Nichiren Buddhism
Nichiren Buddhism (Japanese: 日蓮仏教), also known as Hokkeshū (Japanese: 法華宗, meaning Lotus Sect), is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of the Kamakura period schools.[1]: 239 [2] Its teachings derive from some 300–400 extant letters and treatises either authored by or attributed to Nichiren.[3][4][5]
Nichiren Buddhism generally sources its basic doctrine from the Lotus Sutra claiming that all sentient beings possess an internal Buddha-nature capable of attaining Buddhahood in the current life. There are three essential aspects to Nichiren Buddhism:
After his death, Nichiren left to both his senior disciples and lay followers the mandate to widely propagate the Gohonzon and chanting the Daimoku in order to secure the peace and prosperity of society.[8]: 99
Traditionalist Nichiren Buddhist temple groups are commonly associated with Nichiren Shōshū and various Nichiren-shū schools. In addition, modern lay organizations not affiliated with temples such as Soka Gakkai, Kenshokai, Shoshinkai, Risshō Kōsei Kai, and Honmon Butsuryū-shū also exist while some Japanese new religions are Nichiren-inspired lay groups.[9]
The Soka Gakkai International is often called "the most prominent Japanese 'export' religion to draw significant numbers of non-Japanese converts", by which Nichiren Buddhism has spread throughout the world.[10]
Nichiren upheld the belief that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest degree of Buddhist teachings and proposed a classification system that ranks the quality of religions[11][12]: 128 and various Nichiren schools can be either accommodating or vigorously opposed to any other forms of Buddhism or religious beliefs. Various followers debate Nichiren status, as a Bodhisattva, a mortal saint, or an "Original Buddha" of the third age of Buddhism.[13][7][14][15] Nichiren Buddhism is practiced in many countries.[16] The largest groups are Soka Gakkai International, Nichiren Shu, and Nichiren Shōshū.[17]
Basic teachings[edit]
Nichiren's teachings encompass a significant number of concepts. Briefly, the basic practice of Nichiren Buddhism is chanting the invocation Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to an object called the Gohonzon.[18][19] Embracing Nam-myoho-renge-kyo entails both chanting and having the mind of faith. (shinjin).[1]: 270 It has three pillars namely: faith, practice and study. Both the invocation and the Gohonzon, as taught by Nichiren, embody the title and essence of the Lotus Sutra,[20] which he taught as the only valid scripture for the Latter Day of the Law,[21] as well as the life state of Buddhahood inherent in all life.[22]
Nichiren considered that in the Latter Day of the Law – a time of human strife and confusion, when Buddhism would be in decline – Buddhism had to be more than the theoretical or meditative practice it had become, but was meant to be practiced "with the body", that is, in one's actions and the consequent results that are manifested.[8]: 25 More important than the formality of ritual, he claimed, was the substance of the practitioner's life[8]: 107 in which the spiritual and material aspects are interrelated.[23] He considered conditions in the world to be a reflection of the conditions of the inner lives of people; the premise of his first major remonstrance, Rissho Ankoku Ron (Establishing The Correct Teaching for the Peace of The Land), is that if a nation abandons heretical forms of Buddhism and adopts faith in the Lotus Sutra, the nation will know peace and security. He considered his disciples the "Bodhisattvas of the Earth" who appeared in the Lotus Sutra with the vow to spread the correct teaching and thereby establish a peaceful and just society.[8]: 22–23 For Nichiren, enlightenment is not limited to one's inner life, but is "something that called for actualization in endeavors toward the transformation of the land, toward the realization of an ideal society."[24]: 313–320
The specific task to be pursued by Nichiren's disciples was the widespread propagation of his teachings (the invocation and the Gohonzon) in a way that would effect actual change in the world's societies[8]: 47 so that the sanctuary, or seat, of Buddhism could be built.[25] Nichiren saw this sanctuary as a specific seat of his Buddhism, but there is thought that he also meant it in a more general sense, that is, wherever his Buddhism would be practiced.[26][8]: 111 This sanctuary, along with the invocation and Gohonzon, comprise "the three great secret laws (or dharmas)" found in the Lotus Sutra.[27]
Nichiren[edit]
Nichiren and his time[edit]
Nichiren Buddhism originated in 13th-century feudal Japan. It is one of six new forms of Shin Bukkyo (English: "New Buddhism") of "Kamakura Buddhism."[28] The arrival of these new schools was a response to the social and political upheaval in Japan during this time as power passed from the nobility to a shogunate military dictatorship led by the Minamoto clan and later to the Hōjō clan. A prevailing pessimism existed associated with the perceived arrival of the Age of the Latter Day of the Law. The era was marked by an intertwining relationship between Buddhist schools and the state which included clerical corruption.[8]: 1–5
