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Nichiren and his nationalistic eschatology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Takashi James Kodera
Takashi James Kodera
Affiliation:
Wellesley College and Harvard East Asian Research Center
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Extract

A noticeable number of contemporary Japanese intellectuals have associated Nichiren (1222–82) with intolerant nationalism and henceforth have viewed him with an air of aloofness, if not of contempt. For these intellectuals, who have come to denounce nationalism and patriotism as a dangerous ideology that led Japan to the tragedy of World War II, Nichiren's passion for Japan runs counter to their decided preference for a man more cosmopolitan in taste, even a man critical of Japan. It is true that the followers of Nichiren attempted to promote Nichiren as a patriotic Buddhist when ultra-nationalistic fervour was steadily advancing Japan as a formidable power in the world through her victory in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and the Russo-Japanese War a decade later.1 The image of Nichiren presented by his ultra-nationalistic followers in early modern Japan and by contemporary intellectuals continues to obscure Nichiren's own teaching. The present paper probes Nichiren's attitude toward Japan in the context of his messianic view of history, which constitutes one of the most salient features of Nichiren's teaching of seven centuries ago.

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Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 1979 , pp. 41 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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References

page 41 note 1 Tsunoda, Ryusaku, Bary, Wm. Theodore de and Keene, Donald, eds. Sources of Japanese Tradition, pp. 759–805.Google Scholar

page 41 note 2 Showa teihon Nichiren shōnin ibun (abbreviated hereafter as NSI), p. 882Google Scholar. Needless to say, ‘eighty thousand’ is a figurative expression, suggesting ‘all’.

page 41 note 3 Present Chiba Prefecture, south of Tokyo across the bay. A branch shrine of the Grand Shrine of Ise, where the Sun Goddess is the main deity, was located near Nichiren's birth place. NSI, p. 868. It is interesting to note his apparent pride in coming from the barbaric eastern region of the country and also from a low social class. He calls himself the ‘son of a śūdra and a fisherman’. (Śūdra is the lowest among the four main castes in Brahmanic India.) See NSI, p. 511.Google Scholar

page 41 note 4 NSI, p. 1090.Google Scholar

page 42 note 1 NSI, p. 1154.Google Scholar

page 42 note 2 The military regime that was started by Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192 after his defeat of the Taira clan was continued by the members of the Hōjō family who served as commissioners (shikken). The initial association between the two families began when Hōjō Masako married Yoritomo. Masako and her father, Hōjō Tokimasa, became the virtual rulers of the country after Yoritomo's son, Sanetomo, was assassinated in 1219.

page 42 note 3 NSI, p. 868.Google Scholar

page 42 note 4 NSI, p. 1623. Customarily, however, the Sun Goddess was regarded as the manifestation of Mahāvairocāna Tathāgata (Ja. Dainichi nyorai) and Hachiman as that of Amitābha Tathāgata (Ja. Amida nyorai). See Tsuji Zennosuke, Nihon bukkyō-shiI. The Shintō–Buddhist syncretism was quite common in Japan, particularly among the Shingon Esoteric Buddhists for whom Mahāvairocāna occupied a place of central importance.Google Scholar

page 42 note 5 Azuma kagami, Kan'ei, edition, vols. 44–8: Nihon koten zemhü, Azuma kagami, vol. 7, p. 199 vol. 8, p. 74.Google Scholar

page 43 note 1 Risshō ankoku-ron: NSI, p. 209. This translation is from Anesaki Masaharu, Nichiren, the Buddhist Prophet, p. 36.Google Scholar

page 43 note 2 An alternative English translation of Nichiren's work is ‘The Establishment of the Legitimate Teaching for the Security of the Countory’: Bary, Wm. Theodore de, The Buddhist Tradition in India, China and japan, p. 350Google Scholar, and Tsunoda, et al., eds. Sources of Japanese Tradition, p. 223Google Scholar. Nichiren's plea for the ‘establishment of righteousness’ is to be sharply contrasted with the prevalence of wickedness and with Hōnen's Pure Land teaching. ‘Righteousness’ seems to be a more apt antonym of wickedness. Yet Nichiren's plea also included a return to the only legitimate rule of the imperial family in the capital, and assuredly the idea of the ‘establishment of legitimacy’ constitutes an important ingredient of Nichiren's treatise. Sir Charles Eliot translates Nichiren's work as ‘A Treatise on the Establishment of Righteousness and the Peace of the Country’. Eliot, , History of Japanese Buddhism, P. 277.Google Scholar

page 43 note 3 Mattōshō: Taishō shinshü daizōkyō 83, no. 2659, p. 713c.

page 43 note 4 The full title means: ‘Collection of Passages on the Original Vow of Amitābha, in Which the Calling of Amitōbha's Name is Chosen Above All Other Ways of Achieving Rebirth.’

page 44 note 1 Risshō ankoku-ron: NSI, pp. 214–17.Google Scholar

page 44 note 2 Ibid.: NSI, p. 219. It is noteworthy that Nichiren directed his criticism of the Pure Land Buddhism only to Hónen, while he mentions the Chinese Pure Land teachers and Hōnen's predecessor, Genshin (942–1017), with only a mild criticism. See NSI, pp. 216–17.

page 44 note 3 Risshō ankoku-ron: NSI, p. 225.Google Scholar

page 44 note 4 Buddhism traditionally divided time after the death of Gautama Buddha into three periods. In the first period, the age of Authentic Dharma, the Buddha's teaching is delivered, practice continued and enlightenment attained. In the subsequent age of Counterfeit Dharma, the teaching and practice continue but enlightenment is not possible. In the third age of Latter Dharma, the Latter Days, neither the practice nor enlightenment are possible, and eventually the extinction of the teaching will follow. Different time lengths are assigned to these ages, but most commonly the first two ages are 1,000 years each, followed by the Latter Days.

