Nichiren E-Book

Thomas Ultican

• Herausgeber: novum publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 369

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Nichiren is a vivid account of the history of Nichiren Daishonin, a thirteenth-century Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher, whose work and dedication to the Lotus Sutra, one of the most venerated Buddhist scriptures, culminated in Nichiren Buddhism, a unique concept of Buddhism based on the oneness of body and mind and the interconnectedness of all existence. Steeped in the rich history of ancient Japanese culture, Nichiren Buddhism is contextualized against the background of spiritual awakening which swept across Southeast Asia in the 1200s. For those dedicated to the study of Buddhism, or even those beginning an exploration of the Buddhist precepts and wishing to feel a personal connection with the spiritualism of Nichiren, this book is essential reading.

Leseprobe

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ISBN print edition: 978-3-99130-609-2

ISBN e-book: 978-3-99130-610-8

Editor: Charlotte Middleton

Cover photo: Yurkaimmortal | Dreamstime.com

Cover design, layout & typesetting: novum publishing

Images: Thomas Ultican

www.novum-publishing.co.uk

Dedication

In Memoriam Daisaku Ikeda

Introduction

In February 1969, I was walking down Broadway in San Diego, California when a Japanese woman approached me. She spoke almost no English, but I understood her to say, “World Tribune; Buddhist discussion meeting; you go.” That was my first encounter with Nichiren and his declaration that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo opened the path to Buddhahood, personal happiness, and world harmony.

My ignorance of Nichiren was not so unusual. It seems that his thinking had a wider distribution than his name. I discovered that a Vietnamese friend of mine chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo every day but had never heard of Nichiren. Scholar Daniel Montgomery reported that in the 1930s, a Japanese monk chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo while his new friend Gandhi beat a chanting drum. Many self-help and new-age religious movements teach ideas that originated with Nichiren, but they often do not know the source1.

Another friend told me that in the 1960s, he became a follower of Werner Erhard and went through his EST training2. After learning about Nichiren, he became convinced that the best principles taught by Erhard came from Nichiren.

It was at about this time that many scholars started to become aware of Nichiren. In 1968, the Swiss philosopher Jean Hersch directed the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization’s publication of Birthright of Man: An Anthology of Texts on Human Rights.3 Included in the more-than-one-thousand quotes was Nichiren’s statement, “Even if it seems that, because I was born in the ruler’s domain, I follow him in my actions, I will never follow him in my heart.”

In thirteenth-century Japan, Nichiren joined Esai, Hōnen, Shinran, and Dōgen as founders of new sectarian movements. Esai and Dōgen established respectively Rinzan Zen and Sōtō Zen. Hōnen founded the Pure Land Sect and Shinran the True Pure Land Sect. The schools founded by these five Buddhist monks, known as the “Kamakura reformers”, have survived throughout the past eight hundred years4. Of these five, it is Nichiren’s teachings that have moved past just surviving to stunning worldwide growth.

Nichiren was a forward-thinking man with surprisingly modern views. It is a happy discovery to find that many of this Dark Ages Japanese monk’s most important disciples were females. He viewed the equality of the sexes as basic. It seems that in a time when women were treated like lesser beings, he accorded them with a respect similar to that which he gave his male followers. In a letter to the lay nun Senichiama, Nichiren wrote:“Since I have realized that only the Lotus Sutra teaches the attainment of Buddhahood by women, and that only the Lotus is the sutra of true requital for repaying the kindness of our mother, in order to repay my debt to my mother, I have vowed to enable all women to chant the daimoku [Nam-myoho-renge-kyo] of this sutra.”5

To another woman, Nichigen-nyo, he declared, “Only in the Lotus Sutra do we read that a woman who embraces this sutra not only excels all other women, but also surpasses all men.”6

Even though Nichiren wrote extensively, as of 1969, almost none of this material was translated into English. Fortunately, through the work of researchers like Philip Yampolsky and Burton Watson of Columbia University, Jacqueline Stone of Princeton University, and many others, almost the entire existing Nichiren production is now reliably translated into English.

Professor Stone informed readers in her doctoral thesis:

“Nichiren wrote prolifically; his collected works comprise more than five hundred writings. These represent a variety of forms, including essays of varying lengths, personal letters and recorded oral teachings and ranging from learned doctrinal expositions in literary Chinese to sermons for lay people in the vernacular language – all developing Nichiren’s doctrine of salvation through exclusive devotion to the Lotus Sûtra and the direct accessibility of Buddhahood for anyone, man and woman, foolish or wise, who takes faith in the sutra and chants its daimoku or title in the formula, Namu-myôhô-renge-kyô.”7

The Buddhist lay organization Soka Gakkai International (SGI) has gathered four hundred and six of Nichiren’s works into two English language volumes, The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (1999), and The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Volume II (2006). The four hundred and six translated works are the foundational references for this book.

