Nichiren Daishōnin founded his school in 1253. Early in the morning of March 28 of the same year, the priest who was still called Renchō, after completing his journey of study, ascended to the forest of Kasagamori on the summit of Mount Kiyosumi and chanted the Daimoku "Nam-Myōhōrengekyō" to the rising sun, proclaiming to the world the doctrine of the school of seeding in the End of the Dharma.

A month later, on April 28, Facing South, in the Buddha shrine of the All Buddhas Pavilion of Seichō-ji Temple, at the horse hour (noon) he declared to the masses that the Lotus Sutra was the supreme teaching and that the beings of the End of the Dharma could only be saved by Nam- Myōhōrengekyō and that belief in any other doctrine was a great mistake.

At this time, he changed his name to Nichiren.

He then moved to a hermitage in Matsubagayatsu on the outskirts of Kamakura. From there he went to the city every day to preach at street crossings.

At this time, the Pure Land and Zen schools were prevalent. Hōnen, founder of the Pure Land in Japan said of the Lotus Sutra:

"Since the Lotus Sutra was preached to a religiously trained elite, its theory is esoteric and no one in the world today is able or willing to follow and practice the Buddha's teachings.

It is not a suitable and appropriate scripture for the beings of the Dharma Ends, whose understanding of scriptures is also inferior”.

Hōnen, like the others, had only read the Lotus Sutra literally and, indeed, in the End of the Dharma, no one was capable of following Zhiyi's asceticism anymore. From then on, for Hōnen and all the Japanese people, Buddhahood was only possible after death, provided they had invoked the name of Amitabha Buddha during their lives. As a result, even today in Japan, when we speak of a deceased person we do not say "the dead", but "the Buddha".

It was then that Nichiren Daishōnin appeared, proclaiming loudly and clearly at the crossroads that Buddhahood in this life is possible, provided one recites Nam Myōhōrengekyō and rejects all other teachings, especially that of Hōnen. This was a real revolution in Japanese society, not only religiously, but also politically and socially.

During his sermons on street corners, Nichiren Daishōnin was abused, beaten and pelted. But at the same time, more and more people became interested in what he was saying, and soon the number of his followers grew. As early as 1254, Toki Tsunenobu (Jōnin) became his benefactor, followed in 1256 by Shijō Kingo, Kudō Yoshitaka, Shinji Yoshiharu, Ebara Yoshimune, Ikegami Munenaka and many others.

As for his disciples, the first to knock on his door was Ben ajari Nisshō (日昭) (1236 - 1323). He became a monk in a Tendai school temple at the age of 15, and moved to Mount Hiei, near Kyōto, to study Zhiyi's teaching further. On hearing that Nichiren had founded his school, he immediately went to Matsubagayatsu to ask him to accept him as a disciple.

The second disciple was Daikoku ajari Nichirō (日朗) (1245 - 1320), a nephew of Nisshō, who converted to the teaching of Nichiren Daishōnin at the same time as his father, Hiraga Jirō in 1254.

 

The third chronological disciple of Nichiren Daishōnin, was Byakuren ajari Nikkō (日興) (1246 - 1333). At the age of seven, he entered the Tendai Shijuku-in temple to study the teachings of Zhiyi, as well as calligraphy, poetry, Chinese and Japanese literature. He became a disciple of Nichiren Daishōnin in 1258 when they met at the Jissō-ji temple in Iwamoto, where Nichiren had come to consult the library containing all the sutras, with a view to writing his Treatise on the Serenity of the Land.

In 1276 it was Minbu ajari Nikō (日向) (1253 - 1314) who, at the age of 13, became a disciple.

Iyo ajari Nitshō (日頂) (1252 - 1317) became a disciple in 1267 and Renge ajari Nichiji (日持) (1250 - ?) in1270.

