Ryuei: Yes - use of FORCE. According to you, Nisshin [the "Pot Headed Priest"] challenged the Shogun to suppress other sects of Buddhism. How do you imagine that sects can be **suppressed** except by the use of force? By demanding that the Shogun suppress other sects of Buddhism except for those that taught the Lotus, Nisshin was asking for the power of the state to be used in behalf of the sects he favored.
The use of force to propagate religion is quite against the Buddhism that I know. Again I would refer you to the teachings of the Dhammapada.
This seems to me to be the very kind of intolerance that makes the various monotheistic fundamentalisms so odious. How regrettable that there should be Buddhist sects also infected with the virus of fundamentalism and the "single truth!"
It is precisely *because* I believe the Buddha that I don't believe you. The example of Nisshin appears quite unbalanced. Such extremism can hardly be an example of the Middle Way. Nevertheless, I am sure that there is little I can say that will convince you. So let us end the discussion here. May you be well and speedily attain realization.
This seems to me to be the very kind of intolerance that makes the various monotheistic fundamentalisms so odious. How regrettable that there should be Buddhist sects also infected with the virus of fundamentalism and the "single truth!"
It is precisely *because* I believe the Buddha that I don't believe you. The example of Nisshin appears quite unbalanced. Such extremism can hardly be an example of the Middle Way. Nevertheless, I am sure that there is little I can say that will convince you. So let us end the discussion here. May you be well and speedily attain realization.
Mark: In India king Danmira beheaded Aryasinha for spreading the Dharma forcefully. Meanwhile, Many of his Buddhist contemporaries, both scholars and priests, remained in their "ivory towers" (monasteries) discussing the Dhammapada and the equality of the various forms of Buddhism. Aryasinha, on the other hand, was out among the people, preaching and speaking out against the injustice of Danmira's suppression of Buddhism.
Nisshin too was a Bodhisattva of Superb Action. He spoke out against the suppression of the Lotus sect of Nichiren's Buddhism by a Zennist Shogun more interested in maintaining his power and the status quo of the Zen teachings than practicing and spreading the compassionate and true teachings of the Buddha. The Shogun was no different than king Danmira.
Standing up to this cowardly, violent and arrogant Zen Shogun, Nisshin suffered severe persecution. However, no cause goes without an attendant effect. Thanks to Aryasinha, Buddhism spread to china and ultimately Japan while Brahmanism remained and continues to remain a regional and stagnant religeon. Thanks to Nisshin (and other Bodhisattvas of Superb Action) Japan has become a country in which the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren's teachings have spread. The Zen teachings, on the other hand, have settled to the natural level befitting its insignificance. Zen is once again proving itself to be the impotent force for change that it was when the Shogun rammed the red hot bronze bowl over Nisshin's head.
Nothing is as mysterious as the workings of Cause and Effect (Namu Myoho renge kyo). Nothing more wondrous. How sublime.
Ryuei, the firefly laughing at the sun. Some even consider him a true Nichiren priest. How lamentable.
ReplyDeleteHow wrong could a so-called Nichiren priest be? The forceful practice is a conversion practice based on reasoning and the scriptures. A perfect example is Nichiren's Rissho Ankoku Ron (Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land) in which he attacked the Pure Land teachings THROUGH REASON and SCHOLARSHIP and therefore, the tenets of the ruler of Japan, the regent Hojo Tokiyori (to whom he submitted a copy). He also made 11 additional copies to distribute to several disciples and several lower level functionaries of the regency.
ReplyDeleteNichiju Shonin and Nikkyo the Martyr of the Kempon Hokke, Nisshin of the Hokke Shu, Nichimoku the third High Priest of the (original) Nichiren Shoshu, and many others forcefully remonstrated with the rulers. Some were persecuted terribly, tortured and killed, and others were more fortunate, if equally unsuccessful. Ryuei would not even be allowed to draw their water or chop their wood.
Nisshin will long be remembered. Ryuei, not so much.
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