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Niko (1253-1314) was the son of a samurai from Mobara, Kazusa1. He was a novice priest at Mt. Hiei at the time his father met Nichiren DaiShonin in 12651. His father was so impressed by Nichiren that he had Niko brought back from Mt. Hiei in order to become a disciple of Nichiren Shonin. Niko was first named "Sado-bo" by Nichiren and it was by that nickname that he was known. He is closely associated with two other of Nichiren's disciples, "Hoki-bo" or Nikko Shonin and Sammi-bo. Sammi-bo later fell out with the Daishonin, and Niko later fell out with Nikko. Niko was junior to both in seniority.
Niko taught the Lotus Sutra in his home town Mobara as a disciple of Nichiren's, but when he found out about Nichiren Dai-Shonin's exile he joined him on Sado Island. For this reason, he is known as the Sado Master. (He was referred to as "sado-bo" in a number of Gosho.)
Nikko and Niko were close for much of their apprenticeship to Nichiren. In one Gosho written about the Atsuhara Persecution, soon before Nichiren's own death Nichiren writes, in the Gosho "On Itai Doshin" (many in body one in mind):
Hoki-bo and Sado-bo, and the believers in Atsuhara, have proved the strength of their resolve.
If the spirit of many in body but one in mind (itai doshin) prevails among the people,they will achieve all their goals, where-as if one in body but different in mind, they can achieve nothing remarkable.
The more than three thousand volumes of Confucian and Taoist literature are filled with examples. King Chou of Yin led seven hundred thousand soldiers into battle against King Wu ofChou and his eight hundred men. Yet King Chou's army lost because of disunity while King Wu's men defeated him because of perfect unity.
Even an individual at cross purposes with himself is certain to end in failure. Yet a hundred or even a thousand people can definitely attain their goal, if they are of one mind. Though numerous,the Japanese will find it difficult to accomplish anything, because they are divided in spirit. In contrast, although Nichiren and his followers are few, because they are different in body, but united in mind[Itai Doshin], they will definitely accomplish their great mission of widely propagating the Lotus Sutra
It was the unity of Nichiren's followers that allowed them to prevail over great odds. And Nichiren intended that unity to continue after his death. (See sixpriests.html)
After Nichiren Dai-Shonin's death, Niko founded the Myokoji Temple in Mobara. In 1285, he left Mobara to 'help' Nikko at Mount Minobu. Unfortunately, rather than helping Nikko, he undermined Nikko's relationship with Lord Hakiri and made it so that he and Nikko unable to reconcile their differences (see hara.html, sixpriests.html and nikko.html. This initial personality disagreement combined with doctrinal matters led to the first schism in the ranks of Nichiren's disciples. Thus the irony of the Gosho on "Itai Doshin" referring to the two of them. Nichiren had been prescient.
Nikko also had criticized the three priests in Kamakura (see sixpriests.html). It appears that these people were going to depose him even if he stayed at Minobu. Consequently he left Minobu and were not supportive of his authority and claim to being Nichiren's direct disciple and the one who should be in charge. For all those reasons Nikko left in 1288.
Niko then established himself as chief rector of Minobu.
Graham Lamont "General Conditions after Nichiren" writes:
"Because of these various conditions, the rotation system at Minobu had many problems. On the seventh anniversary of the Shonin�s death, the jito, Hakii Sanenaga, proposed the following plan to the Six Senior Disciples:"
"Though this is the will of the Daishonin, the rotation system is not working well. How about appointing a full-time temple priest...?""Five of the six major disciples agreed with the jito but Nikko firmly opposed the idea because the rotation system had been the Shonin�s dying wish."
Now this is revealing. When I first read this the dates confused me until I found out about the practice of holding a memorial approximately 100 days after the death of a Buddhist. Initially I was told that the anniversaries were of the death, but this date is considered the date of the practitioners "Parinirvana" or entering into Nirvana. Thus the seventh anniversary is actually 6 years and 100 days following Nichiren's death. Nichiren died on October 13 1282. Therefore the first "anniversary" would have occured in January 1283. The second one in January 1284,...the 7th in January 1289. Thus if Hakiri recommended that Niko become a permanent chief, that could only be offensive to Nikko, as he had already been doing the job, was senior to Niko Shonin and seemed to be the only one who really cared about Minobu, watching Nichiren's grave. This meeting This was the last straw. Niko had successfully undermined him. According to Fuji School Nikko departed Minobu in the spring of 1289.
John Ayers translates this letter into English on ARBN, it says in part:
"Niko's transgressions are not only those. There have been one or two people who have taken it upon themselves and painted the image of (inscribed the mandala of) Nam' Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo and the "Master of the Teachings, the venerable Sakyamuni", the "Tathagata of the Actual Attaining Enlightenment of Kuon" that was the purpose of the appearance of Nichiren Daishonin.
