Nichiren Shonin
Written by H. G. Lamomt
What Was the Spiritual Identity of Nichiren Shônin?
It is obvious to any honest person that, judging
from the circumstances surrounding
Nichiren Shônin's funeral as seen in contemporary
documents that Byakuren Ajari
Nikkô was not the chief or only successor to the
Patriarch; however, since Nikkô is a
great favorite with the heretics who today pass for being
followers of Nichiren Shônin,
let us begin by looking to him as an historical witness:
Nichiren Shônin declares in his
letter to Misawa dono, which exists in Nikkô's
handwriting at the Omosu Hommonji
as well as in an autograph copy at Myôkakuji in
Kyoto that "in the matter of doctrine,
think of the doctrine before I was exiled to the Province
of Sado as just the Buddha's
Previous Sutras" (STN, v. 2, 1446-1447) In other words,
he is likening his own words
before his exile on Sado to the preaching of the Buddha
before He preached the
Lotus
Sutra. Therefore, he is stating that his
Sado and Minobu period doctrines are final and
true. A few lines later, he modestly says, "Although
I, Nichiren, am not that messenger,
since, being in that time period, I unexpectedly realized
this doctrine, until the Sage comes
forth I have in rough terms spoken it as the Preface
Section (jobun)." (STN, v. 2, 1447)
Here Nichiren Shônin specifically likens his mission
to the Preface Section of Sutra,
waiting for a great sage to come. (Note, traditionally
Buddhist sutras were divided into
an introductory Preface Section (jobun), a Principal
Import Section (shôshûbun), where
the main idea or teaching is given, and Diffusion Section
(ruzubun), which speaks about spreading that sutra). Now some heretics
will say that Nichiren Shônin is here implying
that he is the Buddha, but then we ask why is he saying
he is waiting for the Sage to
come? But look at another pronouncement of Nichiren Shônin
witnessed by Nikkô; in
1277 (the third year of the Kenji era) Nichiren Shônin
wrote a deposition on behalf of
Shijô Nakatsukasa Yorimoto; the autograph no longer
exists but two versions copied
by Nikkô still exist at the Omosu Hommonji (STN,
v. 2, 1346, 1360 notes):
1) an unrevised version copied in 1278 (the first year
of Kôan) with the title, "On the
Dialogue with Ryûzô" or Ryûzô
mondô shô)
2) a "revised version" copied in the fifth year of Shôwa
(1316) when Nikkô says he
was seventy-one years of age. Since Nikkô's colophon
says he copied this from a "revised
version" (saiji hon) it is probable that Nichiren Shônin
rewrote some of the passages some
time after 1278. Clearly by copying this version relatively
late in his life Nikkô regarded it
as the more definitive.
Let us look at an interesting passage which summarizes
the faith that Nichiren's disciples
are to declare: "I believe that it is preached in the
Hokekyô
that His Reverence Nichiren
Shônin is the Bodhisattva Jôgyô,
the Messenger of the Tathagata Shakya, Lord of the
Three Worlds, Father and Mother of All Beings." (STN,
v. 2, 1358 and note 1) The
italicized part, the words "the Bodhisattva
Jôgyô " are in the revised edition from Nikkô's
old age. Clearly in the revised edition Nichiren Shônin
himself, went to the trouble of
adding the words "the Bodhisattva Jôgyô
"
to the text. (Even if Nikkô long after Nichiren's death added these
words here and in the other revised sections, it shows how he, in fact,
regarded Nichiren Shônin.) Is this not proof of how Nichiren Shônin
(or, at the very least, Nikkô) saw his true identity? This identity,
which he sometimes modestly hid, was that
of the Bodhisattva Jôgyô,
not that
of the Buddha.