Other monks also rallied to Nichiren Daishōnin's teaching, but I have specifically mentioned his six men, because on 8 October 1282, five days before his death, he designated them as his core disciples, the senior monks of his school. Two years earlier, in January 1280, he had written in his Treatise on One Hundred and Six Points:

"The question of determining the six legatee disciples will be discussed in the future. However, only one of them has been mandated as the direct heir to the transmission of the essence. I appoint Byakuren Ajari Nikkō as the highest priest, entrusting him with my correct doctrine in its entirety. From the highest priest down to the youngest disciples, none should object that, as in my lifetime until the end of eternity to come, Nikkō should be regarded as the rightful high priest heir to the Dharma in his own right."

A month before his death, he passed the torch of the Dharma to the one he had designated as his successor, in the form of the Dharma Transmission Scripture that Nichiren propagated throughout his life, in which it is stated:

"Nichiren transmits the Dharma that he propagated throughout his life to Byakuren Ajari Nikkō. He will be the great guide for the propagation of the original doctrine. When the Sovereign establishes this Dharma, it will be necessary to build the Temple Shrine of the Original Doctrine on Mount Fuji. It is enough to wait for the time.

This is the Law of Precept in its reality. My disciples must respect this writing.

The ninth month of the fifth year of Kōan (1282)

Nichiren written seal

Order of transmission Nichiren, Nikkō"

He reiterated this transmission on the very day of his death in another writing, entitled Minobu's Transmission Writing, which reads:

"I transmit to Byakuren Ajari Nikkō the fifty years of teaching of the revered Shakya. He will be the steward of the Kuon-ji temple on Mount Minobu. Those who oppose him, both religious and faithful, will be seditious.

The 13th of the tenth month of the fifth year of Kōan Done at Ikegami in the land of Musashi

Nichiren written seal

According to these three writings, it can be deduced that Nichiren Daishōnin had chosen Byakuren Ajari Nikkō Shōnin as the great master for the propagation of his teaching. This is known as the "Vital Transmission to the Single Person".

However, from the time of Nichiren Daishōnin's death, differences and dissension arose between these six senior monks. For example, when they submitted remonstrances to the authorities, apart from Byakuren Nikkō, the other five signed "Nisshō, monk of Tendai", "Nichirō monk of Tendai", or "Nikō monk of the Lotus School of Tendai". Nikkō Shōnin, on the other hand, signed "Nikkō, disciple of the holy Nichiren".

These differences and dissensions caused the school to split into about fifteen currents. Today, there are no less than eleven schools. Thus, the Nisshō current, the Nichirō current, the Nikō current, the Nikkō current, and later those of Nichijū, Nichiō, Nichijō, Nichizō, Nissei, etc., appeared.

The various Nichiren streams are broadly divided into three schools of thought, according to which Buddha they venerate as the fundamental Buddha and whether or not they make a distinction between superiority and inferiority within their reference sutra, the Lotus Sutra (Myōhōrengekyō).

Among these different schools, two main currents can be distinguished in the first place: Itchi ha (一致派= concordance) and Shōretsu ha (勝劣派 = Hierarchy).

The concordance current, considers the Lotus Sutra as a whole to be the only true teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha, without establishing any hierarchy of value within the chapters. For this current, there is therefore no difference between the ephemeral doctrine and the original doctrine of the Lotus Sutra.

The Hierarchy current, on the other hand, considers that the original doctrine of the Lotus Sutra, consisting of the last fourteen chapters, is superior to the ephemeral doctrine, the first fourteen, because the ephemeral doctrine is taught by Shakyamuni Buddha who has not yet revealed his original enlightened Buddha-nature in the distant past (kuon jitsu-jō), whereas in the original doctrine he reveals his Buddha-nature from the distant past, as well as the cause, effect and place of his enlightenment.

Then, within the Hierarchy stream, there are the schools which, like all the schools of the Concordance stream, consider the fundamental Buddha to be Shakyamuni and those which consider the fundamental Buddha to be Nichiren.