“Nichiren” literally means “Sun Lotus”, which is the name he gave himself in 1253 after he publically declared his teaching. “Daishonin” is an honorific title meaning “Great Sage”.8

With this large amount of thirteenth-century material available, a rather detailed look at the life of Nichiren is possible, and for historians it is a trove of information documenting Dark Ages Japan. Because Nichiren wrote so many letters to his followers addressing their personal issues, a picture of their lives also comes into focus.

Nichiren used the Chinese lunar calendar to reference dates. The dates given here are according to that lunar form accompanied by their Gregorian calendar equivalents in the form (G – MM/DD/YYYY). The correlated calendar dates were developed using Dr. Herong Yang’s calendar rules9 and the table of new moons of the thirteenth century based on Jean Meeus’ work and published by Fred Espenak of Astropixels.10 The lunar calendar also requires identifying the date of the twelve principal terms which are based on the sun’s position. Data derived from the Stellafane Equinox and Solstice calculator11 were used to identify these dates.

Hopefully, the date conversions give the twenty-first-century reader a more accurate feel for the time and environment. For example, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1264, Nichiren was attacked by a group under the control of village steward Tōjō Kagenobu.12 Nichiren is sometimes criticized as having provoked the attack when at five p.m. he brazenly threw caution to the wind and had his party ride across Kagenobu’s realm. However, that date correlates to (G – 12/07/1264),which means in a country more than 33° north latitude, it was nearing the shortest day of the year, implying he waited until dark was falling to begin his trip.

A context for the political and cultural life Nichiren encountered is addressed in Chapter One. Beginning with Imperial Japan’s 660 BCE founding by legendary Emperor Jimmu Tenno, a brief historical background is presented.13 It is a history that witnessed the imperial system becoming established and then slowly falling under the control of powerful clans and their samurai armies.

At the start of Japan’s second millennium, the indigenous Shinto religion found itself competing with the imported foreign religion, Buddhism. The common person and some clan leaders remained loyal to the Shinto, while the imperial family and other social elites adopted Buddhism.

At the beginning of the thirteenth century, for the first time, a Japanese Shogenate achieved predominance over the country. Just proceeding Nichiren’s 1222 birth, the Hōjō clan consummated total control over Japan when they dealt the imperial family a devastating final blow in 1221. Hōjō Yosutoki led an army that routed Kyoto-based efforts by three former emperors to throw off the yoke of samurai control. The Hōjō family would maintain an unchallenged rule over Japan for the next one hundred years, which covered the entirety of Nichiren’s life.14

Chapter One also shares some history of Nichiren’s early life, from his birth in 1222 until he presented his new teaching in 1253. It is the story of a Buddhist savant appearing who was destined to disrupt the existing class system. The narrative follows his sixteen years of study at various secular and Buddhist centers until he was ready to begin sharing insights. It tells the story of an obscure fisherman’s son determining to become the wisest person in all of Japan. Of all the famous Buddhist teachers and reformers of thirteenth-century Japan, he alone came from humble origins.15

On the twenty-eighth day of the fourth month, 1253 (G – 06/02/1253), Nichiren gave his first public lecture on Buddhism. He declared that the Lotus Sutra was the apex teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha of India, and that Myoho-renge-kyo was not only its title but its essence. It was the first time he publically advocated chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Chapter Two, “Declaring the Correct Teaching”, starts with that first lecture in which he evidently disparaged the True Word School, enraging the village steward, Tojo Kagenobu, who ordered Nichiren’s arrest. However, priest friends at the temple spirited him out of harm’s way to his family home.

At his parent’s home, Nichiren converted both his mother and father to his teaching, bestowed Buddhist names on them, and renamed himself Nichiren. Later the senior priest friends who saved him would declare themselves his disciples.

Nichiren soon left for Japan’s center of governmental power, Kamakura, where he quickly gathered adherents.

Coincident with his expanding support, great suffering stalked Japan. In the five years from 1256 to 1261 the name of the era was changed five times. Era names were traditionally only changed during the succession of a new emperor or if a natural disaster of severe proportion occurred.16 During these five years, there was a monster earthquake, torrential rains, violent winds, crop failures, and famine. All the while epidemics raged.17

This prompted Nichiren to search in the Buddhist scriptures for the underlying causes of these disasters. He presented the conclusions in his famous thesis On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land, a writing widely viewed as one of his three most important works.

Its fallout has extended all the way into the twentieth century. In the late nineteenth century, so-called “Nichirenists” used distorted interpretations of Establishing the Correct Teaching and the Lotus Sutra to justify imperialism and military conquest. They claimed Japan was destined to rule the world. The Nichirenist movement only came to an end when Japan suffered defeat in World War Two.

In Nichiren’s time, his conclusions were quite controversial, which opened him up to suffering almost two decades of unrelenting persecution.