Now the heretics will deny this is significant or they
will misread it, but let us look at
another passage in the same work; in discussing the plots
of "elder of Gokurakuji", that is, Ryôkanbô Ninshô, against
Nichiren Shônin, the unrevised version mentions the attempt to
kill Nichiren Shônin and the hindrances to him
and his disciples on Sado but says nothing
about Nichiren Shônin's spiritual identity; however,
in the revised version, these words are inserted, describing Nichiren
Shônin, "Nichiren Shônin, if it is as it is preached in the
Sutra,
is the Sage who is the Messenger of the Tathagata Who
Attained in the Distant Past (kujô nyorai no onzukai), the Descent
(suijaku) of the Bodhisattva Jôgyô, the Practicer (gyôja)
of the Original Doctrine (or Aspect: Hommon) of the Hokke,
the Great Guiding Teacher
of the fifth five hundred years" (STN, v. 2, 1352) Why
should Nichiren or Nikkô bother to insert these words, which clearly
demonstrate that Nichiren Shônin is the Messenger from
the Eternal Buddha and the earthly manifestation of the
Bodhisattva Jôgyô, unless they
were trying to show that he really is the Bodhisattva
Jôgyô, sent by the Buddha Shakyamuni? There is no hint in these
Minobu period letters that Nichiren Shônin felt himself to be the
Buddha, though he is certain of his attainment of Buddhahood. Rather it
is clear that, as
he had said in the treatise "On Practicing According
to the Preaching" (Nyosetsu shûgyô
shô, STN, v. 1, 733 l. 2), "I, Nichiren,
received the Buddha's Edict and was born in this land..." He also says
he has engaged in his campaign of shakubuku "because the Decree
of the Dharma King is difficult to defy." (Ibid.)
(Note that this Nyosetsu shûgyô shô
survives only in the manuscript of Nikkô's disciple
Tayû Nichizon (1265-1345), copied
in 1297 (the fifth year of Einin).)
What about the early records of Nikkô himself?
The Order of Spreading the Sutra in the Three Ages
(Sanji gukyô shidai )
(Nichirenshû shûgaku zensho,
II, 53) specifically says:
"The Temple of the Hommon
The Disciple of Entrustment
The Bodhisattva Jôgyô
Nichiren Shônin."
It is clear that in the temple of the Original Doctrine
(Hommon) Nichiren Shônin is
considered the Manifestation of Jôgyô, the
Great Bodhisattva Converted by the Original Buddha, the disciple clearly
entrusted with the essence of the Sutra in the "Chapter of the Divine Powers
of the Tathagatas" 21. Incidentally this same work refers to the Buddha
Shakya Who Attained in the Past (kujô no Shaka
Butsu) in a way that shows that that
Buddha is to be the Object of Worship.
Therefore, there can be no reasonable doubt that Nichiren
Shônin saw himself as the Messenger from the Buddha and that he was,
indeed, an earthly descent or manifestation
of the Great Bodhisattva Jôgyô; it is the
latter identity that he modestly hid on occasion,
not the claim to be the Original Buddha.
We should also look at the inscription or laudatory text of a mandala from 1274 (Kept at Myôhonji at Hota: it is No. 16 in the Catalogue of the Gohonzon Collection (Yamanaka Kihachi, Nichiren Shônin Shinseki no sekai, p. 323 and type B (II) 7 no. 13 in Nichiren Shônin Mandara zushû, pp. 58-59):
"Since the Entrance into Extinction of the Great Enlightened
World Honored One there
have passed in succession more than two thousand two
hundred and twenty years. Even
so among the Three Countries of India, Han [China] and
Japan, there has not yet been this Great Object of Worship (dai
honzon). Either they have known but not yet spread it or they have
not known it. Our Compassionate Father, by means of the Buddha Wisdom,
has hidden and retained it, leaving it for the Latter Age. At the time
of the last five hundred years, the Bodhisattva Jôgyô comes
forth in the world and for the first time spreads and proclaims it." (emphasis
added)
Here once again we see that Nichiren sees his role, the
revealer of the mandala, as that
of the Bodhisattva Jôgyô who has received
the mandala from "Our Compassionate Father", i.e.,
the Buddha Shakya of the "Chapter of the Measure of Life" (Juryôhon).
