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Rev. Sue Annabrooke Jones
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Article:
Nichiren Buddhist Meditation
by Rev. Sue Annabrooke Jones
Excerpted from an article appearing in the August-September 2005
issue of The Isis Scrolls. Copyrighted by the author.
While Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan, modern Japan is predominantly a
Buddhist nation. And about one-third of Japan's Buddhists identify themselves as Nichiren
(pronounced NEE-chee-ren) Buddhists.
Nichiren Buddhism differs from other Buddhist traditions in Japan,
in several ways. While other forms of Buddhism practiced in the Land of the Rising Sun evolved from Chinese traditions,
Nichiren is an entirely homegrown Japanese product. The object of devotion in this tradition is
not a buddha or a bodhisattva, but rather a teaching, that of the Lotus Sutra.
The founder of this tradition, Nichiren Daishonin, the son of a fisherman,
lived from 1222 to 1282. He received his training as a monk in the Tendai tradition, a Buddhist school that
honors the Lotus Sutra and other sutras (teachings). In time, Nichiren decided that Tendai was too corrupt, ritualistic
and misguided, so he denounced it as false and began his own sect.
But he didn't stop there. Declaring that only the Lotus Sutra contains the heart
of Buddha's teachings, he condemned all forms of Buddhism but his own as false. Persons who recited chants
in the Pure Land tradition (East Asia's most popular school of Buddhism), Nichiren contended, would end up in hell for
it. As for Zen Buddhism, "devils" was the term he used in referring to Zen monks. Nichiren petitioned the
Japanese government to ban all sects but his, and predicted utter calamity for Japan if it refused to do so.
Nichiren taught that anyone can achieve spiritual enlightenment, as well as personal and material
fulfillment, by intoning the phrase, Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, which translates roughly to "Hail to the Lotus Sutra of the
wonderful law."
Today Nichiren Buddhists are encouraged to study the founder's teachings and to
pursue worthwhile activities that benefit themselves and others, but it is the intonation meditation aspect — the
chanting of namu-myoho-renge-kyo — that remains at the heart of Nichiren practice. Meditators in Nichiren sects like
the Nichiren Shoshu and Sokka Gakai chant it aloud in groups, usually very fast, generating intense currents of
sound energy.
Nichiren Buddhism today is extremely popular all over the world, with more than
100 sects. Its followers, who include celebrities like Tina Turner and Herbie Hancock, say they benefit tremendously from its
practice and attest to deriving from it immense spiritual and material fulfillment.
© 2003-2012 by Sue Annabrooke Jones. All rights
reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including Internet usage,
without express written permission from the author, except in the case of quotations.
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