The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1692 page)

. The Nichiren Sh
claims it is enshrined at their headquarters temple at Mount Minobu, while the Nichiren Sh
shu claims it for theirs at Taisekiji.
Again Nichiren was pardoned on 13 Mar. 1274. During this final stage of his career, he set out to establish ‘Vulture Peak’, the mythical mountain where the historical Buddha,
kyamuni, is said to have delivered the teachings of the
Lotus S
tra
. Nichiren believed the earthly form of Vulture Peak was in Japan, and he selected Mount Fuji (
Fujisan
) as the site, and established a temple, Kuonji, nearby on Mount Minobu.
Nichiren died on 13 Oct. 1282, at the home of a patron named Uemonday
Munenaka Ikegami. According to Nichiren Sh
teaching, Nichiren's remains are now enshrined at Mount Minobu. For subsequent developments, see
NICHIREN SH
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Nichiren Sh
sh
.

Japanese Buddhist religious movement. When
Nichiren
died, his followers agreed that the guardianship of his tomb should circulate among his six senior disciples. When the turn came of Nik
(1253–1314, priest of the Kuonji temple) he declared that he and his successors would take the responsibility permanently. Nichik
(1246–1332) broke away and founded the Daisekiji temple at the foot of Mount Fuji to defend the true teaching of Nichiren. Against the other five, he maintained that the two halves of the
Lotus S
tra
are not equal in importance: the second half (the Honmon, fourteen chapters which reveal the eternal nature of the
Buddha
) are a superior wisdom to the first half (the Jakumon, fourteen chapters which deal with the form taken by the Buddha in order to accommodate himself to human understanding). The Nichiren Sh
sh
reveres Nichiren as the religious founder (
sh
so
) but Nichik
as the true sect founder (
haso
). It believes that in the
mapp
(degenerate age), only Nichiren can provide any help (thus relegating the historical Buddha to second place), and that the government should endorse Nichiren Sh
sh
and establish it as the state religion—a principle known as ‘politics united with Buddhism’,
butsu my
g
. As with other Nichiren movements, the
nembutsu
is central and of paramount importance.