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Nikko Shonin and His Strict and Solemn Attitude in Faith

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Nikko Shonin and His Strict and Solemn Attitude in Faith Lecture in Praise of Nichiren Daishonin November 2015, Oko Lecture Nikko Shonin and His Strict and Solemn Attitude in Faith This year marks the 770th anniversary of the birth of Second High Priest Nikko Shonin. At Head Temple Taisekiji, commemorative ceremonies were held for several days on and around March 8th, the day of his birth. Moreover, a special commemorative exhibition is being held until December at the Treasure Hall. Throughout this year, there has been an increased enthusiasm to repay our debt of gratitude to Nikko Shonin In the second year of Shōka (1258), when Nikko Shonin was 13 years of age, he became Nichiren Daishonin’s disciple. Thereafter, he continued to serve Nichiren Daishonin, even when he was exiled to Izu and Sado. Like a shadow following the body, Nikko Shonin constantly followed his master and sincerely developed faith, based on the master-disciple relationship. Nichiren Daishonin had many skilled disciples, but Nikko Shonin was the only one who truly was able to understand his master’s mind and heart. Therefore, Nichiren Daishonin, at the time of his entry into nirvana, states: I, Nichiren, transfer the entirety of the Law that I have propagated throughout my life to Byakuren Ajari Nikko, and designate him the Great Master of Propagation of the Essential Teaching. (Gosho, p. 1675) And he further states: I transfer Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings of fifty years to Byakuren Ajari Nikko. He is to be the chief priest of Minobu-san Kuonji Temple. (ibid.) Thus, Nichiren Daishonin designated Nikko Shonin as the Great Master of propagation of the essential teaching and transferred the entirety of his Buddhism to him. The Daishonin entrusted him with the achievement of kosen-rufu—the propagation of the Three Great Secret Laws throughout the world. Among Nikko Shonin’s writings, which demonstrate his strict and solemn attitude toward faith, there is Article 1 from the twenty-six articles of warning in his writing, The Twenty-six Admonitions of Nikko (Nikko yuikai okimon):. The doctrines of the Fuji school must not differ in the least from the teachings of the late master. (Gosho, p. 1884) The Twenty-six Admonitions of Nikko (Nikko yuikai okimon) is a document that gives the final admonitions of Nikko Shonin to all his followers shortly before his entry into nirvana. “The doctrines of the Fuji School” signifies the faith, practice, and teachings that must be upheld by all the disciples of Nikko Shonin. Article 1 form a pair with Article 2, which follows it: All of the doctrines established by the five senior priests differ from those of the deceased master. (ibid.) When we compare these two articles, we can understand the great extent to which the practice of the five senior priests went against Nichiren Daishonin’s instructions of strict admonishments against slander of the Law. The five senior priests were five of the six senior disciples—excluding Nikko Shonin—who Nichiren Daishonin had appointed. The five priests, other than Nikko Shonin, were Nisshō, Nichiro, Nikō, Nitchō, and Nichiji. When Nikko Shonin saw the propagation activities of the five senior priests, opposing the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, he developed the conviction that no one other than his own disciples would be able to correctly transmit the true teachings of Nichiren Daishonin to future generations. He revealed this conviction in the admonition of Article 1. Nichiren Daishonin spent the last eight years of his life in Mt. Minobu. Nikko Shonin received the transmission of the Heritage of the Law and, as the chief priest of Kuonji Temple, he protected the burial site of Nichiren Daishonin and continued to manage the temple in Minobu. However, Hakiri Sanenaga, the lord of the region, conspired with Mimbu Niko, chief instructor of priests (gakutō), and gradually engaged in slanderous activities. They ultimately turned a deaf ear on Nikko Shonin’s admonitions. Reluctantly, Nikko Shonin made the determination to depart from Minobu. He accepted the invitation of Lord Nanjo Tokimitsu to relocate to Ueno in Fuji. It was in the tenth month of the third year of Shō’ō (1290), eight years following Nichiren Daishonin’s entry into nirvana, that Nikko Shonin established Taisekiji on that land. The Dai-Gohonzon of the High Sanctuary of the Essential Teaching was thus enshrined in Taisekiji. This site was confirmed to be the location of the establishment of the High Sanctuary of the Essential Teaching when kosen-rufu is ultimately achieved. Nikko Shonin took the first step at the location in Fuji to achieve kosen-rufu, the great life-long objective of Nichiren Daishonin. Thus, Fuji is a site that possesses a profound and powerful karmic bond with the true Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin. “The doctrines of