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Ongi Kuden | Lotus Sutra | Nichiren | Nichirenism | Apocryphal |
The word Gosho, literally means "honored writings." For people in the various Nichiren Schools this title is given to the written works of The Great Sage Nichiren(Daishonin means great sage) whom most of us regard as the founder of a unique stream of Buddhism. Unlike many religious founders, hundreds of these endure as originals or as copies in the archives of the various schools. His disciples collected and catalogued them, treasured them and copied them. These Gosho came to be treasured to this day by both his original disciples and us later day disciples, as much for their wisdom and common sense about day to day and religious matters as for their doctrinal value. The "Great Sage" Nichiren was truly a unique individual. And for that reason his writings are worth reading and understanding even by people who aren't practicing a Buddhism connected with his teaching. Far more so by those of us who find his teachings worth following.
Nichiren taught in a variety of ways, including oral instruction, example. but the most treasured of these ways was in the forms of actual writings he himself wrote. These range from treatises and letters to brief inscriptions, margin notes, or copies of the writings of others. They also include his "Gohonzon" which are calligraphic mandalas of considerable beauty and spiritual power. Of these, those pertaining to doctrinal or spiritual matters have been collected into volumes of "Gosho" by latter disciples.
Over the years the Gosho have been interpreted and reinterpreted by generations seeking the wisdom they represent. Sometimes so creatively that the actual meaning intended by Nichiren himself has nothing to do with the interpretation. Also unfortunately various issues have come about regarding them. This is due to the tremendous difficulty of transmitting and preserving texts combined with an early emphasis on oral teachings in the early days of Nichiren Buddhism, and expecially in the days before the invention of the printing press. We also have issues due to translation issues. Some people are fairly liberal with translations focusing on getting across things clearly. Others are more literal with their translations. As a result even within the various groups there are multiple translations of the same Gosho. For example this list cross references Gosho translated before about 1992 with a consolidated book put out a few years ago:
- http://members.tripod.com/sgiusasf/English/wnd-to-mr.htm
Complicating the subject is the historical fact that his disciples, even as much as 100 to 200 years later, tended to exert editorial rights over his writing. Sometimes rewriting or reworking his writings in his name, and other times actually producing new writings. If they had been one unified school with a single voice that would have been one thing. But these schools disagreed with each other and so what they generated as "Apocryphal" works would sometimes create controversy as soon as it surfaced, as with the "transfer documents" attributed to Nichiren by "Fuji School disciples, and other works such as the Letter to Niike, or a famous work dealing with the notion of the Fourfold Rise and Fall. These works have made it sometimes difficult to distinguish which documentary proof to use when establishing doctrines of the school and made it hard to resolve contending interpretations. It has even been hard to distinguish between genuine articles and "Apocryphal" or disputed works.
- For more on this subject visit:
- The page I've named "disputed."
- And also:
- literal.html, apocryphal.html, and for a little background, nichirenism.html
Each of the "Gosho" or other inscriptions, writings, oral works, and other teachings, even including the "Gohonzon" itself, represents a transmission of some kind. When Nichiren says in one Gosho that people should "exert themselves in the two ways of study and practice," he was referring to the importance of learning his teachings. Thus his teachings represent a "transmission" that while it was often specifically addressed to one or more of his disciples, is also a transmission to our own generation. The Gosho are treasures from the past and the life of a remarkable man. The longer Gosho range from answers to questions, such as the Honzon Mondo Sho" to treatises meant to convince the authorities to change their ways and avoid trouble. Of the later the most important is the Rissho Ankoku Ron. Nichiren Buddhism starts, and finds its coda with that teaching. All of his teachings were based on his insights based on the teachings of the Mahayana Tradition in general and the Lotus Sutra specifically.