In his longest, and in many circles, most revered writing, The Opening of the Eyes, Nichiren remarked on the persecutions he had faced. “Minor persecutions and annoyances are too numerous even to be counted, but the major persecutions number four.”18

Chapter Three, The Period of Great Tribulation, recounts the first three of these four major persecutions and to some extent the negative effects suffered by his persecutors. It is fascinating that those most responsible for perpetrating acts of oppression and victimization against Nichiren suffered odd deaths and mental issues.

Details of Nichiren being burned out of his home in 1260 begin the chapter. How he escaped is unknown, but some evidence points to women playing a primary role. He returned to Kamakura in 1261 only to be exiled to the Izu peninsula by a regent decision made outside of normal legal processes. Two years later, he was given a reprieve.

In 1264, while traveling near Komatsubara in the Awa province, Nichiren was attacked by a large group of samurai soldiers. Two disciples were killed and Nichiren was injured in the melee. These three events that Nichiren labeled major persecutions are detailed in Chapter Three.

Chapter Four, “The Tatsunokuchi Persecution”, details events between 1265 and 1271 culminating in Nichiren’s failed execution and exile to Sado Island. Exile was tantamount to a death sentence, especially when it was to a remote place like this weather-beaten island in the Sea of Japan.

The attempted execution is one of the most famous occurrences in Japanese history known as the “Tatsunokuchi Persecution”. In 1271, Nichiren was taken to Tatsunokuchi Beach in the early morning hours to be executed. It was dark when an astronomical event took place, which Nichiren described; “The radiant object clearly illuminated everyone like bright moonlight.”19 The soldiers became too frightened to carry out their grisly duty.

Chapters Five through Seven deal with core theories underlying Nichiren Buddhism.

The theory of Three Thousand Realms in a Thought Moment is the theoretical foundation for the development of Nichiren’s teaching. To comprehend Nichiren even at a shallow level, some familiarization with this theory is required. He utilizes it to explain the nature of cause and effect, which bolsters his claim to be the “teacher of the Latter Day of the Law”, who is the “sovereign, teacher, and father and mother to all the people of Japan.”20 This theory led to his denial of effects with no causes or miracles.

Nichiren also uses Three Thousand Realms in a Thought Moment to justify the object of devotion he invented called “Gohonzon”. It is common for modern practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism to have a family Gohonzon enshrined in their home and use it as a focal point for chanting. The name Gohonzon is derived from two characters, “go”, being an honorific title, and “honzon”, meaning “object of veneration”.

Chapter Five, which is titled “Three Thousand Realms in a Thought Moment”, provides a description of the theory, including how it applies to each individual’s life. It is a theory that the sixth-century Buddhist teacher T’ien-t’ai derived from his reading of the Lotus Sutra.

The Opening of the Eyes may be Nichiren’s most important work. There is widespread agreement that it is certainly one of his three most significant writings. In the first half of the discourse, Nichiren declares that the true teacher must embody the three qualities of sovereign, teacher, and parent. The true teacher must have the compassion of a parent for all people, the capacity to protect them, and the correct understanding of cause and effect, or how life functions over the three existences of past, present, and future.

Chapter Six “The Opening of the Eyes Part I: Identifying the ‘Correct Teaching’ and Teacher” delves into Nichiren’s reasoning used to identify the correct teacher from the “Former Day of the Law” (a time before the Christian era when Shakyamuni Buddha of India was teaching). In the opening half of the thesis, Nichiren provides an in-depth discussion of all the known philosophies existing in thirteenth-century Japan. He recounts their origins and the depth of understanding they have regarding the nature of cause and effect. He contends that all these philosophies other than Buddhism have an incomplete understanding of cause and effect. Based on that observation, Nichiren eliminates all but Shakyamuni Buddha as embodying the required qualities of sovereign, teacher, and parent.

His arguments amount to a treatise on comparative religion in which Nichiren demonstrates his enormous knowledge and arrives at thoroughly argued conclusions. The Opening of the Eyes is his most lengthy document, which is written very much like a modern scholar. Once he establishes Shakyamuni as the correct teacher of antiquity and Buddhism to be the superior philosophy, he turns to himself and his own true identity.

In Chapter Seven, “The Opening of the Eyes Part II: Awaken to the True Votary – Awaken to Nichiren”, Nichiren implicitly indicates that he is the Buddha of the “Latter Day of the Law”. He based this conclusion on his conviction that he had read the Lotus Sutra with his life and had perfectly fulfilled the predictions concerning the teacher forecast to arise in the “evil age”.Professor Burton Watson wrote in introductory remarks for his translation of the The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings:

“In his ‘On Persecutions Befalling the Sage,’ written in 1279, Nichiren declared that he had fulfilled the purpose of his advent in the world. He had already propagated the Lotus Sutra, which he defined as ‘the Buddha’s will,’ and had undergone the persecutions that the sutra predicts will befall its votary. The phrase ‘the purpose of one’s advent’ refers to the reason for a Buddha’s appearance in the world, which is to lead all people to Buddhahood.”21

As the year 1272 began, Nichiren was once again an exile. This time he was on Sado Island, a forbidding island province in the Sea of Japan. In absolutely horrible conditions, which included exposure and deprivation, Nichiren continued forging ahead by writing The Opening of the Eyes.