Incidentally
"Our Compassionate Father" clearly refers to the Buddha
Shakya: in the
Kitô shô (STN,
v. 1, 676 l. 4) Nichiren Shônin calls him, "the
Compassionate Father the Buddha Shakya"
and in the same work says, "The Buddha Shakya alone combines
the three principles of
Lord, Teacher, and Sovereign." (STN, v. 1, 677 l. 4)
and in this mandala Nichiren Shônin
says He has hidden and held back this mandala "by means
of the Buddha Wisdom".
It should be clear to any rational, unbiased person that
Nichiren Shônin identified himself spiritually with the Bodhisattva
Jôgyô carrying out the profound role of Messenger of the Buddha.
And this self identification is in agreement with the Hokekyô
itself: in the "Chapter
of the Divine Powers of the Tathagatas" 21 the Buddha
Shakya, accompanied by the manifestations of the divine powers of the Buddhas
of the Ten Directions, entrusted the Essence of the Hokekyô
to the Bodhisattvas Who Sprang from the Earth at the summons
of the Buddha earlier in Chapter Fifteen:
"At that time the Buddha addressed the great assemblies of Bodhisattvas, Jôgyô and so on:
'The divine powers of the Buddhas are thus immeasurable,
boundless, and inconceivable.
Even if I by means of these divine powers for immeasurable,
boundless hundreds of
thousands of ten thousands of hundreds of thousands of
asamkheyas of kalpas, for the
sake of Entrustment preached the merit of this Sutra,
I still could not exhaust it. If I speak
of it in terms of the Essence, all of the Dharmas which
are possessed by Tathagata, all of
the Tathagata's Sovereign Divine Powers, all of the Tathagata's
Stores of Secret Essentials,
and all of the Tathagata's Most Profound Matters are
in this Sutra proclaimed, shown,
revealed and preached.'" (Incidentally lest someone doubt
the identity of the Buddha
here, immediately before this the audiences of the worlds
cry towards this Saha World:
"Adoration to the Buddha Shakyamuni. Adoration to the
Buddha Shakyamuni.")
This passage is described as "forming the essence and
entrusting" (ketsuyô fuzoku)
in Tendai's commentary and Nichiren Shônin refers
to this: "At 'forming the essence
and entrusting' he took out the Essence of the
Hokekyô
and yielded to the Four
Bodhisattvas and carefully entrusted to them: 'after
My Extinction give it to the beings
of the ten directions.'" ("On Upbraiding Blasphemy Against
the Dharma and Extinguishing Sins" (Kashaku hôbô metsuzai
shô ), STN, v. 1, 782); here the Buddha Shakya referring
to His Temporal Extinction entrusts the Essence of the
Sutra to the Bodhisattvas Who
Sprang from the Earth. In the same letter Nichiren Shônin
specifically says:
"As to the Five Characters 'Myô hô ren ge
kyô' He not only hid these during more than
forty years, He still suppressed them in the fourteen
chapters of the Manifestation Doctrine (shakumon) and at the "Chapter of
the Measure of Life" He preached and manifested the two characters of 'ren
ge' of the Original Effect and the Original Cause. These Five Characters
He did not even entrust to Mañjushri, Fugen [Samantabhadra], Maitreya,
Yakuô [Bhaishajarâja] and the others; summoning forth from
the Great Earth of Tranquil Light the Bodhisattva Jôgyô, the
Bodhisattva Muhengyô, the Bodhisattva Jyôgyô and the
Bodhisattva Anryûgyô Who Sprang from the Earth He entrusted
these to them (STN, v. 1, 782).
Furthermore, Nichiren Shônin identifies these Bodhisattvas
in the same work: "It appears
that it is these Four Bodhisattvas are people who are
the disciples of the Master of Teachings Lord Shakya since kalpas as many
as the dust of countries touched or not by the dust of
five hundred of tens of trillions of nayutas of asamkheyas
of great trichiliocosms (gohyaku
jinden gô) and who also, from their first arising
of the Bodhi Mind, have not adhered to other Buddhas and who have not made
an appearance at the Two Doctrines [of the Manifestation and the Original].