# Gosho Date Location Recipient Status 1
"On Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra"
May 1260 Matsubagayatsu unknown Not yet available online 2
July 1260 Matsubagayatsu Hojo Tokiyori Multiple Sources 3
Feb. 1272 Sado Island All his disciples Multiple Sources 4
"The True Object of Worship" Apr. 1273 Sado Island Toki Jonin Multiple Sources 5
"The Essentials of the Lotus Sutra" May 1274 Mount Minobu Toki Jonin Not yet available online 6
"The Selection of the Time" 1275 Mount Minobu Yui Nyudo Multiple Sources 7
"Repaying Debts of Gratitude" July 1277 Mount Minobu Joken-bo and Gijo-bo Multiple Sources 8
"The Four Stages of Faith and Five Stages of Practice" Apr. 1277 Mount Minobu Toki Jonin Multiple Sources 9
"Letter to Shimoyama" June 1277 Mount Minobu Shimoyama Mitsumoto Nichiren Shu 10
"Questions and Answers on the Object of Worship" Sep. 1278 Mount Minobu Joken-bo Honmon Butsuryu Shu Translation
For most of the history of Nichirenism, all of these Gosho were accepted on face value, but recently people have begun to notice that the contradictory things within some of the Gosho may not caused so much by his personal growth or simply our failure to understand him, but may be due to later transmissions. For more on the issues around the gosho please visit: http://www.geocities.com/chris_holte/Buddhism/IssuesInBuddhism/literal.html or http://www.geocities.com/chris_holte/Buddhism/IssuesInBuddhism/index.html
Back to Index| Back to Buddhism Index | More on "literal issues"
Besides receiving a number of the "Ten gosho" listed in the chart above, Toki Jonin also was a major collector and cataloguer of Nichiren's works. He seems to have concentrated on epitistical writings. And he was in competition with Nikko Shonin, who after the defection of Nitcho Shonin considered him one of the "five elder priests" he disagreed with. At any rate one of the oldest lists of Gosho, the "Rokunai List" comes from him. This is how its been translated, with links for each referenced Gosho supplied:
- RISSHO ANKOKU RON
- KAIMOKU SHO (first volume)
- KAIMOKU SHO (second volume)
- SENJI SHO (first volume)
- SENJI SHO (second volume)
- HO'ON SHO (first volume)
- HO'ON SHO (second volume)
- KANJIN HONZON SHO
- HOKKE SHUYO SHO
- HONZON MONDO SHO
- SHUGO KOKKA RON
- HOKKE DAIMOKU SHO
- SHO HOKKE DAIMOKU SHO
- KEN HOBO SHO
- ICHIDAI SHOKYO TAII (ICHIDAI TAII SHO)
- KEN RITSU SHOI SHO
- MYOHO BIKUNI GOHENJI
- OTOGOZEN GOSHOSOKU (OTOGOZEN HAHA AMA GOSHO or YO NICHIMYONI SHO)
- SANZE SHOBUTSU SOKANMON KYOSO HAIRYU (SANZE SHOBUTSU SOKANMON SHO)
- SHIMON BUTSUJYO GI TOKIDONO SHO or SYUJYU SOTAI SHO)
- HOREN SHO
- KYODAI SHO
- JUPPOKAI MEI INGA SHO (JUKKAI INGA SHO or JUKKAI MEI INGA SHO)
- KITO SHO
- SHIJO KINGO YURUSHI GOMON (SHO HACHIMAN SHO or NICHIGENNYO GOSHO)
- SHISHIN GOHON SHO
- HOKKE GYOJA CHINAN NO KOTO (YO MONJIN SHO)
- TERADOMARI GOSHO
- SHIGON SHOSHU IMOKU (SHOSHU IMOKU SHO)
- SADO GOSHO
- TENSU KYOJU HOMON (SHURI HANDOKU SHO)
- SHIJO KINGO DONO GOHENJI (KO SHOHO SHO)
- SHOKYO TO HOKEKYO TO NAN I NO KOTO (NANSHIN NANGE SHO)
- BO JIKYO NO KOTO
- SHIJO KINGO DONO GOHENI (ONSHITSU DAIJIN KIHAJI)
- SHUKUN NO MIMI NI HOMON WO IRE YODOZAI WO MANUKARURU KOTO (SHUKUN SHO)
- SHIJO KINGO DONO GOHENJI (I HOKEKYO FUKASHAKU SHORYO JI)
- SHIJO KINGO DONO GOHRNJI (SHORYO SHO)
- MINOBUSAN GOSHO
- TAN'E SHO (UENO DONO GOHENJI or YO NANJO SHI SHO)
- NAKAOKI NYUDO GOSHOSOKU (YO NAKAOKI NYUDO TSUMA SHO or NAKAOKI SHO)
- GESSUI GOSHO (HO DAIGAKU SABURO TSUMA SHO or DAIGAKU SHO)