His life on Sado Island was under constant threat, but in his two and half years there, Nichiren completed many of his most important works. He finished both The Opening of the Eyes and The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life in the second month of 1272. In 1273, he wrote The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind, a thesis that along with Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land and The Opening of the Eyes constitutes the writings widely considered his three most important works.

Significantly, The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind contains the justification for the Gohonzon. Based on the theory of Three Thousand Realms in a Thought Moment, Nichiren states that “even insentient beings are endowed with the ten factors of life, and that they are endowed with both material and spiritual aspects”.22 From this starting point, he created the physical object of devotion, which he theorized as embodying the Law of the Universe, or Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Chapter Eight, “Sado Island”, provides analysis of these impressive works and a narrative of some of the rather amazing occurrences on Sado Island, including Nichiren having his exile reversed. While traveling back to Kamakura, he was escorted by a military company which, as it turned out, probably saved his life one more time.

Chapter Nine, “Minobu”, tells the story of his arriving back in Kamakura and almost immediately having the head of police and military affairs summon him. Hei no Saemon had previously attempted to have Nichiren executed at Tatsunokuchi Beach, but this time he was soliciting Nichiren’s opinion about when Kublai Khan’s armies would attack. It turns out that Nichiren correctly predicted that it would be within the year.23

At that same meeting, Nichiren once again remonstrated with the government for supporting Buddhist schools that he saw as slandering the Law. It was Nichiren’s long-term conviction that these schools were creating the causes for the unceasing series of epidemics, famine, killer earthquakes, internal turmoil, and the coming foreign invasions.

Nichiren’s strict interpretation of dharma slander and his belief that he must address it caused much of the negative reaction he incurred. These persecutions were brought on by venerated priests, influential women, and governing officials. Nichiren firmly believed that failure to have faith in the Lotus Sutra, which had a multiple-century history of having been widely distributed in Japan, was the fundamental dharma slander bringing on karmic retribution. He pointed to the “Simile and Parable” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, which states:

“If a person fails to have faith

but instead slanders this sutra,

immediately he will destroy all the seeds

for becoming a Buddha in any world.

…

When his life comes to an end

he will enter the Avichi hell,

be confined there for a whole kalpa,

and when the kalpa ends, be born there again.”24

Avichi hell indicates a hell of incessant suffering.25 A kalpa is an extremely long period of time that is described in Buddhist sutras with analogies such as “longer than the time required to wear away a cube of rock forty ri (one ri being about four hundred and fifty meters) on a side, by brushing it with a piece of cloth once every hundred years.”26 For Nichiren, this meant that if he did not speak out about the fate of dharma slander he would be lacking in compassion.

He addressed this point in The Opening of the Eyes. Written in dialog format, the questioner asks Nichiren if his berating of Nembutsu teachers and those of other sects means he has a “contentious heart”. Nichiren says he does not and shares why he is doing it:

“The Nirvana Sutra says: ‘If even a good monk sees someone destroying the teaching and disregards him, failing to reproach him, to oust him, or to punish him for his offense, then you should realize that that monk is betraying the Buddha’s teaching. But if he ousts the destroyer of the Law, reproaches him, or punishes him, then he is my disciple and a true voice-hearer.’”

“Chang-an comments on this as follows: ‘One who destroys or brings confusion to the Buddha’s teachings is betraying them. If one befriends another person but lacks the mercy to correct him, one is in fact his enemy. But one who reprimands and corrects an offender is a voice-hearer who defends the Buddha’s teachings, a true disciple of the Buddha. One who rids the offender of evil is acting as his parent. Those who reproach offenders are disciples of the Buddha. But those who do not oust offenders are betraying the Buddha’s teachings.’”27

Chang-an was T’ien-t’ai’s disciple and the second patriarch of the T’ien-t’ai school in China.28 In Japan, the T’ien-t’ai school was known as the Tendai sect. Nichiren trained as a Tendai priest. His deep conviction as to the righteousness of his path based on the Buddhist writings cited here guaranteed that he would have a turbulent and dangerous life. Furthermore, he entered this path with his eyes wide open.

After his final meeting with Hei no Saemon, Nichiren considered the lack of action on his warning a third ignored remonstration with the political leadership. This signaled to him that it was time to withdraw from public life. He wrote to a female disciple:

“As I had expected all along, my warnings went unheeded. I now had remonstrated with the authorities three times for the sole purpose of saving Japan from ruin. Mindful that one whose warnings are thrice ignored should retire to a mountain forest, I left Kamakura on the twelfth day of the fifth month.”29 (G – 06/24/1274)

After a short time, Nichiren settled into the foothills of Mount Minobu, where for the next nine years he wrote, trained priest disciples, and lectured on the Lotus Sutra. Approximately half of his existing writings come for this period. Most of these were messages of appreciation addressed to his lay disciples for material contributions. They also contained guidance in faith and for daily living.

