-231-08605-9|location=New York|oclc=644425|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602012407/https://books.google.com/books?id=vu6f6DfYxNAC&q=nichiren|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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At his lecture, it is construed, Nichiren vehemently attacked [[Honen]], the founder of [[Pure Land Buddhism]], and its practice of chanting the [[Nembutsu]], ''Nam(u) Amida Butsu''. It is likely he also denounced the core teachings of Seicho-ji which had incorporated non-exclusive Lotus Sutra teachings and practices. In so doing he earned the animosity of the local steward, |
At his lecture, it is construed, Nichiren vehemently attacked [[Honen]], the founder of [[Pure Land Buddhism]], and its practice of chanting the [[Nembutsu]], ''Nam(u) Amida Butsu''. It is likely he also denounced the core teachings of Seicho-ji which had incorporated non-exclusive Lotus Sutra teachings and practices. In so doing he earned the animosity of the local steward, Tojo Kagenobu, who attempted to have Nichiren killed. Modern scholarship suggests that events unfolded not in a single day but over a longer period of time and had social, and political dimensions.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|246–247}}<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|6–7}} |
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Nichiren then developed a base of operation in [[Kamakura]] where he converted several Tendai priests, directly ordained others, and attracted lay disciples who were drawn mainly from the strata of the lower and middle samurai class. Their households provided Nichiren with economic support and became the core of Nichiren communities in several locations in the [[Kanto region]] of Japan.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|246–247}}<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|7–8}} |
Nichiren then developed a base of operation in [[Kamakura]] where he converted several Tendai priests, directly ordained others, and attracted lay disciples who were drawn mainly from the strata of the lower and middle samurai class. Their households provided Nichiren with economic support and became the core of Nichiren communities in several locations in the [[Kanto region]] of Japan.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|246–247}}<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|7–8}} |
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[[File:Nichiren exiled.jpg|thumb|left|The banishment of Nichiren in 1261. The disciple [[Nichirō]] wished to follow but was forbidden to do so. Tourist postcard artwork, circa 1920s.]] |
[[File:Nichiren exiled.jpg|thumb|left|The banishment of Nichiren in 1261. The disciple [[Nichirō]] wished to follow but was forbidden to do so. Tourist postcard artwork, circa 1920s.]] |
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Nichiren arrived in Kamakura in 1254. Between 1254 and 1260 half of the population had perished due to a tragic succession of calamities that included drought, earthquakes, epidemics, famine, fires, and storms.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|432#49}} Nichiren sought scriptural references to explain the unfolding of natural disasters and then wrote a series of works which, based on the Buddhist theory of the non-duality of the human mind and the environment, attributed the sufferings to the weakened spiritual condition of people, thereby causing the ''[[Kami]]'' (protective forces or traces of the Buddha) to abandon the nation. The root cause of this, he argued, was the widespread decline of the [[Dharma]] due to the mass adoption of the Pure Land teachings.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|249–250}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDH-CAAAQBAJ&q=nichiren&pg=PA275|title=A cultural history of Japanese Buddhism|last1=Deal |
Nichiren arrived in Kamakura in 1254. Between 1254 and 1260 half of the population had perished due to a tragic succession of calamities that included drought, earthquakes, epidemics, famine, fires, and storms.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|432#49}} Nichiren sought scriptural references to explain the unfolding of natural disasters and then wrote a series of works which, based on the Buddhist theory of the non-duality of the human mind and the environment, attributed the sufferings to the weakened spiritual condition of people, thereby causing the ''[[Kami]]'' (protective forces or traces of the Buddha) to abandon the nation. The root cause of this, he argued, was the widespread decline of the [[Dharma]] due to the mass adoption of the Pure Land teachings.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|249–250}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDH-CAAAQBAJ&q=nichiren&pg=PA275|title=A cultural history of Japanese Buddhism|last1=Deal|first1=William|last2=Ruppert|first2=Brian Douglas|isbn=978-1-118-60831-9|location=Chichester, West Sussex, UK|oclc=904194715|date=31 March 2015|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601175051/https://books.google.com/books?id=TDH-CAAAQBAJ&q=nichiren&pg=PA275|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|124–125}} |
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The most renowned of these works, considered his first major treatise, was the {{nihongo||立正安国論|Risshō Ankoku Ron}}, "On Securing the Peace of the Land through the Propagation of True Buddhism."<ref group=note name=note1/> Nichiren submitted it to [[Hōjō Tokiyori]], the ''[[de facto]]'' leader of the [[Kamakura shogunate]], as a political move to effectuate radical reform. In it he argued the necessity for "the Sovereign to recognize and accept the singly true and correct form of Buddhism (i.e., {{lang|ja|立正}} {{transl|ja|risshō}}) as the only way to achieve peace and prosperity for the land and its people and end their suffering (i.e., {{lang|ja|安国}} {{transl|ja|ankoku}})."<ref name="Two Nichiren Texts">{{cite book|last1=Murano|first1=Senchu|title=Two Nichiren Texts|date=2003|publisher=Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research|location=Berkeley, CA|isbn= |
The most renowned of these works, considered his first major treatise, was the {{nihongo||立正安国論|Risshō Ankoku Ron}}, "On Securing the Peace of the Land through the Propagation of True Buddhism."<ref group=note name=note1/> Nichiren submitted it to [[Hōjō Tokiyori]], the ''[[de facto]]'' leader of the [[Kamakura shogunate]], as a political move to effectuate radical reform. In it he argued the necessity for "the Sovereign to recognize and accept the singly true and correct form of Buddhism (i.e., {{lang|ja|立正}} {{transl|ja|risshō}}) as the only way to achieve peace and prosperity for the land and its people and end their suffering (i.e., {{lang|ja|安国}} {{transl|ja|ankoku}})."<ref name="Two Nichiren Texts">{{cite book|last1=Murano|first1=Senchu|title=Two Nichiren Texts|date=2003|publisher=Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research|location=Berkeley, CA|isbn=1-886439-17-6|pages=9–52|url=http://www.bdk.or.jp/pdf/bdk/digitaldl/dBET_TwoNichirenTexts_2003.pdf|access-date=20 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322042446/http://www.bdk.or.jp/pdf/bdk/digitaldl/dBET_TwoNichirenTexts_2003.pdf|archive-date=22 March 2015}}</ref><ref name="sgilibrary.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=6&m=1&q|title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006 pp, 6–32: On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land|publisher=Sgilibrary.org|access-date=6 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054536/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=6&m=1&q|archive-date=21 September 2013}}</ref><ref>A tract revealing the gist of the "rissho angoku-ron", Kyotsu Hori (transl.); Sakashita, Jay (ed.): Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine 1, page 163 University of Hawai'i Press, 2003, {{ISBN|0-8248-2733-3}}</ref> |
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Using a dialectic form well-established in China and Japan, the treatise is a 10-segment fictional dialogue between a Buddhist wise man, presumably Nichiren, and a visitor who together lament the tragedies that have beleaguered the nation. The wise man answers the guest's questions and, after a heated exchange, gradually leads him to enthusiastically embrace the vision of a country grounded firmly on the ideals of the Lotus Sutra. In this writing Nichiren displays a skill in using analogy, anecdote, and detail to persuasively appeal to an individual's unique psychology, experiences, and level of understanding.<ref name=Deal1999>{{Cite journal|last=Deal|first=William E.|date=1999|title=Nichiren's Risshō ankoku ron and Canon Formation|jstor=30233630|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26|issue=3–4|pages=329–330}}</ref><ref name=Rodd1995 />{{rp|328}}<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|10}} |
Using a dialectic form well-established in China and Japan, the treatise is a 10-segment fictional dialogue between a Buddhist wise man, presumably Nichiren, and a visitor who together lament the tragedies that have beleaguered the nation. The wise man answers the guest's questions and, after a heated exchange, gradually leads him to enthusiastically embrace the vision of a country grounded firmly on the ideals of the Lotus Sutra. In this writing Nichiren displays a skill in using analogy, anecdote, and detail to persuasively appeal to an individual's unique psychology, experiences, and level of understanding.<ref name=Deal1999>{{Cite journal|last=Deal|first=William E.|date=1999|title=Nichiren's Risshō ankoku ron and Canon Formation|jstor=30233630|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26|issue=3–4|pages=329–330}}</ref><ref name=Rodd1995 />{{rp|328}}<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|10}} |
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Nichiren submitted his treatise on 16 July 1260 but it drew no official response. It did, however, prompt a severe backlash from the Buddhist priests of other schools. Nichiren was challenged to a religious debate with leading Kamakura prelates in which, by his account, they were swiftly dispatched. Their lay followers, however, attempted to kill him at his dwelling which forced him to flee Kamakura. His critics had influence with key governmental figures and spread slanderous rumors about him. One year after he submitted the ''Rissho Ankoku Ron'' the authorities had him arrested and exiled to the Izu peninsula.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|251}} |
Nichiren submitted his treatise on 16 July 1260 but it drew no official response. It did, however, prompt a severe backlash from the Buddhist priests of other schools. Nichiren was challenged to a religious debate with leading Kamakura prelates in which, by his account, they were swiftly dispatched. Their lay followers, however, attempted to kill him at his dwelling which forced him to flee Kamakura. His critics had influence with key governmental figures and spread slanderous rumors about him. One year after he submitted the ''Rissho Ankoku Ron'' the authorities had him arrested and exiled to the Izu peninsula.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|251}} |
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Nichiren's Izu exile lasted two years. In his extant writings from this time period, Nichiren began to strongly draw from chapters 10–22 of the Lotus Sutra, what Tanabe calls its "third realm" ''(daisan hōmon)''. Nichiren began to emphasize the purpose of human existence as being the practice of the [[bodhisattva]] ideal in the real world which entails undertaking struggle and manifesting endurance. He suggested that he is a model of this behavior, a "votary" (''gyōja'') of the Lotus Sutra.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&q=%22third+realm%22|title=The Lotus Sutra in Japanese culture|date=1989|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|last1=Tanabe |
Nichiren's Izu exile lasted two years. In his extant writings from this time period, Nichiren began to strongly draw from chapters 10–22 of the Lotus Sutra, what Tanabe calls its "third realm" ''(daisan hōmon)''. Nichiren began to emphasize the purpose of human existence as being the practice of the [[bodhisattva]] ideal in the real world which entails undertaking struggle and manifesting endurance. He suggested that he is a model of this behavior, a "votary" (''gyōja'') of the Lotus Sutra.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&q=%22third+realm%22|title=The Lotus Sutra in Japanese culture|date=1989|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|last1=Tanabe|first1=George J.|last2=Tanabe|first2=Willa J.|isbn=0-8248-1198-4|location=Honolulu|pages=43, 49|quote=Nichiren called this third realm ''daisan hōmon'', meaning the third sphere of 8akyamuni's teaching. The teachings in this realm of the Lotus Sutra emphasize the need to endure the trials of life and to practice the true law. In short, they advocate human activity in the real world, or bodhisattva practices. The eternal Buddha is also considered anew in this context, and it is said that Sakyamuni himself endlessly undertook bodhisattva practices. This third realm emphasizing bodhisattva practices suggests the meaning and purpose of human existence in this world.|oclc=18960211|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602160315/https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&q=%22third+realm%22|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|252}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QV4ZAwAAQBAJ&q=nichiren|title=Introduction to the Lotus Sutra|last=Tamura|first=Yoshirō|others=Reeves, Gene; Shinozaki, Michio|isbn=978-1-61429-099-5|location=Boston|pages=8–9,124|oclc=892059024|date=15 July 2014|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601165027/https://books.google.com/books?id=QV4ZAwAAQBAJ&q=nichiren|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kanno|first=Hiroshi|date=2007|title=The Bodhisattva Way and Valuing the Real World in the Lotus Sutra|url=http://www.iop.or.jp/Documents/0717/kanno.pdf|journal=Journal of Oriental Studies|volume=17|page=182|access-date=8 November 2018|archive-date=7 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107192405/http://www.iop.or.jp/Documents/0717/kanno.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|11–12}} |
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Upon being pardoned in 1263 Nichiren returned to Kamakura. In November 1264 he was ambushed and nearly killed at Komatsubara in Awa Province by a force led by Lord Tōjō Kagenobu. For the next few years he preached in provinces outside of Kamakura but returned in 1268. At this point the Mongols sent envoys to Japan demanding tribute and threatening invasion. Nichiren sent 11 letters to influential leaders reminding them about his predictions in the ''Rissho Ankoku Ron''.<ref name=Yampolsky1990 />{{rp|7–8}} |
Upon being pardoned in 1263 Nichiren returned to Kamakura. In November 1264 he was ambushed and nearly killed at Komatsubara in Awa Province by a force led by Lord Tōjō Kagenobu. For the next few years he preached in provinces outside of Kamakura but returned in 1268. At this point the Mongols sent envoys to Japan demanding tribute and threatening invasion. Nichiren sent 11 letters to influential leaders reminding them about his predictions in the ''Rissho Ankoku Ron''.<ref name=Yampolsky1990 />{{rp|7–8}} |
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The threat and execution of Mongol invasion was the worst crisis in pre-modern Japanese history. In 1269 Mongol envoys again arrived to demand Japanese submission to their hegemony and the ''[[bakufu]]'' responded by mobilizing military defenses.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|13}} |
The threat and execution of Mongol invasion was the worst crisis in pre-modern Japanese history. In 1269 Mongol envoys again arrived to demand Japanese submission to their hegemony and the ''[[bakufu]]'' responded by mobilizing military defenses.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|13}} |
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The role of Buddhism in "nation-protection" (''chingo kokka'') was long established in Japan at this time and the government galvanized prayers from Buddhist schools for this purpose. Nichiren and his followers, however, felt emboldened that the predictions he had made in 1260 of foreign invasion seemingly were being fulfilled and more people joined their movement. Daring a rash response from the ''bakufu'', Nichiren vowed in letters to his followers that he was giving his life to actualize the Lotus Sutra. He accelerated his polemics against the non-Lotus teachings the government had been patronizing at the very time it was attempting to solidify national unity and resolve. In a series of letters to prominent leaders he directly provoked the major prelates of Kamakura temples that the Hojo family patronized, criticized the principles of [[Zen]] which was popular among the samurai class, critiqued the esoteric practices of [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]] just as the government was invoking them, and condemned the ideas underlying [[Risshū (Buddhism)|Risshū]] as it was enjoying a revival.<ref name=Stone1999a />{{rp|454–455}}<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|257}} His actions at that time have been described by modern scholars either as a high form of altruism<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy-6HiyApXsC&q=nichiren+|title=Altruism in World Religions|editor-last1=Neusner|editor-first1=Jacob|editor-last2=Chilton|editor-first2=Bruce|first=Ruben L.F. |
The role of Buddhism in "nation-protection" (''chingo kokka'') was long established in Japan at this time and the government galvanized prayers from Buddhist schools for this purpose. Nichiren and his followers, however, felt emboldened that the predictions he had made in 1260 of foreign invasion seemingly were being fulfilled and more people joined their movement. Daring a rash response from the ''bakufu'', Nichiren vowed in letters to his followers that he was giving his life to actualize the Lotus Sutra. He accelerated his polemics against the non-Lotus teachings the government had been patronizing at the very time it was attempting to solidify national unity and resolve. In a series of letters to prominent leaders he directly provoked the major prelates of Kamakura temples that the Hojo family patronized, criticized the principles of [[Zen]] which was popular among the samurai class, critiqued the esoteric practices of [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]] just as the government was invoking them, and condemned the ideas underlying [[Risshū (Buddhism)|Risshū]] as it was enjoying a revival.<ref name=Stone1999a />{{rp|454–455}}<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|257}} His actions at that time have been described by modern scholars either as a high form of altruism<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy-6HiyApXsC&q=nichiren+|title=Altruism in World Religions|editor-last1=Neusner|editor-first1=Jacob|editor-last2=Chilton|editor-first2=Bruce|first=Ruben L.F.|last=Habito|author-link=Ruben Habito|chapter=Altruism in Japanese Religions: The Case of Nichiren Buddhism|date=8 November 2005|publisher=Georgetown University Press|isbn=1-58901-235-6|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601210844/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy-6HiyApXsC&q=nichiren+|url-status=live}}</ref> or the ravings of a fanatic and madman.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kr0KAAAAYAAJ&q=nichiren+madman|title=Buddhist Prophet Nichiren: A Lotus in the Sun|last=Petzold|first=Bruno|date=1978|publisher=Hokke Jānaru|page=1|access-date=13 October 2018|archive-date=3 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603050102/https://books.google.com/books?id=kr0KAAAAYAAJ&q=nichiren+madman|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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His claims drew the ire of the influential religious figures of the time and their followers, especially the Shingon priest {{nihongo|[[Ninshō|Ryōkan]]|良観}}. In September 1271, after a fiery exchange of letters between the two, Nichiren was arrested by a band of soldiers and tried by {{nihongo|Hei no Saemon|平の左衛門||also called {{lang|ja|平頼綱}} {{transl|ja|Taira no Yoritsuna}}}}, the deputy chief of the [[Samurai-dokoro|Hojo clan's Board of Retainers]]. Nichiren considered this as his second remonstration to the government.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-6ghsWDMTAC&q=nichiren+%22second+remonstration%22&pg=PA102|title=Speeches in World History|last1=McIntire|first1=Suzanne|last2=Burns|first2=William E.|date=25 June 2010|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn= |
His claims drew the ire of the influential religious figures of the time and their followers, especially the Shingon priest {{nihongo|[[Ninshō|Ryōkan]]|良観}}. In September 1271, after a fiery exchange of letters between the two, Nichiren was arrested by a band of soldiers and tried by {{nihongo|Hei no Saemon|平の左衛門||also called {{lang|ja|平頼綱}} {{transl|ja|Taira no Yoritsuna}}}}, the deputy chief of the [[Samurai-dokoro|Hojo clan's Board of Retainers]]. Nichiren considered this as his second remonstration to the government.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-6ghsWDMTAC&q=nichiren+%22second+remonstration%22&pg=PA102|title=Speeches in World History|last1=McIntire|first1=Suzanne|last2=Burns|first2=William E.|date=25 June 2010|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-2680-7|page=102|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601192131/https://books.google.com/books?id=L-6ghsWDMTAC&q=nichiren+%22second+remonstration%22&pg=PA102|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|257}} |
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According to Nichiren's own account, he was sentenced to exile but was brought to Tatsunukuchi beach in [[Shichirigahama]] for execution. At the final moment an astronomical phenomenon, "a brilliant orb as bright as the moon," arced over the execution grounds, terrifying Nichiren's executioners into inaction.<ref>"The Writings of Nichiren", p. 767</ref> Some scholars have proposed alternative narratives for this story.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|257, 436 (note 99)}} |
According to Nichiren's own account, he was sentenced to exile but was brought to Tatsunukuchi beach in [[Shichirigahama]] for execution. At the final moment an astronomical phenomenon, "a brilliant orb as bright as the moon," arced over the execution grounds, terrifying Nichiren's executioners into inaction.<ref>"The Writings of Nichiren", p. 767</ref> Some scholars have proposed alternative narratives for this story.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|257, 436 (note 99)}} |
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Regardless of the account, Nichiren's life was spared and he was exiled to [[Sado, Niigata|Sado Island]]. The incident has become known as the "Tatsunokuchi Persecution" and was regarded by Nichiren as a death-and-resurrection turning point.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|257–258, 436 (note 100)}}<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|58}} In the Nichiren tradition this is called his moment of {{nihongo||発迹顕本|Hosshaku kenpon}}, translated as "casting off the transient and revealing the true"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/C/4#para-0 |title=casting off the transient and revealing the true | Dictionary of Buddhism | Nichiren Buddhism Library |publisher=Nichirenlibrary.org |date= | |
Regardless of the account, Nichiren's life was spared and he was exiled to [[Sado, Niigata|Sado Island]]. The incident has become known as the "Tatsunokuchi Persecution" and was regarded by Nichiren as a death-and-resurrection turning point.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|257–258, 436 (note 100)}}<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|58}} In the Nichiren tradition this is called his moment of {{nihongo||発迹顕本|Hosshaku kenpon}}, translated as "casting off the transient and revealing the true"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/C/4#para-0 |title=casting off the transient and revealing the true | Dictionary of Buddhism | Nichiren Buddhism Library |publisher=Nichirenlibrary.org |date= |access-date=29 April 2022 |archive-date=23 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323143941/https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/C/4#para-0 |url-status=live }}</ref> or "outgrowing the provisional and revealing the essential."{{sfnp|Tanabe|2002|p=357}} |
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=== Second banishment and exile === |
=== Second banishment and exile === |
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After the failed execution authorities carried out Nichiren's original sentence of exile to [[Sado, Niigata|Sado Island]] in the [[Sea of Japan]]. Upon arriving, he was dispatched to a small dilapidated temple located in a graveyard. Nichiren was accompanied by a few disciples and in the first winter they endured terrible cold, food deprivation, and threats from local inhabitants.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|258}} |
After the failed execution authorities carried out Nichiren's original sentence of exile to [[Sado, Niigata|Sado Island]] in the [[Sea of Japan]]. Upon arriving, he was dispatched to a small dilapidated temple located in a graveyard. Nichiren was accompanied by a few disciples and in the first winter they endured terrible cold, food deprivation, and threats from local inhabitants.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|258}} |
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Nichiren scholars describe a clear shift in both tone and message in letters written before his Sado exile and those written during and after.<ref name=Tanabe2002>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7XqUdwzb0oC&q=sado&pg=PA238|title=Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Doctrine 2|last=Nichiren|others=Tanabe, George |
Nichiren scholars describe a clear shift in both tone and message in letters written before his Sado exile and those written during and after.<ref name=Tanabe2002>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7XqUdwzb0oC&q=sado&pg=PA238|title=Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Doctrine 2|last=Nichiren|others=Tanabe, George|date=2002|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2551-5|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=10 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710021049/https://books.google.com/books?id=W7XqUdwzb0oC&q=sado&pg=PA238|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|238}} Initially, Nichiren's urgent concern was to rally his followers in Kamakura. The tactics of the ''bakufu'' suppression of the Nichiren community included exile, imprisonment, land confiscation, or ousting from clan membership. Apparently a majority of his disciples abandoned their faith and others questioned why they and Nichiren were facing such adversity in light of the Lotus Sutra's promise of "peace and security in the present life."<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|258–259}} |
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In response he began to identify himself with [[Sadāparibhūta]], a key figure in the Lotus Sutra, who in the 20th chapter invited repeated persecution in his efforts to propagate the sutra. Such hardship, Nichiren argued, fulfilled and validated the Lotus Sutra. He also identified himself with the bodhisattva [[Visistacaritra]] to whom Shakyamuni entrusted the future propagation of the Lotus Sutra, seeing himself in the role of leading a vast outpouring of [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]] who pledged to liberate the oppressed.<ref name=Lopez2016 />{{rp|99,100}}<ref name="Olson 2005 196–197"/><ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|259}} |
In response he began to identify himself with [[Sadāparibhūta]], a key figure in the Lotus Sutra, who in the 20th chapter invited repeated persecution in his efforts to propagate the sutra. Such hardship, Nichiren argued, fulfilled and validated the Lotus Sutra. He also identified himself with the bodhisattva [[Visistacaritra]] to whom Shakyamuni entrusted the future propagation of the Lotus Sutra, seeing himself in the role of leading a vast outpouring of [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]] who pledged to liberate the oppressed.<ref name=Lopez2016 />{{rp|99,100}}<ref name="Olson 2005 196–197"/><ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|259}} |
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The numerous letters and minor treatises he wrote in Sado include what is considered his two most significant works, the {{nihongo||観心本尊抄|Kanjin no Honzon Shō|"The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind"}}<ref name="Two Nichiren Texts"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=354&m=1&q |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, pp. 354–382: The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054352/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=354&m=1&q |archive-date=21 September 2013 |
The numerous letters and minor treatises he wrote in Sado include what is considered his two most significant works, the {{nihongo||観心本尊抄|Kanjin no Honzon Shō|"The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind"}}<ref name="Two Nichiren Texts"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=354&m=1&q |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, pp. 354–382: The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054352/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=354&m=1&q |archive-date=21 September 2013 }}</ref> and the {{nihongo||開目抄|Kaimoku Shō|"On the Opening of the Eyes"}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=220&m=1&q |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, pp. 220–298: The Opening of the Eyes |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054530/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=220&m=1&q |archive-date=21 September 2013 }}</ref> In the latter he stated that facing adversity should be regarded as a matter of course and that the resolve to carry on with the mission to propagate the sutra was for him more important than guarantees of protection: "Let Heaven forsake me. Let ordeals confront me. I will not begrudge bodily life... . No matter what trials we may encounter, so long as we do not have a mind of doubt, I and my disciples will naturally achieve the Buddha realm." He concluded this work with the vow to be the "pillar of Japan, the eyes of Japan, the great ship of Japan."<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|259}}<ref name=Rodd1995 />{{rp|329}} |
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=== The Mandala Gohonzon=== |
=== The Mandala Gohonzon=== |
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{{Main|Gohonzon}} |
{{Main|Gohonzon}} |
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[[File:NICHIREN SHŌNIN ICHIDAI ZUE 1858 Mandala.jpg|thumb|right|Nichiren bowing before the Mandala Gohonzon which he wrote by himself]] |
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At the end of the 1271–1272 winter Nichiren's conditions had improved. He had attracted a small band of followers in Sado who provided him with support and disciples from the mainland began visiting him and providing supplies. In 1272 there was an attempted coup in Kamakura and Kyoto, seemingly fulfilling the prediction he had made in the ''Rissho Ankoku Ron'' of rebellion in the domain. At this point Nichiren was transferred to much better accommodations.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|259}}<ref name=Stone1999a />{{rp|452}} |
At the end of the 1271–1272 winter Nichiren's conditions had improved. He had attracted a small band of followers in Sado who provided him with support and disciples from the mainland began visiting him and providing supplies. In 1272 there was an attempted coup in Kamakura and Kyoto, seemingly fulfilling the prediction he had made in the ''Rissho Ankoku Ron'' of rebellion in the domain. At this point Nichiren was transferred to much better accommodations.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|259}}<ref name=Stone1999a />{{rp|452}} |
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=== Retirement to Mount Minobu === |
=== Retirement to Mount Minobu === |
