[A Guide to HBS -part2-]
The Teachings and Practices of HBS
Rev. Nisso Fukuoka
[Chapter 2]
Nissen Shonin and HBS
Nissen Shonin (his honorific names are Kaidou Shonin and Daison Shi) was born in 1817 in Kyoto. The family he was born into ran a successful fancy goods store and had produced many men of culture and talent. He received a good education in calligraphy, poetry, art and literature in a good family background. At age nine, his achievements as a painter and a calligrapher were recorded in the “Heian Jinbutsushi" a publication which introduced famous cultural personalities of that time in Kyoto. He was also a brilliant scholar. At the age of 24, he lectured the court nobles on “Genji Monogatari" (a masterpiece of Japanese prose literature, written in the early 11th century by Murasaki Shikibu and considered the first great novel in the world of literature) in the Chigusaden Hall of the Imperial Palace in Kyoto.
However, when he was 25, an incident changed his life. His mother died. This was a great shock to him and he was deeply sad. He became very interested in Buddhism after the loss of his mother. He then began his study of Buddhism. He visited many temples and priests to learn the doctrines and teachings of many sects such as Zen Shu sect, Tendai Shu sect, Shingon Shu sect and Jodo Shu sect.
Based on his research, Nissen Shonin concluded that the most valuable and greatest sutra among the many sutras was the Lotus Sutra (Hokekyo), and he was convinced that the person who had faithfully spread its teachings was Nichiren Shonin. However, there were some different sects of Nichiren Buddhism and each sect had its own way of practicing Buddhism and its own doctrines. This situation annoyed him. Among those sects Nissen Shonin finally concluded that only sect which faithfully preached the true teachings of Nichiren Shonin was the Honmon Hokke Shu sect which had been revived by Nichiryu Shonin.
In 1845, at age 28, Nissen Shonin became a follower of Honmon Hokke Shu sect, and faithfully applied himself to the teaching of the sect.
In 1848, Nissen Shonin was ordained a priest at the age of 31 by his master, Nichiyo Shonin of the Ryusenji Temple on Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture.
Nissen Shonin became a priest determined to learn the true teachings of Nichiren Shonin. However, Nissen Shonin's spirit became extremely oppressed as time passed, and he suffered from deep disappointment, because the Honmon Hokke Shu began to deviate from spreading the true teachings of Nichiren Shonin and Nichiryu Shonin. It had forgotten its fundamental mission of Buddhism, which was to save and guide people. Instead it began to engage itself only in conducting funeral services for the deceased and praying for merit—transference. It refrained from regularly chanting the Odaimoku, NamuMyohoRengeKyo, as stipulated by Nichiren Shonin and Nichiryu Shonin.
Since Nissen Shonin had observed the misguided workings of the internal affairs of Honmon Hokke Shu, he wanted to correct its wrongdoings. He wanted to restore the Honmon Hokke Shu to its original true state, and he aggressively attempted to persuade the eminent officials of the sect by offering advice and making proposals, but to no avail. They refused to listen to him. Instead, they turned against him and harassed him with continuous spiritual arguments.
Due to derogatory comments made against him by the priests, Nissen Shonin became disgusted with Honmon Hokke Shu, and decided to spread the teachings of Nichiren and Nichiryu Shonin faithfully himself.
Nissen Shonin founded HBS on January 12, 1857 at the home of Asahichi Tanigawa, a follower residing in Kyoto. At this time, there were only four or five other followers in attendance.
He sated, “As early as seven years after the decease of Nichiren Shonin there appeared different views as to whether the primordial and provisional divisions of the Lotus Sutra were equal to each other or the primordial division is superior to the provisional division. When this religious controversy heated up, Nichiryu Shonin appeared and pointed out the falsity of conventional Buddhism, thus reestablishing the true religious sect based on the primordial eight chapters of the Lotus sutra in accordance with Nichiren Shonin's intention. If things had continued like that, the followers of our sect would have been happier chanting and practicing in accordance with the teaching of both Nichiren Shonin and Nichiryu Shonin. However, it was not long before some began to say that living beings in the realm of animals such as dogs and cats could become buddhas with their present bodies by force of merit—transference, which is a fallacious argument because becoming a buddha with one's present body is made possible only in the realm of humans. The prospect of reformation in the confused Buddhist circles was still far from certain. Thereupon I finally arrived at a definite decision and founded the Honmon Butsuryu Sangha on the twelfth of January in the fourth year of Ansei (1857) at the residence of Asahichi Tanikawa (Happon—do) in order to restore the righteousness of our sect. I don't hesitate to say positively that the righteousness our sect was made crystal clear through Buddha Shakamuni's scriptures, Great Master Tendai's elucidation, and the writings and instructions of both Nichiren Shonin and Nichiryu Shonin. This is exactly how I have founded the Butsuryu Sangha."