During his nine years on Mount Minobu, Nichiren lectured multiple times on the Lotus Sutra. The lecture notes taken by his disciple Nikkō are called the Ongi Kuden, meaning The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings. In the introduction to his translation of the Ongi Kuden, Burton Watson noted:

“The concluding section is entitled ‘All the Twenty-eight Chapters of the Lotus Sutra Are Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.’ This sums up the doctrinal significance of each of the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra, and makes clear how all these meanings represent different aspects of the single fundamental truth of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.”

“Thus we see that the Ongi kuden is a work that reveals the various angles from which Nichiren viewed the concept of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the heart of his enlightenment and subject of all his teachings.”30

The time on Mount Minobu is covered in Chapter Nine, “Minobu”. The chapter ends with an account of the attack on itinerant peasant farmers by unscrupulous priests and government officials. The incident is known as the “Autsuhara Persecution”.

Because of the large number of letters to certain individuals, it is possible to put together a somewhat detailed account of the lives of these ordinary people living in the thirteenth century who had chosen Nichiren as their teacher. Chapter Ten, “Proof of Actual Fact”, shares the story of two of the most famous families of faith who put into practice the guidance they received from Nichiren. In both cases they eventually enjoyed amazing triumphs after years of struggle on the path of faith.

In his analysis of Buddhist or religious doctrine in general, Nichiren applied three criteria in judging relative merit. Coming from a society steeped in superstition, he applied reason as the first ideal and furthermore stressed that reason needed to be documented. He dismissed concepts such as effects with no causes (miracles), and he did not trust undocumented teachings. However, he claimed that the most valuable criterion for analyzing a doctrine was asking whether it produced the promised results: did it provide “proof of actual fact”?31

This final chapter also shares the unbelievable protection Nichiren received and the apparent retribution that those who tormented or betrayed him and his followers received. Among them were people who went insane or died in strange horse-riding accidents or had their entire family disappear. Two families of his enemies were completely wiped out by various means which had nothing to do with any actions by Nichiren or his followers.

In 1282, Nichiren’s health was in decline, and his disciples encouraged him to go to the Hitachi hot springs for treatment and rejuvenation. It was the first time he left Minobu following his arrival nine years earlier. About halfway to Hitachi, his condition worsened, and he stopped at the home of Ikegami Munenaka, near present-day Tokyo. A few days later, surrounded by several long-time disciples who were summoned, Nichiren passed away on the thirteenth day of the tenth month, 1282 (G – 11/21/1282).

The life of Nichiren and his teaching has truly enchanted me, and I hope my readers will find that same fascination.

Thomas Ultican

Notes

Montgomery, Daniel B., Fire in the Lotus. Mandala London. © 1991 Daniel B. Montgomery. Pages 256–257.http://www.wernererhard.net/standardtraining.html (Accessed 10/8/2023).http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/demo/van%20Boven_1993.pdf (Accessed 10/8/2023).Stone, Jacqueline I. Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. University of Hawaii Press. © 1999 Kuroda Institute. Pages 55–58.The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Trans. The Gosho Translation Committee, Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. 1999. Page 931.Ibid. Page 464.Stone, Jacqueline I. Some Disputed Writings in the Nichiren corpus: Textual, Nermeneutical and Historical Problems. Diss. University of California, Los Angeles. 1990. Ann Arbor: UMI, 1990. 9105837. The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. © 2002 by Soka Gakkai. Pages 105 and 440.http://www.herongyang.com/Year/Background-Information-The-Chinese-Calendar.html (Accessed 10/8/2023).http://www.astropixels.com/ephemeris/phasescat/phases1201.html (Accessed 10/8/2023).https://stellafane.org/misc/equinox.html (Accessed 10/8/2023). The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. © 2002 by Soka Gakkai. Pages 342 and 343.Myer, Milton W. Japan, A Concise History. 4th Ed. Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. New York. © 2009.Bauer, Susan Wise. The History of the Renaissance World. New York: WW Norton and Company. Copyright by Susan Wise Bauer 2013.Stone, Jacqueline I. Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. University of Hawaii Press. © 1999 Kuroda Institute. Page 242.The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Trans. The Gosho Translation Committee, Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. 1999. Page 26.Ibid. Page 161.The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Trans. The Gosho Translation Committee, Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. 1999. Page 240.Ibid. Page 767.Ibid. Page 287.The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings. Trans. Burton Watson. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. 2004. Page xxix.The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Trans. The Gosho Translation Committee, Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. 1999. Page 356.Stone, Jacqueline I. Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. University of Hawaii Press. © 1999 Kuroda Institute. Page 261.The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras. Trans. Burton Watson, 32 Shinanomachi Shinjuku-ku Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 2009: Pages 110 and 111.The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. © 2002 by Soka Gakkai. Page 34.Ibid. Page 325.The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Trans. The Gosho Translation Committee, Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. 1999. Page 286.The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. © 2002 by Soka Gakkai. Page 79.The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Trans. The Gosho Translation Committee, Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. 1999. Page 661.Watson, Burton, The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings. Soka Gakkai Tokyo, © 2004 by Soka Gakkai. Pages xxxv-xxvi.The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Trans. The Gosho Translation Committee, Tokyo: Soka Gakkai. 32 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku. 1999. Page 599.

