Solitary Bodhisattvas (The Independent Nichiren Followers)

Hello! Even the independents are members of the Buddha founded sect. Even solitary Bodhisattvas of the Earth are sanctioned by the Lotus Sutra (Chapter 15). Nichiren once commented, "I am not the founder of any sect".

"those who come alone without followers, delighting in solitude, all coming to where the Buddha is—they are even more numerous than those described above."

Chapter 15 of the Lotus Sutra reads:

"Each one of these bodhisattvas

brings with him a retinue

immeasurable in number

like the sands of the Ganges River.

Some of these great bodhisattvas

bring numbers equal to the sands of sixty thousand Ganges Rivers.

And this great multitude

with a single mind seek the buddha way.

These great teachers

equal in number to the sands of sixty thousand Ganges Rivers

together come to offer alms to the Buddha

and to guard and uphold this sutra.

More numerous are those with followers

like the sands of fifty thousand Ganges Rivers,

those with followers like the sands of forty thousand, thirty thousand,

twenty thousand, ten thousand,

one thousand, one hundred,

or the sands of a single Ganges River,

half a Ganges River, one third, one fourth,

or only one part in a million ten thousand;

those with one thousand, ten thousand nayutas,

ten thousand, a million disciples,

or half a million—

they are more numerous still.

Those with a hundred ten thousand or ten thousand followers,

a thousand or a hundred,

fifty or ten,

three, two, or one,

or those who come alone without followers,

delighting in solitude,

all coming to where the Buddha is—

they are even more numerous than those described above.

If one should try to use an abacus

to calculate the number of this great multitude,

though he spent as many kalpas as Ganges sands

he could never know the full sum.

This host of bodhisattvas

with their great dignity, virtue, and diligence—

who preached the Law for them,

who taught and converted them and brought them to this?

Under whom did they first set their minds on enlightenment,

what buddha’s Law do they praise and proclaim?

What sutra do they embrace and carry out,

what buddha way do they practice?

These bodhisattvas

possess transcendental powers and the power of great wisdom.

The earth in four directions trembles and splits

and they all emerge from out of it.

World-Honored One, from times past

I have seen nothing like this!

I beg you to tell me where they come from,

the name of the land.

I have constantly journeyed from land to land

but never have I seen such a thing!

In this whole multitude

there is not one person that I know.

Suddenly they have come up from the earth—

I beg you to explain the cause.

The members of this great assembly now,

the immeasurable hundreds, thousands, millions

of bodhisattvas,

all want to know these things.

Regarding the causes that govern the beginning and end

of this multitude of bodhisattvas,

possessor of immeasurable virtue, World-Honored One,

we beg you to dispel the doubts of the assembly!"

Thanks for your question.