the Fuji School,” presented in Article 1 of The Twenty-six Admonitions of Nikko oppose to “the doctrines established by the five senior priests” (the heretical principles of the five senior priests) in Article 2, refer to the true teachings of Nichiren Daishonin must to be widely propagated through shakubuku, centered on the area of Fuji. Nikko Shonin strictly admonished us by stating that, based on the lifelong will of Nichiren Daishonin, the disciples and followers of Nikko and all their descendants must propagate the Law without deviating even in the slightest from the ways of our late master Nichiren Daishonin. Such are the practices and principles of the Fuji School. The statement that the teachings “must not differ in the least from the teachings of the late master” signifies the doctrine propagated by Nichiren Daishonin. The teachings of Nichiren Daishonin do not refer to Shakyamuni’s doctrines, which lost their beneficial power to save all mankind after the passing of the first one-thousand years of the Former Day of the Law and the second one-thousand years of the Middle Day of the Law, as the pure Law became obscured and lost. The Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin, the True Buddha who made his advent in the Latter Day of the Law, expounds and propagates the Myoho-Renge-Kyo of the Buddhism of the sowing, hidden in the depths of the essential teaching—that is, the Three Great Secret Laws of the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra. All people who believe in and embrace the Daishonin’s true Buddhism can attain enlightenment in their present form and be saved. Although this was clearly the teaching of Nichiren Daishonin, the five senior priests were attached to Shakyamuni, who is not the True Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. They created and worshipped statues of Shakyamuni and never revered and believed in the Gohonzon, which was revealed by Nichiren Daishonin. Moreover, the five senior priests, in their Buddhist practices, they encouraged to recited and transcribed parts of the Lotus Sutra, and made light of Nichiren Daishonin and his teachings, which expounded that the foremost practice in the Latter Day of the Law is shakubuku. Moreover, they went against the teachings of the Risshō ankoku-ron (On Securing the Peace of the Land through the Propagation of True Buddhism) and worshipped at heretical shrines, where devilish functions were rampant. Thus, they blatantly slighted and neglected the teachings expounded by Nichiren Daishonin. Furthermore, in the reports that the five senior priests submitted to the imperial court and the governmnet, they signed their names as “Priests of Tiantai.” This meant that the priests considered themselves to be followers of the Tiantai sect from the Middle Day of the Law. It is clear that the five senior priests did not believe Nichiren Daishonin to be the True Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. By contrast, Nikko Shonin, unlike the five senior priests, upheld Nichiren Daishonin as the True Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. He exerted a great deal of effort into correctly protecting and transmitting his teachings. Let me provide you with a few examples. First, he made a record of each and every Gohonzon inscribed by Nichiren Daishonin and bestowed upon Nikko Shonin’s disciples and followers, so that he would not lose track of any of them. Meanwhile, the five senior priests undervalued the Gohonzon and used it, for example, for covering deceased person to bury him, or to sell it to buyers. Nikko Shonin designated the ten major writings of the Gosho of the Daishonin, which widely remain the standard major writings to this day, even among the general followers of the various Nichiren Schools. Moreover, he transcribed many Gosho writings in an effort to make certain that they would be available to future generations. By far, the majority of the transcribed copies of Goshos that remain in Taisekiji are in the hand of Nikko Shonin. This attests to the fact that Nikko Shonin truly treasured the Gosho. On contrary, the five senior priests, who believed the customary notion at the time that the kana phonetic syllabary style represented the writing of the uncultured, considered the Goshos written in that format to be an embarrassment to the Daishonin. The five senior priests burned and destroyed them. This clearly shows how they disrespected Nichiren Daishonin’s teachings. Among the letters left behind by Nikko Shonin, we can see that he wrote notations, such as “alter where the sage of the Lotus Sutra resides” and “an audience with the sage, the true Buddha.” From these, we clearly can understand that he considered Nichiren Daishonin to be the True Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law. Nikko Shonin revered the Daishonin and inherited and sustained his teachings without the slightest deviation. His strict warning against slander formed the pillar of our faith and practice.
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