Yet, no one in this school has ever made a wooden statue of Sakyamuni to worship. In spite of that, Nichi-en Nyuudo, despite his extremely shallow faith, is thinking about making a statue of Sakyamuni. There is no use for a statue so he should stop thinking about it.
I learned that Niko suggested to Nichien Nyuudou that they should make a Buddha statue about the size of the one Nichiren had, to replace it, as Nichirou destroyed the will of the Daishonin and walked off with the one that Nichiren had stated in his testament to have placed at his grave.
As far as I am concerned, I have some complaint if it is the statue that Nichiren had placed in a shrine at his grave. But, they went so far as to suggest they worship it. This idea is absurd because that statue is not related to Jogyo Bosatsu of the four Bodhisattvas who (along with Sakyamuni Buddha and Taho Tathagata,) are to be alongside (the "Master of the Teachings, the Venerable Sakyamuni", the "Tathagata of the Actual Attaining Enlightenment of Kuon"). It is the Dhuta (ascetic) Buddha of Hinayana Buddhism. As such, even if one were to make (a copy of) the Buddha statue (that Nichirou walked off with), it would never be an object for worship."
Niko seems to have not really understood what Nichiren intended the Object of worship to be. The Fuji School would eventually propound "exclusive use of the Calligraphic Mandala", precisely because of the difficulty in getting even its priests to differentiate between "images" and the underlying principles they represent.
Even though Niko was now the permanent "rector" of Mt. Minobu, he also continued to make trips back to Mobara in such a fashion that Mobara came to see to see itself as of equal rank to the Minobu Lineage. This was to be a pattern in all the lineages, where each "branch temple" struggled to become a main temple and so any unity between Nichiren's disciples was to be undermined by this sort of constant infighting that began with the dispute between Niko and Nikko Shonin. For many years subsequent Mount Minobu was to be treated as a family temple, interferred with frequently by members of the Hakiri clan, until finally it was purchased from that clan and rebuilt in grander style. Nikko and his disciples would make the case thereafter, eventually claiming it was in writing (possibly apocryphal Gosho), that Nikko should have been supported as chief rector of Minobu. A look at the facts of the situation supports that this was informally so even if it never was formally so.
Niko is thus considered the founder of two lineages: the Mobara Lineage and the Minobu Lineage. Nikko Shonin is "crossed" out of the Minobu Lineage except in an "honorable mention" given by Nichiren Shu to some of the Fuji School temples when they joined their coalition many years later. Niko had been successful in undermining Nikko Shonin. but the result was a permanent schism and much needless poisonous debate. This poison ended up causing each of the lineages to fracture and fracture again and argue with each other as vehemently as they did with the other schools of Buddhism.
- For more on this follow these links:
- Dai-Gohonzon
- Fuji School
- More on the dispute
- Information on Nikko
- A meditation on Lord Hakiri
We can see that Nikko placed great emphasis on "correct faith." Something that would later be come to be known as a "shoretsu approach." This argument shows is that Nikko and Niko had a differing understanding of the significance of Nichiren, of the importance of "correct faith" -- which means in this case strictly differentiating between the "object of respect" (Gohonzon) and the various "images" people prefer to use to depict it. It is obvious that, even at this early date, the Hokke Shu -- at least the future Fuji School -- was headed away from using a single statue of Shakyamuni to represent the "Tathagata of Actual Attaining Enlightenment." (Actual is "Ji"). For more on this subject visit my page gohonzon.html,the page on Nikko Shonin, and the one on the fuji school. And obviously Niko didn't see it that way. His point of view was later to be called the "Itchi" view, or "unified view." Was he entirely wrong?
In the Komoku Mondo Ki, as translated by Stephanie Maltz, Niko tried to defend himself:
On the twentieth anniversary of Nichiren's death (which would be the year 1302) , the twenty-eigth day of the first month of the fourth year of the Shoan era, Niko debated which part of the Lotus Sutra is superior with Temmoku at Nagoe in Kamakura. Temmoku (1245-1337) became a disciple of Nichiren at a very young age. After Nichiren died, Temmoku advocated the abandonment of the theoretical teachings of the Lotus Sutra in favor of the essential teachings6 and was ostracized by other followers of Nichiren because of it.
The debate took place in 1299, and it is recorded in the Ko-Moku Mondo Ki (Dialogue between Niko and Temmoku), a work that is not listed in the Mokuroku.
- Niko:
- "Isn't it true that those who disobey Nichiren are bound to fall into hell?"
- Temmoku:
- "Yes, that's true."
- Niko:
- Then you are bound to fall into hell. For in Nichiren's writings we find the last testament of Nichiren:
"Whatever may happen, build my tomb on Mount Minobu." (Hakii Dono Gosho)- Earlier in the same letter Nichiren lauds his own achievements and says,
"Shakyamuni spend eight years on Vulture Peak, preaching the Lotus Sutra. I have been here on Mount Minobu for nine, reading and reciting it. Surely we should feel the same awe for this peak as for Vulture Peak."Thus it was that the six elder monks and all our founder's followers obeyed Nichiren's last wishes and brought his remains from Ikegami to be entombed on Mount Minobu. One who turns his back on Nichiren's tomb turns his back on Nichiren, and as a result he falls without any doubt into Avichi Hell.