This gives rise to the following three divisions:

1. Shools Concordance current considering Shakyamuni as the fundamental Buddha: Kuon-ji of Mount Minobu (Nikō), Honmon-ji of Ikegami (Nichirin), Hokekyō-ji of Nakayama (Nichijō), Myōken-ji of Kyōto (Nichizō), Honkoku-ji of Kyōto (Nichi-in), Fuju-Fuse ha (Who does not receive or make offerings) …
2. Schools of the Hierarchy stream considering Shakyamuni as the fundamental Buddha: Honmon stream, Jinmon stream, Shinmon stream, Kenpon Hokke-shū (School revealing the Fundamental (Buddha) of the Lotus Sutra), Honmon Hokke-shū, Honmon Butsuryū-shū (Establishment of the Buddha of the original doctrine)
3. Schools of the Hierarchy current considering Nichiren as the fundamental Buddha: Nichiren Shōshū, Myōhon-ji of Hota

Since ancient times, the schools of Nichiren Buddhism have been referred to collectively as the Hokke-Shū or 'Lotus School'. They were later called Nichiren Hokke-Shū, to distinguish them from the Lotus School of Tendai, Tendai Hokke-Shū, or simply Nichiren Shū. Doctrinally, they are thus divided into two main streams: the Concordance stream (Itchi ha 一致派) and the Hierarchy stream (Shōretsu ha勝劣派).

In 1872, under the policy of one representative per religious school, the government ordered the merger of the Concordance and Hierarchy streams, causing all streams to unite under the name Nichiren Shū, with the priest superintendents of each stream taking turns as the interlocutor of the government. However, such a union was a religious impossibility and hampered the management of the school. Therefore, in 1874, the law was revised in favour of the independence of the different streams.

At that time, the Nichiren Shū Concordance Current School" repeatedly asked the government to remove the name "Concordance Current" from the name of the school, and in 1876 it obtained this approval and took the name "Nichiren Shū". Today, the term "Nichiren Shū" therefore generally refers to the name of the school in this narrower sense, with Minobu Kuon-ji as the main temple, grouping together the Minobu, Nakayama, Ikegami and other streams of the general Itchi ha stream.

At the same time, the schools of the Hierarchy stream also began to identify themselves with the name Nichiren Shū in the name of their respective schools. For example, the Byakuren Nikkō stream was also called "Nichiren Shū Nikkō stream school" for a while because of these circumstances. However, this was only a legal designation based on the government's religious policy, and naturally not a name whose meaning was religiously inclusive of the "Nichiren Shū current" Concordance.

In this chapter we will discuss the different schools within the Concordance stream

As for the Nichiren Shū (Itchi ha stream), its Honzon (object of veneration) is Shakyamuni Buddha, the fundamental teacher to true enlightenment in the distant past (Kuon jitsujō).

In terms of its doctrine, Nichiren Shū, like other Nichiren schools, uses the Lotus Sutra as its scripture of reference.

About the three treasures, for the Nichiren Shū (Itchi ha current),

The Buddha's treasure is Shakyamuni Buddha at the fundamental awakening in the distant past

The Dharma's treasure is Namu-Myōhōrengekyō

The treasure of the Monk is the great bodhisattva Nichiren (Nichiren dai bosatsu).

Guided by the Buddha's messenger, Nichiren Shōnin, his followers embrace the doctrines of the path of Buddhahood for all, of true enlightenment in the distant past, of One Thousand Thought, taught in the Lotus Sutra, the authentic teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha, receive with faith the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra Namu Myōhōrengekyō, physically, verbally, and spiritually and perform the remonstrance of Dharma offenses by shakubuku, the dissemination of the Lotus Sutra in order to manifest the Buddha Land and realize the principles of the Treatise on the Serenity of the Land through the Establishment of Rectitude, the Risshō Ankoku Ron.

The distinctive feature of this doctrine of the "Nichiren Shū" is its defense of the principle of concordance between the ephemeral doctrine and the original doctrine.  For Nichirō (Honmon-ji of Ikegami), in his "Observation of Original and Ephemeral Doctrines" (Honjaku kenmon), he writes: 'The ephemeral doctrine represents the substance, while the original doctrine represents the application'. Or again, "The longevity of the Thus-Aging does not appear in the original doctrine. It is made explicit by the true aspect of the chapter of the Means".

