Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

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日蓮

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Nichiren

Senses:

  • (1222–1282) A Japanese Kamakura period monk who was a socially focused Buddhist and outspoken critic of current Buddhist practices and their teachers, who would end up becoming the founder of a school of Japanese Buddhism named after him, the Nichiren shū 日蓮宗, which is also known as the Lotus school 法華宗. Born into a fishermanʼs family in Chiba, he entered the priesthood at the age of eleven at the Seichōji 淸澄寺 and was tonsured at age eighteen with the name Renchō 蓮長. After studying Buddhism in various centers such as Kamakura 鎌倉, Kyoto 京都, Mt. Hiei 比叡山 and so forth, he came to the conclusion that the Lotus Sutra contained the ultimate Buddhist teaching. Having declared in April 1253 that the invocation nam-myōhō-renge-kyo 南無妙法蓮華經 'Devotion to the Sutra of the Wonderful Dharma' represents the true and only path to enlightenment in the present 'latter age'  末法 of the Buddhist dharma (mappō), he embarked on a career of active propagation in which he encouraged his disciples, who came from varying social levels, to participate. His condemnation of respected persons and their schools and the tide of religious nonconformism to which it gave rise landed him out of favor with the authorities and earned him the reputation of being a renegade Buddhist. His teachings developed to include the revelation of his prophesized advent as the champion of the 'Great Dharma' or nam-myōhō-renge-kyo which would spread abroad and guide civilization on into the future. His survival through repeated persecutions including two exiles and an attempted execution strengthened his convictions leading him to further engage with the authorities to dissuade them from their reliance on the favored Buddhist schools. Severe natural disasters along with domestic social unrest and the long feared Mongol invasions of the 1270ʼs were interpreted by Nichiren as omens foretelling the ruin of the nation should it fail to heed his warnings. He retired from active propagation to focus on training disciples from his mountain retreat in Minobu. His major writings include the Kanjin honzon shō 觀心本尊抄, Senji shō  撰時抄, and Shugo kokka ron 守護國家論. Though the orthodox lineage was transferred to his successor Nikkō, after his death divergent branches of Nichirenʼs Buddhism appeared based on the interpretations of five other appointed senior priests.

    The chief tenets of the Nichiren school are the three great mysteries 三大祕法, representing the trikāya: (1) 本 尊 or chief object of worship, being the great maṇḍala of the worlds of the ten directions, or universe, i. e. the body or nirmāṇakāya of Buddha; (2) 題目 the title of the Lotus Sutra 妙法蓮華經 myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō, preceded by Namo, or, 'Adoration to the scripture of the lotus of the wonderful law,' for it is Buddhaʼs spiritual body; (3) 戒壇 the altar of the dharma, which is also the title of the Lotus as above; the believer, wherever he is, dwells in the Pure Land of calm light 寂光淨土, the saṃbhogakāya.

    [John Staines, Charles Muller]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 831

    Bulgyo sajeon 737a

    Iwanami Bukkyō jiten 632

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 215a/239

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 498

    Zen Dust (Sasaki) 210, 390

    Fo Guang Shan Dictionary 1457

    Ding Fubao

    Nihon bukkyō jinmei jiten (Saitō and Naruse) 347

    Bussho kaisetsu daijiten (Ono) ⑬159d*/⑬160a*/⑬160b/⑬160b*/⑬160c*

    Index to the Bussho kaisetsu daijiten (Ono) 529

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)4090a,1376b,1732c,1935b,3978b

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 1333-2

    (Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms 156

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 1997-09-15

    Updated: 2019-12-20