Nichiren and NationalismBorn [December 14, 1861] in Edo just seven years before the transfer of the imperial capital from Kyoto was to change the city’s name to Tokyo, Tanaka Chigaku was the third son of a physician named Tada Genryū and his second wife. Tada Genryū died in February 1870, a few months after the death of his wife, but his influence upon his youngest child seems to have been considerable. He was a Buddhist, in early life a devotee of the Amidist Pure Land sect and later a convert to Nichiren, and he is reputed to have instilled in his children a deep commitment to Nichiren doctrine and, concomitantly, an ingrained distrust of the established church. Apparently an enthusiastic tippler, Genryū, in his cups, once exclaimed, ‘If you want to write good poems, don’t become a poet; if you want to understand Buddhism, don’t become a priest. Miso that smells like miso is not good miso.’ Yet the Nichiren priesthood seemed precisely the career for which Genryū’s third son was destined when young Tanaka, in a move presumably viewed by his half-brothers as a means of obtaining an eductaion, was enrolled, two months after his father’s death, as a novice in a Nichiren temple in northeastern Tokyo. What was to be a relatively short academic career thus began in the spring of 1870, and during its course Tanaka moved successively from scholar to scholar and from temple to temple, mostly in the northern part of Tokyo and nearby Chiba prefecture, until finally, in 1874, he entered the Daikyō-in, the newly opened Nichiren academy, a predecessor of Risshō University.
By this time he had adopted the name Tanaka Chigaku, the surname as a result of government order (Tada Genryū’s original family name had been Tanaka) and the sobriquet “Chigaku” (‘Wisdom and learning’) in honor of an early teacher, Chikyō-in Nisshin. According to his biographers, within two years of his enrollment in the academy, Tanaka became disillusioned by what he regarded as the discrepancies between the accommodating views of Nichiren sectarian leaders, caught up in the problem of preserving their institutions in the midst of the government’s support of Shinto, and the absolutist doctrines of Nichiren himself. It is not inconceivable, however, that Tanaka, like many other students, simply became frustrated with the stiff requirements of formal education and, consciously or not, began to seek an excuse for dropping out. At any rate, he fell victim to pneumonia in December 1876 as he began to prepare for his graduation examinations, and the next two years were marked by recurrences of illness whenever he seemed ready to resume his studies.
These were not, however, years of idleness. Tanaka continued to study on his own the Lotus Sutra, the works of Nichiren, and some of the ancient texts of Japanese history. He read voraciously, and by the time he finally determined to renounce his priestly vows early in 1879, he had most likely acquired an understanding of Buddhist fundamentals deeper than that of students whose education followed the ordinary course. A short, unsuccessful venture as an adoptive son of the Tanuma family then followed, at the instigation of his half-brothers, but by the late spring of 1880 Tanaka had determined to embark upon a career as a lay propagandist of ‘true’ Nichiren Buddhism.
Monthly Archives: August 2023
Daily Dharma – Aug. 19, 2023
Only perverted people say:
“All things exist,” or “Nothing exists,”
Or “All things are real,” or “Nothing is real,”
Or “All things are born,” or “Nothing is born.”
The Buddha declares these verses in Chapter Fourteen of the Lotus Sūtra in which he describes the peaceful practices of a Bodhisattva. Hearing these descriptions can be confusing. We think that we have to choose from among these views, and that these are the only views possible. The Buddha shows us another way. When we think of things as either unchanging or nonexistent, we live in a world of either judgement or despair. The Buddha shows us how to value what exists as it is changing and not attach ourselves to our expectations of stability. It is only because we are changing, and the world is changing around us, that we have the potential to become enlightened.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 24
Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma, and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month considered in gāthās the first half of the eight hundred merits of the nose, we consider in gāthās the remainder of the eight hundred merits of the nose.
