The Nichiren Shu is a Buddhist Order founded by the religious prophet and reformer, Nichiren Shonin (1222-1282). Nichiren Shu ("Shu" means "school") Buddhism has a 750 year history in Japan and is one of the largest mainstream schools of Buddhism in that country. It has been in the United States since 1900 but only in recent decades has it acquired a following outside of the Japanese American community.
Originally a Tendai priest, Nichiren Shonin sought to reform Buddhism, which in thirteenth century Japan had become weighed down with complicated scholarship and esoteric rituals and had become far removed from the common people. More and more it had become the exclusive property of the aristocracy. Nichiren Shonin wanted to find the true teachings of the Buddha and return it to humanity.
Through exhaustive study and the trials of his life he came to understand that the Lotus Sutra was the vital essence of all the true teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha. From this he would develop a Buddhist practice and doctrine that would be accessible to everyone.
The faithful believe that the 28 chapters of the Lotus Sutra represent the final and highest teaching of Sakyamuni Buddha. These lessons are transmitted in beautiful prose and verse with instructive parables, allegories, metaphors, fantastic visions as well as deep metaphysical discussion. It is a complex sutra, one that is not just approached with faith but also through extensive study and practice.
Two particular themes reveal themselves in the Lotus Sutra and are considered the most important revelations of the sutra. They are what make this sutra unique and important among all the teachings of the Buddha. The first is that all beings, no matter how evil or defiled can achieve Enlightenment in their current lifetime. This is not something that Nichiren devised, it was something that had been discovered long ago by the great Chinese master T'ien T'ai (common name of the Chinese Buddhist scholar Chih-i). Nichiren simply brought this neglected teaching back into forefront of Buddhist thought. The other great theme is that the historical Sakyamuni Buddha, born and achieving enlightenment in ancient India, was but a temporal form of the eternal Buddha who attained enlightenment in the remotest past and who lives eternally with no birth or death. Regardless of the time era in which a person lives, the Buddha is always present to point the way to Buddhahood.
We believe that Nichiren Shonin was the messenger of the Buddha who has guided us in cultivating our Buddha nature, a quality inherent in all beings, and establishing a way of life consistent with the eternal truths preached by the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra.
According to Buddhist tradition the period of two thousand years after the death of Sakyamuni would be the "Mappo Age" or the "Age of the declining Dharma". This is not an "apocalyptic" vision because Buddhism has no such belief. Rather it is an acknowledgement that with the passage of time the original teachings would be misunderstood, confused or lost. Nichiren Shonin argued that people living in this time would be incapable of being able to study or understand the sutras.
How would those living in this age, when it would be difficult to understand such complex teachings as the Lotus Sutra, be able to benefit from them? Based on T'ien T'ai doctrine on the Lotus Sutra Nichiren argued that Buddha's promise of salvation for all beings also meant those living in this latter era of confusion. A "life-line" based on the Lotus Sutra had been provided to us:
For those who are incapable of understanding the truth of Ichinen Sanzen (T'ien T'ai Buddhist doctrine), Lord Sakyamuni Buddha, with his great compassion, wraps this jewel with the five characters of myo, ho, ren, ge, and kyo and hangs it around the neck of the ignorant in the Declining Age of the Dharma.
…Sakyamuni Buddha's merit of practicing the bodhisattva way leading to Buddhahood, as well as that of preaching and saving all living beings since his attainment of Buddhahood, are altogether contained in the five words of myo, ho, ren, ge and kyo. Consequently, when we uphold the five words, the merits which he accumulated before and after his attainment of Buddhahood are naturally transferred to us.
Nichiren Shonin, Treatise on Spiritual Insight and the Most Venerable One
Thus the chanting of the Odaimoku (Sacred Title of the Lotus Sutra) became the essential practice of Nichiren Shonin and his followers down to the present day.
So respected is this practice in Japan that many other groups beside Nichiren Shu chant the Sacred Title. Today it is an accepted practice among many other schools of Buddhism, popular lay associations, "new religions" and even shamanistic groups. While often misused as some sort of magic spell to obtain material or health benefits, it is actually a form of deep meditation to cultivate the Buddha nature inside us all.
It does not matter how many times you chant the Odaimoku. When you chant with faith, venerating the Buddha, respecting Nichiren Shonin and appreciating the world around you from the bottom of your heart, your merit is truly equal to the merit of reciting the entire Lotus Sutra. Such merits can be transferred to all suffering beings throughout the universe. For more information about the service Maine Nichiren-Shu Fellowship conducts click here.