Tendai says, "He only sees the issuing of vows from the direction below"
and so on. He also says, "These are My disciples; they should spread My
Dharma" and so
on. Myôraku says, "The child spreads the father's
Dharma" and so on. Tao-hsien says,
"From the fact that the Dharma is the Dharma of the One
Who Attained Long Ago, therefore He assigns it to the people of the One
Who Attained Long Ago" and so on. It is these Five Characters 'Myô
hô ren ge kyô' that He yields to these Four People." (STN,
v. 1, 783 784)
Nichiren Shônin's teaching is quite clear in these
passages, written in 1273:
1) The Four People are the Four Bodhisattvas Who Sprang from the Earth;
2) They are the disciples of the Lord Buddha Shakya from the most distant past.
3) It is they who have been entrusted with the Daimoku;
4) In Tao-hsien's commentary this is described as the
"Dharma of the One Who Attained
Long Ago" (kujô no hô); in other words, Nichiren
Shônin is showing us that the Daimoku is from the Buddha Shakya Who
Attained in the Most Distant Past. Apparently some heretical believers
have attempted to interpret this passage to mean that this Dharma was assigned
to
the "Eternal Buddha" whom they identify as Nichiren Shônin
but clearly this is not what the passage means: in the same year in the
Kanjin
Honzon shô Nichiren Shônin cites the
same passage more fully: "'Entrustment' means: it is
this Sutra that is only entrusted to the Bodhisattvas Who Sprang Forth
from the Direction Below..." (STN, v. 1, 717) The meaning
is clear: the Daimoku is the Dharma entrusted to the
Bodhisattvas Who Sprang from the Earth. Such an interpretation agrees entirely
with the Sutra, as cited above, and is reasonable: the Eternal Buddha,
who is ever present but hides His Presence, entrusts His Dharma, "Namu
Myôhô renge kyô" to His Own Disciples from the most distant
past.
In case people do not understand the relationship here,
the above cited work "On
Upbraiding Blasphemy Against the Dharma and Extinguishing
Sins" (Kashaku hôbô
metsuzai shô )
says, "During more than two thousand two hundred years it is the painted
images and wooden images of the Master Teachings Lord Shakya that worthy
kings and
saintly rulers have taken as the Object of Worship. However,
although it was only the
Buddhas of the Lesser Vehicle, and of the Kegon,
the
Nehan (Nirvana ), the Kangyô,
the Manifestation Doctrine (Shakumon) of the Hokekyô,
the
Fugengyô, of the Great
Vehicle, the Buddha of the Dainichikyô
in the Shingon, and Shakya and Tahô of the
'Chapter of the Jewelled Stupa' that they wrote, the
Lord Shakya of the 'Chapter of the Measure of Life' is not yet in the temples
and monastic residences." (STN, v. 1, 784)
The Object of Worship, not yet actually installed in
Buddhist temples, is to be none
other than the Eternal Lord Shakya. The Dharma is the
Daimoku and the ones who
are entrusted with that Dharma are the Bodhisattvas Who
Sprang from the Earth.
We can add one more piece of evidence to this argument,
a letter written to Lord
Soya in the second year of the Kenji era (1276):
"When this Wisdom and Object are united, one obtains Buddhahood
in this Very Body (sokushin jôbutsu). That this Inner Realization
(naishô) is something that the Hearers and Pratyekabuddhas cannot
attain to is preached next below [in the Sutra], "It is something that
none of the Shravakas (Hearers) and Pratyekabuddhas can understand." What,
indeed, are these two dharmas of the Field and the Wisdom (kyôchi)?
They are just the Five Characters 'Namu Myôhô renge kyô'.
These Five Characters He formed (or, caused to be formed) as
the Essence and entrusted (ketsuyô fuzoku) summoning
forth the Great Beings Who Sprang
from the Earth. This they call the 'Doctrine of Entrusting
to Those Converted by the Original Buddha' (honge fuzoku). At the same
time it appears that the Bodhisattvas Jôgyô and the others
are to come forth and be born in the first five hundred years of the Latter
Dharma and spread (or cause to spread) these Five Characters that are these
two dharmas of the Field and the Wisdom. The Sutra text is clear, is obvious.