- DAIMOKU MIDA MYOGO SHORETSU NO KOTO
- SAN SANZO KIU NO KOTO (NISHJYAMA SHO or HO OUCHI SHI SHO)
- NYONIN OJO SHO
- MISAWA SHO
- JOREMBO GOSHO (ZENDO SKO or GOSHA SHICHISHU SHUJO GOSHO)
- SUSHUN TENNO GOSHO (SHIJO SHO or DO JIGOKU SHO)
- SHIJO KINGO DONO GOHENJI (BONNONJO SHO)
- NICHIMYO SHONIN GOSHO
- SENNICHI AMA COZUN GOHENJI
- KOU AMA GOZEN GOSHO
- SHINNICHI AMA GOZEN GOHENJI (SADO ABUTSUBO GOSHO or ABUTSUBO GOSHO)
- NANJO HYOE SICHIRO DONO GOSHO (UENO DONO GOSHO)
- KOUNICHIBO GOSHO
- JI MYOHOKKB MONDO SHO
- AKIMOTO GOSHO
- MYONICHI NYO GOHENJI (MYONICHI AMA GOHENJI)
- HOKKE SHOSHIN JOBUTSU SHO
- NANJO HYOE SHICHIRO DONO GOHENJI
- SHONIN GONANJI (GONAN SHO)
- TOTAI GI SHO
- JIKAKU DAISHI NO KOTO (OTA NYUDO GOHENJI)
- NYOSETSU SHUGYO SHO
- HONZON KUYO GOSHO (NANJO HEISHICHIRO GOSHO)
- SHUJU OFURUMAI GOSHO
- SHUKU JUSSHO GOSHO
- SOYA NYUDO DONO YURUSHI GOSHO
- SAINAN TAIJI SHO
- KYOKIJIKOKU SHO
- ISSAKUJITSU GOSHO
- SHIMOYAMA GOSHOSOKU (KEMPON SHO)
- KANGYO HACHIMAN SHO
- KEMBUTSU MIRAIKI
- GO GOHYAKUSAI AIMON
- HOKYO HOJU JI
- JUNYOZE NO KOTO
- MYOHO MANDARA KUYO NO KOTO (HONZON KUYO SHO)
- SHONIN SANZE WO SHIRU NO KUTO (SHONIN CHI SANZE JI)
- SHIJOKINGO SHAKABUTSU KUYO NO KOTO
- NICHIGENNYO ZORYU SHAKABUTSU KUYO JI
- DOJOSHIN SHUGO NO KOTO
- CHIBYO DAISHO GONJITSU IMOKU
- YORIMOTO CHINJO (RYUZO MONDO SHO)
- YADOYA NYUDO YURUSHI GOSHO
- ANKOKU RON OKUGAKI
- KYOJIN JO GOHENJI
- ZEMMUI SHO
- OTA DONO YURUSHI GOSHO (SHOKYO CHU OU JI)
- HOMMON KAITAJ SHO
- JUSSHO SHO
- HOMON MOSARUBEKI YO NO KOTO
- MONCHU TOKUJ SHO
- MOKUE NIZO KAIGEN NO KOTO (SOMOKU JOBUTSU SHO)
- SENNICHI AMA GOHENJI (CHO ABUTSUBO SHO)
- TOKI NYUDO DONO GOHENJI (JONIN SHO or RINKEN SHUKKAI SHO)
- TOKI DONO GOHENJI (TOKJ DONO GOSHO)
- DAIGAKU SABURO DONO GOSHO
- TOKIMITSU DONO GOHENJI
- MYOHO AMA GOZEN GOHENJI
- UENO DONO GOHENJI (CHIBABO SHO or RYUMON SHO)
- UENO DONO GOHENJI (GAMOKU SHO)
- UENO DONO GOHENJI (HOYO SHO)
- UENO DONO GOHENJI (SHO ICHIDA SHO)
- NANJO DONO GOHENJI (NANJO OHASMITARO SHO)
- YAKUOHON TOKUI SHO
- SEICHOJI DAISHU CHU (KOKUZO BOSATSU SHO)
- HIKIRI DONO GOSHO
- OTA DONO NYOBO GOHENJI
- MUJO SEMMETSUSHO
- NIZEN TOKUDO UMU GOSHO
- TOSH NEMBUTSUSHA MUKENJJGOKU NO KOTO
- JUPPOKAI NO KOTO
- MATSUNO DONO GOKE AMA GOZEN GOHENJI
- OSHAJO NO KOTO
- HOKKE SHINGON SHORETSU NO KOTO
- SKINGON TENDAJ SHORETSU NO KOTO
- ICHINOSAWA NYUDO NYOBO GOHENJI
- NANJO DONO GOHENJI (SHOSHUN SHO)
- UENO DONO GOHENJI (SOMOKU NIJO SBNDAr JOBUTSU SI)
- UENO DONO GOHENJI (NIKAN SHO)
- TAKAHASHI NYUDO DONO COHBNJI (NISHIYAMA SHO)
- ICHINEN SANZEN RIJI (ICHINEN SANZEN SHO)
- NIIKE DONO GOSHOSOKII (HO NIIKEZAEMONJO SHO)
- NEMBUTSHUSHA TSUIHO SENJO JI
- SHINGON KEMMON
- SOYA DONO GOHENJI (YAKIGOME SHO)
- MAMA SHAKABUTSU GOKUYO OIJO
- GYOBIN SOJO GOETSU
- RISSHO KANSHO
- RISSHO KANSHO OKURIJO
- KITOKYO OKURIJO (SEN HOKKE SHO)
- OTA DONO NYOBO GOHENJI (HACHI KANJIGOKU SHO)
- JOMYO SHONIN GOHENJI
- OTA DONO NYOBO GOHENJI (SOKUSHIN JOBUTSU JI)
- NIZEN NIJO BOSATSU FUSABUTSU JI
- SHIJO KINGO DONO NYOBO GOHENJI
- KAITAI SOHUSHIN JOBUTSU GI
- HYOE NO SAKUWAN DONO GOHENJI (KANGYO SHO)
- KANJIN RONZON TOKUI SHO
- SHIJO KINGO GOSHO (NAKATSUKASA SAEMON NO JO DONO GOSHO)
- ITAI DOSHIN JI
- SHIJO KINGO DONO GOHENJI (KOKUKAI SHO or BUPPO OHO SHOBU SHO)
- SHION SHO (IZU GOKANKI SHO)
- SHOMITSUBO GOSHO
- JIHIKI GOSHO (ICHINICHIKYO GOSHO)