- Temmoku:
- The reason that I refuse to visit the tomb is that the local steward of Mount Minobu has slandered the Dharma, and thus our founder's tomb should not be located there.
- Niko:
- What you are referring to as slander of the Dharma is cutting the daihoge bamboo from Mount Gasan or the donations of shrine curtains and sacred horses to Mishima Shrine. (Niko is referring to the donations made by Hakii Sanenaga that were a source of controversy between Niko and Nikko, and contributed to the latter's departure from Mount Minobu. Niko accepted Hakii's explainations for these apparent examples of donations to those of other sects, and Nikko refused to.) Lord Hakii behaved as he did while Nichiren was alive, and the six elders pointed this out to Nichiren, suggesting that he should repreimand Lord Hakii.
But Nichiren said,
"That would be like trying to straighten the horns of a bull, and killing it in the process. If you reprimand Lord Hakii, he will without question become a slanderer of the Dharma, and his offense will be far more weighty than it is now. But let it be, and he will rectify his behavior on his own."And just as Nichiren thought, the matter ended there, and from that time the descendants of Hakii have practiced according to the teachings. What purpose can there be in refusing to make pilgrimages to Mount Minobu after the matter has been rectified? What is the meaning of turning your back on Nichiren's grave now? If you say that we cannot reside in any place where the local steward is a slanderer of the Dharma, then there would have been no temple or Buddhist hall anywhere in the land where Nichiren might have resided! Since the ruler of the nation is a slanderer of the Dharma, isn't it our duty to challenge him? When Nichiren was alive, he lived in a land of Dharma slanderers and rebuked them. After his death, he left his remains behind in a nation of Dharma slanderers. He described Mount Minobu as the place of practice of the essential teaching of the secondhalf of the Lotus Sutra, and established his head temple for thel sentient beings of Jambudvipa in the ten thousand years of the Latter Days of the Dharma could worship at. Do you suggest that Nichiren should not reside on Mount Minobu?
Of course, if you read further, you see that Nikko was more angry with Niko for not cooperating with his efforts than he was at Niko's specific transgressions. You can see this in his letter to Lord Hakiri. Niko had undermined his position, and that was as much an issue as any specific transgressions. The real problem was that rather than working together as a team, learning from each other, and genuinely consulting with one another, he had moved in -- as invited -- and then taken over. The balance between unilateral action and collective action had been broken by lack of focus on "the one great truths" of Nichiren's teachings. Just as with Nissho's submission of a revised Rissho Ankoku Ron, Toki Jonin's self-ordainment and other unilateral actions, each of Nichiren's disciples disregarded each other as they acted unilaterally. And in doing so they committed grievious errors which they often failed to even see they had committed. It was in this way that they each in their own way provoked rivalries with one another. Perhaps that is why Nikko so emphasized his own approach to Mentor/disciple. Even in a model of "genuine democracy" the only way to have an orderly group is to have someone in charge. And if Nikko hadn't been given the "transfer documents" Niko should clearly have centered on Nikko as the central figure. However, naturally, he didn't see it that way. Nor did any of the various succession fights involve people who were even able to cooperate with one another once a choice came between who should be in charge. Such a center could have "rotated" but it couldn't be broken or the result would be disaster.
Niko's two lineages went on to prosper over time. Each going through numerous transformations over the centuries. Hakiri's family, did indeed keep practicing Nichiren's Buddhism, but to stop interference from the "Jito's" descendents, eventually funds had to be raised to buy the property from them. Nikko too had to deal with family issues as you will see if you follow the results of his efforts to get away from Lord Hakiri's influence.Niko's Succession:
Niko left his disciple Nisshin in charge of Mount Minobu, and his disciple Nisshu in charge of the Myokoji Temple in Mobara. The Myokoji Temple is now known as Sogenji Temple.7
Further Readings:
- Nichiren Shu:
- "http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~nichiren/IntroNSE.html"
- http://archive.nichirenshu.org/NBIC/minobu.htm
- Pretty weeping cherry trees
- Minobu official homepage
Footnotes
- http://www.crosswinds.net/~campross/Ryuei/SixDisciples_04.html
- Also drew information on Niko from SGI sources.
- Reply to Mr. Hara
- Komoku Mondo Ki was actually translated by Stephanie Maltz
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Nichiren+Niko+Hakiri+group:alt.religion.buddhism.nichiren.*&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=7sbck7%24q3i%241%40nnrp1.deja.com&rnum=3- Stephanie and Bruce don't explain, but he advocated a 'shoretsu' line, and was probably a disciple of Nikko's
- http://www.crosswinds.net/~campross/Ryuei/SixDisciples_04.html
- more?