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During his self-imposed exile at Mount Minobu, a location 100 miles west of [[Kamakura]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Habito|first=Ruben L.F. |date=1999 |title=Bodily Reading of the Lotus Sutra: Understanding Nichiren's Buddhism |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2685 |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26 |issue=3–4 |page=297}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Lotus Sūtra |
During his self-imposed exile at Mount Minobu, a location 100 miles west of [[Kamakura]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Habito |first=Ruben L.F. |date=1999 |title=Bodily Reading of the Lotus Sutra: Understanding Nichiren's Buddhism |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2685 |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26 |issue=3–4 |page=297 |access-date=18 November 2018 |archive-date=18 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118122748/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2685 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Lotus Sūtra: a biography |last=Lopez |first=Donald S. |isbn=978-1-4008-8334-9 |location=Princeton |page=101 |oclc=959534116|date=12 September 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-2/Content/234 |title=The Way to Minobu | WND II | Nichiren Buddhism Library |publisher=Nichirenlibrary.org |date= |access-date=29 April 2022 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601210843/https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-2/Content/234 |url-status=live }}</ref> Nichiren led a widespread movement of followers in [[Kantō region|Kanto]] and [[Sado, Niigata|Sado]] mainly through his prolific letter-writing. During the so-called "Atsuhara affair" of 1279 when governmental attacks were aimed at Nichiren's followers rather than himself, Nichiren's letters reveal an assertive and well-informed leader who provided detailed instructions through a sophisticated network of disciples serving as liaisons between Minobu and other affected areas in Japan. He also showed the ability to provide a compelling narrative of events that gave his followers a broad perspective of what was unfolding.<ref name=Stone2014>{{Cite journal |last=Stone |first=Jacqueline I. |date=2014 |title=The Atsuhara Affair: The Lotus Sutra, Persecution, and Religious Identity in the Early Nichiren Tradition |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/4334 |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=165, 176 |doi=10.18874/jjrs.41.1.2014.153-189 |via=Nanzan Institute |doi-access=free |access-date=26 September 2018 |archive-date=8 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140608101525/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/4334 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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More than half of the extant letters of Nichiren were written during his years at Minobu. Some consisted of moving letters to followers expressing appreciation for their assistance, counseling on personal matters, and explaining his teachings in more understandable terms.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|261}}<ref>https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Introduction/3#The Life of Nichiren Daishonin</ref> Two of his works from this period, the {{nihongo||撰時抄|Senji Shō|"The Selection of the Time"}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=538&m=1&q |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, pp. 538–594: The Selection of the Time |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054845/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=538&m=1&q |archive-date=21 September 2013 |
More than half of the extant letters of Nichiren were written during his years at Minobu. Some consisted of moving letters to followers expressing appreciation for their assistance, counseling on personal matters, and explaining his teachings in more understandable terms.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|261}}<ref>https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Introduction/3#The {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171221101321/http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Introduction/3#The |date=21 December 2017 }} Life of Nichiren Daishonin</ref> Two of his works from this period, the {{nihongo||撰時抄|Senji Shō|"The Selection of the Time"}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=538&m=1&q |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, pp. 538–594: The Selection of the Time |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054845/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=538&m=1&q |archive-date=21 September 2013 }}</ref> and the {{nihongo||報恩抄|Hōon Shō|"On Repaying Debts of Gratitude"}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=45&m=1&q |title=SGI The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, pp. 41–47: The Four Debts of Gratitude |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054843/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=45&m=1&q |archive-date=21 September 2013 }}</ref> constitute, along with his ''Risshō Ankoku Ron'' ("On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land"), ''Kaimoku Shō'' ("The Opening of the Eyes"), and ''Kanjin no Honzon Shō'' ("The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind"), what is commonly regarded as his five major writings. |
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During his years at Minobu Nichiren intensified his attacks on {{nihongo|[[Mikkyō|mystical and esoteric]] practices|密教|mikkyō}} that had been incorporated into the Japanese [[Tendai]] school. It becomes clear at this point that he understood that he was creating his own form of Lotus Buddhism.<ref name=Dulce1999>{{Cite journal|last=Dolce|first=Lucia|date=1999|title=Criticism and Appropriation: Nichiren's Attitude toward Esoteric Buddhism |
During his years at Minobu Nichiren intensified his attacks on {{nihongo|[[Mikkyō|mystical and esoteric]] practices|密教|mikkyō}} that had been incorporated into the Japanese [[Tendai]] school. It becomes clear at this point that he understood that he was creating his own form of Lotus Buddhism.<ref name=Dulce1999>{{Cite journal|last=Dolce|first=Lucia|date=1999|title=Criticism and Appropriation: Nichiren's Attitude toward Esoteric Buddhism|url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2689|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3-4|via=Narzan Institute|access-date=18 November 2018|archive-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701053356/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2689|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|362}} |
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Nichiren and his disciples completed the {{nihongo|[[Kuon-ji|Myō-hōkke-in Kuon-ji]] Temple|久遠寺}} in 1281. In the 19th century this structure burned down to be replaced by a new structure completed in the second half of the Meiji era.<ref name=Christensen2001>{{Cite book |
Nichiren and his disciples completed the {{nihongo|[[Kuon-ji|Myō-hōkke-in Kuon-ji]] Temple|久遠寺}} in 1281. In the 19th century this structure burned down to be replaced by a new structure completed in the second half of the Meiji era.<ref name=Christensen2001>{{Cite book|title=Nichiren: leader of Buddhist reformation in Japan|last=Christensen|first=Jack Arden|date=2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KsztCdAZo9oC&q=hermitage|publisher=Jain Publishing Co|isbn=978-0-87573-086-8|location=Fremont, Calif.|oclc=43030590|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601165027/https://books.google.com/books?id=KsztCdAZo9oC&q=hermitage|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|117}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iepJAgAAQBAJ&q=Kuon-ji&pg=PT751|title=Encyclopedia of Monasticism|last=Johnston|first=William M.|page=693|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-78716-4|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601220316/https://books.google.com/books?id=iepJAgAAQBAJ&q=Kuon-ji&pg=PT751|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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While at Minobu Nichiren also inscribed numerous Mandala [[Gohonzon (Nichiren Buddhism)|Gohonzon]] for bestowal upon specific disciples and lay believers. [[Nichiren Shoshu]] believers claim that after the execution of the three Atsuhara farmers he inscribed the ''[[Dai Gohonzon]]'' on 12 October 1279, a Gohonzon specifically addressed to all humanity. This assertion has been disputed by other schools as historically and textually incorrect.<ref>Causton, Richard: "Buddha in Daily Life, An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren", Random House 2011, p. 241 {{ISBN| |
While at Minobu Nichiren also inscribed numerous Mandala [[Gohonzon (Nichiren Buddhism)|Gohonzon]] for bestowal upon specific disciples and lay believers. [[Nichiren Shoshu]] believers claim that after the execution of the three Atsuhara farmers he inscribed the ''[[Dai Gohonzon]]'' on 12 October 1279, a Gohonzon specifically addressed to all humanity. This assertion has been disputed by other schools as historically and textually incorrect.<ref>Causton, Richard: "Buddha in Daily Life, An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren", Random House 2011, p. 241 {{ISBN|1-4464-8919-1}}</ref><ref name=Lopez2016 />{{rp|189}} It is enshrined currently at the ''Tahō Fuji Dai-Nichirenge-Zan Taiseki-ji'', informally known as the ''Head Temple [[Taiseki-ji]]'' of the [[Nichiren Shōshū|Nichiren Shōshū Order of Buddhism]], located at the foot of [[Mount Fuji]] in [[Fujinomiya, Shizuoka]].{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} Several of these Mandala Gohonzon are prominently retained by the [[Nichiren-shū]] in [[Yamanashi Prefecture]]. Others survive today in the repositories of [[Nichiren Shōshū]] temples such as {{nihongo|[[Taiseki-ji]]|大石寺}} in [[Fujinomiya, Shizuoka]], which has a particularly large collection of scrolls that is publicly aired once a year.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} |
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It is apparent that Nichiren took great care in deciding which of his disciples were eligible to receive a Gohonzon inscribed by him. In the case of a letter written to Lady Niiama he took great care to explain why he would not inscribe a Gohonzon despite a deep personal bond.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|52–55}} Among the Gohonzon he inscribed were several that were quite large and perhaps intended for congregational use in chapels maintained by some lay followers.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|275}} |
It is apparent that Nichiren took great care in deciding which of his disciples were eligible to receive a Gohonzon inscribed by him. In the case of a letter written to Lady Niiama he took great care to explain why he would not inscribe a Gohonzon despite a deep personal bond.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|52–55}} Among the Gohonzon he inscribed were several that were quite large and perhaps intended for congregational use in chapels maintained by some lay followers.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|275}} |
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=== Death === |
=== Death === |
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[[File:Two-storied Pagoda of Ikegami Honmon-ji Tokyo.jpg|thumb|185px|Memorial tower erected on the spot where Nichiren was cremated in 1282 ([[Ikegami Honmon-ji|Ikegami Honmon-ji Temple]], Tokyo)]] |
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In 1282, after years of seclusion, Nichiren fell ill. His followers encouraged him to travel to the hot springs in Hitachi for their medicinal benefits. He was also encouraged by his disciples to travel there for the warmer weather, and to use the land offered by Hagiri Sanenaga for recuperation. En route, unable to travel further, he stopped at the home of a disciple in [[Ikegami Honmon-ji|Ikegami]], outside of present-day Tokyo, and died on 13 October 1282. According to legend, he died in the presence of fellow disciples after having spent several days lecturing from his sickbed on the Lotus Sutra, writing a final letter, and leaving instructions for the future of his movement after his death, namely the designation of the six senior disciples. His funeral and cremation took place the following day.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|261}}<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|133}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zb1LPTPJLaYC&q=nichiren&pg=PR8|title=The Material Culture of Death in Medieval Japan|last=Gerhart|first=Karen M.|date=2009|pages=114–116 |
In 1282, after years of seclusion, Nichiren fell ill. His followers encouraged him to travel to the hot springs in Hitachi for their medicinal benefits. He was also encouraged by his disciples to travel there for the warmer weather, and to use the land offered by Hagiri Sanenaga for recuperation. En route, unable to travel further, he stopped at the home of a disciple in [[Ikegami Honmon-ji|Ikegami]], outside of present-day Tokyo, and died on 13 October 1282. According to legend, he died in the presence of fellow disciples after having spent several days lecturing from his sickbed on the Lotus Sutra, writing a final letter, and leaving instructions for the future of his movement after his death, namely the designation of the six senior disciples. His funeral and cremation took place the following day.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|261}}<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|133}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zb1LPTPJLaYC&q=nichiren&pg=PR8|title=The Material Culture of Death in Medieval Japan|last=Gerhart|first=Karen M.|date=2009|pages=114–116|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3261-2|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=3 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603050103/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zb1LPTPJLaYC&q=nichiren&pg=PR8|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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His disciples left Ikegami with Nichiren's ashes on 21 October, reaching back to Minobu on 25 October. |
His disciples left Ikegami with Nichiren's ashes on 21 October, reaching back to Minobu on 25 October. |
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* [[Nichiren Shu]] sects claims his tomb is sited, as per his request, at [[Kuon-ji]] on Mount Minobu where his ashes remain.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|321}} |
* [[Nichiren Shu]] sects claims his tomb is sited, as per his request, at [[Kuon-ji]] on Mount Minobu where his ashes remain.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|321}} |
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* [[Nichiren Shoshu]] asserts that [[Nikko Shonin]] later confiscated his cremated ashes along with other articles and brought them to Mount Fuji which, they |
* [[Nichiren Shoshu]] asserts that [[Nikko Shonin]] later confiscated his cremated ashes along with other articles and brought them to Mount Fuji which, they say are now enshrined on the left side next to the [[Dai Gohonzon]] within the ''Hoando'' storage house.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}<!-- The source cited is for Nichiren's own desire to be interred there, not for his tomb actually being sited there. ~Hijiri88, August 2015. -->{{refn |group=note |1="please build my grave on Mount Minobu, because that is where is where I spent nine years reciting the Lotus Sutra to my heart's content. My heart lives forever on Mount Minobu"<ref>{{cite book |last=Montgomery |first=Daniel |date=1991 |title=Fire in the Lotus: The Dynamic Religion of Nichiren |location=London |publisher=Mandala |isbn=978-1-85274-091-7 |page=144}}</ref>}} |
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== Teachings == |
== Teachings == |
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Nichiren's teachings developed over the course of his career and their evolution can be seen through the study of his writings as well as in the annotations he made in his personal copy of the Lotus Sutra, the so-called ''Chū-hokekyō''.<ref name=Dolce1999 />{{rp|363}} |
Nichiren's teachings developed over the course of his career and their evolution can be seen through the study of his writings as well as in the annotations he made in his personal copy of the Lotus Sutra, the so-called ''Chū-hokekyō''.<ref name=Dolce1999 />{{rp|363}} |
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Some scholars set a clear demarcation in his teachings at the time he arrived at Sado Island<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7XqUdwzb0oC&q=nichiren+revelation&pg=PA238|title=Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Doctrine 2 |
Some scholars set a clear demarcation in his teachings at the time he arrived at Sado Island<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7XqUdwzb0oC&q=nichiren+revelation&pg=PA238|title=Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Doctrine 2|last=Nichiren|date=2002|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2551-5|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=6 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706211100/https://books.google.com/books?id=W7XqUdwzb0oC&q=nichiren+revelation&pg=PA238|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|238}} whereas others see a threefold division of thought: up to and through the Izu exile, from his return to Kamakura through the Sado Island exile, and during his years at Minobu.<ref name=Dolce1999>{{Cite journal|last=Dolce|first=Lucia|date=1999|title=Criticism and Appropriation: Nichiren's Attitude toward Esoteric Buddhism|url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2682|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3-4|access-date=31 October 2018|archive-date=2 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202120830/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2682|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|252–253}} |
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According to Anesaki, Nichiren, upon his arrival at Minobu, quickly turned his attention to consolidating his teachings toward their perpetuation. The scope of his thinking was outlined in an essay {{nihongo||法華取要抄|Hokke Shuyō-shō|"Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra"}}, considered by [[Nikkō Shōnin]] as one of Nichiren's ten major writings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/T/58 |title=ten major writings | Dictionary of Buddhism | Nichiren Buddhism Library |publisher=Nichirenlibrary.org |date= | |
According to Anesaki, Nichiren, upon his arrival at Minobu, quickly turned his attention to consolidating his teachings toward their perpetuation. The scope of his thinking was outlined in an essay {{nihongo||法華取要抄|Hokke Shuyō-shō|"Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra"}}, considered by [[Nikkō Shōnin]] as one of Nichiren's ten major writings.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/T/58 |title=ten major writings | Dictionary of Buddhism | Nichiren Buddhism Library |publisher=Nichirenlibrary.org |date= |access-date=29 April 2022 |archive-date=14 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214190827/http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/T/58 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|98}} |
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Anesaki also claims that later during his Minobu years, in [[Ongi kuden|lectures he is said to have transmitted to his disciples]], Nichiren summarized the key ideas of his teachings in one paragraph: Buddhahood is eternal, all people can and should manifest it in their lives; Nichiren is the personage in the Lotus Sutra whose mission it is to enable people to realize their enlightenment; his followers who share his vow are the [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]]. This requires a spiritual and moral unity among followers based on their inherent Buddhahood; Nichiren established the seeds of this community and his followers to come must extend it globally. Thus the enlightened individual, country, and world are different expressions of the ideal of the Buddha land; and the enlightened heart of the individual plays out its role with the world and cosmos as its stage.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|98–100}} This is Nichiren's vision of ''[[Kosen-rufu]]'', a time when the teachings of the Lotus Sutra would be widely spread throughout the world.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Waking the Buddha |
Anesaki also claims that later during his Minobu years, in [[Ongi kuden|lectures he is said to have transmitted to his disciples]], Nichiren summarized the key ideas of his teachings in one paragraph: Buddhahood is eternal, all people can and should manifest it in their lives; Nichiren is the personage in the Lotus Sutra whose mission it is to enable people to realize their enlightenment; his followers who share his vow are the [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]]. This requires a spiritual and moral unity among followers based on their inherent Buddhahood; Nichiren established the seeds of this community and his followers to come must extend it globally. Thus the enlightened individual, country, and world are different expressions of the ideal of the Buddha land; and the enlightened heart of the individual plays out its role with the world and cosmos as its stage.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|98–100}} This is Nichiren's vision of ''[[Kosen-rufu]]'', a time when the teachings of the Lotus Sutra would be widely spread throughout the world.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Waking the Buddha: how the most dynamic and empowering Buddhist movement in history is changing our concept of religion|last=Strand |first=Clark|page=182 |isbn=978-1-938252-51-8|location=Santa Monica, CA|oclc=875894919}}</ref> |
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Nichiren set a precedent for Buddhist social activism centuries before its emergence in other Buddhist schools. The uniqueness of his teachings was his attempt to move Buddhism from the theoretical to the actualizable. He held adamantly that his teachings would permit a nation to right itself and ultimately lead to world peace.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Buddhism and peace:Theory and practice|date=2006|publisher=Blue Pine|others=Mun, Chanju., International Seminar on Buddhism and Leadership for Peace (7th : 1995 : Honolulu, Hawaii)| first=Sallie B. |last=King |chapter=Toward a Buddhist theory of social ethics|page=105 |isbn= |
Nichiren set a precedent for Buddhist social activism centuries before its emergence in other Buddhist schools. The uniqueness of his teachings was his attempt to move Buddhism from the theoretical to the actualizable. He held adamantly that his teachings would permit a nation to right itself and ultimately lead to world peace.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Buddhism and peace:Theory and practice|date=2006|publisher=Blue Pine|others=Mun, Chanju., International Seminar on Buddhism and Leadership for Peace (7th : 1995 : Honolulu, Hawaii)| first=Sallie B. |last=King |chapter=Toward a Buddhist theory of social ethics|page=105 |isbn=978-0-9777553-1-8|location=Honolulu|oclc=65404566}}</ref><ref name=Tanabe2002 />{{rp|251}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CurSh3Sh_KMC&q=nichiren+uniqueness&pg=PA667|title=Dictionary of World Biography: The Middle Ages|last1=Magill|first1=Frank Northen|last2=Aves|first2=Alison|date=1998|page=667|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-57958-041-4|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601090722/https://books.google.com/books?id=CurSh3Sh_KMC&q=nichiren+uniqueness&pg=PA667|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Gacis2000>{{cite book |last1=Gacis |first1=Achilles S. C. |title=Nichiren's Nationalism: A Buddhist Rhetoric of a Shinto Teaching |date=2000 |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=978-1-58112-110-0 |edition=Dissertation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30gTanIydYgC&pg=GBS.PA54.w.0.0.0 |access-date=5 January 2022 |archive-date=5 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105204636/https://books.google.com/books?id=30gTanIydYgC&pg=GBS.PA54.w.0.0.0 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|54}} |
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Some of his religious thinking was derived from the Tendai understanding of the Lotus Sutra, syncretic beliefs that were deeply rooted in the culture of his times, and new perspectives that were products of Kamakura Buddhism.<ref name=Gacis2000 />{{rp|vii-ix}} Other ideas were completely original and unique to him. |
Some of his religious thinking was derived from the Tendai understanding of the Lotus Sutra, syncretic beliefs that were deeply rooted in the culture of his times, and new perspectives that were products of Kamakura Buddhism.<ref name=Gacis2000 />{{rp|vii-ix}} Other ideas were completely original and unique to him. |
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==== Immanence ==== |
==== Immanence ==== |
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Nichiren stressed the concept of [[immanence]], meaning that the Buddha's pure land is to be found in this present world (''shaba soku jakkōdo''). Related concepts such as attaining enlightenment in one's current form (''sokushin jōbutsu'') and the belief that enlightenment is not attained but is originally existing within all people (''hongaku'') had been introduced by [[Kūkai]] and [[Saicho]] several centuries earlier.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=haVhiTONzOYC&q=sokushin+jobutsu&pg=PA75|title=The Bodymind Experience in Japanese Buddhism: A Phenomenological Study of Kukai and Dogen|last=Shaner|first=David Edward|date=1985|pages=75–79 |
Nichiren stressed the concept of [[immanence]], meaning that the Buddha's pure land is to be found in this present world (''shaba soku jakkōdo''). Related concepts such as attaining enlightenment in one's current form (''sokushin jōbutsu'') and the belief that enlightenment is not attained but is originally existing within all people (''hongaku'') had been introduced by [[Kūkai]] and [[Saicho]] several centuries earlier.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=haVhiTONzOYC&q=sokushin+jobutsu&pg=PA75|title=The Bodymind Experience in Japanese Buddhism: A Phenomenological Study of Kukai and Dogen|last=Shaner|first=David Edward|date=1985|pages=75–79|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-88706-061-8|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602012407/https://books.google.com/books?id=haVhiTONzOYC&q=sokushin+jobutsu&pg=PA75|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&pg=PA53 |title=The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture |first=Paul |last=Groner |chapter=The Lotus Sutra and Saicho's Interpretation of the Realization of Buddhahood with This Very Body |pages=56–57 |editor-first1=George J. |editor-last1=Tanabe |editor-first2=Willa J. |editor-last2=Tanabe |date=1989 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1198-3 |access-date=31 October 2018 |archive-date=4 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704214116/https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&pg=PA53 |url-status=live }}</ref> These concepts were based on [[Chih-i|Chih-i's]] cosmology of the unity and interconnectedness of the universe called [[Ichinen Sanzen|Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment of Life]] (''ichinen sanzen'').<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8BotCgAAQBAJ&q=ichinen+sanzen&pg=PA95|title=The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Humanism|others=Andrew Copson and A.C. Grayling|first=Merv|last=Fowler|chapter=Ancient China|date=2015|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-97717-9|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601165034/https://books.google.com/books?id=8BotCgAAQBAJ&q=ichinen+sanzen&pg=PA95|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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Nichiren advanced these concepts by declaring that they were actualizable rather than theoretical. Cause and effect were simultaneous instead of linear. Contemplation of one's mind (''kanjin'') took place within the singular belief in and commitment to the Lotus Sutra. According to Nichiren these phenomena manifest when a person chants the title of the Lotus Sutra (''date'') and shares its validity with others, even at the cost of one's life if need be.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|68,265–266}} |
Nichiren advanced these concepts by declaring that they were actualizable rather than theoretical. Cause and effect were simultaneous instead of linear. Contemplation of one's mind (''kanjin'') took place within the singular belief in and commitment to the Lotus Sutra. According to Nichiren these phenomena manifest when a person chants the title of the Lotus Sutra (''date'') and shares its validity with others, even at the cost of one's life if need be.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|68,265–266}} |
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Nichiren constructed a triad relationship between faith, practice, and study. Faith meant embracing his new paradigm of the Lotus Sutra. It was something that needed to be continually deepened. "To accept (''ju'') [faith in the sutra] is easy," he explained to a follower, "to uphold it (''ji'') is difficult. But the realization of Buddhahood lies in upholding [faith]." This could only be manifested by the practice of chanting the ''daimoku'' as well as teaching others to do the same, and study.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|270,295}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DGQjmAO6yP4C&q=nichiren+faith+%22practice+and+study%22&pg=PA13|title=Peace, Value, and Wisdom: The Educational Philosophy of Daisaku Ikeda|last=Miller|first=George David|date=2002|publisher=Rodopi|isbn= |
Nichiren constructed a triad relationship between faith, practice, and study. Faith meant embracing his new paradigm of the Lotus Sutra. It was something that needed to be continually deepened. "To accept (''ju'') [faith in the sutra] is easy," he explained to a follower, "to uphold it (''ji'') is difficult. But the realization of Buddhahood lies in upholding [faith]." This could only be manifested by the practice of chanting the ''daimoku'' as well as teaching others to do the same, and study.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|270,295}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DGQjmAO6yP4C&q=nichiren+faith+%22practice+and+study%22&pg=PA13|title=Peace, Value, and Wisdom: The Educational Philosophy of Daisaku Ikeda|last=Miller|first=George David|date=2002|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=90-420-1359-1|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602194053/https://books.google.com/books?id=DGQjmAO6yP4C&q=nichiren+faith+%22practice+and+study%22&pg=PA13|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|12–13}} |
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Consequently, Nichiren consistently and vehemently objected to the perspective of the Pure Land school that stressed an other-worldly aspiration to some pure land. Behind his assertion is the concept of the nonduality of the subjective realm (the individual) and the objective realm (the land that the individual inhabits) which indicates that when the individual taps buddhahood, his or her present world becomes peaceful and harmonious. For Nichiren the widespread propagation of the Lotus Sutra and consequent world peace ("''[[kosen-rufu]]''") was achievable and inevitable and tasked his future followers with a mandate to accomplish it.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaC4CgAAQBAJ&q=nichiren|date=2015 |title=Buddhism in practice|editor-last=Lopez |editor-first=Donald S. |