By Nichiren's time the Lotus Sūtra was firmly established in Japan. From the ninth century, Japanese rulers decreed that the Lotus Sūtra be recited in temples for its "nation-saving" qualities. It was the most frequently read and recited sutra by the literate lay class and its message was disseminated widely through art, folk tales, music, and theater. It was commonly held that it had powers to bestow spiritual and worldly benefits to individuals.[29][30][31] However, even Mount Hiei, the seat of Tiantai Lotus Sutra devotion, had come to adopt an eclectic assortment of esoteric rituals and Pure Land practices as "expedient means" to understand the sutra itself.[32]: 79 [33]: 385
Post-Nichiren development in Japan[edit]
Development in Medieval Japan[edit]
After Nichiren's death in 1282 the Kamakura shogunate weakened largely due to financial and political stresses resulting from defending the country from the Mongols. It was replaced by the Ashikaga shogunate (1336–1573), which in turn was succeeded by the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573–1600), and then the Tokugawa shogunate (1600–1868). During these time periods, collectively comprising Japan's medieval history, Nichiren Buddhism experienced considerable fracturing, growth, turbulence and decline. A prevailing characteristic of the movement in medieval Japan was its lack of understanding of Nichiren's own spiritual realization. Serious commentaries about Nichiren's theology did not appear for almost two hundred years. This contributed to divisive doctrinal confrontations that were often superficial and dogmatic.[56]: 174
This long history of foundings, divisions, and mergers have led to today's 37 legally incorporated Nichiren Buddhist groups.[63][64]: 312 In the modern period, Nichiren Buddhism experienced a revival, largely initiated by lay people and lay movements.[39]: 93–95, 122 [65]: 251 [66]
Development of the major lineages[edit]
Several denominations comprise the umbrella term "Nichiren Buddhism" which was known at the time as the Hokkeshū (Lotus School) or Nichirenshū (Nichiren School).[37]: 383 [67]: 166 The splintering of Nichiren's teachings into different schools began several years after Nichiren's passing. Despite their differences, however, the Nichiren groups shared commonalities: asserting the primacy of the Lotus Sutra, tracing Nichiren as their founder, centering religious practice on chanting Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, using the Gohonzon in meditative practice, insisting on the need for propagation, and participating in remonstrations with the authorities.[37]: 398
The movement was supported financially by local warlords or stewards (jitõ) who often founded tightly organized clan temples (ujidera) that were frequently led by sons who became priests.[56]: 169 Most Nichiren schools point to the founding date of their respective head or main temple (for example, Nichiren Shū the year 1281, Nichiren Shōshū the year 1288, and Kempon Hokke Shu the year 1384) although they did not legally incorporate as religious bodies until the late 19th and early 20th century. A last wave of temple mergers took place in the 1950s.
The roots of this splintering can be traced to the organization of the Nichiren community during his life. In 1282, one year before his death, Nichiren named "six senior priests" (rokurōsō) disciple to lead his community: Nikkō Shonin (日興), Nisshō (日昭), Nichirō (日朗), Nikō (日向), Nitchō (日頂), and Nichiji (日持). Each had led communities of followers in different parts of the Kanto region of Japan and these groups, after Nichiren's death, ultimately morphed into lineages of schools.[68][1]: 303
Nikkō Shonin, Nichirō, and Nisshō were the core of the Minobu (also known as the Nikō or Kuon-ji) monryu or school. Nikō became the second chief abbot of Minobu (Nichiren is considered by this school to be the first). Nichirō's direct lineage was called the Nichirō or Hikigayatsu monryu. Nisshō's lineage became the Nisshō or Hama monryu. Nitchō formed the Nakayama lineage but later returned to become a follower of Nikkō. Nichiji, originally another follower of Nikkō, eventually traveled to the Asian continent (ca. 1295) on a missionary journey and some scholarship suggests he reached northern China, Manchuria, and possibly Mongolia. Kuon-ji Temple in Mount Minobu eventually became the head temple of today's Nichiren Shū, the largest branch among traditional schools, encompassing the schools and temples tracing their origins to Nikō, Nichirō, Nisshō, Nitchō, and Nichiji. The lay and/or new religious movements Reiyūkai, Risshō Kōsei Kai, and Nipponzan-Myōhōji-Daisanga stem from this lineage.[1]: 303 [69][70][71]