He will be able to recognize by smell
The gold, silver, and other treasures
Deposited underground,
And the things enclosed in a copper box.He will be able to know by smell
The values of various necklaces,
And the deposits of their materials,
And also to locate the necklaces [when they are lost].He will be able to recognize by smell
The mandārava-flowers,
And the mañjūṣaka-flowers,
And the pārijātaka-trees in heaven.He will be able to know by smell
Whether a heavenly palace
Adorned with jeweled flowers
Is superior, mean or inferior.He will be able to recognize by smell
Gardens, forests, excellent palaces,
And the wonderful hall of the Dharma in heaven,
And other stately buildings where [the gods] enjoy themselves.He will be able to know by smell
Whether the gods are hearing the Dharma
Or satisfying their five desires,
Or coming, going, walking, sitting or reclining.He will be able to know by smell
Whether the goddesses, clad in the garments
Adorned with fragrant flowers,
Are playing as they are moving about.He will be able to know by smell
Who has reached the Heaven of Brahman,
Who has entered into dhyāna,
And who has come out of it.He will be able to know by smell
The person who has appeared for the first time in the Light-Sound Heaven
Or in the Universal-Pure Heaven or in the Highest Heaven,
And who has disappeared from there.Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to locate by smell
The bhikṣus who are sitting or walking about
In seeking the Dharma strenuously,
And the bhikṣus who are reading or reciting [this] sūtra
Or devoting themselves
To sitting in dhyāna
Under the trees of forests.He will be able to know by smell
The Bodhisattvas who are resolute in mind,
And who are sitting in dhyāna or reading [this] sūtra
Or reciting it or expounding it to others.He will be able to locate by smell
The World-Honored One who is expounding the Dharma
Out of his compassion
Towards all living beings who respect him.He will be able to know by smell
Those who rejoice at hearing [this] sūtra
From the Buddha,
And act according to the Dharma.Anyone who keeps this sūtra
Will be able to have these merits of the nose
Although he has not yet obtained the nose
Of the Bodhisattva [who attained] the
Dharma without āsravas.
A Millennial Vision of World Peace Founded on Nichiren’s Teachings
While the quote below is off the topic of Chigaku Tanaka and Japanese imperialism, I wanted to include it because it offers an interesting insight into the differences between Sōka Gakkai and Risshō Kōsei-kai on the topic of the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra.
Japanese Lotus Millennialism, p277-278A millennial vision of “world peace” is also central to the two lay Buddhist organizations, Sōka Gakkai and Risshō Kōsei-kai, the largest of Japan’s so-called New Religions and both based on the Lotus Sutra and the teachings of Nichiren. … Founded before the war, both achieved their greatest growth in the postwar decades. …
The two groups have different understandings of how the ideal society is to be achieved (Stone 1997). Sōka Gakkai maintains that only the spread of Nichiren’s teachings can bring about world peace; in the light of Nichiren’s Risshō ankoku ron, adherence to other, “false” religions is ultimately blamed for the tragedy of Japan’s defeat in World War Il. This conviction underlay the organization’s aggressive missionizing in the postwar years. Risshō Kōsei-kai, for its part, takes an ecumenical approach; the “Lotus Sutra” is understood as the fundamental truth—God, Allah, or the one vehicle—at the heart of all great religions. Its cofounder and longtime president, Niwano Nikkyō (1906-1999), was active in promoting worldwide interfaith cooperation for peace. Central to both organizations, however, is a progressive millennialism, pursued, not through the transformation of existing social structures (as advocated in Ishiwara’s postwar millennialism), nor through civil protest (as practiced by Nihonzan Myōhōji), but by personal religious cultivation and by working within the system for social improvement. Both groups hold that war and other social evils have their roots in the greed, anger, and delusion of individuals; therefore, it is individual efforts in self-cultivation and promoting harmony in everyday relations—rather than diplomatic or political efforts—that will fundamentally establish world peace. What is needed, in Sōka Gakkai parlance, is not social revolution but “human revolution,” the positive transformation of character said to come about through Buddhist practive.
Daily Dharma – Aug. 18, 2023
You, the World-Honored One, are the light of wisdom.
Hearing from you
That we are assured of our future Buddhahood,
We are as joyful as if we were sprinkled with nectar.
These verses are sung by two thousand of the Buddha’s disciples in Chapter Nine of the Lotus Sūtra. When these followers of the Buddha were told that they would become as enlightened as he was, then many others like them realized that they too had this capacity. The superiority of the Lotus Sūtra lies not in having better explanations of what the Buddha taught, or in some supernatural ability it has to change the world. The superiority of the Lotus Sūtra is its completeness. It leads all beings to the joy of enlightenment.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 23
Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last month conclude Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, we begin Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma and consider the merits earned by keeping, reading, reciting, expounding or copying this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Thereupon the Buddha said to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva:
“The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind. They will be able to adorn and purify their six sense-organs with these merits.
The Daily Dharma from May 28, 2023, offers this:
The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind.