Consequently, Nichiren consistently and vehemently objected to the perspective of the Pure Land school that stressed an other-worldly aspiration to some pure land. Behind his assertion is the concept of the nonduality of the subjective realm (the individual) and the objective realm (the land that the individual inhabits) which indicates that when the individual taps buddhahood, his or her present world becomes peaceful and harmonious. For Nichiren the widespread propagation of the Lotus Sutra and consequent world peace ("''[[kosen-rufu]]''") was achievable and inevitable and tasked his future followers with a mandate to accomplish it.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaC4CgAAQBAJ&q=nichiren |date=2015 |title=Buddhism in practice |editor-last=Lopez |editor-first=Donald S. Jr. |first=Jackie |last=Stone |chapter=Original Enlightenment Thought in the Nichiren Tradition |page=169 |isbn=978-1-4008-8007-2 |edition=Abridged |location=Princeton |oclc=926048981 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601090722/https://books.google.com/books?id=zaC4CgAAQBAJ&q=nichiren |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Stone2003a>{{Cite book|title=Action dharma: new studies in engaged Buddhism|date=2003|publisher=RoutledgeCurzon|others=Queen, Christopher S., Prebish, Charles S., Keown, Damien |first=Jacqueline I. |last=Stone |chapter=Nichiren's activist heirs: Soka Gakkai, Rissho Koseikai, Nipponzan Myohoji |pages=63–94 |quote=When all people throughout the land enter the one Buddha vehicle, and the Wonderful Dharma [of the Lotus] alone flourishes, because the people all chant Namu-Myoho-renge-kyo, the wind will not thrash the branches, nor the rain fall hard enough to break clods. The age will become like the reigns of [the Chinese sage kings] Yao and Shun. In the present life, inauspicious calamities will be banished, and people will obtain the art of longevity. When the principle becomes manifest that both persons and dharmas 'neither age nor die,' then each of you, behold! There can be no doubt of the sutra's promise of 'peace and security in the present world.' |isbn=0-7007-1593-2|location=London|oclc=50809145}}</ref>{{rp|68}} |
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==== The Latter Day of the Law ==== |
==== The Latter Day of the Law ==== |
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The [[Kamakura period]] of 13th century Japan was characterized by a sense of foreboding. Nichiren, as well as the others of this time, believed that they had entered the [[Latter Day of the Law]] (''Mappō''), the time which Shakyamuni predicted his teachings would lose their efficacy. Indeed, Japan had entered an era of extreme natural disasters, internal strife and political conflict.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSI2AAAAQBAJ&q=japan+%22latter+day+of+the+law%22&pg=PA131|title=Record of Miraculous Events in Japan: The Nihon ryoiki|date=2013|volume=3 |
The [[Kamakura period]] of 13th century Japan was characterized by a sense of foreboding. Nichiren, as well as the others of this time, believed that they had entered the [[Latter Day of the Law]] (''Mappō''), the time which Shakyamuni predicted his teachings would lose their efficacy. Indeed, Japan had entered an era of extreme natural disasters, internal strife and political conflict.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSI2AAAAQBAJ&q=japan+%22latter+day+of+the+law%22&pg=PA131|title=Record of Miraculous Events in Japan: The Nihon ryoiki|date=2013|volume=3|page=131|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-53516-8|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602160709/https://books.google.com/books?id=NSI2AAAAQBAJ&q=japan+%22latter+day+of+the+law%22&pg=PA131|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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Although Nichiren attributed the turmoils and disasters in society to the widespread practice of what he deemed inferior Buddhist teachings that were under government sponsorship, he was enthusiastically upbeat about the portent of the age. He asserted, in contrast to other Mahayana schools, this was the best possible moment to be alive, the era in which the Lotus Sutra was to spread, and the time in which the [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]] would appear to propagate it. "It is better to be a leper who chants Nam(u)-myōhō-renge-kyō than be a chief abbot of the Tendai school."<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|56,254}} |
Although Nichiren attributed the turmoils and disasters in society to the widespread practice of what he deemed inferior Buddhist teachings that were under government sponsorship, he was enthusiastically upbeat about the portent of the age. He asserted, in contrast to other Mahayana schools, this was the best possible moment to be alive, the era in which the Lotus Sutra was to spread, and the time in which the [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]] would appear to propagate it. "It is better to be a leper who chants Nam(u)-myōhō-renge-kyō than be a chief abbot of the Tendai school."<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|56,254}} |
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<ref>{{cite journal |first=Asai |last=Endō |year=1968 |orig- |
<ref>{{cite journal |first=Asai |last=Endō |year=1968 |orig-date=translated 1999 |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2683 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213161833/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2683 |archive-date=13 December 2014 |title=Nichiren's View of Humanity: The Final Dharma Age and the Three Thousand Realms in One Thought-Moment |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26 |issue=3–4 |pages=239–240 }} See also {{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=437&m=3&q=The%20Buddha%20did%20not%20entrust%20these%20five%20characters |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 437 Rebuking Slander of the Law |via=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318101637/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=437&m=3&q=The%20Buddha%20did%20not%20entrust%20these%20five%20characters |archive-date=18 March 2012 }}, {{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=736&m=3&q=compassion%20is%20truly%20great%20and%20encompassing |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 736: On Repaying Depts of Gratitude |via=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054219/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=736&m=3&q=compassion |archive-date=21 September 2013 }} and {{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=903&m=3&q=neither%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20nor |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 903: The Teaching for the Latter Day |via=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053719/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=903&m=3&q=neither |archive-date=21 September 2013 }}</ref> |
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==== Debate and polemics ==== |
==== Debate and polemics ==== |
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The tradition of conducting open and sustained debate to clarify matters of fundamental Buddhist principles has deep-seated roots in Tibet, China, and Korea.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1UW2XBv6_kkC&q=debate|title=Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery|last=Lempert|first=Michael|date=30 April 2012|publisher=University of California Press|isbn= |
The tradition of conducting open and sustained debate to clarify matters of fundamental Buddhist principles has deep-seated roots in Tibet, China, and Korea.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1UW2XBv6_kkC&q=debate|title=Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery|last=Lempert|first=Michael|date=30 April 2012|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-26946-0|page=47|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602012409/https://books.google.com/books?id=1UW2XBv6_kkC&q=debate|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VF4R8rfZ9QkC&q=debate|title=Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face: Scripture, Ritual, and Iconographic Exchange in Medieval China|last=Mollier|first=Christine|date=2008|page=15|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3169-1|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=6 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706112030/https://books.google.com/books?id=VF4R8rfZ9QkC&q=debate|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zF5dDwAAQBAJ&q=religious+debate+korea&pg=PA177|title=Religions of Korea in Practice|last=Muller|first=Charles|chapter=The Great Confucian-Buddhist Debate|editor-first=Robert E.|editor-last=Buswell|date=5 June 2018|page=177|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-18815-7|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601165027/https://books.google.com/books?id=zF5dDwAAQBAJ&q=religious+debate+korea&pg=PA177|url-status=live}}</ref> This tradition was also quite pronounced in Japan.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xhbv9sQpTgIC&q=india&pg=PR5|title=Saicho: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School: with a New Preface|last=Groner|first=Paul|date=2000|page=88|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2371-9|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602194053/https://books.google.com/books?id=xhbv9sQpTgIC&q=india&pg=PR5|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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In addition to formalized religious debates, the [[Kamakura period]] was marked by flourishing and competitive oral religious discourse. Temples began to compete for the patronage of the wealthy and powerful through oratorical sermonizing and temple lecturers (''kōshi'') faced pressure to attract crowds. Sermonizing spread from within the confines of temples to homes and the streets as wandering mendicants (''shidōso'', ''hijiri'', or ''inja'') preached to both the educated and illiterate in exchange for alms. In order to teach principles of faith preachers incorporated colorful storytelling, music, vaudeville, and drama—which later evolved into [[Noh]].<ref name=Rodd1980>{{Cite book|title=Nichiren, selected writings|last=Rodd|first=Laurel Rasplica|date=1980|publisher=University Press of Hawaii|isbn= |
In addition to formalized religious debates, the [[Kamakura period]] was marked by flourishing and competitive oral religious discourse. Temples began to compete for the patronage of the wealthy and powerful through oratorical sermonizing and temple lecturers (''kōshi'') faced pressure to attract crowds. Sermonizing spread from within the confines of temples to homes and the streets as wandering mendicants (''shidōso'', ''hijiri'', or ''inja'') preached to both the educated and illiterate in exchange for alms. In order to teach principles of faith preachers incorporated colorful storytelling, music, vaudeville, and drama—which later evolved into [[Noh]].<ref name=Rodd1980>{{Cite book|title=Nichiren, selected writings|last=Rodd|first=Laurel Rasplica|date=1980|publisher=University Press of Hawaii|isbn=0-8248-0682-4|location=[Honolulu]|oclc=5170843|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/nichirenselected0000nich}}</ref>{{rp|48–49}} |
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A predominant topic of debate in Kamakura Buddhism was the concept of rebuking "slander of the Dharma." The Lotus Sutra itself strongly warns about slander of the Dharma.<ref name=Stone2012 />{{rp|114–115}} [[Hōnen]], in turn, employed harsh polemics instructing people to {{nihongo| |
A predominant topic of debate in Kamakura Buddhism was the concept of rebuking "slander of the Dharma." The Lotus Sutra itself strongly warns about slander of the Dharma.<ref name=Stone2012 />{{rp|114–115}} [[Hōnen]], in turn, employed harsh polemics instructing people to {{nihongo|"discard"|捨|sha}}, {{nihongo|"close"|閉|hei}}, {{nihongo|"put aside"|閣|kaku}}, and {{nihongo|"abandon"|抛|hō}} the Lotus Sutra and other non-[[Pure Land Buddhism|Pure Land]] teachings. His ideas were vociferously attacked by many including Nichiren.<ref name=Stone2012 />{{rp|116,120}} |
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Nichiren, however, elevated countering slander of the Dharma into a pillar of Buddhist practice. In fact, far more of his extant writings deal with the clarification of what constitutes the essence of Buddhist teachings than expositions of how to meditate.<ref name=Stone2012 />{{rp|114,145–146}} |
Nichiren, however, elevated countering slander of the Dharma into a pillar of Buddhist practice. In fact, far more of his extant writings deal with the clarification of what constitutes the essence of Buddhist teachings than expositions of how to meditate.<ref name=Stone2012 />{{rp|114,145–146}} |
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At age 32, Nichiren began a career of denouncing other Mahayana Buddhist schools of his time and declaring what he asserted was the correct teaching, the Universal Dharma (''Nam(u)-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō''), and chanting its words as the only path for both personal and social salvation.<ref>The Essence of Nichiren Shu Buddhism, SanJose Temple, page 81. {{ISBN| |
At age 32, Nichiren began a career of denouncing other Mahayana Buddhist schools of his time and declaring what he asserted was the correct teaching, the Universal Dharma (''Nam(u)-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō''), and chanting its words as the only path for both personal and social salvation.<ref>The Essence of Nichiren Shu Buddhism, SanJose Temple, page 81. {{ISBN|0-9705920-0-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=3 |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, pp. 3–5: On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404085537/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=3 |archive-date=4 April 2013 }}</ref> The first target of his polemics was Pure Land Buddhism which had begun to gain ascendancy among the leaders and populace and even had established itself within the Tendai school. Nichiren's detailed rationale is most famously articulated in his {{nihongo|''Risshō Ankoku Ron''<ref name="sgilibrary.org"/>|立正安国論}}: "Treatise On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land,"<ref group=note name=note1/><ref>Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine I, page 105-155</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nichirenscoffeehouse.net/Ryuei/RAR.html |title=Living Rissho Ankoku Ron Commentary by Rev. Ryuei |publisher=Nichirenscoffeehouse.net |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041216195843/http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/Ryuei/RAR.html |archive-date=16 December 2004 }}</ref> his first major treatise and the first of his three remonstrations with the ''bakufu'' authorities. |
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Although his times were harsh and permeated by ''bakufu'' culture, Nichiren always chose the power of language over bearing arms or resorting to violence. He didn't mince his words and was relentless to pursue dialogue whether in the form of debate, conversations, or correspondence. His spirit of engaging in discourse is captured in his statement, "Whatever obstacles I may encounter, as long as men [persons] of wisdom do not prove my teachings to be false, I will never yield."<ref name=Urbain2010>{{Cite book|title=Daisaku Ikeda's philosophy of peace |
Although his times were harsh and permeated by ''bakufu'' culture, Nichiren always chose the power of language over bearing arms or resorting to violence. He didn't mince his words and was relentless to pursue dialogue whether in the form of debate, conversations, or correspondence. His spirit of engaging in discourse is captured in his statement, "Whatever obstacles I may encounter, as long as men [persons] of wisdom do not prove my teachings to be false, I will never yield."<ref name=Urbain2010>{{Cite book|title=Daisaku Ikeda's philosophy of peace: dialogue, transformation and global citizenship|last=Urbain|first=Olivier |date=2010|publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-4416-9789-9|location=London|oclc=742349088}}</ref>{{rp|86–87}} |
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==== "Single Practice" Buddhism ==== |
==== "Single Practice" Buddhism ==== |
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[[Hōnen]] introduced the concept of "single practice" Buddhism. Basing himself on the writings of the Chinese Buddhist [[Shandao]], he advocated the singular practice of [[Nianfo]], the recitation of the Buddha Amida's name. This practice was revolutionary because it was accessible to all and minimalized the monopolistic role of the entire monastic establishment.<ref>Bowring, Richard. Religious Traditions of Japan: 500–1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 247.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/finding-common-ground/|title=Finding Common Ground|last=Shaheen|first=James|work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review|access-date=28 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/faith-revolution/|title=Faith in Revolution|last=Strand|first=Clark|work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review|access-date=28 October 2018}}</ref> |
[[Hōnen]] introduced the concept of "single practice" Buddhism. Basing himself on the writings of the Chinese Buddhist [[Shandao]], he advocated the singular practice of [[Nianfo]], the recitation of the Buddha Amida's name. This practice was revolutionary because it was accessible to all and minimalized the monopolistic role of the entire monastic establishment.<ref>Bowring, Richard. Religious Traditions of Japan: 500–1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 247.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/finding-common-ground/|title=Finding Common Ground|last=Shaheen|first=James|work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review|access-date=28 October 2018|archive-date=31 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031173825/https://tricycle.org/magazine/finding-common-ground/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/faith-revolution/|title=Faith in Revolution|last=Strand|first=Clark|work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review|access-date=28 October 2018|archive-date=3 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903215258/https://tricycle.org/magazine/faith-revolution/|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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Nichiren appropriated the structure of a universally accessible single practice but substituted the Nianfo with the daimoku of ''Nam(u)-myōhō-renge-kyō''. This constituted renouncing the principle of aspiring to a Pure Land after death and asserting instead the Lotus perspective of attaining Buddhahood in one's present form in this lifetime.<ref name=Stone2012 />{{rp|124}} |
Nichiren appropriated the structure of a universally accessible single practice but substituted the Nianfo with the daimoku of ''Nam(u)-myōhō-renge-kyō''. This constituted renouncing the principle of aspiring to a Pure Land after death and asserting instead the Lotus perspective of attaining Buddhahood in one's present form in this lifetime.<ref name=Stone2012 />{{rp|124}} |
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==== Protective forces ==== |
==== Protective forces ==== |
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Japan had a long-established [[Shinto|system of folk beliefs]] that existed outside of and parallel to the schools of the Buddhist establishment. Many of these beliefs had an influence on the various religious schools which, in turn, influenced each other, a phenomenon known as [[syncretism]]. Among these beliefs were the existence of ''[[kami]]'', indigenous gods and goddesses or protective forces, that influenced human and natural occurrences in a holistic universe. Some beliefs ascribed ''kami'' to traces of the Buddha. The belief in ''kami'' was deeply embedded in the [[episteme]] of the time. Human agency through prayers and rituals could summon forth ''kami'' who would engage in nation-protection (''chingo kokka'').<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|40–42,166}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Re-visioning "Kamakura" Buddhism|date=1998|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|first=Allan G. |last=Grapard |chapter=Keiranshuyoshu: A Different Perspective on Mt. Hiei in the Medieval Period |pages=57–58 |others=Payne, Richard Karl.|isbn= |
Japan had a long-established [[Shinto|system of folk beliefs]] that existed outside of and parallel to the schools of the Buddhist establishment. Many of these beliefs had an influence on the various religious schools which, in turn, influenced each other, a phenomenon known as [[syncretism]]. Among these beliefs were the existence of ''[[kami]]'', indigenous gods and goddesses or protective forces, that influenced human and natural occurrences in a holistic universe. Some beliefs ascribed ''kami'' to traces of the Buddha. The belief in ''kami'' was deeply embedded in the [[episteme]] of the time. Human agency through prayers and rituals could summon forth ''kami'' who would engage in nation-protection (''chingo kokka'').<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|40–42,166}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Re-visioning "Kamakura" Buddhism|date=1998|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|first=Allan G. |last=Grapard |chapter=Keiranshuyoshu: A Different Perspective on Mt. Hiei in the Medieval Period |pages=57–58 |others=Payne, Richard Karl.|isbn=0-8248-2024-X|location=Honolulu|oclc=38249103}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y0TIfrZuq_YC&q=nichiren+kami&pg=PA44|title=A popular dictionary of Shintō|last=Bocking|first=Brian|date=1997|publisher=Curzon Press|isbn=0-7007-1051-5|page=44|edition=Rev.|location=Richmond, Surrey [U.K.]|oclc=264474222|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602194106/https://books.google.com/books?id=y0TIfrZuq_YC&q=nichiren+kami&pg=PA44|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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According to some of his accounts, Nichiren undertook his study of Buddhism to largely understand why the ''kami'' had seemingly abandoned Japan, as witnessed by the decline of the imperial court. Because the court and the people had turned to teachings that had weakened their minds and resolve, he came to conclude, both people of wisdom and the protective forces had abandoned the nation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theosophytrust.mobi/310-nichiren#.W9bFCbxKhD8|title=Nichiren- Great Teacher Series – Theosophy Trust|website=theosophytrust.mobi|access-date=29 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Metraux|first=Daniel A.|date=1986|title=THE SOKA GAKKA'S SEARCH FOR THE REALIZATION OF THE WORLD OF RISSHO ANKOKURON|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2324|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=13/1|pages=38–39}}</ref> |
According to some of his accounts, Nichiren undertook his study of Buddhism to largely understand why the ''kami'' had seemingly abandoned Japan, as witnessed by the decline of the imperial court. Because the court and the people had turned to teachings that had weakened their minds and resolve, he came to conclude, both people of wisdom and the protective forces had abandoned the nation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theosophytrust.mobi/310-nichiren#.W9bFCbxKhD8|title=Nichiren- Great Teacher Series – Theosophy Trust|website=theosophytrust.mobi|access-date=29 October 2018|archive-date=31 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031133053/https://theosophytrust.mobi/310-nichiren#.W9bFCbxKhD8|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Metraux|first=Daniel A.|date=1986|title=THE SOKA GAKKA'S SEARCH FOR THE REALIZATION OF THE WORLD OF RISSHO ANKOKURON|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2324|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=13/1|pages=38–39|access-date=20 November 2018|archive-date=21 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321013550/https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2324|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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By extension, he argued, through [[Apotropaic magic|proper prayer and action]] his troubled society would transform into an ideal world in which peace and wisdom prevail and "the wind will not thrash the branches nor the rain fall hard enough to break clods."<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|291–292}} |
By extension, he argued, through [[Apotropaic magic|proper prayer and action]] his troubled society would transform into an ideal world in which peace and wisdom prevail and "the wind will not thrash the branches nor the rain fall hard enough to break clods."<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|291–292}} |
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==== "The Five Guides of Propagation" ==== |
==== "The Five Guides of Propagation" ==== |
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Developed during his Izu exile, the Five Guides (''gogi'') are five criteria through which Buddhist teachings can be evaluated and ranked. They are the quality of the teaching (kyō), the innate human capacity (''ki'') of the people, the time (''ji''), the characteristic of the land or country (''koku''), and the sequence of dharma propagation (''kyōhō rufu no zengo''). From these five interrelated perspectives Nichiren declared his interpretation of the Lotus Sutra as the supreme teaching.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|252–255}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sePiBcehtYcC&q=nichiren&pg=PA434|title=The Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India-China-Tibet-Japan|last=Nakamura|first=Hajime|date=1964|page=396|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn= |
Developed during his Izu exile, the Five Guides (''gogi'') are five criteria through which Buddhist teachings can be evaluated and ranked. They are the quality of the teaching (kyō), the innate human capacity (''ki'') of the people, the time (''ji''), the characteristic of the land or country (''koku''), and the sequence of dharma propagation (''kyōhō rufu no zengo''). From these five interrelated perspectives Nichiren declared his interpretation of the Lotus Sutra as the supreme teaching.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|252–255}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sePiBcehtYcC&q=nichiren&pg=PA434|title=The Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India-China-Tibet-Japan|last=Nakamura|first=Hajime|date=1964|page=396|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-0078-9|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601192137/https://books.google.com/books?id=sePiBcehtYcC&q=nichiren&pg=PA434|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=77&m=3&q=the%20five%20guides%20for%20propagation |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 77: Encouragement of a Sick Person |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-date=21 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053339/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=77&m=3&q=the%20five%20guides%20for%20propagation |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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==== The Four Denunciations ==== |
==== The Four Denunciations ==== |
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Throughout his career Nichiren harshly denounced Buddhist practices other than his own as well as the existing social and political system. The tactic he adopted was ''shakubuku,'' conversion, in which he shocked his adversaries with his denunciations while attracting followers through his outward display of supreme confidence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theosophytrust.mobi/310-nichiren#.W7nf0OgbND8|title=Nichiren- Great Teacher Series – Theosophy Trust|first=Elton H. |
Throughout his career Nichiren harshly denounced Buddhist practices other than his own as well as the existing social and political system. The tactic he adopted was ''shakubuku,'' conversion, in which he shocked his adversaries with his denunciations while attracting followers through his outward display of supreme confidence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theosophytrust.mobi/310-nichiren#.W7nf0OgbND8|title=Nichiren- Great Teacher Series – Theosophy Trust|first=Elton H.|last=Hall|date=1988|publisher=Hermes Magazine|website=theosophytrust.mobi|access-date=7 October 2018|archive-date=31 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031133053/https://theosophytrust.mobi/310-nichiren#.W7nf0OgbND8|url-status=live}}</ref> Modern detractors criticize his exclusivist single-truth perspective as intolerant. Apologists argue his arguments should be understood in the context of his samurai society and not through post-modern lenses such as tolerance.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gRoyAQAAQBAJ&q=nichiren|title=Sins and Sinners: Perspectives from Asian Religions|first=Jacqueline I.|last=Stone|pages=149–150|chapter=The Sin of "Slandering the True Dharma" in Nichiren's Thought|date=17 August 2012|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-23200-6|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601175100/https://books.google.com/books?id=gRoyAQAAQBAJ&q=nichiren|url-status=live}}</ref> Both of them may be regarded as having seized an aspect of the truth, namely that Nichiren, rather like Dogen, was not less brilliantly original for being a rigid dogmatist in doctrine. |
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As his career advanced, Nichiren's vehement polemics against Pure Land teachings came to include sharp criticisms of the [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]], [[Zen]], and [[Risshū (Buddhism)|Ritsu]] schools of Buddhism. Collectively his criticisms have become known as "the Four Denunciations." Later in his career he critiqued the Japanese Tendai school for its appropriation of Shingon elements. Reliance on Shingon rituals, he claimed, was magic and would decay the nation. He held that Zen was devilish in its belief that attaining enlightenment was possible without relying on the Buddha's words; Ritsu was thievery because it hid behind token deeds such as public works. In modern parlance the Four Denunciations rebuked thinking that demoralized and disengaged people by encouraging resignation and escapism.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|8–11}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/studies/nichiren/|title=Understanding the Social and Religious Meaning of Nichiren|last=Bloom|first=Alfred|website=Shin Dharma Net|access-date=24 October 2018|quote=Because of his concern for the welfare of the country and exaltation of the truth of the Lotus Sutra as interpreted by Tendai, he appears to be intolerant, denouncing all other sects as false. He is famous for Four Denunciations in which he outlined the errors. Shingon is false because it destroys the nations. For Nichiren it was false magic. The nation would be protected by the Lotus. Historically the Japanese government employed Shingon rites whenever there was a disaster affecting the country. According to him, Zen is a teaching of devils because it held that one could become enlightened apart from scriptures. In Zen truth is beyond words and therefore it rejects the ultimacy of the words of Buddha. Pure Land nembutsu is a false way of salvation. Salvation comes only through the Lotus Sutra, particularly for Nichiren, reciting its title: Namu myoho renge kyo. The Ritsu or Precept sect is wrong because it is a thief. Here Nichiren apparently objected to the funds given this sect for social welfare activity. In any case, none of these prominent sects advocated the centrality of the Lotus Sutra. Eventually he came to include Tendai itelf because it was combined with Shingon teachings and rites. For him any compromise on the Lotus made them all false. Nichiren was a good scholar of history and knew the basic tenets of these groups, but he faulted them in their relation to the Lotus. His erudition is embodied in voluminous writings, especially five major texts which set forth the essence of his faith, Also he wrote numerous letters, sharing his ideas and sentiments with followers.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A forum for peace |