For the Nikō current (Kuon-ji of Minobu), the discourse is the same. Gyōgaku Nichō, who is credited with developing to a large extent the doctrine of the Minobu school said: 'Dharma substance of the inseparability of the original and the ephemeral, Myōhōrengekyō (Lotus Sutra) or 'the ultimate truth of the real aspect is the oneness of the original and the ephemeral'.

Since then, until the time of the scholar-monk Nichiki at the end of the Edo period, following debates with the Hierarchy current, the Concordance current recognised in the first instance the superiority of the original doctrine over the ephemeral doctrine but, while relying on the original doctrine, it eventually continued to advocate the concordance of the two, claiming that : From the point of view of study there is a hierarchy, but from the point of view of practice there is concordance.

Then, from the point of view of the Honzon, one formulates both the Buddha as Honzon and the Dharma as Honzon. Each of these formulations has its own historical development, but it goes without saying that each is far removed from the correct doctrine of Nichiren Daishōnin.

 

Rebuttal

1.       On the theory of the concordance between the ephemeral and the original

In the Difference in the Treatment of Diseases According to the Great or Small (Vehicles) and the Circumstantial and True (Teachings), Nichiren Daishōnin writes:

"The difference between (the doctrines) original and ephemeral is the same as that existing between water and fire, or between heaven and earth".

In the reply to Lady Myō-ichi, he further writes:

"The ephemeral doctrine expounds Buddhahood from this theoretical body, while the original doctrine expounds Buddhahood from this factual body".

Furthermore, the Eye-opening Treatise states:

"The doctrine of One Thought Three Thousand, only in the Lotus Sutra, in the chapter Duration of Life, deep in the sentences of the original doctrine, is hidden and buried".

This sentence clearly indicates the place where "the doctrine of One Thought Three Thousand" is found, namely the depth of the sentences of the original doctrine. Now, in this regard, the Concordance schools believe that the ephemeral doctrine reveals the Shakyamuni of the original effect at the level of the sentences and that the original doctrine is the principle of the true aspect at the depth of the sentences to which the revered Shakya has awakened. This conception of the original and ephemeral doctrines, which is typical of the Concordance currents, is an illusion that attaches itself to Shakyamuni Buddha of the original effect. This is an illusory theory that is lost in the body and status of the Buddha according to the sentences and in the depth of the sentences and is misled by the fact that the true meaning of the fundamental Buddha and the original Dharma, which is the wonder of the original cause, is found in the depth of the sentences of the chapter Duration of life.

 

2. About the Honzon

The five elder monks' streams, not only the Concordance stream, emphasise the carved or painted image of Shakyamuni Buddha as the main object of worship and ignore the Great Mandala. This shows the ignorance of these currents as to the significance of Buddha statues in the Hinayana, Mahayana, circumstantial teachings and the true teaching. A good example of this is Nichirō's theft of a standing Buddha statue from Minobu. In his Notes on the Death of Nichiren Daishōnin, preserved in the Honmon-ji Temple in Nishiyama, Nikkō Shōnin wrote:

"In his last will and testament, he (Nichiren) declared "the Buddha (the famous statuette) should be placed next to my grave"". This proves that Nichiren Daishōnin clearly stated that the standing Shakyamuni Buddha should not be the main object of veneration (Honzon). It is quite obvious that a Buddha alone, without acolytes, does not reach the level of the Honzon of the Lesser Vehicle, let alone that of the End of the Dharma. However, the Concordance currents deceive their world with the standing Shakyamuni statuette by presenting it as "a Buddha statue given to Nichirō", thus attempting to legitimize it as the main object of worship.