—Honmon Butsuryu—ko Koki no Raiyu—807
“At the age of 32, Nissen received religious instruction from Nichiyo Shonin whom I looked up to as my preceptor. Nichiyo Shonin was the head priest of Ryusen Kyoji temple in Tsukui, Awaji Island (Hyogo Prefecture). Then I thoroughly investigated the real situation of the Lotus School and found that it was so terrible as the priests had lost moral sense and their spirit as priests. I was completely at a loss what to say. It was exactly because of this that I founded the Butsuryu Sangha, denouncing the injustices done by many schools of the Nichiren sect."
—Honmon Butsuryu—ko Koki no Raiyu—809
“How deplorable it is that Buddha Shakamuni's teaching has been obscured and lost! There is no one but Nissen and his followers who could restore the correct teaching. I would like to be born a thousand times in this world and do my best from life to life in order to restore Buddhism."
—Shoryuhoboshakubukushinan Sho—809
“The disciples of this sect are not permitted to establish a new sect according to there selfish view. By establishing the Butsuryu Sangha, I am merely taking over the Honmon Butsuryu Shu which Nichiren Shonin founded according to the Buddha's teaching. I am a disciple of Nichiren Shonin."
—Haiyo Sho—811
There were many oppressions against Nissen Shonin even after HBS was founded. Incidents of jealousy increased as HBS began to grow. There were incidents of Nissen Shonin being apprehended, imprisoned and evicted. Continuous calamities confronted him. However, he continued to engage himself in the spreading of the Lotus Sutra and the teachings of Nichiren Shonin in his home ground in Kyoto. HBS gradually began to spread into other areas, such as Shiga, Osaka, and Hyogo prefectures.
On the 17th of July in the 23rd year of Meiji (1890) he passed away at the age of 74 years old.
The instructions Nissen Shonin left behind were complied into a complete collection and 35 books from the collection have so far been published.
As stated above, HBS was founded by Nissen Shonin. However, Nissen Shonin believed that it should be understood that Honmon Butsuryu Shu was established by Buddha himself and its teaching was propagated by Nichiren Shonin. Though the organization was founded in 1857 by Nissen Shonin, he instructed that he and his disciples did not establish any religious sect but organized HBS in order to propagate the Odaimoku, NamuMyohoRengeKyo, entrusted to Jyogyo (Visistacaritra) Bodhisattva, which was Nichiren Shonin's long cherished desire.
Nissen Shonin chose the name, Honmon Butsuryu Shu based on the ideals of Nichiren Shonin.
Nichiren Shonin stated in his writing “Hokke Shoshin Jyobutsu Syo", “Question: Of the eight sects, the nine sects of the ten sects, which is the true sect founded by Shakamuni Buddha?
Answer: The Hokke (Lotus) sect is the sect founded by Shakamuni. We know this because of the statement that, of all the sutras he had preached, now preach and would preach in the future, the Lotus Sutra was foremost. These words were spoken by Shakamuni Buddha himself. Therefore (the sect based on) the Lotus Sutra is known as the Buddha—founded sect, Butsuryu Shu and is also called the Hokke sect.
Nichiryu Shonin stated that, our Honmon Butsuryu Shu was established during the period of the Last Dharma beginning 2000 years after the Buddha's passing away, and is the fundamental religion which can develop various sutras and doctrines as the occasion demands. From this point of view, it follows that the Lotus School was established by Buddha Shakamuni, that is, the Buddha representing `effect' and Bodhisattva Jogyo, that is, the Buddha representing `cause'. (the word `Butsu' in Butsuryu means Buddha and `ryu' means to establish in Japanese). That is why the sect is called Butsuryu Shu."
—Gukyo Sho— written by Nichiryu Shonin—
“At the beginning of the Hokke—Shu Naisho Buppo Kechimyaku Sho (The Transmission of the Buddhist Teaching Realized Inertly by the Lotus School), Nichiren Shonin said that the sects spreading NamuMyohoRengeKyo are the true religious sects which were established by the Buddha Shakamuni, and gave grounds for designating them Butsuryu—Shu. Buddha Shakamuni in the remote past expounded Buddhism and established the Butsuryu Shu. He appears in various forms in this world in order to save people in the future everlastingly and make clear what the Butsuryu Shu is for."
—Shijo Sho—written by Nichiryu Shonin —
“The Lotus School which was named after the title of the sutra means Butsuryu Shu if it is seen from the standpoint of the Buddha who established it. In a broad sense, it is the religious sect which was established by all sorts of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Some may ask why it is not called Nichiren Shu. This is because Nichiren Shu means the religious sect which has been spreading the Fine Dharma merely during the limited period of the Last Dharma after the Buddha's decease. The name Nichiren Shu can not represent the fundamental characteristics of the eternal religious sect existing forever through the three periods, that is, the remote past, the present period of the Last Dharma, and the future. The name Nichiren just refers to the aspect of his appearance in the realm of man and not to his other aspect of Bodhisattva Jogyo, even though Nichiren Shonin's previous incarnation was Bodhisattva Jogyo. Unlike Butsuryu Shu, Nichiren Shu is incapable of representing the true religion because it has not been in existence throughout the tree periods. That is why the true religion is Butsuryu Shu and not Nichiren Shu.
—Nijo Sho written by Nichiryu Shonin—