As his career advanced, Nichiren's vehement polemics against Pure Land teachings came to include sharp criticisms of the [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]], [[Zen]], and [[Risshū (Buddhism)|Ritsu]] schools of Buddhism. Collectively his criticisms have become known as "the Four Denunciations." Later in his career he critiqued the Japanese Tendai school for its appropriation of Shingon elements. Reliance on Shingon rituals, he claimed, was magic and would decay the nation. He held that Zen was devilish in its belief that attaining enlightenment was possible without relying on the Buddha's words; Ritsu was thievery because it hid behind token deeds such as public works. In modern parlance the Four Denunciations rebuked thinking that demoralized and disengaged people by encouraging resignation and escapism.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|8–11}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/studies/nichiren/|title=Understanding the Social and Religious Meaning of Nichiren|last=Bloom|first=Alfred|website=Shin Dharma Net|access-date=24 October 2018|quote=Because of his concern for the welfare of the country and exaltation of the truth of the Lotus Sutra as interpreted by Tendai, he appears to be intolerant, denouncing all other sects as false. He is famous for Four Denunciations in which he outlined the errors. Shingon is false because it destroys the nations. For Nichiren it was false magic. The nation would be protected by the Lotus. Historically the Japanese government employed Shingon rites whenever there was a disaster affecting the country. According to him, Zen is a teaching of devils because it held that one could become enlightened apart from scriptures. In Zen truth is beyond words and therefore it rejects the ultimacy of the words of Buddha. Pure Land nembutsu is a false way of salvation. Salvation comes only through the Lotus Sutra, particularly for Nichiren, reciting its title: Namu myoho renge kyo. The Ritsu or Precept sect is wrong because it is a thief. Here Nichiren apparently objected to the funds given this sect for social welfare activity. In any case, none of these prominent sects advocated the centrality of the Lotus Sutra. Eventually he came to include Tendai itelf because it was combined with Shingon teachings and rites. For him any compromise on the Lotus made them all false. Nichiren was a good scholar of history and knew the basic tenets of these groups, but he faulted them in their relation to the Lotus. His erudition is embodied in voluminous writings, especially five major texts which set forth the essence of his faith, Also he wrote numerous letters, sharing his ideas and sentiments with followers.|archive-date=11 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911152204/http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/studies/nichiren/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=A forum for peace: Daisaku Ikeda's proposals to the UN|date=6 December 2013|editor-last=Urbain|editor-first=Olivier |isbn=978-1-78076-839-7|pages=484–485 |location=London|oclc=861319983}}</ref> |
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==== The doctrine of the Three Great Secret Laws ==== |
==== The doctrine of the Three Great Secret Laws ==== |
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Nichiren deemed the world to be in a degenerative age and believed that people required a simple and effective means to rediscover the core of Buddhism and thereby restore their spirits and times. He described his [[Three Great Secret Laws]] (''Sandai hiho'') as this very means.<ref name=Collinson2000>{{Cite book|title=Fifty Eastern thinkers|last=Collinson |first= Diané |date=2000|publisher=Routledge|others=Plant, Kathryn., Wilkinson, Robert|isbn= |
Nichiren deemed the world to be in a degenerative age and believed that people required a simple and effective means to rediscover the core of Buddhism and thereby restore their spirits and times. He described his [[Three Great Secret Laws]] (''Sandai hiho'') as this very means.<ref name=Collinson2000>{{Cite book|title=Fifty Eastern thinkers|last=Collinson |first= Diané |date=2000|publisher=Routledge|others=Plant, Kathryn., Wilkinson, Robert|isbn=0-203-00540-6|location=London|oclc=50493529}}</ref>{{rp|353}} |
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In a writing entitled ''Sandai Hiho Sho'', or "On the Transmission of the Three Great Secret Laws", Nichiren delineated three teachings in the heart of the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra which are secret because he claimed he received them as the leader of the [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]] through a silent transmission from Shakyamuni. They are the invocation (''daimoku''), the object of worship (''honzon''), and the platform of ordination or place of worship (''kaidan'').<ref name=Sueki1999>{{Cite journal|last=Sueki|first=Fumihiko|date=1999|title=Nichiren's Problematic Works|url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2684|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3-4|pages=261–280}}</ref>{{rp|266}}<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|264}}<ref name=Collinson2000 />{{rp|353}} |
In a writing entitled ''Sandai Hiho Sho'', or "On the Transmission of the Three Great Secret Laws", Nichiren delineated three teachings in the heart of the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra which are secret because he claimed he received them as the leader of the [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]] through a silent transmission from Shakyamuni. They are the invocation (''daimoku''), the object of worship (''honzon''), and the platform of ordination or place of worship (''kaidan'').<ref name=Sueki1999>{{Cite journal|last=Sueki|first=Fumihiko|date=1999|title=Nichiren's Problematic Works|url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2684|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3-4|pages=261–280|access-date=31 October 2018|archive-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701053345/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2684|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|266}}<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|264}}<ref name=Collinson2000 />{{rp|353}} |
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The ''daimoku'', the rhythmic chanting of [[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|Nam(u)-myōhō-renge-kyō]] is the means to discover that one's own life, the lives of others, and the environment is the essence of the Buddha of absolute freedom. The chanting is to be done while contemplating the ''honzon''. At the age of 51, Nichiren inscribed his own Mandala [[Gohonzon]], the object of veneration or worship in his Buddhism, "never before known," as he described it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/101|title=The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon|work=Nichiren Buddhism Library|publisher=Soka Gakkai}}</ref> The Gohonzon is a calligraphic representation of the cosmos and chanting ''daimoku'' to it is Nichiren's method of meditation to experience the truth of Buddhism. He believed this practice was efficacious, simple to perform, and suited to the capacity of the people and the time.<ref name=Collinson2000 />{{rp|354}} |
The ''daimoku'', the rhythmic chanting of [[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|Nam(u)-myōhō-renge-kyō]] is the means to discover that one's own life, the lives of others, and the environment is the essence of the Buddha of absolute freedom. The chanting is to be done while contemplating the ''honzon''. At the age of 51, Nichiren inscribed his own Mandala [[Gohonzon]], the object of veneration or worship in his Buddhism, "never before known," as he described it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/101|title=The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon|work=Nichiren Buddhism Library|publisher=Soka Gakkai|access-date=20 July 2018|archive-date=22 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222001014/http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/101|url-status=live}}</ref> The Gohonzon is a calligraphic representation of the cosmos and chanting ''daimoku'' to it is Nichiren's method of meditation to experience the truth of Buddhism. He believed this practice was efficacious, simple to perform, and suited to the capacity of the people and the time.<ref name=Collinson2000 />{{rp|354}} |
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Nichiren describes the first two secret laws in numerous other writings but the reference to the platform of ordination appears only in the ''Sandai Hiho Sho'', a work whose authenticity has been questioned by some scholars. Nichiren apparently left the fulfillment of this secret Dharma to his successors and its interpretation has been a matter of heated debate. Some state that it refers to the construction of a physical national ordination platform sanctioned by the emperor; others contend that the ordination platform is the community of believers (''[[sangha]]'') or, simply, the place where practitioners of the Lotus Sutra live and make collective efforts to realize the ideal of establishing the true Dharma in order to establish peace to the land (''rissho ankoku''). The latter conception entails a robust interplay between religion and secular life and an egalitarian structure in which people are dedicated to perfecting an ideal society.<ref name=Sueki1999/>{{rp|266,268}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sato|first=Hiroo|date=1999|title=Nichiren's View of Nation and Religion|url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3-4|pages=320–321}}</ref> |
Nichiren describes the first two secret laws in numerous other writings but the reference to the platform of ordination appears only in the ''Sandai Hiho Sho'', a work whose authenticity has been questioned by some scholars. Nichiren apparently left the fulfillment of this secret Dharma to his successors and its interpretation has been a matter of heated debate. Some state that it refers to the construction of a physical national ordination platform sanctioned by the emperor; others contend that the ordination platform is the community of believers (''[[sangha]]'') or, simply, the place where practitioners of the Lotus Sutra live and make collective efforts to realize the ideal of establishing the true Dharma in order to establish peace to the land (''rissho ankoku''). The latter conception entails a robust interplay between religion and secular life and an egalitarian structure in which people are dedicated to perfecting an ideal society.<ref name=Sueki1999/>{{rp|266,268}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sato|first=Hiroo|date=1999|title=Nichiren's View of Nation and Religion|url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3-4|pages=320–321|access-date=31 October 2018|archive-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701053350/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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According to Nichiren, practicing the Three Secret Laws results in the "Three Proofs" which verify their validity. The first proof is "documentary," whether the religion's fundamental texts, here the writings of Nichiren, make a lucid case for the eminence of the religion. "Theoretical proof" is an intellectual standard of whether a religion's teachings reasonably clarify the mysteries of life and death. "Actual proof," deemed the most important by Nichiren, demonstrates the validity of the teaching through the actual improvements achieved by practitioners in their daily lives.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k8R9AgAAQBAJ&q=actual+proof&pg=PA93|title=British Buddhism: Teachings, Practice and Development |
According to Nichiren, practicing the Three Secret Laws results in the "Three Proofs" which verify their validity. The first proof is "documentary," whether the religion's fundamental texts, here the writings of Nichiren, make a lucid case for the eminence of the religion. "Theoretical proof" is an intellectual standard of whether a religion's teachings reasonably clarify the mysteries of life and death. "Actual proof," deemed the most important by Nichiren, demonstrates the validity of the teaching through the actual improvements achieved by practitioners in their daily lives.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k8R9AgAAQBAJ&q=actual+proof&pg=PA93|title=British Buddhism: Teachings, Practice and Development|last=Bluck|first=Robert|date=2006|page=93|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-15817-1|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601192132/https://books.google.com/books?id=k8R9AgAAQBAJ&q=actual+proof&pg=PA93|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84StBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA506|title=Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy|editor-last=Phillips|editor-first=D. C.|date=2014|first=Koichi|last=Murata|chapter=Makiguchi|page=506|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4833-6475-9|access-date=12 November 2018|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602160709/https://books.google.com/books?id=84StBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA506|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>The Essence of Nichiren Shu Buddhism, SanJose Temple, page 84. {{ISBN|0-9705920-0-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/search_dict.php?id=2363 |title=The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism 2002: Three proofs |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214113855/http://www.sgilibrary.org/search_dict.php?id=2363 |archive-date=14 December 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ingram|first=Paul O.|date=1977|title=Nichirin's Three Secrets |jstor=3269599 |journal=Numen|volume=24|issue=3|page=215|doi=10.2307/3269599}}</ref> |
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==== Changing karma to mission ==== |
==== Changing karma to mission ==== |
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Nichiren was deeply aware of the karmic struggles his followers faced in their day-to-day existence and assured them that they could "cross the sea of suffering" (''Shiji Shiro-dono gosho''). Through prevailing over such challenges, he taught, they would establish a sense of inner freedom, peace of mind, and understanding of the Dharma that persisted independent of the ups and downs of sentient existence. He accepted prevailing Buddhist notions about karma that taught that a person's current conditions were the cumulative effect of past thoughts, words, and actions. He showed little concern, however, for attributing current circumstances to supposed past deeds. Rather, he viewed karma through the lens of the teachings of the Lotus Sutra which could enable all people to become Buddhas, even the ignorant and evil people of the [[Latter Day of the Law]].<ref name=Stone2014b>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/A%20Votary%20of%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Will%20Meet%20Ordeals%20--The%20Role%20of%20Suffering%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20(2014).pdf|first=Jacqueline I. |last=Stone |title=A votary of the Lotus Sutra will meet ordeals: The role of suffering in Nichiren's thought |journal=Dharma World |date=January–March 2014|access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref>{{rp|30–32}} |
Nichiren was deeply aware of the karmic struggles his followers faced in their day-to-day existence and assured them that they could "cross the sea of suffering" (''Shiji Shiro-dono gosho''). Through prevailing over such challenges, he taught, they would establish a sense of inner freedom, peace of mind, and understanding of the Dharma that persisted independent of the ups and downs of sentient existence. He accepted prevailing Buddhist notions about karma that taught that a person's current conditions were the cumulative effect of past thoughts, words, and actions. He showed little concern, however, for attributing current circumstances to supposed past deeds. Rather, he viewed karma through the lens of the teachings of the Lotus Sutra which could enable all people to become Buddhas, even the ignorant and evil people of the [[Latter Day of the Law]].<ref name=Stone2014b>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/A%20Votary%20of%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Will%20Meet%20Ordeals%20--The%20Role%20of%20Suffering%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20(2014).pdf |first=Jacqueline I. |last=Stone |title=A votary of the Lotus Sutra will meet ordeals: The role of suffering in Nichiren's thought |journal=Dharma World |date=January–March 2014 |access-date=5 December 2018 |archive-date=3 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803202351/http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/A%20Votary%20of%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Will%20Meet%20Ordeals%20--The%20Role%20of%20Suffering%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20%282014%29.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|30–32}} |
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When confronting karmic situations, the act of chanting [[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|Nam(u)-myoho-renge-kyo]] would open the wisdom of the Buddha, transforming karma into mission and a creative and joy-filled way of life. Beyond the sphere of a single individual's life, the process would awaken a person's concern for the broader society and sense of social responsibility.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Habito|first=Ruben L.F.|date=2005|title=Review of Nichiren, der Ausubende des Lotos-Sutra by Yukio Matsudo|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2868|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=32/1|pages=166–174}}</ref>{{rp|168}} |
When confronting karmic situations, the act of chanting [[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|Nam(u)-myoho-renge-kyo]] would open the wisdom of the Buddha, transforming karma into mission and a creative and joy-filled way of life. Beyond the sphere of a single individual's life, the process would awaken a person's concern for the broader society and sense of social responsibility.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Habito|first=Ruben L.F.|date=2005|title=Review of Nichiren, der Ausubende des Lotos-Sutra by Yukio Matsudo|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2868|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=32/1|pages=166–174|access-date=5 December 2018|archive-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701060855/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2868|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|168}} |
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Nichiren introduced the term {{nihongo|"votary of the Lotus Sutra"|法華経の行者|Hokekyō no gyōja}} to describe himself. The Lotus Sutra itself speaks of the great trials that will be faced by individuals who base themselves on its teachings and attempt to spread it. Nichiren claims he read the sutra "bodily" (''shikidoku''), voluntarily inviting the entailing hardships it predicts rather than just reciting or meditating on its words.<ref name=Stone2014b />{{rp|35–36}} |
Nichiren introduced the term {{nihongo|"votary of the Lotus Sutra"|法華経の行者|Hokekyō no gyōja}} to describe himself. The Lotus Sutra itself speaks of the great trials that will be faced by individuals who base themselves on its teachings and attempt to spread it. Nichiren claims he read the sutra "bodily" (''shikidoku''), voluntarily inviting the entailing hardships it predicts rather than just reciting or meditating on its words.<ref name=Stone2014b />{{rp|35–36}} |
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Through challenging these persecutions Nichiren claimed to have discovered his personal mission and felt great joy even when experiencing the harshness of exile. His sufferings became, in his thinking, redemptive opportunities to change his karma and give his life transcendent meaning.<ref name=Stone2014b />{{rp|37}} |
Through challenging these persecutions Nichiren claimed to have discovered his personal mission and felt great joy even when experiencing the harshness of exile. His sufferings became, in his thinking, redemptive opportunities to change his karma and give his life transcendent meaning.<ref name=Stone2014b />{{rp|37}} |
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In enduring severe persecutions Nichiren claimed that the negative karma he had accumulated from the past could be eradicated quickly in his current life. He was an active agent in this process, not a victim. He even expressed appreciation to his tormentors for giving him the opportunity to serve as an envoy of the Buddha.<ref name=Stone2014c>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/A%20Votary%20of%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Will%20Meet%20Ordeals%20--The%20Role%20of%20Suffering%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20(2014).pdf|first=Jacqueline I. |last=Stone |title=A votary of the Lotus Sutra will meet ordeals: The role of suffering in Nichiren's thought |journal=Dharma World |date=April–June 2014|access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref>{{rp|34,36}} |
In enduring severe persecutions Nichiren claimed that the negative karma he had accumulated from the past could be eradicated quickly in his current life. He was an active agent in this process, not a victim. He even expressed appreciation to his tormentors for giving him the opportunity to serve as an envoy of the Buddha.<ref name=Stone2014c>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/A%20Votary%20of%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Will%20Meet%20Ordeals%20--The%20Role%20of%20Suffering%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20(2014).pdf |first=Jacqueline I. |last=Stone |title=A votary of the Lotus Sutra will meet ordeals: The role of suffering in Nichiren's thought |journal=Dharma World |date=April–June 2014 |access-date=5 December 2018 |archive-date=3 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803202351/http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/A%20Votary%20of%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Will%20Meet%20Ordeals%20--The%20Role%20of%20Suffering%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20%282014%29.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|34,36}} |
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In letters to some of his followers Nichiren extended the concept of meeting persecution for the sake of propagating the Dharma to experiencing tribulations in life such as problems with family discord or illness. He encouraged these followers to take ownership of such life events, view them as opportunities to repay karmic debts and mitigate them in shorter periods of time than would otherwise be the case.<ref name=Stone2014c />{{rp|37}} Naturally, he did not use language redolent of twentieth century concepts within, e.g., psychotherapy, hyperliberalism or the Human Potential Movement, but his insistence on personal responsibility can be reimagined in such terms. |
In letters to some of his followers Nichiren extended the concept of meeting persecution for the sake of propagating the Dharma to experiencing tribulations in life such as problems with family discord or illness. He encouraged these followers to take ownership of such life events, view them as opportunities to repay karmic debts and mitigate them in shorter periods of time than would otherwise be the case.<ref name=Stone2014c />{{rp|37}} Naturally, he did not use language redolent of twentieth century concepts within, e.g., psychotherapy, hyperliberalism or the Human Potential Movement, but his insistence on personal responsibility can be reimagined in such terms. |
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==== The great vow to achieve Kosen-rufu ==== |
==== The great vow to achieve Kosen-rufu ==== |
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Nichiren's teachings are replete with vows he makes for himself and asks his followers to share as well. Some are personal in nature such as frequent admonitions for people to transform their inner lives. "You must quickly reform the tenets you hold in your heart," he stated in his treatise ''Rissho Ankoku Ron''. He urged his followers to attain "treasures of the heart" and to reflect on their behavior as human beings.<ref name=Urbain2010 />{{rp|76,79–80,86,89}} These vows are "this-worldly" rather than theoretical and are matched with an easily accessible practice.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cN6vCQAAQBAJ&q=nichiren|title=Rationalizing Religion: Religious Conversion, Revivalism and Competition in Singapore Society|last=Tong|first=Chee-Kiong|date=2007|publisher=BRILL|pages=138–140 |
Nichiren's teachings are replete with vows he makes for himself and asks his followers to share as well. Some are personal in nature such as frequent admonitions for people to transform their inner lives. "You must quickly reform the tenets you hold in your heart," he stated in his treatise ''Rissho Ankoku Ron''. He urged his followers to attain "treasures of the heart" and to reflect on their behavior as human beings.<ref name=Urbain2010 />{{rp|76,79–80,86,89}} These vows are "this-worldly" rather than theoretical and are matched with an easily accessible practice.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cN6vCQAAQBAJ&q=nichiren|title=Rationalizing Religion: Religious Conversion, Revivalism and Competition in Singapore Society|last=Tong|first=Chee-Kiong|date=2007|publisher=BRILL|pages=138–140|isbn=978-90-474-1969-3|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601210843/https://books.google.com/books?id=cN6vCQAAQBAJ&q=nichiren|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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Nichiren also made a "great vow" of a political dimension. He and his followers to come would create the conditions that lead to a just nation and world which the Lotus Sutra describes as ''[[Kosen-rufu]]''. In earlier Japanese Buddhism the concept of "nation" was equated with [[Emperor of Japan| |
Nichiren also made a "great vow" of a political dimension. He and his followers to come would create the conditions that lead to a just nation and world which the Lotus Sutra describes as ''[[Kosen-rufu]]''. In earlier Japanese Buddhism the concept of "nation" was equated with [[Emperor of Japan|''Tennō'' (天皇), or imperial]] rule and "peace of the land" was associated with the stability of the regime. Nichiren's teachings, however, fully embraced a newly emerging viewpoint in medieval Japan that "nation" referred to the land and the people. Nichiren was unique among his contemporaries in charging the actual government in power, in this case the ''bakufu'' rather than the throne, with the peace of the land as well as the thriving of the Dharma. In his teachings based on the Lotus Sutra, all human beings are equal, whether the nation's sovereign or an unknown commoner. Enlightenment is not restricted to an individual's inner life but is actualized by efforts toward the transformation of the land and the realization of an ideal society.<ref name="Sato1999">{{Cite journal|last=Sato|first=Hiroo|date=1999|title=Nichiren's View of Nation and Religion|others=Habito, Ruben|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3-4|pages=307–323|access-date=4 December 2018|archive-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701053350/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|313–320}} |
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s inner life but is actualized by efforts toward the transformation of the land and the realization of an ideal society.<ref name="Sato1999">{{Cite journal|last=Sato|first=Hiroo|date=1999|title=Nichiren's View of Nation and Religion|others=Habito, Ruben |url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3-4|pages=307–323}}</ref>{{rp|313–320}} |
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This entails an urgent mandate. Nichiren links the great vow of personages in the Lotus Sutra to raise all people to the consciousness of the Buddha, to his own single-minded struggles to teach the Law despite the great persecutions he, Nichiren himself, encountered, to his injunction to future disciples to create the Buddha land in the ''saha'' world over the course of the myriad years to follow.<ref name="Anesaki1916" />{{rp|66–69}}<ref name="Sato1999" />{{rp|320–321}} |
This entails an urgent mandate. Nichiren links the great vow of personages in the Lotus Sutra to raise all people to the consciousness of the Buddha, to his own single-minded struggles to teach the Law despite the great persecutions he, Nichiren himself, encountered, to his injunction to future disciples to create the Buddha land in the ''saha'' world over the course of the myriad years to follow.<ref name="Anesaki1916" />{{rp|66–69}}<ref name="Sato1999" />{{rp|320–321}} |
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== Nichiren and his followers == |
== Nichiren and his followers == |
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[[File:JIGAGE_E_SHŌ_ZOKUHEN_1818_Nichiren_and_his_disciples.jpg|thumb|Nichiren in his later years and his disciples. From the book JIGAGE E SHŌ ZOKUHEN (1818, Kyoto) ]] |
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Nichiren was a charismatic leader who attracted many followers during both his missionary trips and his exiles. Most of these followers were warriors and feudal lords. He maintained to his women followers that they were equally able to attain enlightenment. He set a high standard of leadership and, in his writings, shared his rationale and strategies with them, openly urging them to share his conviction and struggles.<ref>Anesaki, p.50-51,64,68</ref><ref name=Rodd1995 />{{rp|328–329}} |
Nichiren was a charismatic leader who attracted many followers during both his missionary trips and his exiles. Most of these followers were warriors and feudal lords. He maintained to his women followers that they were equally able to attain enlightenment. He set a high standard of leadership and, in his writings, shared his rationale and strategies with them, openly urging them to share his conviction and struggles.<ref>Anesaki, p.50-51,64,68</ref><ref name=Rodd1995 />{{rp|328–329}} |
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He left the fulfillment of the ''kaidan'', the third of his Three Secret Dharmas, to his disciples. His many extant letters demonstrate the scope and breadth of his relationship with them and his expectations for them. They recognized and trusted his charismatic leadership and his understanding of Buddhism. Many sought his guidance to overcome personal problems. Many were actively involved with supporting him financially and protecting his community of followers. Several of disciples were praised by him for sharing in his privations and a few lost their lives in these situations. Although over the centuries the movement he established was fraught with divisions, his followers sustained his teachings and example and various times gained considerable influence. Today his followers are found in influential lay movements as well as traditional Nichiren schools.<ref>{{Cite |
He left the fulfillment of the ''kaidan'', the third of his Three Secret Dharmas, to his disciples. His many extant letters demonstrate the scope and breadth of his relationship with them and his expectations for them. They recognized and trusted his charismatic leadership and his understanding of Buddhism. Many sought his guidance to overcome personal problems. Many were actively involved with supporting him financially and protecting his community of followers. Several of disciples were praised by him for sharing in his privations and a few lost their lives in these situations. Although over the centuries the movement he established was fraught with divisions, his followers sustained his teachings and example and various times gained considerable influence. Today his followers are found in influential lay movements as well as traditional Nichiren schools.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofle0000unse|url-access=registration |title=Encyclopedia of leadership |editor=Goethals, George R. |editor2=Sorenson, Georgia Jones |editor3=Burns, James MacGregor |publisher=Sage Publications|page=1089|isbn=978-1-4522-6530-8|location=Thousand Oaks, CA |oclc=162107505|date=29 February 2004}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Religion In Japanese History|last=Kitagawa |first=Joseph M.|date=2010|page=121 |publisher=Columbia University Press|others=Recorded Books, Inc.|isbn=978-0-231-51509-2|location=New York|oclc=945079172}}</ref> |
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The relationship between Nichiren and his disciples has been called ''shitei funi'', the oneness of mentor and disciple. Although the functions of the mentor and disciple may vary, they share the same goals and the same responsibility. Nichiren claimed the precedent for ''shitei funi'' is a core theme of the Lotus Sutra, especially in chapters 21 and 22 where the Buddha entrusts the future propagation of the sutra to the gathered bodhisattvas.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXwV-pGobWcC&q=nichiren+mentor+disciple&pg=RA1-PA66|title=Chanting in the Hillsides: The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin in Wales and the Borders|last1=Fowler|first1=Jeaneane D.|last2=Fowler|first2=Merv|date=2009|page=66 |