Today, the Concordance schools establish the following five types of Honzon:

1. The Daimoku alone as Honzon
2. The statue of Shakyamuni alone
3. The Great Mandala
4. Shakyamuni Buddha surrounded by four acolytes (the four bodhisattvas sprung from the earth)
5. The two Buddhas Shakyamuni and Tahō surrounded by the four boddhisattvas rising from the earth

Within these five types of Honzon, 1 and 3 represent the Dharma as Honzon, while 2, 4 and 5 represent the Buddha as Honzon. The main Honzons are 3, the Great Mandala, and 4, Shakyamuni Buddha surrounded by the four Bodhisattvas who sprang from the earth as acolytes. However, in the light of the Founder's teachings, it seems entirely appropriate that Shakyamuni Buddha surrounded by the four bodhisattvas sprouting from the earth as acolytes should be referred to as the main Honzon of the Nichiren Shū. His reasoning is indeed based on the following sentences from Nichiren Daishōnin's Treatise on the Honzon:

"While statues and paintings of Shakyamuni Buddhas were made during the Periods of Rectitude and Semblance, they did not, however, represent the Buddha of the "Duration of Life" chapter. It was after entering the End of the Dharma that images of this Buddha began to be depicted."

(此等佛造畫正像。未有壽量佛。來入末法始此佛像可令出現歟。)

"At that time, the bodhisattvas sprung from a thousand worlds will appear and establish in this country the most important object of veneration of the Janbudvipa, in which they will be the acolytes of Shakyamuni Buddha of the original doctrine."

(此時地涌千界出現。本門釋尊爲脇士。一閻浮提第一本尊可立此國。)

Now, it should be noted that Nichiren Daishōnin wrote the Treatise on Honzon, like other treatises such as the Treatise on the Serenity of the Country, in Kanbun, i.e., Classical Chinese, the reading of which can lead to misunderstandings. And in this case, there is a serious misreading, because there is no reason why the four bodhisattvas sprouting from the earth should be the acolytes (helpers) of Shakyamuni Buddha. The correct reading of this sentence is therefore as follows:

"At that time, the bodhisattvas sprung from a thousand worlds will appear and establish in this country the most important object of veneration of the Janbudvipa with Shakyamuni Buddha of the original doctrine as his acolyte."

This is the exact opposite of the Nichiren Shū's misunderstanding which, based on this misreading, establishes its Honzon with the statue of Shakyamuni Buddha surrounded on either side by the four bodhisattvas sprung from the earth Upper-practice (Jōgyō), Infinite-practice (Muhen-gyō), Pure-practice (Jōgyō), and Firm-practice (Anryū-gyō).

The other serious error of faith and understanding of the Nichiren Shū with regard to the Gohonzon is that, although in principle it adopts the Great Mandala as the Honzon, the direct disciples of the streams of the five elder monks have removed Nichiren's name from the Great Mandala and inscribed their own name in large ideograms under Nam Myōhōrengekyō. For example, Nam Myōhōrengekyō - Nichirō or Nam Myōhōrengekyō - Nisshō. Nikkō Shōnin is the only one of the six senior monks who transcribed the Gohonzon by writing "Nam Myōhōrengekyō - Nichiren Zaigohan", which means approved by him (Nichiren)" under the Daimoku Nam Myōhōrengekyō. This proves that due to the fact that they did not receive the transmission, the five elder monks could not venerate Nichiren Daishōnin as the substance of the Great Mandala, but considered him as a completely separate entity. In the Nichiren Shōshū, where the Buddha Dharma has been correctly transmitted from Nikkō Shōnin, the Great Mandala is regarded as the personal body of Nichiren Daishōnin, and it is there that the direct path to attaining Buddhahood from this body exists for all End of Dharma beings.

Nichiren Shū Fuju Fuse ha (Who does not receive or make offerings)

Introduction

Nichiren Shū Fuju Fuse ha is part of the Concordance stream.

Fuju (不受) means "not receiving any offering", implied, from Dharma offenders.

Fuse (不施) means "not making the offering". There are two types of "non-offering": the "non-offering" of goods, consisting of not making material offerings to Dharma offenders, and the "non-offering" of Dharma, which consists of not praying, reading sutras or reciting Daimoku (Nam Myōhōrengekyō) for Dharma offenders.