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page 45 note 2 The reason for the release is uncertain. Kino Kazuyoshi speculates that it was arranged by Hōjō Tokiyori to whom the Risshō ankoku-ron had been submitted albeit with no reply. Nine months later, Tokiyori was dead at the young age of 37. Kino, and Umehara, , Eien no inochi, pp. 78–9.Google Scholar

page 45 note 3 NSI, p. 423.Google Scholar

page 45 note 4 NSI, p. 327.Google Scholar

page 46 note 1 NSI, pp. 436–7Google Scholar; Anesaki, , p. 53.Google Scholar

page 46 note 2 NSI, p. 459.Google Scholar

page 46 note 3 NSI, p. 964.Google Scholar

page 46 note 4 The imperial title for Saichō (767–822), who established on Mt. Hiei a centre of Buddhist learning based on the Tendai (Ch. T‘ien-t’ai) doctrine of Chih I (538–97) of China. Saichō, too, considered the Lotus Sūtra to be the only complete and final teaching of the Buddha.

page 46 note 5 A mark of the highest imperial recognition.

page 47 note 1 Śākyamuni preached the Lotus Sütra on the Vulture Peak (Grdhraküta).

page 47 note 2 NSI, 965–6.Google Scholar

page 47 note 3 Ibid. p. 967.

page 47 note 4 NSI, p. 590.Google Scholar

page 47 note 5 NSI, pp. 504–5Google Scholar; Anesaki, , p. 58.Google Scholar

page 48 note 1 Hurvitz, LeonScripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharm (The Lotus Sūtra), pp. 205–6.Google Scholar

page 48 note 2 The opening passage of the Lotus Sūtra.

page 49 note 1 NSI, pp. 727–8.Google Scholar

page 49 note 2 Hurvits, , tr. The Lotus Sūtra, pp. 280–1. The parallel is apparent with the image of the lamb in Second Isaiah.Google Scholar

page 49 note 3 We see how much importance Nichiren himself attached to the Kaimoku-shō, when we read: ‘This is the bright mirror reflecting the future Japan attended by Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddhaof Many Jewels and the buddhas of all directions.’ NSI, p. 590.

page 49 note 4 NSI, pp. 601 Anesaki describes the Pillar as the supporter, the Lordship; the Eyes as the mastership; and the Great Vessel as the giver of life, the fatherhood. Anesaki, p. 73 footnote.Google Scholar

page 49 note 5 See footnote 3 on p. 41.

page 49 note 6 Chapter 20 of the Lotus Sūtra

page 49 note 7 NSI, p. 614, Anesakai, p. 74.Google Scholar

page 50 note 1 NSI, p. 1018.Google Scholar

page 50 note 2 The notice on the release was issued by Commissioner Hōjō Tokimori in the third month of 1274. He had begun to revere Nichiren and had often sent him presents and comforting letters. There were, however, many members of the Hōjō family who remained implacable enemies of Nichiren. See NSI, pp. 805–7.Google Scholar

page 50 note 3 NSI, pp. 1017–18.Google Scholar

page 50 note 4 NSI, p. 1325.Google Scholar

page 50 note 5 NSI, p. 1850.Google Scholar

page 50 note 6 NSI, pp. 1887–8.Google Scholar

page 51 note 1 NSI, p. 1238Google Scholar. For a host of other reasons why Nichiren denounced Shingon Buddhism, see Yutaka, Takagi, Nihon jin no kōdō to shisō, Nichiren, pp. 190–2.Google Scholar

page 51 note 2 See Chamberlain, Basil Hall, tr. Ko-ji-hi or Records of Ancient Matters pp. 45–9.Google Scholar

page 51 note 3 Between 1271 and 1282, the year of his death, Nichiren produced a large number of mandalas with considerable variations. A hundred and twenty-four of them are extant today. All of them, however, have the ‘Namu-myō-hō-re-ge-kyoō‘ at the centre. One striking difference between Nichiren's mandalas and those of the Esoteric School is that the former contain words drawn in black ink on white background, while the latter involve paintings of rich imagination and of many vivid colours. For one of Nichiren's last mandalas, see Miyazaki Eishū, Nicheren to sono deshi, picture 12.

page 52 note 1 NSI, pp. 1831–50.Google Scholar

page 52 note 2 According to the Buddhist cosmology, there are four continents surrounding Mt. Sumeru, the centre of the universe.

page 52 note 3 NSI, pp. 447–8.Google Scholar

page 52 note 4 NSI, pp. 1045, 1230–1, 882ff.Google Scholar

page 53 note 1 NSI, p. 560.Google Scholar

page 53 note 2 Nichiren did not develop a lifelong devotion to a particular teacher or a master, while the other prominent Buddhist figures of Kamakura Japan did, for example Dogen to his Chinese master Ju-ching and Shinran to Hōnen.

page 53 note 3 Hurvitz, , tr. The Lotus Sūtra pp. 225–7, 287, 292 and 304.Google Scholar