The relationship between Nichiren and his disciples has been called ''shitei funi'', the oneness of mentor and disciple. Although the functions of the mentor and disciple may vary, they share the same goals and the same responsibility. Nichiren claimed the precedent for ''shitei funi'' is a core theme of the Lotus Sutra, especially in chapters 21 and 22 where the Buddha entrusts the future propagation of the sutra to the gathered bodhisattvas.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXwV-pGobWcC&q=nichiren+mentor+disciple&pg=RA1-PA66|title=Chanting in the Hillsides: The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin in Wales and the Borders|last1=Fowler|first1=Jeaneane D.|last2=Fowler|first2=Merv|date=2009|page=66|publisher=Apollo Books|isbn=978-1-84519-258-7|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601212047/https://books.google.com/books?id=sXwV-pGobWcC&q=nichiren+mentor+disciple&pg=RA1-PA66|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&q=lotus+sutra+entrustment&pg=PA45|title=The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture|last1=Tanabe|first1=George Joji|last2=Tanabe|first2=Willa Jane|date=1989|page=45|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-1198-3|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601220316/https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&q=lotus+sutra+entrustment&pg=PA45|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QV4ZAwAAQBAJ&q=nichiren+entrustment&pg=PT123|title=Introduction to the Lotus Sutra|last=Tamura|first=Yoshiro|pages=124–125|date=15 July 2014|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-61429-099-5|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601090722/https://books.google.com/books?id=QV4ZAwAAQBAJ&q=nichiren+entrustment&pg=PT123|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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== After Nichiren's death == |
== After Nichiren's death == |
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After Nichiren's death, his teachings were interpreted in different ways. As a result, Nichiren Buddhism encompasses several major branches and schools, each with its own doctrine and set of interpretations of Nichiren's teachings.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GDFQBwAAQBAJ&q=nichiren+legacy&pg=PA63|title=The Goddess and the Dragon: A Study on Identity Strength and Psychosocial Resilience in Japan|last=Hein|first=Patrick|date=2 October 2014|pages=67, 71 |
After Nichiren's death, his teachings were interpreted in different ways. As a result, Nichiren Buddhism encompasses several major branches and schools, each with its own doctrine and set of interpretations of Nichiren's teachings.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GDFQBwAAQBAJ&q=nichiren+legacy&pg=PA63|title=The Goddess and the Dragon: A Study on Identity Strength and Psychosocial Resilience in Japan|last=Hein|first=Patrick|date=2 October 2014|pages=67, 71|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-6872-3|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601210843/https://books.google.com/books?id=GDFQBwAAQBAJ&q=nichiren+legacy&pg=PA63|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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== Writings == |
== Writings == |
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[[File:Risshou Ankokuron.jpg|thumb|A section of Nichiren's treatise Risshō Ankoku Ron (On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land) |
[[File:Risshou Ankokuron.jpg|thumb|A section of Nichiren's treatise Risshō Ankoku Ron (On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land)]] |
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Many of Nichiren's writings still exist in his original handwriting, some as complete works and some as fragments. Other documents survive as copies made by his immediate disciples. Nichiren's existing works number over 700 manuscripts in total, including transcriptions of orally delivered lectures, letters of remonstration and illustrations.<ref>Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee: The Writings of Nichiren, Volume I, Soka Gakkai, 2006. {{ISBN|4-412-01024-4}}</ref><ref>Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee: The Writings of Nichiren, Volume II, Soka Gakkai, 2006. {{ISBN|4-412-01350-2}}</ref><ref>Kyotsu Hori (transl.): Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine Vol. 1–6, University of Hawai'i Press, 2003–2010</ref><ref>Jacqueline I. Stone, Some disputed writings in the Nichiren corpus: Textual, hermeneutical and historical problems, dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1990 [http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Dissertation/Some%20Disputed%20Writings%20in%20the%20Nichiren%20Corpus%20Textual,%20Herme.pdf PDF] (21 MB) retrieved 26 July 2013</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Sueki |last=Fumehiko |title=Nichirens Problematic Works |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26 |issue=3–4 |pages=261–280 |date=1999}}</ref> |
Many of Nichiren's writings still exist in his original handwriting, some as complete works and some as fragments. Other documents survive as copies made by his immediate disciples. Nichiren's existing works number over 700 manuscripts in total, including transcriptions of orally delivered lectures, letters of remonstration and illustrations.<ref>Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee: The Writings of Nichiren, Volume I, Soka Gakkai, 2006. {{ISBN|4-412-01024-4}}</ref><ref>Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee: The Writings of Nichiren, Volume II, Soka Gakkai, 2006. {{ISBN|4-412-01350-2}}</ref><ref>Kyotsu Hori (transl.): Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine Vol. 1–6, University of Hawai'i Press, 2003–2010</ref><ref>Jacqueline I. Stone, Some disputed writings in the Nichiren corpus: Textual, hermeneutical and historical problems, dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1990 [http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Dissertation/Some%20Disputed%20Writings%20in%20the%20Nichiren%20Corpus%20Textual,%20Herme.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030015535/http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Dissertation/Some%20Disputed%20Writings%20in%20the%20Nichiren%20Corpus%20Textual,%20Herme.pdf |date=30 October 2013 }} (21 MB) retrieved 26 July 2013</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Sueki |last=Fumehiko |title=Nichirens Problematic Works |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26 |issue=3–4 |pages=261–280 |date=1999}}</ref> |
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Scholars have divided the writings attributed to Nichiren into three categories: those whose authenticity are universally accepted, those generally designated as written by someone else after his death, and a third category in which the veracity of works is still being debated.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/gosho.html| title = Listing of Authenticated Gosho (Goibun) of Nichiren}}</ref><ref name=Sueki1999 /> |
Scholars have divided the writings attributed to Nichiren into three categories: those whose authenticity are universally accepted, those generally designated as written by someone else after his death, and a third category in which the veracity of works is still being debated.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/gosho.html| title = Listing of Authenticated Gosho (Goibun) of Nichiren| access-date = 26 December 2013| archive-date = 26 March 2013| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130326155457/http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/gosho.html| url-status = live}}</ref><ref name=Sueki1999 /> |
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In addition to treatises written in formal {{nihongo|[[Classical Chinese]]|漢文|[[kanbun]]}}, Nichiren also wrote expositories and letters to followers in mixed [[kanji]]-[[kana]] vernacular as well as letters in simplified [[kana]] for believers such as children who could not read the more formal styles. Some of Nichiren's ''kanbun'' works, especially the ''Risshō Ankoku Ron'', are considered exemplary of the ''kanbun'' style, while many of his letters show unusual empathy and understanding for the downtrodden of his day.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=8193315049 |
In addition to treatises written in formal {{nihongo|[[Classical Chinese]]|漢文|[[kanbun]]}}, Nichiren also wrote expositories and letters to followers in mixed [[kanji]]-[[kana]] vernacular as well as letters in simplified [[kana]] for believers such as children who could not read the more formal styles. Some of Nichiren's ''kanbun'' works, especially the ''Risshō Ankoku Ron'', are considered exemplary of the ''kanbun'' style, while many of his letters show unusual empathy and understanding for the downtrodden of his day.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=8193315049 |
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|title=Finding peace |
|title=Finding peace: an Oriental quest|last=Koushiki|first=Choudhury|isbn=978-81-933150-4-0|publisher=Bloomsbury |page=141 |location=London|oclc=974496695|date=6 March 2017}}</ref> |
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=== Selected important writings === |
=== Selected important writings === |
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Among the collection of his extant writings are numerous letters to his follows in the form of thank you notes, messages of condolence, responses to questions, and spiritual counseling for trying moments in his followers' lives. Collectively these letters demonstrate that Nichiren was a master of providing both comfort and challenge befitting the unique personalities and situations of each individual.<ref name=Iida1987 />{{rp|102}}<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|52}} |
Among the collection of his extant writings are numerous letters to his follows in the form of thank you notes, messages of condolence, responses to questions, and spiritual counseling for trying moments in his followers' lives. Collectively these letters demonstrate that Nichiren was a master of providing both comfort and challenge befitting the unique personalities and situations of each individual.<ref name=Iida1987 />{{rp|102}}<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|52}} |
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Many of these letters use tales drawn from Indian, Chinese, and Japanese traditions as well as historical anecdotes and stories from the Buddhist canon. Nichiren incorporated several hundred of these anecdotes and took liberty to freely embellish some of them; a few of the stories he provided do not appear in other collections and could be original.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|47–50}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rodd|first=Laurel Rasplica|date=1978|title=Nichiren and Setsuwa|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2965|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=5/2-3 June–September|pages=159–185}}</ref> |
Many of these letters use tales drawn from Indian, Chinese, and Japanese traditions as well as historical anecdotes and stories from the Buddhist canon. Nichiren incorporated several hundred of these anecdotes and took liberty to freely embellish some of them; a few of the stories he provided do not appear in other collections and could be original.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|47–50}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rodd|first=Laurel Rasplica|date=1978|title=Nichiren and Setsuwa|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2965|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=5/2-3 June–September|pages=159–185|access-date=4 December 2018|archive-date=4 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704202453/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2965|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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Another category of his letters follow the genres of Japanese ''[[zuihitsu]]'', lyrical and loosely organized essays that combine personal reflection and poetic language, or personal diaries (''[[Nikki Bungaku|nikki]]'') Nichiren was a master of this genre and these colloquial works reveal his highly personal and charismatic method of proselytization as well as his deep caring for his followers.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|47–50,52}} |
Another category of his letters follow the genres of Japanese ''[[zuihitsu]]'', lyrical and loosely organized essays that combine personal reflection and poetic language, or personal diaries (''[[Nikki Bungaku|nikki]]'') Nichiren was a master of this genre and these colloquial works reveal his highly personal and charismatic method of proselytization as well as his deep caring for his followers.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|47–50,52}} |
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=== Writings to women === |
=== Writings to women === |
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Against a backdrop of earlier Buddhist teachings that deny the possibility of enlightenment to women or reserve that possibility for life after death, Nichiren is highly sympathetic to women. Based on various passages from the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren asserts that "Other sutras are written for men only. This sutra is for everyone."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kurihara |first=Toshie |date=2003 |title=A History of Women in Japanese Buddhism: Nichiren's Perspectives on the Enlightenment of Women |journal=The Journal of Oriental Studies |volume=13 |page=94 |url=http://www.iop.or.jp/0313/kurihara.pdf |
Against a backdrop of earlier Buddhist teachings that deny the possibility of enlightenment to women or reserve that possibility for life after death, Nichiren is highly sympathetic to women. Based on various passages from the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren asserts that "Other sutras are written for men only. This sutra is for everyone."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kurihara |first=Toshie |date=2003 |title=A History of Women in Japanese Buddhism: Nichiren's Perspectives on the Enlightenment of Women |journal=The Journal of Oriental Studies |volume=13 |page=94 |url=http://www.iop.or.jp/0313/kurihara.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314095112/http://www.iop.or.jp/0313/kurihara.pdf |archive-date=14 March 2012 }}</ref><ref>Oguri, Junko. 1987. '' Nyonin ojo: Nihon-shi ni miru onna no sukui ''(Women's Capacity to Be Reborn in the Pure Land: Women's Salvation in Japanese History). Jimbun Shoin, p. 122. See also: Oguri, Junko. 1984. "Views on Women's Salvation in Japanese Buddhism" in Young East 10/1, pp 3–11.</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=385&m=0&q=| title = (WND, p. 385)| access-date = 28 October 2010| archive-date = 1 October 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111001041038/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=385&m=0&q=| url-status = live}}</ref> |
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Ninety of his extant letters, nearly a fifth of the total, were addressed to female correspondents.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADQNAQAAMAAJ&q=nichiren+extant|title=Gender Equality in Buddhism|last=Ueki|first=Masatoshi|page=114|date=2001|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn= |
Ninety of his extant letters, nearly a fifth of the total, were addressed to female correspondents.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADQNAQAAMAAJ&q=nichiren+extant|title=Gender Equality in Buddhism|last=Ueki|first=Masatoshi|page=114|date=2001|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-0-8204-5133-6|access-date=21 October 2018|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601192136/https://books.google.com/books?id=ADQNAQAAMAAJ&q=nichiren+extant|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Nichiren Shu]] published separate volumes of those writings.<ref>Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Translated by Nichiren Shu Overseas Ministers in North America, Edited and Compiled by Kyotsu Hori, published 1995 by Nichiren Shu Overseas Propagation Promotion Association</ref> |
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In these letters Nichiren plays particular attention to the instantaneous attainment of enlightenment of [[Longnü|the Dragon King's daughter]] in the "Devadatta" (Twelfth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra and displays deep concern for the fears and worries of his female disciples.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rasplica Rodd|first=Laurel|title=Nichiren's Teachings to Women|url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wcaaspapers/vol1/iss5/1|journal=Selected Papers in Asian Studies: Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies|date=6 June 2016|volume=1| |
In these letters Nichiren plays particular attention to the instantaneous attainment of enlightenment of [[Longnü|the Dragon King's daughter]] in the "Devadatta" (Twelfth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra and displays deep concern for the fears and worries of his female disciples.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rasplica Rodd|first=Laurel|title=Nichiren's Teachings to Women|url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wcaaspapers/vol1/iss5/1|journal=Selected Papers in Asian Studies: Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies|date=6 June 2016|volume=1|issue=5|pages=8–18|access-date=17 September 2018|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918090920/https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wcaaspapers/vol1/iss5/1/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender, Bernard Faure,{{ISBN|978-1-4008-2561-5}}, Princeton University Press, 2009, p.93</ref> |
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In many of his letters to female believers he often expressed compliments for their in-depth questions about Buddhism while encouraging them in their efforts to attain enlightenment in this lifetime.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} |
In many of his letters to female believers he often expressed compliments for their in-depth questions about Buddhism while encouraging them in their efforts to attain enlightenment in this lifetime.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} |
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{{quote frame|text=Having the honor to be born in your kingdom, I find my body obeying your Excellency, but my soul will never. |author=Nichiren |source=''Senji sho''<ref>Jeanne Hersch, Unesco, ''Birthright of Man: A Selection of Texts'', 1969</ref>}} |
{{quote frame|text=Having the honor to be born in your kingdom, I find my body obeying your Excellency, but my soul will never. |author=Nichiren |source=''Senji sho''<ref>Jeanne Hersch, Unesco, ''Birthright of Man: A Selection of Texts'', 1969</ref>}} |
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==Sword associated |
==Sword associated with Nichiren== |
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{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2023}} |
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The ''"Juzumaru-Tsunetsugu" '' is a [[katana]] sword associated with Nichiren. The sword was given to Nichiren by lay follower Nanbu Sanenaga for protection. Nichiren did not use the sword, rather held it as a symbol for the |
The ''"Juzumaru-Tsunetsugu" '' is a [[katana]] sword associated with Nichiren. The sword was given to Nichiren by lay follower Nanbu Sanenaga for protection. Nichiren did not use the sword, rather held it as a symbol for the "destroying of iniquity and establishing righteousness" and placed a [[juzu]] rosary on its hilt, thus giving the sword its accorded name. |
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The 13th century swordsmith Aoe Tsunetsugu is credited with creating the Juzumaru-Tsunetsugu. However, scholarship research shows the Juzumaru shows variations and differences in its workmanship compared to other authenticated Aoe Tsunetsugu swords. For example, the artisan signature on the Juzumaru is on the other side of where Aoe would have typically signed his swords. Debate on its origin of craftsmanship is contested regarding the sword. |
The 13th century swordsmith Aoe Tsunetsugu is credited with creating the Juzumaru-Tsunetsugu. However, scholarship research shows the Juzumaru shows variations and differences in its workmanship compared to other authenticated Aoe Tsunetsugu swords. For example, the artisan signature on the Juzumaru is on the other side of where Aoe would have typically signed his swords. Debate on its origin of craftsmanship is contested regarding the sword. |
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== Notes == |
== Notes == |
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== Bibliography == |
== Bibliography == |
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* {{cite book|last1=Causton|first=Richard|title=Buddha in Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren|date=1985|publisher=Random House}} |
* {{cite book|last1=Causton|first=Richard|title=Buddha in Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren|date=1985|publisher=Random House}} |
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* {{cite book|last1=Christensen|first1=J. A.|title=Nichiren|date=2000|publisher=Jain Publishing Co.|location=Fremont, CA|isbn=978- |
* {{cite book|last1=Christensen|first1=J. A.|title=Nichiren|date=2000|publisher=Jain Publishing Co.|location=Fremont, CA|isbn=978-0-87573-086-8}} |
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* {{cite book|last1=Harvey|first1=Peter|title=An introduction to Buddhism |
* {{cite book|last1=Harvey|first1=Peter|title=An introduction to Buddhism: teaching, history and practices|date=1992|publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press|location=Cambridge [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-521-31333-9|edition=Repr.|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontobu00harv_0}} |
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* {{Cite book|title=The opening of the eyes: Commentaries on the writings of Nichiren|first=Daisaku|last=Ikeda |author-link=Daisaku Ikeda|isbn= |
* {{Cite book|title=The opening of the eyes: Commentaries on the writings of Nichiren|first=Daisaku|last=Ikeda |author-link=Daisaku Ikeda|isbn=978-1-938252-34-1|location=Newick|oclc=1063697629|date = July 2013}} |
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* {{Cite book|title=Learning from Nichiren's Writings: The teachings for victory|first=Daisaku|last=Ikeda|author-link=Daisaku Ikeda|isbn= |
* {{Cite book|title=Learning from Nichiren's Writings: The teachings for victory|first=Daisaku|last=Ikeda|author-link=Daisaku Ikeda|isbn=978-1-938252-43-3|location=Santa Monica, CA|oclc=867769732 |date=2013 }} |
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* {{cite book|last1=Montgomery|first1=Daniel B.|title=Fire in the lotus: the dynamic Buddhism of Nichiren|date=1991|publisher=Dai Gohonzon|location=London|isbn=978- |
* {{cite book|last1=Montgomery|first1=Daniel B.|title=Fire in the lotus: the dynamic Buddhism of Nichiren|date=1991|publisher=Dai Gohonzon|location=London|isbn=978-1-85274-091-7}} |
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* {{Cite book|publisher=Middleway Press |title=Nichiren|last1=Murakami|first1=Masahiko|others=Tanaka, Ken|type=graphic novel |isbn= |
* {{Cite book|publisher=Middleway Press |title=Nichiren|last1=Murakami|first1=Masahiko|others=Tanaka, Ken|type=graphic novel |isbn=978-0-9779245-7-8|location=Santa Monica, CA|oclc=893709935|year=2015}} |
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* {{cite book|author1=Nichiren Shoshu International Center|author-link1=Nichiren Shōshū|title=A Dictionary of Buddhist terms and concepts.|date=1983|publisher=Nichiren Shoshu International Center|location=Tokyo|isbn=978- |
* {{cite book|author1=Nichiren Shoshu International Center|author-link1=Nichiren Shōshū|title=A Dictionary of Buddhist terms and concepts.|date=1983|publisher=Nichiren Shoshu International Center|location=Tokyo|isbn=978-4-88872-014-4|edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbudd0000nich}} |
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* {{cite book|last1=Stone|first1=Jacqueline Ilyse|title=Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbO_KctXdecC&pg=PA240|date=1 May 2003|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2771-7}} |
* {{cite book|last1=Stone|first1=Jacqueline Ilyse|title=Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbO_KctXdecC&pg=PA240|date=1 May 2003|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2771-7}} |
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* {{cite book|last1=Tamura|first1=Yoshiro|title=Japanese Buddhism |
* {{cite book|last1=Tamura|first1=Yoshiro|title=Japanese Buddhism: a cultural history|date=2000|publisher=Kosei Publ.|location=Tokyo|isbn=978-4-333-01684-6|edition=1st English}} |
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* {{cite book|editor1-last=Tanabe|editor1-first=George|title=Writings of Nichiren|date=2002|publisher=Nichiren Shū Overseas Propagation Promotion Association|location=Tokyo|isbn=978- |
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Tanabe|editor1-first=George|title=Writings of Nichiren|date=2002|publisher=Nichiren Shū Overseas Propagation Promotion Association|location=Tokyo|isbn=978-0-8248-2551-5}} |
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* The English Buddhist Dictionary Committee (2002). [http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/toc/ ''The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism.''], Tokyo, Soka Gakkai, {{ISBN|4-412-01205-0}} |
* The English Buddhist Dictionary Committee (2002). [http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/toc/ ''The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism.''], Tokyo, Soka Gakkai, {{ISBN|4-412-01205-0}} |
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* ''The Writings of Nichiren, Volume II'', Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee. Soka Gakkai, 2006, {{ISBN|4-412-01350-2}}. |
* ''The Writings of Nichiren, Volume II'', Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee. Soka Gakkai, 2006, {{ISBN|4-412-01350-2}}. |
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* ''The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings'', Burton Watson, trans. Soka Gakkai, 2005, {{ISBN|4-412-01286-7}}. |
* ''The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings'', Burton Watson, trans. Soka Gakkai, 2005, {{ISBN|4-412-01286-7}}. |
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* ''Writings of Nichiren'', Chicago, Middleway Press, 2013, The Opening of the Eyes.<ref>{{cite |
* ''Writings of Nichiren'', Chicago, Middleway Press, 2013, The Opening of the Eyes.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Opening of the Eyes: Commentaries on the Writings of Nichiren |author=Daisaku Ikeda|date=2013 |location=Chicago |publisher=Middleway Press|oclc = 853362350|author-link = Daisaku Ikeda}}</ref> |
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* ''Writings of Nichiren'', Doctrine 1, University of Hawai'i Press, 2003, {{ISBN|0-8248-2733-3}}. |
* ''Writings of Nichiren'', Doctrine 1, University of Hawai'i Press, 2003, {{ISBN|0-8248-2733-3}}. |
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* ''Writings of Nichiren'', Doctrine 2, University of Hawai'i Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-8248-2551-9}}. |
* ''Writings of Nichiren'', Doctrine 2, University of Hawai'i Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-8248-2551-9}}. |
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* ''Letters of Nichiren'', [[Burton Watson]] et al., trans.; Philip B. Yampolsky, ed. Columbia University Press, 1996 {{ISBN|0-231-10384-0}}. |
* ''Letters of Nichiren'', [[Burton Watson]] et al., trans.; Philip B. Yampolsky, ed. Columbia University Press, 1996 {{ISBN|0-231-10384-0}}. |
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* ''Selected Writings of Nichiren'', Burton Watson et al., trans.; Philip B. Yampolsky, ed. [[Columbia University]], Press, 1990,{{ISBN|0-231-07260-0}}. |
* ''Selected Writings of Nichiren'', Burton Watson et al., trans.; Philip B. Yampolsky, ed. [[Columbia University]], Press, 1990,{{ISBN|0-231-07260-0}}. |
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== External links == |
== External links == |
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{{commons category}} |
* {{commons category-inline}} |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160101091859/http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/Ryuei/NichirensBio.html Life of Nichiren by Ryuei Michael McCormick] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160101091859/http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/Ryuei/NichirensBio.html Life of Nichiren by Ryuei Michael McCormick] |
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* [http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~shibuken/Nichiren/index.html Renso Den, An Illustrated Life Story of Nichiren] with pictures by K. Touko1920 |
* [http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~shibuken/Nichiren/index.html Renso Den, An Illustrated Life Story of Nichiren] with pictures by K. Touko1920 |
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* [http://www.myokan-ko.net/menu/eds.htm An English biography of Nichiren on the website of the Myokanko, a Japanese group associated with Nichiren Shoshu] |
* [http://www.myokan-ko.net/menu/eds.htm An English biography of Nichiren on the website of the Myokanko, a Japanese group associated with Nichiren Shoshu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204160411/http://www.myokan-ko.net/menu/eds.htm |date=4 December 2018 }} |
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* [http://www.sgi.org/ life of Nichiren] – Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Website |
* [http://www.sgi.org/ life of Nichiren] – Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Website |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160606072409/http://www.nichirenshoshu.or.jp/page/eng/index_e.html Official Nichiren Shoshu Website] |
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160606072409/http://www.nichirenshoshu.or.jp/page/eng/index_e.html Official Nichiren Shoshu Website] |
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* [http://www.nichiren-shu.org/ Official Nichiren Shu Website] |
* [http://www.nichiren-shu.org/ Official Nichiren Shu Website] |
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* [http://nichirenbuddhist.com// Official Nichiren Buddhist Association of America Website] |
* [http://nichirenbuddhist.com// Official Nichiren Buddhist Association of America Website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025115446/http://nichirenbuddhist.com/ |date=25 October 2016 }} |
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* [https://sites.google.com/view/nichirensecular/home/ Nichiren Secular] |
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* ''Nichiren – a Man of Many Miracles'' (日蓮と蒙古大襲来 ''[[Nichiren to mōko daishūrai]]'') – 1958 film by Kunio Watanabe. |
* ''Nichiren – a Man of Many Miracles'' (日蓮と蒙古大襲来 ''[[Nichiren to mōko daishūrai]]'') – 1958 film by Kunio Watanabe. |
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[[Category:People from Chiba Prefecture]] |
[[Category:People from Chiba Prefecture]] |
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[[Category:Recipients of Japanese royal pardons]] |
[[Category:Recipients of Japanese royal pardons]] |
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[[Category:13th-century Japanese philosophers]] |
Latest revision as of 04:42, 13 November 2024
Nichiren | |
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日蓮 | |
Personal | |
Born | Kominato village, Awa province, Japan | 16 February 1222
Died | 13 October 1282 Ikegami Daibo Hongyoji Temple, Musashi province, Japan | (aged 60)
Religion | Buddhism |
Nationality | Japanese[1] |
Denomination | Nichiren Buddhism |
School | |
Lineage | |
Education | Kiyozumi-dera Temple (Seichō-ji), Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei |
Other names | |
Senior posting | |
Teacher | Dōzenbo of Seichō-ji Temple[8]: 442 |
Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. His teachings form the basis of Nichiren Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism.