Don Ross listed the Gosho that accord to the above Gosho. I'm working to match them up by title, but the below are those that he found matched Toki's list. The links are gosho from the the SGI's latest translation published in 1999, The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. These are those from the Major Writings that he says match the Rokunai list. His page is at "http://campross.crosswinds.net/gosho.html", which are considered to be authentic by Nichiren Shu and the other Nichiren Schools. So here is a list of the gosho included below, by their number in the WND's Table of Contents: 2, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 22, 24, 26, 27, 30 part 1, 30 part 2, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 49, 54, 55, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63,64,65,66,67,68,69,72,73,76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83,85,87,88,94,95,96,97,98,99,105, 106,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,119,120,122,123,124,133,135,138,140,143,148,149,154,156,157,158,159,162,163,165,166,168.
If you look at the above list, it definately doesn't include all of the Gakkai's favorite Gosho. Part of this is because this list was made by Toki Jonin, who may not have had access to all of them. But part of that reflects the issues covered on our disputed page.
Gosho from Nichiren Shoshu and the Gakkai: Will Kallender pioneered the placing of the Gosho online. Most of the below websites point to the same versions of the Gosho,
- Gakkai:
- http://www.sgi-usa.org/buddhism/library/Nichiren/gosho.htm
- Gosho Study Page
- http://www.etherbods.com/gosho/gosho-ejindex/by_wnd_page.shtml
- http://ftworthbuddhas.tripod.com/fwbuddhaspage/id11.html
- http://home.att.net/~cyberlark/contents.html
- Don Ross:
- http://campross.crosswinds.net/gosho.html
- Nichiren Shoshu
- http://nichirenreader.com/
- http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/jqpublic/gosho.html
- Others:
- http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hw8m-mrkm/nonch/people/nichiren.html
Will Kallender pioneered the online availability of Gosho for study purposes. with his site www.gosho.net which he gave to the Sokagakkai. It has been hard to get anyone from the Gakkai to translate or make available Gosho in addition to those already available, pretty much since the dispute with Nichiren Shoshu began. with the exception of this one:>The Honzon Mondo Sho . This is a rather flowery Gosho written from Mt. Minobu: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bridge/7743/minobu.html. There seem to be copyright issues about this and other Gosho translated by Reverend Kubota:http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bridge/7743/. The Honzon Mondo Sho at: http://www.butsuryushu.org/study/selected-writings-of-nichiren-sh/honzon-mondo-sho/honzon-mondo-sho.htm Books with Gosho For the sake of easing use of this site. I am putting bookmarks and sources for information on the yahoogroup "irgosho." To visit these visit this page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/irgosho/links. To Join irgosho send an email to [email protected] or visit the page: irgosho group and join it. I will, more than likely, approve your membership. Also: Click to subscribe to irgosho Other Books: http://la.nichirenshu.org/archive/NBIC/book.htm Selected Writings of Nichiren Daishonin Note: The order of Goshos above is the same as that of the original list but the numbers attached on the heads of the titles of the Goshos are not proper to them. Footnotes and miscellaneous sources
Index of websites:http://www.plebius.com/od/plebius/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Buddhism/Nichiren/