In other words, "Who neither receives nor makes an offering" is short for "receiving nothing from the Dharma offenders and making no offering to them". In the letter to Niike, Nichiren Daishōnin teaches the meaning of not receiving and not offering with these words:

"Both the Enlightened Ones and the deities do not accept the offering of Dharma offenders in any way (...) The offering of Dharma offenders is precisely the "molten lead" (...) you would suffer the same punishment. This is what you have to fear above all else".

Similarly, a follower of Nichiren Daishōnin, Daigaku Saburō, was asked by Akita Jō-no-suke (Adachi Yasumori), an influential figure in the Kamakura shogunate, to 'pray' for him. Now, although for Nichiren Daishōnin, Daigaku Saburō was not just anyone but a man to whom he was grateful, he refused to "pray" for Akita Jō-no-suke saying that he could not.

When one respects the teachings of Nichiren Daishōnin, it is natural not to accept offerings from Dharma offenders and, in return, not to make offerings to them either.

History of the Nichiren Shū Fuju Fuse ha

The Nichiren Shū School, which neither receives nor makes offerings, was founded by Busshō Nichi-ō (1565-1630), the 19th senior priest of the Myōkaku-ji temple in Kyōto, Japan.

Born in Kyōto on 8 June 1565 (Eiroku 8), Busshō Nichi-ō entered the lodge of Jitsujō-in Nichiden, the 18th senior priest of Myōkaku-ji temple, on 9 July 1574 (Tenshō 2) at the age of 10, and was ordained at the age of 18. He studied and trained under Nichiden and in July 1592 (Bunroku 1), at the age of 28, he became the 19th senior priest of Myōkaku-ji temple.

In September 1595 Toyotomi Hideyoshi erected a statue of the Great Buddha at the Myōhō-in Temple in Higashiyama, Kyōto, to commemorate his deceased ancestors and relatives. On this occasion, he invited priests of all religions, including the Nichiren School, to attend the memorial service of a thousand monks.

However, to agree to participate in this service of the non-believer and Dharma offender Hideyoshi was a violation of the Buddhist doctrine of "non-acceptance and non-offering", and an approval of the offenders' offerings. However, there was no way to resist Hideyoshi's power.

Under these circumstances, the majority of temples, such as the Honman-ji, led by Ichinyo Nichiryō, the Honbō-ji of Kudoku Nitsū, and the Myōken-ji of Seiyō Nisshō, moved towards a new doctrine of "non-acceptance of offering to the exclusion of kings and princes", which emphasized the power of the state and made an exception for accepting charity from the national ruler.

However, Nichiō opposed this participation, insisting on non-acceptance of the offense. Those who agreed with Nichiō's claim included Butsujō Nissei and Renjō Nisson of the Kantō region, and Jōraku Nikkyō of the Kenpon Hokke school.

It was then that the controversy over acceptance/non-acceptance within the Nichiren Shū appeared.

In any case, Nichiō refused Hideyoshi's order to participate and left Myōkaku-ji Temple and confined himself to his Koizumi estate in Tanba, from where he submitted a "Remonstrance of the Lotus School" to Hideyoshi.

On July 12, 1596, the Great Buddha Hall, erected by Hideyoshi collapsed following a major earthquake. Nichiō again submitted a letter of remonstrance to Hideyoshi, and on 12 October he submitted Nichiren Daishōnin's Risshō Ankoku Ron to the Emperor Go-yōzei, along with the Letter of the Lotus School to the Emperor.

In November 1599, Tokugawa Ieyasu was forced by Nisshō of Myōken-ji Temple and other monks, to hold a debate on the issue of acceptance and non-acceptance, due to their false accusations as the faction that made the offering for the Great Buddha (faction accepting the offerings). Ieyasu was originally in favor of the accepting party because he wanted to use his authority to have Nichiō attend the memorial service. However, the latter refused to attend solely on the grounds of non-reception and non-offering.

As a result, Nichiō was sentenced to exile and stripped of his surplice and robe by Nisshō and others. This is known as the "Osaka debate".