I – Culture and the Student Years

Nichiren was a Japanese Buddhist monk and reformer active during the thirteenth century. For Japan, it was a time of cataclysmic weather, devastating geological events, foreign invasion, communicable diseases, and social unrest. In this environment, a fishing-village-born commoner arose to lead a religious revolution. He propagated a unique life philosophy based on the Lotus Sutra, a philosophy globally embraced in the twenty-first century. This is his story.

The social structure of his era is sometimes described by noting that the first son of an elite family becomes the head of government, the second son becomes a military general, and the third son becomes a high priest. For a young man like Nichiren, born outside the city to a family of low status, in a part of the country considered barbaric, there were few opportunities. Yet, the movement he launched spread so widely and rapidly it became a threat to the ruling elites of his age.

After Nichiren passed, his teachings remained alive but stagnant for the next seven hundred years, partially as a result of governmental restrictions which banned all religious propagation. When those policies were reversed during the Meiji Restoration of the late nineteenth century, Japanese Buddhist movements ended a five-hundred-year period of ossification and began developing.

In the second half of the twentiethcentury, Japanese Buddhism gained popularity in the West, and these once stagnant Buddhist schools started mining new grounds for adherents. However, it is Nichiren Buddhism that has developed into a true world religion with organized groups in almost all countries and territories. In Africa, Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, and India, growing numbers of people are chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

The story of Nichiren is a tale filled with danger, intrigue, and drama. He came close to a violent end at least four times while spreading his message of Buddhist reform and human salvation. Living in a samurai-dominated society, this oracle once had an astronomical event save him from the executioner’s sword. When the time arrived for his dark of night decapitation, a brilliant object flew across the sky illuminating everyone. The frightened soldiers refused to complete their grizzly deed.1

Some historical background on the social and cultural developments in ancient Japan lends perspective and context to the dilemmas faced by this revolutionary Buddhist reformer. It also introduces the reader to famous Japanese figures and events that Nichiren wrote about to make philosophical points.

Early Japanese history comes via oral tradition. Legendary Emperor Jimmu Tenno is credited with founding the Yamato state and the imperial form of governance in 660 BCE. The location of Yamato corresponds with present-day Nara prefecture on the main island, Honshu. In Jimmu Tenno’s era, Japan was transitioning from a hunter-gatherer culture to the “Yayoi” rice-farming culture.2 It is believed that the Yayoi culture arose due to an influx of rice farmers from the Korean peninsula.

The indigenous Japanese religion, Shinto, appeared within the Yayoi culture. The writers Joseph Cali and John Dougill state that if there is a single encompassing description of Shinto it would be, “Shinto is a belief in kami.” The kami are the supernatural entities postulated to inhabit all things.3 Shinto places a major conceptual focus on ensuring purity, largely by cleaning practices such as ritual washing and bathing, especially before worship.

The Yamato state expanded its influence to include almost all of present-day Japan. Various clans gained power, and the Shinto religion became pervasive. One of the more famous leaders from early Japan was the fifteenth emperor, Ojin. His hagiographic narrative cites his birth in 201 CE and death in 310 CE at the age of one hundred and nine. Ojin was later deified as the god of warriors, Hachiman, whose founding justification incorporates elements of both Shinto and Buddhism.4

Nichiren addressed Hachiman on his trip to the scheduled beheading at Tatsunokuchi Beach. When passing the Tsurugaoka Hachiman shrine, he loudly scolded Hachiman for not doing his job. Nichiren was not embracing Hachiman worship; he was making a point to his captors. Several years later, he would assert, “The Sun Goddess and Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, who are insignificant, are treated with great respect in this country …”5

A widely held story says that Chinese writing was introduced into Japan during the reign of Emperor Ojin by the Korean scholar Wani. References to Wani are found in two eighth-century Japanese histories, the Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720).6 These two compilations of oral accounts are the first written histories of Japan. No matter the accuracy of the stories regarding Wani, it was in this era that Chinese writing appeared, plus a unique Japanese writing system was developed. Important works were produced in classical Chinese characters while works written in the Japanese syllabary were seen as not being scholarly.

With the development of writing around 300 CE, documentation of Japanese society started accumulating. By 400 CE, literacy was widespread among elites, and the historical Yamato state was blooming.