Nichiren[9]: 77 [10]: 1 declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of Buddhism, insisting that the sovereign of Japan and its people should support only this form of Buddhism and eradicate all others.[11] He advocated the repeated recitation of its title, Nam(u)-myoho-renge-kyo, as the only path to Buddhahood and held that Shakyamuni Buddha and all other Buddhist deities were extraordinary manifestations of a particular Buddha-nature termed Myoho-Renge that is equally accessible to all. He declared that believers of the Sutra must propagate it even under persecution.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]
Nichiren was a prolific writer and his biography, temperament, and the evolution of his beliefs has been gleaned primarily from his writings.[19]: 99 [8]: 442 He claimed the reincarnation of Jōgyō bodhisattva in a past life,[20][21] and designated six senior disciples, of which the claims to successorship are contested. After his death, he was bestowed the title Nichiren Dai-Bosatsu (日蓮大菩薩, Great Bodhisattva Nichiren) by the Emperor Go-Kōgon in 1358[22] and the title Risshō Daishi (立正大師, Great Teacher of Correction) was conferred posthumously through imperial edict by the Emperor Taisho in 1922.[23]
Nichiren Buddhism today includes traditional temple schools such as Nichiren-shu sects and Nichiren Shōshū, as well as lay movements such as Soka Gakkai, Risshō Kōsei Kai, Reiyūkai, Kenshōkai, Honmon Butsuryū-shū, Kempon Hokke, and Shōshinkai among many others. Each group has varying views of Nichiren's teachings[17] with claims and interpretations of Nichiren's identity ranging from the rebirth of Bodhisattva Visistacaritra to the Primordial or "True Buddha" (本仏, Honbutsu) of the Third Age of Buddhism.[24][25][26][27]
Overview
[edit]Part of a series on |
Buddhism |
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Part of a series on |
Buddhism in Japan |
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The main narrative of Nichiren's life has been constructed from extant letters and treatises he wrote, counted in one collection as 523 complete writings and 248 fragments. Aside from historical documents stored in the repositories of various Nichiren sects, the first extensive non-religious biographical account of Nichiren did not appear until more than 200 years after his death.[28]: ix
He launched his teachings in 1253, advocating an exclusive return to the Lotus Sutra as based on its original Tendai interpretations. His 1260 treatise Risshō Ankoku Ron (立正安国論, On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land) argued that a nation that embraces the Lotus Sutra will experience peace and prosperity whereas rulers who support inferior religious teachings invite disorder and disaster into their realms.[9]: 88 [29] In a 1264 essay, he stated that the title of the Lotus Sutra, "Nam(u)-myoho-renge-kyo," encompasses all Buddhist teachings and its recitation leads to enlightenment.[12]: 328 As a result of his adamant stance, he experienced severe persecution imposed by the Kamakura Shogunate and consequently began to see himself as "bodily reading the Lotus Sutra (Jpn. Hokke shikidoku)."[8]: 252 [30]: 128–130 In some of his writings during a second exile (1271–1274) he began to identify himself with the key Lotus Sutra characters Sadāparibhūta and Visistacaritra[9]: 99, 100 and saw himself in the role of leading a vast outpouring of Bodhisattvas of the Earth.[31]
In 1274, after his two predictions of foreign invasion and political strife were seemingly actualized by the first attempted Mongol invasion of Japan along with an unsuccessful coup within the Hōjō clan, Nichiren was pardoned by the Shogunate authorities and his advice was sought but not heeded.[6]: 9–10 The Risshō Ankoku Ron in which he first predicted foreign invasion and civil disorder is now considered by Japanese historians to be a literary classic illustrating the apprehensions of that period.
Several hagiographies about Nichiren and are reflected in various pieces of artwork about incidents in his life.[32][33][34][8]: 442 [35]
Nichiren remains a controversial figure among scholars who cast him as either a fervent nationalist or a social reformer with a transnational religious vision.[36] Critical scholars have used words such as intolerant, nationalistic, militaristic, and self-righteous to portray him.[37] On the other hand, Nichiren has been presented as a revolutionary,[38] a classic reformer,[39]: 403 and as a prophet.[39][40]: 3 [41] Nichiren is often compared to other religious figures who shared similar rebellious and revolutionary drives to reform degeneration in their respective societies or schools.[42][43][44][45]
Birth
[edit]According to the lunar Chinese calendar, Nichiren was born on 16th of the second month in 1222, which is 6 April in the Gregorian calendar.[46]
Nichiren was born in the village of Kominato (today part of the city of Kamogawa), Nagase District, Awa Province (within present-day Chiba Prefecture). Accounts of his lineage vary. Nichiren described himself as "the son of a Sendara (Skt: chandala, despised outcast), "a son born of the lowly people living on a rocky strand of the out-of-the-way sea," and "the son of a sea-diver." In contrast, Hōnen, Shinran, Dōgen, and Eisai, the other founders of religious schools who predated Nichiren, were all born in the Kyoto region and came from noble or samurai backgrounds. Although his writings reflect a fierce pride of his lowly birth, followers after his death began to ascribe to him a more noble lineage, perhaps to attract more adherents.[47][48] Some have claimed his father was a rōnin,[49] a manorial functionary (shokan),[10]: 5 or a political refugee.[50][48][28]: 4
Nichiren's father was Mikuni-no-Tayu Shigetada, also known as Nukina Shigetada Jiro (died 1258); and his mother was Umegiku-nyo (died 1267). On his birth, his parents named him Zennichimaro (善日麿) which has variously been translated into English as "Splendid Sun" and "Virtuous Sun Boy" among others.[51] The exact site of Nichiren's birth is believed to be currently submerged off the shore from present-day Kominato-zan Tanjō-ji (小湊山誕生寺) near a temple in Kominato that commemorates his birth.
Buddhist education
[edit]Between the years 1233 and 1253 Nichiren engaged in an intensive study of all of the ten schools of Buddhism prevalent in Japan at that time as well as the Chinese classics and secular literature. During these years, he became convinced of the preeminence of the Lotus Sutra and in 1253 returned to the temple where he first studied to present his findings.[52]: 129 [8]: 443–444 [53][40]: 17 [54][9]: 90
In a 1271 letter Nichiren outlined his rationale for deeply studying Buddhism:
[D]etermined to plant a seed of Buddhahood and attain Buddhahood in this life, just as all other people, I relied on Amida Buddha and chanted the name of this Buddha since childhood. However, I began doubting this practice, making a vow to study all the Buddhist sutras, commentaries on them by disciples, and explanatory notes by others[.][55]
At the age of 12 he began his Buddhist study at a temple of the Tendai school, Seichō-ji (清澄寺, also called Kiyosumi-dera).[40]: 13 He was formally ordained at sixteen years old and took the Buddhist name Zeshō-bō Renchō (是生房蓮長), Renchō meaning "Lotus Growth." He left Seichō-ji for Kamakura where he studied Pure Land Buddhism, a school that stressed salvation through nianfo (Japanese nembutsu) or the invocation of Amitābha (Japanese Amida), and then studied Zen which had been growing in popularity in both Kamakura and Kyoto. He next traveled to Mount Hiei, the center of Japanese Tendai Buddhism, where he scrutinized the school's original doctrines and its subsequent incorporation of the theories and practices of Pure Land and Esoteric Buddhism. In the final stage of this twenty-year period he traveled to Mount Kōya, the center of Shingon esoteric Buddhism, and to Nara where he studied its six established schools, especially the Ritsu sect which emphasized strict monastic discipline.[56][57]: 243–245
Declaration of the Lotus Sutra
[edit]According to one of his letters, Nichiren returned to Seicho-ji Temple on 28 April 1253 to lecture on his twenty years of scholarship.[57]: 246 What followed was his first public declaration of Nam(u) Myoho Renge Kyo atop Mount Kiyosumi that same day. This marked the start of his campaign to return Tendai to the exclusive reliance of the Lotus Sutra and his efforts to convert the entire Japanese nation to this belief.[41]: 233 This declaration also marks the start of his efforts to make profound Buddhist theory practical and actionable so an ordinary person could manifest Buddhahood within his or her own lifetime in the midst of day-to-day realities.[58]
At the same event, according to his own account and subsequent hagiography, he changed his name to Nichiren, an abbreviation of nichi (日, "Sun") and ren (蓮, "Lotus").[40]: 34 Nichi represents both the light of truth and the sun goddess Amaterasu, symbolizing Japan itself. Ren signifies the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren envisioned Japan as the country where the true teaching of Buddhism would be revived and the starting point for its worldwide spread.[59]
At his lecture, it is construed, Nichiren vehemently attacked Honen, the founder of Pure Land Buddhism, and its practice of chanting the Nembutsu, Nam(u) Amida Butsu. It is likely he also denounced the core teachings of Seicho-ji which had incorporated non-exclusive Lotus Sutra teachings and practices. In so doing he earned the animosity of the local steward, Tojo Kagenobu, who attempted to have Nichiren killed. Modern scholarship suggests that events unfolded not in a single day but over a longer period of time and had social, and political dimensions.[57]: 246–247 [28]: 6–7
Nichiren then developed a base of operation in Kamakura where he converted several Tendai priests, directly ordained others, and attracted lay disciples who were drawn mainly from the strata of the lower and middle samurai class. Their households provided Nichiren with economic support and became the core of Nichiren communities in several locations in the Kanto region of Japan.[57]: 246–247 [28]: 7–8
First remonstration to the Kamakura government
[edit]Nichiren arrived in Kamakura in 1254. Between 1254 and 1260 half of the population had perished due to a tragic succession of calamities that included drought, earthquakes, epidemics, famine, fires, and storms.[57]: 432#49 Nichiren sought scriptural references to explain the unfolding of natural disasters and then wrote a series of works which, based on the Buddhist theory of the non-duality of the human mind and the environment, attributed the sufferings to the weakened spiritual condition of people, thereby causing the Kami (protective forces or traces of the Buddha) to abandon the nation. The root cause of this, he argued, was the widespread decline of the Dharma due to the mass adoption of the Pure Land teachings.[57]: 249–250 [60]: 124–125
The most renowned of these works, considered his first major treatise, was the Risshō Ankoku Ron (立正安国論), "On Securing the Peace of the Land through the Propagation of True Buddhism."[note 1] Nichiren submitted it to Hōjō Tokiyori, the de facto leader of the Kamakura shogunate, as a political move to effectuate radical reform. In it he argued the necessity for "the Sovereign to recognize and accept the singly true and correct form of Buddhism (i.e., 立正 risshō) as the only way to achieve peace and prosperity for the land and its people and end their suffering (i.e., 安国 ankoku)."[61][62][63]
Using a dialectic form well-established in China and Japan, the treatise is a 10-segment fictional dialogue between a Buddhist wise man, presumably Nichiren, and a visitor who together lament the tragedies that have beleaguered the nation. The wise man answers the guest's questions and, after a heated exchange, gradually leads him to enthusiastically embrace the vision of a country grounded firmly on the ideals of the Lotus Sutra. In this writing Nichiren displays a skill in using analogy, anecdote, and detail to persuasively appeal to an individual's unique psychology, experiences, and level of understanding.[64][12]: 328 [28]: 10
The teacher builds his argument by quoting extensively from a set of Buddhist sutras and commentaries. In his future writings Nichiren continued to draw from the same sutras and commentaries, effectively forming Nichiren's canon of sources out of the Buddhist library which he deemed supportive of the Lotus Sutra including the Konkomyo, Daijuku, Ninno, Yakushi, and Nirvana sutras. They share in common apocalyptic or nation-protecting teachings and prophecies.[64]: 330–334
The Risshō Ankoku Ron concludes with an urgent appeal to the ruler to cease all financial support for Buddhist schools promoting inferior teachings.[64]: 334 Otherwise, Nichiren warns, as predicted by the sutras, the continued influence of inferior teachings would invite even more natural disasters as well as the outbreak of civil strife and foreign invasion.[12]: 328
Nichiren submitted his treatise on 16 July 1260 but it drew no official response. It did, however, prompt a severe backlash from the Buddhist priests of other schools. Nichiren was challenged to a religious debate with leading Kamakura prelates in which, by his account, they were swiftly dispatched. Their lay followers, however, attempted to kill him at his dwelling which forced him to flee Kamakura. His critics had influence with key governmental figures and spread slanderous rumors about him. One year after he submitted the Rissho Ankoku Ron the authorities had him arrested and exiled to the Izu peninsula.[57]: 251
Nichiren's Izu exile lasted two years. In his extant writings from this time period, Nichiren began to strongly draw from chapters 10–22 of the Lotus Sutra, what Tanabe calls its "third realm" (daisan hōmon). Nichiren began to emphasize the purpose of human existence as being the practice of the bodhisattva ideal in the real world which entails undertaking struggle and manifesting endurance. He suggested that he is a model of this behavior, a "votary" (gyōja) of the Lotus Sutra.[65][57]: 252 [66][67][28]: 11–12
Upon being pardoned in 1263 Nichiren returned to Kamakura. In November 1264 he was ambushed and nearly killed at Komatsubara in Awa Province by a force led by Lord Tōjō Kagenobu. For the next few years he preached in provinces outside of Kamakura but returned in 1268. At this point the Mongols sent envoys to Japan demanding tribute and threatening invasion. Nichiren sent 11 letters to influential leaders reminding them about his predictions in the Rissho Ankoku Ron.[6]: 7–8
Attempt at execution
[edit]The threat and execution of Mongol invasion was the worst crisis in pre-modern Japanese history. In 1269 Mongol envoys again arrived to demand Japanese submission to their hegemony and the bakufu responded by mobilizing military defenses.[28]: 13
The role of Buddhism in "nation-protection" (chingo kokka) was long established in Japan at this time and the government galvanized prayers from Buddhist schools for this purpose. Nichiren and his followers, however, felt emboldened that the predictions he had made in 1260 of foreign invasion seemingly were being fulfilled and more people joined their movement. Daring a rash response from the bakufu, Nichiren vowed in letters to his followers that he was giving his life to actualize the Lotus Sutra. He accelerated his polemics against the non-Lotus teachings the government had been patronizing at the very time it was attempting to solidify national unity and resolve. In a series of letters to prominent leaders he directly provoked the major prelates of Kamakura temples that the Hojo family patronized, criticized the principles of Zen which was popular among the samurai class, critiqued the esoteric practices of Shingon just as the government was invoking them, and condemned the ideas underlying Risshū as it was enjoying a revival.[8]: 454–455 [57]: 257 His actions at that time have been described by modern scholars either as a high form of altruism[68] or the ravings of a fanatic and madman.[69]
His claims drew the ire of the influential religious figures of the time and their followers, especially the Shingon priest Ryōkan (良観). In September 1271, after a fiery exchange of letters between the two, Nichiren was arrested by a band of soldiers and tried by Hei no Saemon (平の左衛門, also called 平頼綱 Taira no Yoritsuna), the deputy chief of the Hojo clan's Board of Retainers. Nichiren considered this as his second remonstration to the government.[70][57]: 257
According to Nichiren's own account, he was sentenced to exile but was brought to Tatsunukuchi beach in Shichirigahama for execution. At the final moment an astronomical phenomenon, "a brilliant orb as bright as the moon," arced over the execution grounds, terrifying Nichiren's executioners into inaction.[71] Some scholars have proposed alternative narratives for this story.[57]: 257, 436 (note 99)
Regardless of the account, Nichiren's life was spared and he was exiled to Sado Island. The incident has become known as the "Tatsunokuchi Persecution" and was regarded by Nichiren as a death-and-resurrection turning point.[57]: 257–258, 436 (note 100) [40]: 58 In the Nichiren tradition this is called his moment of Hosshaku kenpon (発迹顕本), translated as "casting off the transient and revealing the true"[72] or "outgrowing the provisional and revealing the essential."[73]
Second banishment and exile
[edit]After the failed execution authorities carried out Nichiren's original sentence of exile to Sado Island in the Sea of Japan. Upon arriving, he was dispatched to a small dilapidated temple located in a graveyard. Nichiren was accompanied by a few disciples and in the first winter they endured terrible cold, food deprivation, and threats from local inhabitants.[57]: 258
Nichiren scholars describe a clear shift in both tone and message in letters written before his Sado exile and those written during and after.[74]: 238 Initially, Nichiren's urgent concern was to rally his followers in Kamakura. The tactics of the bakufu suppression of the Nichiren community included exile, imprisonment, land confiscation, or ousting from clan membership. Apparently a majority of his disciples abandoned their faith and others questioned why they and Nichiren were facing such adversity in light of the Lotus Sutra's promise of "peace and security in the present life."[57]: 258–259
In response he began to identify himself with Sadāparibhūta, a key figure in the Lotus Sutra, who in the 20th chapter invited repeated persecution in his efforts to propagate the sutra. Such hardship, Nichiren argued, fulfilled and validated the Lotus Sutra. He also identified himself with the bodhisattva Visistacaritra to whom Shakyamuni entrusted the future propagation of the Lotus Sutra, seeing himself in the role of leading a vast outpouring of Bodhisattvas of the Earth who pledged to liberate the oppressed.[9]: 99, 100 [31][57]: 259
The numerous letters and minor treatises he wrote in Sado include what is considered his two most significant works, the Kanjin no Honzon Shō (観心本尊抄, "The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind")[61][75] and the Kaimoku Shō (開目抄, "On the Opening of the Eyes").[76] In the latter he stated that facing adversity should be regarded as a matter of course and that the resolve to carry on with the mission to propagate the sutra was for him more important than guarantees of protection: "Let Heaven forsake me. Let ordeals confront me. I will not begrudge bodily life... . No matter what trials we may encounter, so long as we do not have a mind of doubt, I and my disciples will naturally achieve the Buddha realm." He concluded this work with the vow to be the "pillar of Japan, the eyes of Japan, the great ship of Japan."[57]: 259 [12]: 329
The Mandala Gohonzon
[edit]At the end of the 1271–1272 winter Nichiren's conditions had improved. He had attracted a small band of followers in Sado who provided him with support and disciples from the mainland began visiting him and providing supplies. In 1272 there was an attempted coup in Kamakura and Kyoto, seemingly fulfilling the prediction he had made in the Rissho Ankoku Ron of rebellion in the domain. At this point Nichiren was transferred to much better accommodations.[57]: 259 [8]: 452
While on Sado island, Nichiren inscribed the first Mandala Gohonzon (御本尊). Although there is evidence of a Gohonzon in embryonic form as far back as the days right before his exile, the first in full form is dated to 8 July 1273 and includes the inscription of "Nichiren inscribes this for the first time."[57]: 437, note 114
His writings on Sado provide his rationale for a calligraphic mandala depicting the assembly at Eagle Peak which was to be used as an object of devotion or worship. By increasingly associating himself with Visistacaritra he implied a direct link to the original and universal Buddha. He read in the 16th (Life span) chapter of the Lotus Sutra a three-fold "secret Dharma" of the daimoku, the object of worship (honzon), and the ordination platform (kaidan). These became the means for people to directly access the Buddha's enlightenment.[57]: 259–260
At the bottom of each mandala he wrote: "This is the great mandala never before revealed in Jambudvipa during the more than 2,200 years since the Buddha's nirvana." He inscribed many Mandala Gohonzon during the rest of his life. More than a hundred Mandala Gohonzon preserved today are attributed to Nichiren's own hand.[9]: 96
Return to Kamakura
[edit]Nichiren was pardoned on 14 February 1274 and returned to Kamakura one month later on 26 March.[57]: 260 Nichiren wrote that his innocence and the accuracy of his predictions caused the regent Hōjō Tokimune to intercede on his behalf. Scholars have suggested that some of his well-connected followers might have had influence on the government's decision to release him.[57]: 437, note 115
On 8 April he was summoned by Hei no Saemon, who inquired about the timing of the next Mongol invasion. Nichiren predicted that it would occur within the year. He used the audience as yet another opportunity to remonstrate with the government. Claiming that reliance on prayers based on esoteric rituals would invite further calamity, he urged the bakufu to ground itself exclusively on the Lotus Sutra.[57]: 261
Deeply disappointed by the government's refusal to heed his advice, Nichiren left Kamakura one month later, on 12 May, determined to become a solitary wayfarer. Five days later, however, on a visit to the residence of Lord Hakii Sanenaga of Mt. Minobu, he learned that followers in nearby regions had held steadfast during his exile. Despite severe weather and deprivation, Nichiren remained in Minobu for the rest of his career.[57]: 261
Retirement to Mount Minobu
[edit]During his self-imposed exile at Mount Minobu, a location 100 miles west of Kamakura,[77][78][79] Nichiren led a widespread movement of followers in Kanto and Sado mainly through his prolific letter-writing. During the so-called "Atsuhara affair" of 1279 when governmental attacks were aimed at Nichiren's followers rather than himself, Nichiren's letters reveal an assertive and well-informed leader who provided detailed instructions through a sophisticated network of disciples serving as liaisons between Minobu and other affected areas in Japan. He also showed the ability to provide a compelling narrative of events that gave his followers a broad perspective of what was unfolding.[80]
More than half of the extant letters of Nichiren were written during his years at Minobu. Some consisted of moving letters to followers expressing appreciation for their assistance, counseling on personal matters, and explaining his teachings in more understandable terms.[57]: 261 [81] Two of his works from this period, the Senji Shō (撰時抄, "The Selection of the Time")[82] and the Hōon Shō (報恩抄, "On Repaying Debts of Gratitude")[83] constitute, along with his Risshō Ankoku Ron ("On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land"), Kaimoku Shō ("The Opening of the Eyes"), and Kanjin no Honzon Shō ("The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind"), what is commonly regarded as his five major writings.