Who would dispute this? Although I, Nichiren, am not that person nor again
am I his Messenger, I have beforehand roughly spread them as
a Preface Section. Already the Bodhisattva Jôgyô
having received the water of Wisdom of
the Sublime Dharma from the Tathagata Shakya lets it
flow and circulate to the withered up multitudes of beings of the evil
era of the Latter Age. This is the principle of Wisdom. Lord Shakya from
Himself cedes and assigns it to the Bodhisattva Jôgyô. At the
same time I, Nichiren, also, being in the country of Japan, spread this
doctrine." (STN, v. 2, 1253-1254)
This passage clearly resembles parts of the passage from
the "Misawa Letter" quoted above
but gives more specifics. The Daimoku is especially formed
as the Essence of the Sutra by the Buddha, Lord Shakya, and he has specifically
summoned the Bodhisattvas Who Sprang from the Earth and given His Own Inner
Realization (the unity of Wisdom and its Field or Object)
in the form of "Namu Myôhô renge kyô"
to them to spread at the beginning of this age of the Latter Dharma.
Though he does not mention the place in the Sutra here,
it is in the "Chapter of the Divine Powers of the Tathagata" 21 where the
Forming the Essence and its Entrustment (ketsuyô fuzoku) occurs.
As Tendai Daishi states in his Hokke mongu (T.34.142a), "From
'At that
time the Buddha addressed Jôgyô' and there
below is the third, Forming the Essence and its Entrustment." This phrase
is cited by Nichiren Shônin in the Kanjin honzon shô
(STN, v.
1, 718) as part of the proof that in that chapter the
Buddha entrusted the Five Characters
of the Sublime Dharma to the Bodhisattvas Who Sprang
from the Earth.
Note that Nichiren Shônin in this letter to Lord
Soya praises the clarity of the Sutra text,
which is the source for the entrustment of this Daimoku
to the Bodhisattva Jôgyô and his companions. It is abundantly
obvious that he considers the sutra text on this entrustment
to the Bodhisattva Jôgyô to be incontrovertible,
yet ironically the Taisekiji faction insists on inventing a theory counter
to the Sutra which sets aside the role of this Bodhisattva. Such
a theory thus contradicts Nichiren Shônin's own
views as well and so would have no basis
in the words of either the Sutra or the Patriarch.
As in the Misawa Letter he modestly denies
his identity as the Bodhisattva Jôgyô and
denies that he is his messenger but says he is spreading
this doctrine only as the Preface Section. Then he says that the Bodhisattva
Jôgyô having already received this water of Wisdom which is
the Sublime Dharma from the Tathagata Shakya is, in effect, the
spiritually desiccated people of this age. He then reaffirms that this
Wisdom embodied in the Daimoku came from Lord Shakya and modestly separates
his own propagation of the doctrine from
that of the Bodhisattva Jôgyô. Yet it is
obvious again he is simply showing that he is doing what that Bodhisattva
is to do.
It is obvious then:
(1) The source of the Daimoku which contains the Buddha's
Inner Realization is Lord
Shakya.
(2) That same Lord Shakya transfers this Daimoku to the
Bodhisattva Jôgyô and his fellow
Bodhisattvas Who Sprang
from the Earth.
(3) This transfer has already taken place as described
in an undeniable Sutra text referring to
Forming the Essence and
its Entrustment. In other words, the doctrine was Sutra-based.
(4) Nichiren Shônin modestly denies that he is actually
that Bodhisattva but indicates he
is at least their forerunner.
Despite Nichiren Shônin's modesty, it is obvious from the
other documents cited above
that he and his immediate followers identified him as being
precisely that Bodhisattva,
who had received the Daimoku from Lord Shakyamuni.