Buddhism came to Japan the following century. In an account written to one of his disciples, Nichiren noted:

“During the Liang dynasty, Buddhism was first introduced to Japan by King Syŏngmyŏng of the Korean kingdom of Paekche. This occurred during the reign of Kimmei, the thirtieth emperor of our country.”7

He probably found this information in the Nihon Shoki, the title of which is often translated as the “Chronicles of Japan”. According to the Nihon Shoki, Buddhism was introduced to Japan around 552 CE. Modern scholars view Emperor Kimmei as the twenty-ninth ruler of Japan, but in Nichiren’s era the fifteenth ruler was listed as Empress Jingū, whose service is no longer considered a formal reign.8

Japanese clans developed increasing control over the imperial crown and competed for influence. When Emperor Yōmei (the thirty-first emperor) died in 587, a power struggle broke out between the Soga clan and the Mononobe clan. The Soga won, and Emperor Sujun succeeded to the throne. However, the new emperor began to resent the authority of the Soga clan leader. It seems the powerful war lord, Soga No Umako, learned of the resentment and had Sujun assassinated. A new contest over succession was solved with a compromise that saw Soga No Umako’s niece, Empress Suiko, become Japan’s first female head of state. Empress Suiko was the daughter of former Emperor Kimmei and wife of former Emperor Bidatsu.

This political struggle also had religious hues: the Soga were pro-Buddhist and the Mononobe were opposed to the foreign religion.9 The government of Empress Suiko would establish the foundational principals that guided Japan up to the time of Nichiren and some of which live on even into the modern era. Much of the legal system and many of the governing norms were established during her reign.

Empress Suiko was evidently a gifted political leader, which led to a lengthy reign stretching from 593 CE to 628 CE. To run the affairs of state, she appointed former Emperor Yōmei’s son, Prince Shōtoku, as regent. This turned out to be an inspired choice. Shōtoku was a devout Buddhist, a scholar, and an astute political thinker. He is credited with ushering in the golden era of Japan.10

Shōtoku developed two important governmental institutions. He is credited with writing the Seventeen-Article Constitution and creating the Twelve Cap Ranking system. The Seventeen-Article Constitution was focused on the Confucian values system and has never been totally repudiated to this day. The Twelve Cap system was a ranking system for imperial officers who were identified by the cap they wore. One advantage of the cap system was that even though ranks were determined by heredity, it became possible to advance in rank by merit.

The story of Ono No Imoku provides an outstanding example of a person advancing in the Twelve Cap system through merit. He was originally assigned to the fifth rank. Later, he represented Japan as ambassador to the Sui court in China, where in 607 he delivered Prince Shōtoku’s famous letter beginning with the first known reference to Japan as “the land of the rising sun”. After his two successful trips to the Chinese court, Imoku was raised to the first rank.11

One of the biggest changes Shōtoku brought to Japan was making Buddhism the central philosophical force among the ruling class. The second article of his Seventeen-Article Constitution says:

“The three treasures, which are Buddha, the (Buddhist) Law and the (Buddhist) Priesthood, should be given sincere reverence, for they are the final refuge of all living things. Few men are so bad that they cannot be taught their truth.”12

Shōtoku’s Buddhist scholarship included commentaries on the Lotus Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, and the Sutra of Queen Srimala. During his time in government, Shōtoku was credited with founding the Horyuji Temple in the Yamato province as well as several others. Some historians had speculated that Shōtoku was only a legend. However, just prior to World War Two, archeologists found solid evidence of Shōtoku’s palace within the Horyuji compound, confirming accounts in the Nihon Shoki.13

Nichiren references Shōtoku more than twenty-five times in his various letters and treatises.

The years 710–794 are known as the Nara era. The permanent location of the court was established in the city of Nara, where several Buddhist schools flourished. The Dharma Analysis Treasury (Kusha), Establishment of Truth (Jōjitsu), Precepts (Ritsu), Dharma Characteristics (Hossō), Three Treatises (Sanron), and Flower Garland (Kegon) schools of Buddhism were all firmly established there.14 It was in Nara where the government had the famous gigantic bronze image of the Buddha Vairochana erected in 749.15

The fiftieth Emperor, Kammu, moved the capital from Nara to Nagaoka in 784 and then in 794 he moved it again to Heian-kyo (Capital of Peace and Tranquility), known today as Kyoto (“Capital”).16 This marked the beginning of a new cultural flowering among court aristocrats. Music, dance, and poetic abilities became indicative of aristocratic worth.

The move to Heian-kyo signaled the beginning of the Heian era, which would last almost four hundred years. During this period, Japanese culture moved away from Chinese influence and saw the flowering of indigenous art, poetry, and literature while the imperial court rose to its peak influence.