During his years at Minobu Nichiren intensified his attacks on mystical and esoteric practices (密教, mikkyō) that had been incorporated into the Japanese Tendai school. It becomes clear at this point that he understood that he was creating his own form of Lotus Buddhism.[84]: 362
Nichiren and his disciples completed the Myō-hōkke-in Kuon-ji Temple (久遠寺) in 1281. In the 19th century this structure burned down to be replaced by a new structure completed in the second half of the Meiji era.[85]: 117 [86]
While at Minobu Nichiren also inscribed numerous Mandala Gohonzon for bestowal upon specific disciples and lay believers. Nichiren Shoshu believers claim that after the execution of the three Atsuhara farmers he inscribed the Dai Gohonzon on 12 October 1279, a Gohonzon specifically addressed to all humanity. This assertion has been disputed by other schools as historically and textually incorrect.[87][9]: 189 It is enshrined currently at the Tahō Fuji Dai-Nichirenge-Zan Taiseki-ji, informally known as the Head Temple Taiseki-ji of the Nichiren Shōshū Order of Buddhism, located at the foot of Mount Fuji in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka.[citation needed] Several of these Mandala Gohonzon are prominently retained by the Nichiren-shū in Yamanashi Prefecture. Others survive today in the repositories of Nichiren Shōshū temples such as Taiseki-ji (大石寺) in Fujinomiya, Shizuoka, which has a particularly large collection of scrolls that is publicly aired once a year.[citation needed]
It is apparent that Nichiren took great care in deciding which of his disciples were eligible to receive a Gohonzon inscribed by him. In the case of a letter written to Lady Niiama he took great care to explain why he would not inscribe a Gohonzon despite a deep personal bond.[28]: 52–55 Among the Gohonzon he inscribed were several that were quite large and perhaps intended for congregational use in chapels maintained by some lay followers.[57]: 275
Death
[edit]In 1282, after years of seclusion, Nichiren fell ill. His followers encouraged him to travel to the hot springs in Hitachi for their medicinal benefits. He was also encouraged by his disciples to travel there for the warmer weather, and to use the land offered by Hagiri Sanenaga for recuperation. En route, unable to travel further, he stopped at the home of a disciple in Ikegami, outside of present-day Tokyo, and died on 13 October 1282. According to legend, he died in the presence of fellow disciples after having spent several days lecturing from his sickbed on the Lotus Sutra, writing a final letter, and leaving instructions for the future of his movement after his death, namely the designation of the six senior disciples. His funeral and cremation took place the following day.[57]: 261 [40]: 133 [88]
His disciples left Ikegami with Nichiren's ashes on 21 October, reaching back to Minobu on 25 October.
- Nichiren Shu sects claims his tomb is sited, as per his request, at Kuon-ji on Mount Minobu where his ashes remain.[57]: 321
- Nichiren Shoshu asserts that Nikko Shonin later confiscated his cremated ashes along with other articles and brought them to Mount Fuji which, they say are now enshrined on the left side next to the Dai Gohonzon within the Hoando storage house.[citation needed][note 2]
Teachings
[edit]Nichiren's teachings developed over the course of his career and their evolution can be seen through the study of his writings as well as in the annotations he made in his personal copy of the Lotus Sutra, the so-called Chū-hokekyō.[90]: 363
Some scholars set a clear demarcation in his teachings at the time he arrived at Sado Island[91]: 238 whereas others see a threefold division of thought: up to and through the Izu exile, from his return to Kamakura through the Sado Island exile, and during his years at Minobu.[90]: 252–253
According to Anesaki, Nichiren, upon his arrival at Minobu, quickly turned his attention to consolidating his teachings toward their perpetuation. The scope of his thinking was outlined in an essay Hokke Shuyō-shō (法華取要抄, "Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra"), considered by Nikkō Shōnin as one of Nichiren's ten major writings.[92][40]: 98
Anesaki also claims that later during his Minobu years, in lectures he is said to have transmitted to his disciples, Nichiren summarized the key ideas of his teachings in one paragraph: Buddhahood is eternal, all people can and should manifest it in their lives; Nichiren is the personage in the Lotus Sutra whose mission it is to enable people to realize their enlightenment; his followers who share his vow are the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. This requires a spiritual and moral unity among followers based on their inherent Buddhahood; Nichiren established the seeds of this community and his followers to come must extend it globally. Thus the enlightened individual, country, and world are different expressions of the ideal of the Buddha land; and the enlightened heart of the individual plays out its role with the world and cosmos as its stage.[40]: 98–100 This is Nichiren's vision of Kosen-rufu, a time when the teachings of the Lotus Sutra would be widely spread throughout the world.[93]
Nichiren set a precedent for Buddhist social activism centuries before its emergence in other Buddhist schools. The uniqueness of his teachings was his attempt to move Buddhism from the theoretical to the actualizable. He held adamantly that his teachings would permit a nation to right itself and ultimately lead to world peace.[94][74]: 251 [95][96]: 54
Some of his religious thinking was derived from the Tendai understanding of the Lotus Sutra, syncretic beliefs that were deeply rooted in the culture of his times, and new perspectives that were products of Kamakura Buddhism.[96]: vii–ix Other ideas were completely original and unique to him.
Contributions based on Tendai or contemporary thought
[edit]Nichiren was a product of his times and some of his teachings were drawn from existing schools of thought or from emerging ideas in Kamakura Buddhism. Nichiren appropriated and expanded on these ideas.
Immanence
[edit]Nichiren stressed the concept of immanence, meaning that the Buddha's pure land is to be found in this present world (shaba soku jakkōdo). Related concepts such as attaining enlightenment in one's current form (sokushin jōbutsu) and the belief that enlightenment is not attained but is originally existing within all people (hongaku) had been introduced by Kūkai and Saicho several centuries earlier.[97][98] These concepts were based on Chih-i's cosmology of the unity and interconnectedness of the universe called Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment of Life (ichinen sanzen).[99]
Nichiren advanced these concepts by declaring that they were actualizable rather than theoretical. Cause and effect were simultaneous instead of linear. Contemplation of one's mind (kanjin) took place within the singular belief in and commitment to the Lotus Sutra. According to Nichiren these phenomena manifest when a person chants the title of the Lotus Sutra (date) and shares its validity with others, even at the cost of one's life if need be.[57]: 68, 265–266
Nichiren constructed a triad relationship between faith, practice, and study. Faith meant embracing his new paradigm of the Lotus Sutra. It was something that needed to be continually deepened. "To accept (ju) [faith in the sutra] is easy," he explained to a follower, "to uphold it (ji) is difficult. But the realization of Buddhahood lies in upholding [faith]." This could only be manifested by the practice of chanting the daimoku as well as teaching others to do the same, and study.[57]: 270, 295 [100]: 12–13
Consequently, Nichiren consistently and vehemently objected to the perspective of the Pure Land school that stressed an other-worldly aspiration to some pure land. Behind his assertion is the concept of the nonduality of the subjective realm (the individual) and the objective realm (the land that the individual inhabits) which indicates that when the individual taps buddhahood, his or her present world becomes peaceful and harmonious. For Nichiren the widespread propagation of the Lotus Sutra and consequent world peace ("kosen-rufu") was achievable and inevitable and tasked his future followers with a mandate to accomplish it.[101][102]: 68
The Latter Day of the Law
[edit]The Kamakura period of 13th century Japan was characterized by a sense of foreboding. Nichiren, as well as the others of this time, believed that they had entered the Latter Day of the Law (Mappō), the time which Shakyamuni predicted his teachings would lose their efficacy. Indeed, Japan had entered an era of extreme natural disasters, internal strife and political conflict.[103]
Although Nichiren attributed the turmoils and disasters in society to the widespread practice of what he deemed inferior Buddhist teachings that were under government sponsorship, he was enthusiastically upbeat about the portent of the age. He asserted, in contrast to other Mahayana schools, this was the best possible moment to be alive, the era in which the Lotus Sutra was to spread, and the time in which the Bodhisattvas of the Earth would appear to propagate it. "It is better to be a leper who chants Nam(u)-myōhō-renge-kyō than be a chief abbot of the Tendai school."[57]: 56, 254 [104]
Debate and polemics
[edit]The tradition of conducting open and sustained debate to clarify matters of fundamental Buddhist principles has deep-seated roots in Tibet, China, and Korea.[105][106][107] This tradition was also quite pronounced in Japan.[108]
In addition to formalized religious debates, the Kamakura period was marked by flourishing and competitive oral religious discourse. Temples began to compete for the patronage of the wealthy and powerful through oratorical sermonizing and temple lecturers (kōshi) faced pressure to attract crowds. Sermonizing spread from within the confines of temples to homes and the streets as wandering mendicants (shidōso, hijiri, or inja) preached to both the educated and illiterate in exchange for alms. In order to teach principles of faith preachers incorporated colorful storytelling, music, vaudeville, and drama—which later evolved into Noh.[28]: 48–49
A predominant topic of debate in Kamakura Buddhism was the concept of rebuking "slander of the Dharma." The Lotus Sutra itself strongly warns about slander of the Dharma.[30]: 114–115 Hōnen, in turn, employed harsh polemics instructing people to "discard" (捨, sha), "close" (閉, hei), "put aside" (閣, kaku), and "abandon" (抛, hō) the Lotus Sutra and other non-Pure Land teachings. His ideas were vociferously attacked by many including Nichiren.[30]: 116, 120
Nichiren, however, elevated countering slander of the Dharma into a pillar of Buddhist practice. In fact, far more of his extant writings deal with the clarification of what constitutes the essence of Buddhist teachings than expositions of how to meditate.[30]: 114, 145–146
At age 32, Nichiren began a career of denouncing other Mahayana Buddhist schools of his time and declaring what he asserted was the correct teaching, the Universal Dharma (Nam(u)-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō), and chanting its words as the only path for both personal and social salvation.[109][110] The first target of his polemics was Pure Land Buddhism which had begun to gain ascendancy among the leaders and populace and even had established itself within the Tendai school. Nichiren's detailed rationale is most famously articulated in his Risshō Ankoku Ron[62] (立正安国論): "Treatise On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land,"[note 1][111][112] his first major treatise and the first of his three remonstrations with the bakufu authorities.
Although his times were harsh and permeated by bakufu culture, Nichiren always chose the power of language over bearing arms or resorting to violence. He didn't mince his words and was relentless to pursue dialogue whether in the form of debate, conversations, or correspondence. His spirit of engaging in discourse is captured in his statement, "Whatever obstacles I may encounter, as long as men [persons] of wisdom do not prove my teachings to be false, I will never yield."[113]: 86–87
"Single Practice" Buddhism
[edit]Hōnen introduced the concept of "single practice" Buddhism. Basing himself on the writings of the Chinese Buddhist Shandao, he advocated the singular practice of Nianfo, the recitation of the Buddha Amida's name. This practice was revolutionary because it was accessible to all and minimalized the monopolistic role of the entire monastic establishment.[114][115][116]
Nichiren appropriated the structure of a universally accessible single practice but substituted the Nianfo with the daimoku of Nam(u)-myōhō-renge-kyō. This constituted renouncing the principle of aspiring to a Pure Land after death and asserting instead the Lotus perspective of attaining Buddhahood in one's present form in this lifetime.[30]: 124
Protective forces
[edit]Japan had a long-established system of folk beliefs that existed outside of and parallel to the schools of the Buddhist establishment. Many of these beliefs had an influence on the various religious schools which, in turn, influenced each other, a phenomenon known as syncretism. Among these beliefs were the existence of kami, indigenous gods and goddesses or protective forces, that influenced human and natural occurrences in a holistic universe. Some beliefs ascribed kami to traces of the Buddha. The belief in kami was deeply embedded in the episteme of the time. Human agency through prayers and rituals could summon forth kami who would engage in nation-protection (chingo kokka).[57]: 40–42, 166 [117][118]
According to some of his accounts, Nichiren undertook his study of Buddhism to largely understand why the kami had seemingly abandoned Japan, as witnessed by the decline of the imperial court. Because the court and the people had turned to teachings that had weakened their minds and resolve, he came to conclude, both people of wisdom and the protective forces had abandoned the nation.[119][120]
By extension, he argued, through proper prayer and action his troubled society would transform into an ideal world in which peace and wisdom prevail and "the wind will not thrash the branches nor the rain fall hard enough to break clods."[57]: 291–292
Unique teachings
[edit]From Nichiren's corpus appear several lines of unique Buddhist thought.
"The Five Guides of Propagation"
[edit]Developed during his Izu exile, the Five Guides (gogi) are five criteria through which Buddhist teachings can be evaluated and ranked. They are the quality of the teaching (kyō), the innate human capacity (ki) of the people, the time (ji), the characteristic of the land or country (koku), and the sequence of dharma propagation (kyōhō rufu no zengo). From these five interrelated perspectives Nichiren declared his interpretation of the Lotus Sutra as the supreme teaching.[57]: 252–255 [121][122]
The Four Denunciations
[edit]Throughout his career Nichiren harshly denounced Buddhist practices other than his own as well as the existing social and political system. The tactic he adopted was shakubuku, conversion, in which he shocked his adversaries with his denunciations while attracting followers through his outward display of supreme confidence.[123] Modern detractors criticize his exclusivist single-truth perspective as intolerant. Apologists argue his arguments should be understood in the context of his samurai society and not through post-modern lenses such as tolerance.[124] Both of them may be regarded as having seized an aspect of the truth, namely that Nichiren, rather like Dogen, was not less brilliantly original for being a rigid dogmatist in doctrine.
As his career advanced, Nichiren's vehement polemics against Pure Land teachings came to include sharp criticisms of the Shingon, Zen, and Ritsu schools of Buddhism. Collectively his criticisms have become known as "the Four Denunciations." Later in his career he critiqued the Japanese Tendai school for its appropriation of Shingon elements. Reliance on Shingon rituals, he claimed, was magic and would decay the nation. He held that Zen was devilish in its belief that attaining enlightenment was possible without relying on the Buddha's words; Ritsu was thievery because it hid behind token deeds such as public works. In modern parlance the Four Denunciations rebuked thinking that demoralized and disengaged people by encouraging resignation and escapism.[40]: 8–11 [125][126]
The doctrine of the Three Great Secret Laws
[edit]Nichiren deemed the world to be in a degenerative age and believed that people required a simple and effective means to rediscover the core of Buddhism and thereby restore their spirits and times. He described his Three Great Secret Laws (Sandai hiho) as this very means.[127]: 353
In a writing entitled Sandai Hiho Sho, or "On the Transmission of the Three Great Secret Laws", Nichiren delineated three teachings in the heart of the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra which are secret because he claimed he received them as the leader of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth through a silent transmission from Shakyamuni. They are the invocation (daimoku), the object of worship (honzon), and the platform of ordination or place of worship (kaidan).[128]: 266 [57]: 264 [127]: 353
The daimoku, the rhythmic chanting of Nam(u)-myōhō-renge-kyō is the means to discover that one's own life, the lives of others, and the environment is the essence of the Buddha of absolute freedom. The chanting is to be done while contemplating the honzon. At the age of 51, Nichiren inscribed his own Mandala Gohonzon, the object of veneration or worship in his Buddhism, "never before known," as he described it.[129] The Gohonzon is a calligraphic representation of the cosmos and chanting daimoku to it is Nichiren's method of meditation to experience the truth of Buddhism. He believed this practice was efficacious, simple to perform, and suited to the capacity of the people and the time.[127]: 354
Nichiren describes the first two secret laws in numerous other writings but the reference to the platform of ordination appears only in the Sandai Hiho Sho, a work whose authenticity has been questioned by some scholars. Nichiren apparently left the fulfillment of this secret Dharma to his successors and its interpretation has been a matter of heated debate. Some state that it refers to the construction of a physical national ordination platform sanctioned by the emperor; others contend that the ordination platform is the community of believers (sangha) or, simply, the place where practitioners of the Lotus Sutra live and make collective efforts to realize the ideal of establishing the true Dharma in order to establish peace to the land (rissho ankoku). The latter conception entails a robust interplay between religion and secular life and an egalitarian structure in which people are dedicated to perfecting an ideal society.[128]: 266, 268 [130]
According to Nichiren, practicing the Three Secret Laws results in the "Three Proofs" which verify their validity. The first proof is "documentary," whether the religion's fundamental texts, here the writings of Nichiren, make a lucid case for the eminence of the religion. "Theoretical proof" is an intellectual standard of whether a religion's teachings reasonably clarify the mysteries of life and death. "Actual proof," deemed the most important by Nichiren, demonstrates the validity of the teaching through the actual improvements achieved by practitioners in their daily lives.[131][132][133][134][135]
Changing karma to mission
[edit]Nichiren was deeply aware of the karmic struggles his followers faced in their day-to-day existence and assured them that they could "cross the sea of suffering" (Shiji Shiro-dono gosho). Through prevailing over such challenges, he taught, they would establish a sense of inner freedom, peace of mind, and understanding of the Dharma that persisted independent of the ups and downs of sentient existence. He accepted prevailing Buddhist notions about karma that taught that a person's current conditions were the cumulative effect of past thoughts, words, and actions. He showed little concern, however, for attributing current circumstances to supposed past deeds. Rather, he viewed karma through the lens of the teachings of the Lotus Sutra which could enable all people to become Buddhas, even the ignorant and evil people of the Latter Day of the Law.[136]: 30–32
When confronting karmic situations, the act of chanting Nam(u)-myoho-renge-kyo would open the wisdom of the Buddha, transforming karma into mission and a creative and joy-filled way of life. Beyond the sphere of a single individual's life, the process would awaken a person's concern for the broader society and sense of social responsibility.[137]: 168
Nichiren introduced the term "votary of the Lotus Sutra" (法華経の行者, Hokekyō no gyōja) to describe himself. The Lotus Sutra itself speaks of the great trials that will be faced by individuals who base themselves on its teachings and attempt to spread it. Nichiren claims he read the sutra "bodily" (shikidoku), voluntarily inviting the entailing hardships it predicts rather than just reciting or meditating on its words.[136]: 35–36
Through challenging these persecutions Nichiren claimed to have discovered his personal mission and felt great joy even when experiencing the harshness of exile. His sufferings became, in his thinking, redemptive opportunities to change his karma and give his life transcendent meaning.[136]: 37
In enduring severe persecutions Nichiren claimed that the negative karma he had accumulated from the past could be eradicated quickly in his current life. He was an active agent in this process, not a victim. He even expressed appreciation to his tormentors for giving him the opportunity to serve as an envoy of the Buddha.[138]: 34, 36
In letters to some of his followers Nichiren extended the concept of meeting persecution for the sake of propagating the Dharma to experiencing tribulations in life such as problems with family discord or illness. He encouraged these followers to take ownership of such life events, view them as opportunities to repay karmic debts and mitigate them in shorter periods of time than would otherwise be the case.[138]: 37 Naturally, he did not use language redolent of twentieth century concepts within, e.g., psychotherapy, hyperliberalism or the Human Potential Movement, but his insistence on personal responsibility can be reimagined in such terms.