Nikkō left Kuon-ji in 1289 and became the founder of what was to be called the Nikkō monryu or lineage. He founded a center at the foot of Mount Fuji which would later be known as the Taisekiji temple of Nichiren Shōshū.[1]: 335–336 Soka Gakkai is the largest independent lay organization that shares roots with this lineage.[72]: 119–120
Fault lines between the various Nichiren groups crystallized over several issues:
Globalization[edit]
While various sects and organizations have had a presence in nations outside Japan for over a century, the genuine expansion of Nichiren Buddhism overseas started in 1960 when Soka Gakkai president Daisaku Ikeda initiated his group's worldwide propagation efforts stemming from a few hundred transplanted Japanese to over 3500 families by 1962.[108]
Nichiren Buddhism is now practiced in many countries outside of Japan. In the United States, religious studies scholar Charles S. Prebish coined the typology of "two Buddhisms" to delineate the divide between forms of Buddhism that appealed either primarily to people of the Asian diaspora or to Euro-American converts.[109][110][111][112] Nattier, on the other hand, proposes a three-way typology. "Import" or "elite" Buddhism refers to a class of people who have the time and means to seek Buddhist teachers to appropriate certain Buddhist techniques such as meditation. "Export or evangelical" Buddhism refers to groups that actively proselytize for new members in their local organizations. "Baggage" or "ethnic" Buddhism refers to diaspora Buddhists, usually of a single ethnic group, who have relocated more for social and economic advancement than for evangelical purposes.[113]: 16 Another taxonomy divides Western Buddhist groups into three different categories: evangelical, church-like, and meditational.[114]
Nichiren Shu has been classified into the church-like category.[114]: 5 One of several Japanese Buddhist schools that followed in the wake of Japanese military conquest and colonization, Nichiren Shu opened a temple in Pusan, Korea in 1881. Its fortunes rose and diminished with the political tides but eventually failed.[115] It also established missions in Sakhalin, Manchuria, and Taiwan.[116] A Nichiren Shu mission was established in Hawaii in 1900. By 1920 it established temples at Pahala, Honolulu, Wailuku and Maui.[117] In 1955, it officially started a mission in Brazil.[118]: 283 In 1991, it established the Nichiren Buddhist International Center in 1991 and in 2002 built a center in Hayward, California, to help overseas missions.[116] However, Nichiren Shu does not widely propagate in the West.[119]
Some have characterized the Soka Gakkai as evangelical[114]: 5 but others claim that it broke out of the "Two Buddhisms" paradigm. It is quite multi-ethnic and it has taken hold among native populations in locations including Korea, Malaysia, Brazil, Europe, parts of Africa, India, and North America.[120] The growth of the Soka Gakkai was sparked by repeated missionary trips beginning in the early 1960s by Daisaku Ikeda, its third president.[118]: 285 In 1975 the Soka Gakkai International was launched in Guam.[121]: 107–108 In the United States it has attracted a diverse membership including a significant demographic of African Americans.[122][123] Since the 1970s, it has created institutions, publications and exhibitions to support its overall theme of "peace, culture, and education."[124] There is academic research on various national organizations affiliated with this movement:[125]: 54 the United States,[126][127] the United Kingdom,[128] Italy,[129] Canada,[130] Brazil,[131][132] Scotland,[133] Southeast Asia,[134] Germany,[135] and Thailand.[136]
The Rissho Kosei Kai focuses on using its teachings to promote a culture of religiosity through inter-religious dialogue. In 1967, it launched the "Faith to All Men Movement" to awaken a globalized religiosity. It has over 2 million members and 300 Dharma centers in 20 countries throughout the world including Frankfurt and Moorslede. It is active in interfaith organizations, including the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) and Religions for Peace (WCRP). It has consultative states with the United Nations and since 1983 issues an annual Peace Prize to individuals or organizations worldwide that work for peace and development and promote interreligious cooperation.[137]: 23 [121]: 108
The Reiyukai conducts more typical missionary activities in the West. It has a membership of between five hundred and one thousand members in Europe, concentrated in Italy, Spain, England and France. The approximately 1,500 members of the Nihonzan Myohoji have built peace pagodas, conducted parades beating the drum while chanting the daimoku, and encouraged themselves and others to create world peace.[137]
Nichiren Shoshu has six temples in the United States led by Japanese priests and supported by lay Asians and non-Asians.[138] There is one temple in Brazil and the residing priest serves as a "circuit rider" to attend to other locations.[139]