Nichiō was exiled to Tsushima the following year (Keichō 5), and after 13 years of exile he was pardoned and returned to Kyōto in 1612.

In 1629 Tokugawa Hidetada ordered monks of various religions to carve sutras at the Zōjō-ji temple located in Shiba for the Buddhahood of his deceased wife, the great lady Sōgen-in.

This request led to a legal battle between the temple on Mount Minobu (the faction in favour of receiving the offerings) and the Honmon-ji temple in Ikegami (the faction not in favour of receiving the offerings). From then on, in February 1630, the Shogunate forced the two parties to confront each other. This is known as the "Shinchi tairon" or debate between Minobu and Ikegami.

As a result, Nichiō was judged to be the leader of the faction that neither received nor made offerings and defied the Shogunate. He was exiled again to Tsushima, but he had already died on March 10, which is known as "posthumous exile".

Divisions within the movement

After his death, the Nichiō current split into two. The first current being that of Nichiju of Myōkaku-ji temple in Okayama, entitled Nichiren Shū Fuju Fuse ha, and the Nichiren Kōmon current (formerly known as Fuju Fuse Kōmon-ha) of Ankoku Nichikō (1626-1698). Both consider Nichiō to be their founder and that he "alone represents their correct doctrine". Both currents called themselves Fuju Fuse-ha, the Faction that neither receives nor makes offerings.

In March 1669, the Tokugawa Shogunate issued a suspension of the certification of Fuju Fuse stream temples, which were banned (prohibited by law) for about 200 years, until April 10, 1876.

Ankoku Nikkō was born in Kyōto on July 3, 1626. At the age of 10, he was ordained a priest by Ankoku Nisshū, who had left the Myōkaku-ji temple.

In a word, the philosophy of Ankoku Nikkō can be described as the radicalisation of the ideas inherited from Nichiō.

In 1664, the Tokugawa shogunate stated that the temple estate was to be regarded as a respectful offering from the shogun, and that those who did not comply would not be granted the red seal of the temple estate and ordered their confiscation. In return, Ankoku Nikkō objected by submitting the "Shushō Gokoku-ron" (Treaty on the Observance of the Proper Protection of the Country) to the magistrate's office, and in June 1666 (Kanbun 6), Nikkō was exiled to Sadohara in Hyuga province.

During his exile in Sadohara Nikkō wrote the 36-volume Rokunai Keimō, an interpretative work on the Gosho.

Honzon

Nichiō, founder of the Fuju Fuse current wrote in his "Hokke Shū Kanjō Mandai Kikyō Roku":

"The object of veneration (Honzon) appropriate to the End of the Dharma is the revered Shakya, ruler of the teaching, at the awakening in the distant past".

Yet in another writing, the Shōdai Kanpatsu shō, he states:

"The Buddhas of the three phases have attained true enlightenment through the Daimoku as their teacher".

He thus adopts the view of the superiority of the Dharma over the Person (Hōshō Ninretsu).

In a recent book entitled "Fundamentals of Japanese Buddhism", the leading monks of the school of non-reception and non-offering have themselves described the Honzon of their school.

"The mandala of the permanent presence of the ten worlds in written form defined by our founder Nichiren is the Honzon, for it is the faithful expression of the true nature of the fundamental Buddha of the distant past. The fundamental Buddha cannot be represented by an image or form. Therefore, it is the 'heart observation' of the Fundamental Buddha of the distant past 'that is the 'Fundamental Buddha'.

They define the Mandala as Honzon, but the Honzon view of their non-receiving, non-offering stream, distinguishing between heart observation and the Fundamental Buddha, is only an illusory theory.