Nichiren reached a state of conviction that offered a new perspective on karma. He express that his resolve to carry out his mission was paramount in importance and that the Lotus Sutra's promise of a peaceful and secure existence meant finding joy and validation in the process of overcoming karma. According to Stone, in confronting karma Nichiren "demonstrated an attitude that wastes little energy in railing against it but unflinchingly embraces it, interpreting it in whatever way appears meaningful at the moment so as to use that suffering for one's own development and to offer it on behalf of others."[138]: 39
The great vow to achieve Kosen-rufu
[edit]Nichiren's teachings are replete with vows he makes for himself and asks his followers to share as well. Some are personal in nature such as frequent admonitions for people to transform their inner lives. "You must quickly reform the tenets you hold in your heart," he stated in his treatise Rissho Ankoku Ron. He urged his followers to attain "treasures of the heart" and to reflect on their behavior as human beings.[113]: 76, 79–80, 86, 89 These vows are "this-worldly" rather than theoretical and are matched with an easily accessible practice.[139]
Nichiren also made a "great vow" of a political dimension. He and his followers to come would create the conditions that lead to a just nation and world which the Lotus Sutra describes as Kosen-rufu. In earlier Japanese Buddhism the concept of "nation" was equated with Tennō (天皇), or imperial rule and "peace of the land" was associated with the stability of the regime. Nichiren's teachings, however, fully embraced a newly emerging viewpoint in medieval Japan that "nation" referred to the land and the people. Nichiren was unique among his contemporaries in charging the actual government in power, in this case the bakufu rather than the throne, with the peace of the land as well as the thriving of the Dharma. In his teachings based on the Lotus Sutra, all human beings are equal, whether the nation's sovereign or an unknown commoner. Enlightenment is not restricted to an individual's inner life but is actualized by efforts toward the transformation of the land and the realization of an ideal society.[140]: 313–320
This entails an urgent mandate. Nichiren links the great vow of personages in the Lotus Sutra to raise all people to the consciousness of the Buddha, to his own single-minded struggles to teach the Law despite the great persecutions he, Nichiren himself, encountered, to his injunction to future disciples to create the Buddha land in the saha world over the course of the myriad years to follow.[40]: 66–69 [140]: 320–321
Nichiren and his followers
[edit]Nichiren was a charismatic leader who attracted many followers during both his missionary trips and his exiles. Most of these followers were warriors and feudal lords. He maintained to his women followers that they were equally able to attain enlightenment. He set a high standard of leadership and, in his writings, shared his rationale and strategies with them, openly urging them to share his conviction and struggles.[141][12]: 328–329
He left the fulfillment of the kaidan, the third of his Three Secret Dharmas, to his disciples. His many extant letters demonstrate the scope and breadth of his relationship with them and his expectations for them. They recognized and trusted his charismatic leadership and his understanding of Buddhism. Many sought his guidance to overcome personal problems. Many were actively involved with supporting him financially and protecting his community of followers. Several of disciples were praised by him for sharing in his privations and a few lost their lives in these situations. Although over the centuries the movement he established was fraught with divisions, his followers sustained his teachings and example and various times gained considerable influence. Today his followers are found in influential lay movements as well as traditional Nichiren schools.[142][143]
The relationship between Nichiren and his disciples has been called shitei funi, the oneness of mentor and disciple. Although the functions of the mentor and disciple may vary, they share the same goals and the same responsibility. Nichiren claimed the precedent for shitei funi is a core theme of the Lotus Sutra, especially in chapters 21 and 22 where the Buddha entrusts the future propagation of the sutra to the gathered bodhisattvas.[144][145][146]
After Nichiren's death
[edit]After Nichiren's death, his teachings were interpreted in different ways. As a result, Nichiren Buddhism encompasses several major branches and schools, each with its own doctrine and set of interpretations of Nichiren's teachings.[147]
Writings
[edit]Many of Nichiren's writings still exist in his original handwriting, some as complete works and some as fragments. Other documents survive as copies made by his immediate disciples. Nichiren's existing works number over 700 manuscripts in total, including transcriptions of orally delivered lectures, letters of remonstration and illustrations.[148][149][150][151][152]
Scholars have divided the writings attributed to Nichiren into three categories: those whose authenticity are universally accepted, those generally designated as written by someone else after his death, and a third category in which the veracity of works is still being debated.[153][128]
In addition to treatises written in formal Classical Chinese (漢文, kanbun), Nichiren also wrote expositories and letters to followers in mixed kanji-kana vernacular as well as letters in simplified kana for believers such as children who could not read the more formal styles. Some of Nichiren's kanbun works, especially the Risshō Ankoku Ron, are considered exemplary of the kanbun style, while many of his letters show unusual empathy and understanding for the downtrodden of his day.[154]
Selected important writings
[edit]Among his kanbun treatises, five are generally accepted by Nichiren schools as his major works:[155][156][157]
- On Securing the Peace of the Land through the Propagation of True Buddhism (Rissho Ankoku Ron) — written between 1258 and 1260.[158]
- The Opening of the Eyes (Kaimoku-sho) — written in 1272.
- The True Object of Worship (Kanjin-no Honzon-sho) — written in 1273.
- The Selection of the Time (Senji-sho) — written in 1275.
- On Repaying Debts of Gratitude (Ho'on-sho) — written in 1276.
Nichiren Shōshū adds an additional five writings to comprise a set of ten major writings. Other Nichiren sects dispute these selections as being either of secondary importance or as apocryphal:[157]
- On Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra (Sho-hokke Daimoku-sho) — Written in 1260.
- On Taking the Essence of the Lotus Sutra (Hokke Shuyo-sho) — written in 1274.
- On the Four Stages of Faith and the Five Stages of Practice (Shishin Gohon-sho) — written in 1277.
- Letter to Shimoyama (Shimoyama Gosho-soku) — written in 1277.
- Questions and Answers on the Object of Worship (Honzon Mondo-sho) — written in 1278.
Personal letters to followers
[edit]Among the collection of his extant writings are numerous letters to his follows in the form of thank you notes, messages of condolence, responses to questions, and spiritual counseling for trying moments in his followers' lives. Collectively these letters demonstrate that Nichiren was a master of providing both comfort and challenge befitting the unique personalities and situations of each individual.[19]: 102 [28]: 52
Many of these letters use tales drawn from Indian, Chinese, and Japanese traditions as well as historical anecdotes and stories from the Buddhist canon. Nichiren incorporated several hundred of these anecdotes and took liberty to freely embellish some of them; a few of the stories he provided do not appear in other collections and could be original.[28]: 47–50 [159]
Another category of his letters follow the genres of Japanese zuihitsu, lyrical and loosely organized essays that combine personal reflection and poetic language, or personal diaries (nikki) Nichiren was a master of this genre and these colloquial works reveal his highly personal and charismatic method of proselytization as well as his deep caring for his followers.[28]: 47–50, 52
Nichiren used his letters as a means to inspire key supporters. About one hundred followers are identified as recipients and several received between 5 and 20 of them. The recipients tended to be of the warrior class and only scattered references appear about his lower status followers, many of whom were illiterate. The series of letters he wrote his followers during the "Atsuhara affair" of 1279 provide a case study of how he used personal written communications to direct a response to the government's actions and to keep his followers steadfast during the ordeal.[28]: 55n [80]: 156n, 158
Writings to women
[edit]Against a backdrop of earlier Buddhist teachings that deny the possibility of enlightenment to women or reserve that possibility for life after death, Nichiren is highly sympathetic to women. Based on various passages from the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren asserts that "Other sutras are written for men only. This sutra is for everyone."[160][161][162]
Ninety of his extant letters, nearly a fifth of the total, were addressed to female correspondents.[163] Nichiren Shu published separate volumes of those writings.[164]
In these letters Nichiren plays particular attention to the instantaneous attainment of enlightenment of the Dragon King's daughter in the "Devadatta" (Twelfth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra and displays deep concern for the fears and worries of his female disciples.[165][166]
In many of his letters to female believers he often expressed compliments for their in-depth questions about Buddhism while encouraging them in their efforts to attain enlightenment in this lifetime.[citation needed]
Having the honor to be born in your kingdom, I find my body obeying your Excellency, but my soul will never.
— Nichiren, Senji sho[167]
Sword associated with Nichiren
[edit]The "Juzumaru-Tsunetsugu" is a katana sword associated with Nichiren. The sword was given to Nichiren by lay follower Nanbu Sanenaga for protection. Nichiren did not use the sword, rather held it as a symbol for the "destroying of iniquity and establishing righteousness" and placed a juzu rosary on its hilt, thus giving the sword its accorded name.
The 13th century swordsmith Aoe Tsunetsugu is credited with creating the Juzumaru-Tsunetsugu. However, scholarship research shows the Juzumaru shows variations and differences in its workmanship compared to other authenticated Aoe Tsunetsugu swords. For example, the artisan signature on the Juzumaru is on the other side of where Aoe would have typically signed his swords. Debate on its origin of craftsmanship is contested regarding the sword.
See also
[edit]- Nichiren, 1979 Japanese film starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya as Nichiren.
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Also translated as "On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land" (The Writings of Nichiren), "Establishment of the Legitimate Teaching for the Protection of the Country" (Selected Writings of Nichiren), and others.
- ^ "please build my grave on Mount Minobu, because that is where is where I spent nine years reciting the Lotus Sutra to my heart's content. My heart lives forever on Mount Minobu"[89]
References
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Among all of the preachers of the dharma of the Lotus Sutra over the past two thousand years, there has been no one like Nichiren. In the long history of the sutra in Japan, he is the most famous—and the most infamous.
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Buddhism and the state have always been closely allied in Japan. Nichiren insisted, however, that the Lotus Sutra was the only true Buddhism, that the state should support only this form of Buddhism, and that it should abolish all other Buddhist sects as heretical.
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Realizing himself to be an avatar of Jōgyō Boddhisattva, Nichiren strived to spread the Lotus Sutra.
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The Lotus Sutra states that this person would be a reincarnation of Jogyo bosatsu, a status that Nichiren did, in fact, claim for himself on numerous occasions.
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Nichiren, of course, it is possibly the most outstanding exemplar of the prophetic voice in the entire Buddhist tradition. His fiery denunciations of both the religious and the political status quo of this time and his dogged insistence upon their total displacement earned him the hatred of the powerful and the love of the common people.
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If Japan ever produced a prophet or a religious man of prophetic zeal, Nichiren was the man. He stands almost a unique figure in the history of Buddhism, not alone because of his persistence through hardship and persecution, but for his unshaken conviction that he himself was the messenger of Buddha, and his confidence in the future of his religion and country. Not only one of the most learned men of his time, but most earnest in his prophetic aspirations, he was a strong man, of combative temperament, an eloquent speaker, a powerful writer, and a man of tender heart. He was born in 1222, the son of a fisherman, and died in 1282, a saint and prophet.
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Uchimura compares him to Luther on two counts. The first is his concern over the wrongs of the religious establishment, and the second is his adoption of a single book as the source of his faith. He depended on the Lotus Sutra, Uchimura begins, much as Luther relied on the Bible....In sum, Nichiren was 'a soul sincere to its very core, the honestest of men, the bravest of Japanese.'
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{{cite book}}
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- ^ a b c Deal, William E. (1999). "Nichiren's Risshō ankoku ron and Canon Formation". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 26 (3–4): 329–330. JSTOR 30233630.
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Nichiren called this third realm daisan hōmon, meaning the third sphere of 8akyamuni's teaching. The teachings in this realm of the Lotus Sutra emphasize the need to endure the trials of life and to practice the true law. In short, they advocate human activity in the real world, or bodhisattva practices. The eternal Buddha is also considered anew in this context, and it is said that Sakyamuni himself endlessly undertook bodhisattva practices. This third realm emphasizing bodhisattva practices suggests the meaning and purpose of human existence in this world.
- ^ Tamura, Yoshirō (15 July 2014). Introduction to the Lotus Sutra. Reeves, Gene; Shinozaki, Michio. Boston. pp. 8–9, 124. ISBN 978-1-61429-099-5. OCLC 892059024. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
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- ^ a b Stone, Jacqueline I. (2014). "The Atsuhara Affair: The Lotus Sutra, Persecution, and Religious Identity in the Early Nichiren Tradition". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 41 (1): 165, 176. doi:10.18874/jjrs.41.1.2014.153-189. Archived from the original on 8 June 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2018 – via Nanzan Institute.
- ^ https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Introduction/3#The Archived 21 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine Life of Nichiren Daishonin
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- ^ Johnston, William M. (2013). Encyclopedia of Monasticism. Routledge. p. 693. ISBN 978-1-136-78716-4. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
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- ^ Groner, Paul (1989). "The Lotus Sutra and Saicho's Interpretation of the Realization of Buddhahood with This Very Body". In Tanabe, George J.; Tanabe, Willa J. (eds.). The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 56–57. ISBN 978-0-8248-1198-3. Archived from the original on 4 July 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
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- ^ Stone, Jackie (2015). "Original Enlightenment Thought in the Nichiren Tradition". In Lopez, Donald S. Jr. (ed.). Buddhism in practice (Abridged ed.). Princeton. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-4008-8007-2. OCLC 926048981. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Stone, Jacqueline I. (2003). "Nichiren's activist heirs: Soka Gakkai, Rissho Koseikai, Nipponzan Myohoji". Action dharma: new studies in engaged Buddhism. Queen, Christopher S., Prebish, Charles S., Keown, Damien. London: RoutledgeCurzon. pp. 63–94. ISBN 0-7007-1593-2. OCLC 50809145.
When all people throughout the land enter the one Buddha vehicle, and the Wonderful Dharma [of the Lotus] alone flourishes, because the people all chant Namu-Myoho-renge-kyo, the wind will not thrash the branches, nor the rain fall hard enough to break clods. The age will become like the reigns of [the Chinese sage kings] Yao and Shun. In the present life, inauspicious calamities will be banished, and people will obtain the art of longevity. When the principle becomes manifest that both persons and dharmas 'neither age nor die,' then each of you, behold! There can be no doubt of the sutra's promise of 'peace and security in the present world.'
- ^ Record of Miraculous Events in Japan: The Nihon ryoiki. Vol. 3. Columbia University Press. 2013. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-231-53516-8. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ Endō, Asai (1968) [translated 1999]. "Nichiren's View of Humanity: The Final Dharma Age and the Three Thousand Realms in One Thought-Moment". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 26 (3–4): 239–240. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. See also "The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 437 Rebuking Slander of the Law". Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2013 – via Sgilibrary.org., "The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 736: On Repaying Depts of Gratitude". Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013 – via Sgilibrary.org. and "The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 903: The Teaching for the Latter Day". Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013 – via Sgilibrary.org.
- ^ Lempert, Michael (30 April 2012). Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery. University of California Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-520-26946-0. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ Mollier, Christine (2008). Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face: Scripture, Ritual, and Iconographic Exchange in Medieval China. University of Hawaii Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-8248-3169-1. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ Muller, Charles (5 June 2018). "The Great Confucian-Buddhist Debate". In Buswell, Robert E. (ed.). Religions of Korea in Practice. Princeton University Press. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-691-18815-7. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ Groner, Paul (2000). Saicho: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School: with a New Preface. University of Hawaii Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-8248-2371-9. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ The Essence of Nichiren Shu Buddhism, SanJose Temple, page 81. ISBN 0-9705920-0-0
- ^ "The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, pp. 3–5: On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime". Sgilibrary.org. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
- ^ Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine I, page 105-155
- ^ "Living Rissho Ankoku Ron Commentary by Rev. Ryuei". Nichirenscoffeehouse.net. Archived from the original on 16 December 2004. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
- ^ a b Urbain, Olivier (2010). Daisaku Ikeda's philosophy of peace: dialogue, transformation and global citizenship. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-4416-9789-9. OCLC 742349088.
- ^ Bowring, Richard. Religious Traditions of Japan: 500–1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 247.
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- ^ Grapard, Allan G. (1998). "Keiranshuyoshu: A Different Perspective on Mt. Hiei in the Medieval Period". Re-visioning "Kamakura" Buddhism. Payne, Richard Karl. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 0-8248-2024-X. OCLC 38249103.
- ^ Bocking, Brian (1997). A popular dictionary of Shintō (Rev. ed.). Richmond, Surrey [U.K.]: Curzon Press. p. 44. ISBN 0-7007-1051-5. OCLC 264474222. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ "Nichiren- Great Teacher Series – Theosophy Trust". theosophytrust.mobi. Archived from the original on 31 October 2018. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
- ^ Metraux, Daniel A. (1986). "THE SOKA GAKKA'S SEARCH FOR THE REALIZATION OF THE WORLD OF RISSHO ANKOKURON". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 13/1: 38–39. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
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- ^ Stone, Jacqueline I. (17 August 2012). "The Sin of "Slandering the True Dharma" in Nichiren's Thought". Sins and Sinners: Perspectives from Asian Religions. BRILL. pp. 149–150. ISBN 978-90-04-23200-6. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
- ^ Bloom, Alfred. "Understanding the Social and Religious Meaning of Nichiren". Shin Dharma Net. Archived from the original on 11 September 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
Because of his concern for the welfare of the country and exaltation of the truth of the Lotus Sutra as interpreted by Tendai, he appears to be intolerant, denouncing all other sects as false. He is famous for Four Denunciations in which he outlined the errors. Shingon is false because it destroys the nations. For Nichiren it was false magic. The nation would be protected by the Lotus. Historically the Japanese government employed Shingon rites whenever there was a disaster affecting the country. According to him, Zen is a teaching of devils because it held that one could become enlightened apart from scriptures. In Zen truth is beyond words and therefore it rejects the ultimacy of the words of Buddha. Pure Land nembutsu is a false way of salvation. Salvation comes only through the Lotus Sutra, particularly for Nichiren, reciting its title: Namu myoho renge kyo. The Ritsu or Precept sect is wrong because it is a thief. Here Nichiren apparently objected to the funds given this sect for social welfare activity. In any case, none of these prominent sects advocated the centrality of the Lotus Sutra. Eventually he came to include Tendai itelf because it was combined with Shingon teachings and rites. For him any compromise on the Lotus made them all false. Nichiren was a good scholar of history and knew the basic tenets of these groups, but he faulted them in their relation to the Lotus. His erudition is embodied in voluminous writings, especially five major texts which set forth the essence of his faith, Also he wrote numerous letters, sharing his ideas and sentiments with followers.
- ^ Urbain, Olivier, ed. (6 December 2013). A forum for peace: Daisaku Ikeda's proposals to the UN. London. pp. 484–485. ISBN 978-1-78076-839-7. OCLC 861319983.
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- ^ a b c Stone, Jacqueline I. (April–June 2014). "A votary of the Lotus Sutra will meet ordeals: The role of suffering in Nichiren's thought" (PDF). Dharma World. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
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- ^ a b Sato, Hiroo (1999). "Nichiren's View of Nation and Religion". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 26/3-4. Habito, Ruben: 307–323. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- ^ Anesaki, p.50-51,64,68
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- ^ Tanabe, George Joji; Tanabe, Willa Jane (1989). The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture. University of Hawaii Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8248-1198-3. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
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- ^ Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee: The Writings of Nichiren, Volume I, Soka Gakkai, 2006. ISBN 4-412-01024-4
- ^ Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee: The Writings of Nichiren, Volume II, Soka Gakkai, 2006. ISBN 4-412-01350-2
- ^ Kyotsu Hori (transl.): Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine Vol. 1–6, University of Hawai'i Press, 2003–2010
- ^ Jacqueline I. Stone, Some disputed writings in the Nichiren corpus: Textual, hermeneutical and historical problems, dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1990 PDF Archived 30 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine (21 MB) retrieved 26 July 2013
- ^ Fumehiko, Sueki (1999). "Nichirens Problematic Works". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 26 (3–4): 261–280.
- ^ "Listing of Authenticated Gosho (Goibun) of Nichiren". Archived from the original on 26 March 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
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- ^ Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism, Soka Gakkai, "Five Major Writings"
- ^ Dharma Flower, Ryuei Michael McCormick (2000), p. 156: "The five most important works of Nichiren. The five major writings are: Rissho ankoku ron (Treatise on Spreading Peace Throughout the Country by Establishing the True Dharma), Kaimoku sho (Open Your Eyes), Kanjin no honzon sho (Spiritual Contemplation and the Focus of Devotion), Senji sho (Selecting the Right Time), and Ho'on sho (Recompense of Indebtedness)."
- ^ a b Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism, Soka Gakkai, "Ten Major Writings".
- ^ Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism, Soka Gakkai, "Rissho Ankoku Ron".
- ^ Rodd, Laurel Rasplica (1978). "Nichiren and Setsuwa". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 5/2-3 June–September: 159–185. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
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- ^ Oguri, Junko. 1987. Nyonin ojo: Nihon-shi ni miru onna no sukui (Women's Capacity to Be Reborn in the Pure Land: Women's Salvation in Japanese History). Jimbun Shoin, p. 122. See also: Oguri, Junko. 1984. "Views on Women's Salvation in Japanese Buddhism" in Young East 10/1, pp 3–11.
- ^ "(WND, p. 385)". Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ Ueki, Masatoshi (2001). Gender Equality in Buddhism. Peter Lang. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-8204-5133-6. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
- ^ Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Translated by Nichiren Shu Overseas Ministers in North America, Edited and Compiled by Kyotsu Hori, published 1995 by Nichiren Shu Overseas Propagation Promotion Association
- ^ Rasplica Rodd, Laurel (6 June 2016). "Nichiren's Teachings to Women". Selected Papers in Asian Studies: Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies. 1 (5): 8–18. Archived from the original on 18 September 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
- ^ The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender, Bernard Faure,ISBN 978-1-4008-2561-5, Princeton University Press, 2009, p.93
- ^ Jeanne Hersch, Unesco, Birthright of Man: A Selection of Texts, 1969
Bibliography
[edit]- Causton, Richard (1985). Buddha in Daily Life: An Introduction to the Buddhism of Nichiren. Random House.
- Christensen, J. A. (2000). Nichiren. Fremont, CA: Jain Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-87573-086-8.
- Harvey, Peter (1992). An introduction to Buddhism: teaching, history and practices (Repr. ed.). Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-521-31333-9.
- Ikeda, Daisaku (July 2013). The opening of the eyes: Commentaries on the writings of Nichiren. Newick. ISBN 978-1-938252-34-1. OCLC 1063697629.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Ikeda, Daisaku (2013). Learning from Nichiren's Writings: The teachings for victory. Santa Monica, CA. ISBN 978-1-938252-43-3. OCLC 867769732.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Montgomery, Daniel B. (1991). Fire in the lotus: the dynamic Buddhism of Nichiren. London: Dai Gohonzon. ISBN 978-1-85274-091-7.
- Murakami, Masahiko (2015). Nichiren (graphic novel). Tanaka, Ken. Santa Monica, CA: Middleway Press. ISBN 978-0-9779245-7-8. OCLC 893709935.
- Nichiren Shoshu International Center (1983). A Dictionary of Buddhist terms and concepts (1st ed.). Tokyo: Nichiren Shoshu International Center. ISBN 978-4-88872-014-4.
- Stone, Jacqueline Ilyse (1 May 2003). Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2771-7.
- Tamura, Yoshiro (2000). Japanese Buddhism: a cultural history (1st English ed.). Tokyo: Kosei Publ. ISBN 978-4-333-01684-6.
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- The English Buddhist Dictionary Committee (2002). The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism., Tokyo, Soka Gakkai, ISBN 4-412-01205-0
English translations of Nichiren's writings
[edit]- The Major Writings of Nichiren. Soka Gakkai, Tokyo, 1999.
- Heisei Shimpen Dai-Nichiren Gosho (平成新編 大日蓮御書: "Heisei new compilation of Nichiren's writings"), Taisekiji, 1994.
- The Writings of Nichiren, Volume I, Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee. Soka Gakkai, 2006, ISBN 4-412-01024-4.
- The Writings of Nichiren, Volume II, Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee. Soka Gakkai, 2006, ISBN 4-412-01350-2.
- The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, Burton Watson, trans. Soka Gakkai, 2005, ISBN 4-412-01286-7.
- Writings of Nichiren, Chicago, Middleway Press, 2013, The Opening of the Eyes.[1]
- Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine 1, University of Hawai'i Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8248-2733-3.
- Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine 2, University of Hawai'i Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8248-2551-9.
- Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine 3, University of Hawai'i Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8248-2931-X.
- Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine 4, University of Hawai'i Press, 2007, ISBN 0-8248-3180-2.
- Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine 5, University of Hawai'i Press, 2008, ISBN 0-8248-3301-5.
- Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine 6, University of Hawai'i Press, 2010, ISBN 0-8248-3455-0.
- Letters of Nichiren, Burton Watson et al., trans.; Philip B. Yampolsky, ed. Columbia University Press, 1996 ISBN 0-231-10384-0.
- Selected Writings of Nichiren, Burton Watson et al., trans.; Philip B. Yampolsky, ed. Columbia University, Press, 1990,ISBN 0-231-07260-0.
External links
[edit]- Media related to Nichiren at Wikimedia Commons
- Life of Nichiren by Ryuei Michael McCormick
- Renso Den, An Illustrated Life Story of Nichiren with pictures by K. Touko1920
- An English biography of Nichiren on the website of the Myokanko, a Japanese group associated with Nichiren Shoshu Archived 4 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- life of Nichiren – Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Website
- Official Nichiren Shoshu Website
- Official Nichiren Shu Website
- Official Nichiren Buddhist Association of America Website Archived 25 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- Nichiren Secular
- Nichiren – a Man of Many Miracles (日蓮と蒙古大襲来 Nichiren to mōko daishūrai) – 1958 film by Kunio Watanabe.
- ^ Daisaku Ikeda (2013). The Opening of the Eyes: Commentaries on the Writings of Nichiren. Chicago: Middleway Press. OCLC 853362350.
- Nichiren
- 1222 births
- 1282 deaths
- 13th-century Buddhists
- 13th-century clergy
- 13th-century Japanese people
- Buddhas
- Founders of Buddhist sects
- Japanese religious leaders
- Kamakura period Buddhist clergy
- Nichiren Buddhism
- Nichiren-shū
- People from Chiba Prefecture
- Recipients of Japanese royal pardons
- 13th-century Japanese philosophers