The Objective Truth is the Source of Our Salvation
It may seem to many that the rather long arguments expounded
above are of no practical
use; however, if we are to obtain salvation, the Great
Direct Path (daijikidô) to Buddhahood, we must try to see the Objective
Truth and then make that Truth part of our subjective life. We must internalize
it through the right faith and practice of chanting the Daimoku and worshipping
the Eternal Shakyamuni. If we confuse the messenger with the one who sent
the message or if we misread the message then we make
a critical and terrible mistake. If our worship, the content and object
of our faith is thrown off course, misdirected by teachers who are propagating
misconceptions of what Nichiren said, then, although we have a form of
the Daimoku, our practice will really be a kind of rebellious connection
or condition (gyakuen); to be sure even through this connection we shall
eventually
attain Buddhahood but why not enter into that Direct Path now? The
Eternal Buddha's Fundamental Intention, His Every Thought, is that we 'rapidly
achieve the Buddha Body'. ('Chapter of the Measure of Life' 16) Why not
take advantage of the Buddha's offer through His Messenger right now?
Today those Americans and other Westerners who know anything
about Nichiren
Shônin have a largely erroneous idea of what he
actually taught. Even among academics
who have not been trained in the history of Buddhism
and have no solid linguistic access
to the documents involved, an extremely distorted view
of his mission and self-identity.
Because of the sheer volume of publications by Taisekiji,
the erroneous view that Nichiren Shônin actually proclaimed himself
the True Buddha has become a commonplace view
among Western academics as well as other people. It is
bad enough that scholars have in
many instances swallowed this historically unsubstantiated
position but people who have
sought salvation from the teachings of Nichiren Shônin
are being led astray. ALas, that
their attainment of Buddhahood will be delayed and they
will suffer purgatorial punishment
because they have accepted views contrary to both the
Sutra and the writings of the real Nichiren Shônin.
Once again we should heed the Patriarch's own warning:
"No matter how much they
chant, everybody who has hatred for Nichiren, first must
fall to the Unremitting Hell;
after immeasurable kalpas, having become the disciples
of Nichiren, they shall attain Buddhahood." (Kyôô gozen
gosho, STN, v. 1, 687) Now there are those who say "we
don't hate Nichiren Shônin and we chant so this
does not apply to us! This is just your
idea." But stop and think about this for a moment: what
greater hatred could there be for Nichiren Shônin than deliberately
substituting a false doctrine for what he really taught?
If he was, indeed, the Messenger sent by the Lord Buddha
to save us beings of this
terrible age, is it not the greatest hatred of the Messenger
when any person deliberately
distorts, adulterates or replaces that saving message?
The physical person of Nichiren
Shônin no longer exists; no one can hurt him in
a material sense as his enemies did when
he lived. He has returned to the Eternal Pure Land to
abide in his Original State, the Great Bodhisattva Jôgyô. However,
what remains of him here is his teachings, as he transmitted
them in his own lifetime. To destroy these teachings
and replace them with different
doctrines under his name is surely more destructive than
killing the physical body of the person. When Nichiren Shônin showed
the greatest reverence for the Beginningless and Endless Lord, Teacher,
and Parent Shakyamuni and the authority of the text of the
Hokekyô, is
it not the most terrible contempt for that same Nichiren Shônin to
degrade
both that Buddha and that Sutra? And is it not also contemptuous
of him to chant the Daimoku, which he brought from the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni,
and at the same time
say that Nichiren Shônin's teachings are passé?
Or is not hatred for him to modify his
clear instructions to please one's personal preferences?
If the Patriarch's words are true, the fate of such people is clear.
Repentance
I hope that the above has been something of a corrective
to these wrong views and I
pray that those who have accepted these heretical doctrines
will repent and turn to the True Doctrine of our Eternal Lord Shakya sent
to us through His Messenger, Nichiren Shônin, the Manifestation the
Great Bodhisattva Jôgyô. Heed the advice of the Sutra in the
"Chapter of
the Parable" 3: "Abandon evil spiritual friends, draw
near to good friends." This is precisely what Nichijû Shônin
did when he renounced his affiliation with original lineages of Nichiren
Shônin's movement, because they had betrayed the Patriarch's principles
in doctrine and in practice. Repent and enter the original Sutra-based
faith of Nichiren Shônin restored and proclaimed by Nichijû
Shônin and witnessed repeatedly, often at the cost of suffering,
exile, and even death by his disciples. This is the Great Direct Path (daijikidô)
for our age.
Next....
(Texts and translations Copyright © 1994-2001 Hamilton
Graham Lamont )
[Formatted here by S. Polito.]