Concurrent with the move to Heian-kyo, there was an event portending the form of government encountered by Nichiren. After the 794 campaign to end hostilities from the Emishi tribes of northern Japan, Emperor Kammu for the first time ever bestowed on General Otomo no Otomaro the title “Seii-taishogun”, or “Great General Who Subdues the Barbarians”.17 Thus, Otomo became the first shogun.

The beginning of the era saw cultural developments. By the eleventh century, great works of literature were being produced by ladies of the court. The most famous of these works is Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji, which is now considered a masterpiece of world literature. Her book may have been the first novel ever written.18 It gives the reader significant insight into the lives and attitudes of the families in the imperial court.

Lady Murasaki was a twenty-six-year-old widow when her father became governor of Echizen, a province facing the Sea of Japan some distance away from the capital. Murasaki was left behind in the service of Empress Akiko, daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, the head of the Fujiwara clan and for fourteen years the regent (i.e. the head of government).

In the Heian era, members of the court needed to be ready to respond in poetic verse. In his introduction to The Tale of Genji, the great translator Arthur Waley shared an incident from Murasaki’s diary involving Regent Michinaga:

“I remember that I have not yet powdered my face and feel terribly embarrassed. ‘Come now,’ he cries, ‘be quick with your poem or I shall lose my temper.’ This at any rate gives me a chance to retire from his scrutiny; I go over to the writing-box and produce the following: ‘If these beyond other flowers are fair, ’tis but because the dew hath picked them out and by its power made them sweeter than the rest.’ ‘That’s right’ he said, taking the poem. ‘It did not take you long in the end.’ And sending for his own ink-stone he wrote the answer: ‘Dew favours not; it is the flower’s thoughts that flush its cheeks and make it fairer than the rest.’”19

In Muraski’s novel, Genji is the golden one. He is the bastard son of the emperor and one of his lower-station concubines but quickly becomes the favorite of the court. He is beautiful, personable, and smart. Genji excels intellectually, musically and as a dancer.

In one scene, Murasaki describes the teenaged Genji’s dance performance:

“Prince Genji danced the ‘Waves of the Blue Sea.’ To no Chujo was his partner; but though both in skill and beauty he far surpassed the common run of performers, yet beside Genji he seemed like a mountain fir growing beside a cherry tree in bloom.”20

Genji had two half-brothers, one of whom by tradition would inherit the throne. However, Genji was so magnificent that the emperor realized his threat to succession would put him in danger. He makes Genji a commoner member of the Minamoto clan. The Minamoto clan is also called the Gen, and the title character of the novel is identified as Hikaru Genji, signifying the golden one of the Minamoto clan.

Under the influence of Buddhism’s sanctity of life teachings, exile had replaced execution as a form of punishment. However, the inhabitants of the areas of exile were not receptive to those exiled. Exiled people were not given provisions or protected by the rule of law. Essentially, exile was a death sentence unless you were wealthy. After Genji’s father, who was his great patron, died, Genji fell victim to palace intrigue and was exiled to Suma in present-day Kobe. Suma was considered unruly and barbaric even though it was just a day’s horseback ride from Kyoto.

Lady Murasaki paints a picture of a melancholy society in which sadness over the shortness of their lives drives many members of the court to renounce social obligations and take religious vows. The spiritual affairs of the court were dominated by Tendai priests from nearby Mount Hiei. Many of the members of the court are described as suicidal.

As the tale developed, the former vestal virgin of the Ise Shinto Shrine “wished to devote herself to expiation of the many offences against her own religion that her residence at Kamo had involved”.21 Like most of the imperial family, she was a Buddhist, but by tradition the new emperor was required to assign a member of the family to serve at Ise. There was no turning down such a position. Nonetheless, the vestal virgin believed she was guilty of slandering the Buddhist Dharma with her service at the Shinto shrine.

Funerals for important dignitaries included eight recitations of the Lotus Sutra. The sutra is quite lengthy. Its English translation runs to nearly three hundred and fifty pages. Furthermore, a continuous recitation of the sutra by twelve priests was believed to be a remedy for illness. At the same time, the scriptures of the Great Sun Buddha (Mahāvairochana) were recited at the former emperor’s fiftieth birthday, and Amida Buddha was revered by Genji and his wife.

It was generally believed that all Buddhist teachings were good and little thought was given to the problem of errant teachings. Religious philosophy was intermingled without much concern about which doctrine was correct.

It was a very superstitious society with strong biases. Magic balls made of colored materials and scent bags were employed to ward off disease. Young women who remained a virgin too long were thought to be in danger of evil possession. A baby whose mother died in childbirth was viewed as an evil spirit and often killed.

People not from the city were viewed as barbarians.

The perverse thinking prevalent in the Heian society is demonstrated by the scene where the love of Genji’s life and his second wife, Murasaki, is deathly ill. Shikibu writes:

“Perhaps the sight of so deep a sorrow touched even Buddha’s heart; be that as it may, signs of a definite ‘possession’ – the first that had been visible for many months – now became manifest in the patient,