On the other hand, Ankoku Nikkō, in his work "Illumination on the Treatise on the Honzon" (Honzon-shō Keimō), writes:

"With regard to Honzon, the Gosho show two approaches: the one taking the Daimoku as Honzon and the one taking the Shakyamuni at enlightenment in the distant past as Honzon. The Treatise on the Reward of Beneficence defines the Venerated Shakya, the ruler of the original doctrine, as Honzon, which is also the case in the Treatise on the Three Great Secret Dharmas, the Treatise on the Difficulties Encountered and others that I will omit here. In the Debate on Honzon and the present Gosho (Treatise on Honzon), the Daimoku Myōhōrengekyō in the pagoda has the meaning of taking the Daimoku as Honzon."

He teaches that Nichiren gives two directions, that of the Shakyamuni to distant awakening as the Honzon of the person and that of the Daimoku as the Honzon of the Dharma, but that his real intention is the Daimoku as the Honzon of the Dharma.

 

Doctrine

As the name suggests, this stream only emphasizes not accepting offerings made by Dharma offenders and not offering to the same offenders, but its doctrinal content is the concordance of the original doctrine and the ephemeral doctrine, which follows the lineage of Nichirō, one of the five elder monks. Therefore, there is no difference between it and other Nichiren Shū schools due to the fact that Shakyamuni Buddha is considered the fundamental Buddha.

However, in order to carry out the non-acceptance and non-offering, under the pressure of persecution during the period of the school's ban, Fuju Fuse, having gone underground, formed a very particular religious organisation, in which priests called 'in the Dharma' (Hōchū), representing the 'pure stream' and a kind of intermediate priests called 'establishing the Dharma' (Hōryū), representing the 'defiled stream' were established. The Hōryū received the goods and properties of laypeople qualified as inner believers (naishin-sha), ostensibly followers of other authorised religions, but who believed in their innermost being non-receiving and non-offering in their own faith, and pass them on to the Hōchū.

In the school's internal regulations, monks are warned not to visit Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines that offend the Dharma, which does not include tourist visits and other activities. No offerings should be made to monks offending the Dharma, which does not include actions related to benevolence, love and courtesy. Do not accept offerings made by Dharma offenders who do not have faith. Not reporting to others the mistakes and negligence of their companion etc.

 

Rebuttal

The Nichiren Shū Fuju Fuse current school, like the Nichiren Ankoku Nikkō current school, follow the lineage of Nichirō, one of the five elder monks who were direct disciples of Nichiren Daishōnin, but who opposed his sole legatee, Byakuren Nikkō, and who advocated the concordance between the original doctrine and the ephemeral doctrine of the Lotus Sutra. In his Testamentary Articles, Byakuren Ajari Nikkō Shōnin wrote of them:

"Whoever makes false books and calls them the Gosho and practices the heresy of the Concordance between the ephemeral and the original is to be considered a parasite in the body of the lion".

Of course, getting lost in the comparison between the benefit of harvesting and the benefit of sowing, they also get lost in the definition of Honzon, setting up Shakyamuni Buddha as the fundamental Buddha and Honzon. Furthermore, in the cases of the Fuju Fuse school, there were various discussions about what constituted offence to the Dharma. Each theory diverged, leading to modifications or splitting. As Nichiren Daishōnin wrote, "Without the transmission, it is difficult to understand (this Sutra).

Not having received the transmission from Nichiren Daishōnin, these schools fall into personal views.

Furthermore, while boasting of "saving all beings by strictly refusing to offend the Dharma" they have created a three and fourfold structure to protect the purity of monks who call themselves "pure stream" within their own school's organization and make followers of other religions adopt the superficial form of pretending to be believers by calling themselves believers internally, but such actions by their followers go against the pure doctrine of non-reception and non-offering and are, according to their own theory, clearly an act of complicity in offences against the Dharma. If it is still a service to protect the purity of the monks, then the school of non-reception and non-offering is nothing but a ruthless and authoritarian religion, in which only the monks are saved and the laity are the victims.

 

In conclusion, such a religion of non-acceptance and non-offering, whose Honzon and doctrines run counter to the teaching of Nichiren Daishōnin, and which imposes an irrational and inhuman form of faith with its abnormal precepts, is an evil religion that does not save people, but rather leads them to misfortune. And the same can be said of all the schools of the Concordance stream.