The Buddha gives this teaching in Chapter Nineteen of the Lotus Sūtra. This is another reminder that the practice of the Wonderful Dharma does not take us out of the world of conflict we live in. Instead, it helps us to use the senses we have, in ways we did not think were possible, to see the world for what it is. Merits in this sense are not status symbols. They are an indication of clarity, of our faculties not being impeded by anything that blocks their capacity.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
The Defeated General Who Became a Lotus Sutra Pacifist
Japanese Lotus Millennialism, p274-276One of the earliest articulations of postwar Lotus-inspired millennial hopes for peace can be found, astonishingly enough, in the last writings of General Ishiwara Kanji. …Purged from public life and in failing health, Ishiwara retired in 1946 with a group of disciples to the village of Nishiyama on the Japan Sea, where he devoted his remaining years to pondering how Japan and the world might be regenerated through Nichiren’s teaching. Before his death, he arrived at a new Lotus-inspired millennial vision, one that broke utterly with the violence he had previously advocated.Ishiwara’s new vision called for establishment of a modern agrarian society in which the tasks of production would be performed communally by village units of about a dozen families and where men and women would rank equally, a person’s work being decided on the basis of ability rather than gender. In a long tract dictated shortly before his death in 1949, Ishiwara interpreted Nichiren’s prediction of a time when “the wind will not thrash the branches nor the rain fall hard enough to break clods” in terms of a future society in which science, politics, and religion were perfectly harmonized. Science, “having obtained the Buddha wisdom,” would enable control of the weather and eliminate the ravages of storms. Homes, villages, and factories, engineered by the new science, would be pleasantly integrated into a natural environment of forests and streams. For a few hours each day, everyone, even the imperial family, would work wholeheartedly in the fields, factories, or at other tasks. Then, in the ample leisure afforded by rational social management, people would devote themselves to study, art, dance, sport, or other pursuits. An abundance of commodities would eliminate all inequity of distribution. Acute illness would be conquered by science, and chronic disease would vanish with a way of life that had “returned to nature.” Advances in flight technology would make the world smaller, “like a single town,” and through mixed marriages based on natural affection, “all humanity will gradually become a single race” (Ishiwara 1949, 128—30).What had not changed in Ishiwara’s thinking was the notion of a unique role for Japan:Our vows and efforts for risshō ankoku will surely be achieved in a few decades. The time when, throughout the world, all will embrace the Wonderful Dharma is approaching before our eyes. At this time, we who once tasted the wretchedness of defeat have gained the good fortune of receiving the supreme command to lead the world in establishing a nation without armaments. … Cleansing ourselves of the dross, both material and spiritual, of humanity’s prior history, we shall create a new Japan as a literal treasure realm, an actualized Buddha land, setting a correct course for human civilization. This will not only work to atone for the crimes against humanity committed in the Pacific War; it is the one, sole way by which to live. (1949, 126)
Daily Dharma – Aug. 17, 2023
Ajita! They need not build a stūpa or a monastery in my honor, or make the four kinds of offerings to the Saṃgha because those who keep, read and recite this sūtra should be considered to have already built a stūpa or a monastery or made offerings to the Saṃgha.
The Buddha sings these verses to Maitreya Bodhisattva, whom he calls Ajita – Invincible, in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sūtra. In our zeal to emulate the great deeds of the Buddha, or even of our founder Nichiren, we might believe that only by extraordinary accomplishments can we show our gratitude for this teaching. The Buddha reminds us in this chapter that because we are practicing his Dharma in this world of conflict, we have already made these extraordinary accomplishments. He also reminds us that others who practice with us should be treated with the same admiration we have for anyone who has done valuable work.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Day 22
Day 22 covers all of Chapter 17, The Variety of Merits.
Having last month considered the benefits received when members of the congregation heard from the Buddha that the duration of his life was so many kalpas, we consider Maitreya’s response in gāthās.
Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, joined his hands together towards the Buddha, and sang in gāthās:
You expounded a rare teaching.
I have never heard it before.
You have great powers.
The duration of your life is immeasurable.Having heard from you that they were given
The various benefits of the Dharma,
The innumerable sons of yours
Were filled with joy.Some of them reached the stage of irrevocability.
Some obtained dharanis, or eloquence without hindrance,
Or the all-holding formulas
For memorizing billions of repetitions of teachings.Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds obtained
The faculty of turning
The irrevocable wheel of the Dharma.Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of one million Sumeru-worlds obtained
The faculty of turning
The wheel of the pure Dharma.Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of one thousand Sumeru-worlds obtained
The faculty of attaining the enlightenment of the Buddha
After eight rebirths.Bodhisattvas numbering four times or three times or twice
The number of the particles of earth of the four continents
Obtained the faculty of becoming Buddhas
After four, three or two rebirths respectfully.Bodhisattvas as many as the particles of earth
Of the four continents obtained
The faculty of attaining the knowledge of all things
immediately after this life.Having heard of your longevity,
They obtained these effects and rewards,
Pure, immeasurable, and without āsravas.
Having heard from you
Of the duration of your life,
Living beings as many as the particles of earth
Of eight Sumeru-worlds
Aspired for unsurpassed [enlightenment].You expounded the teachings
Immeasurable and inconceivable,
And benefited living beings
As limitless as the sky.[The gods] rained down mandārava-flower ,
And mahā-mandārava-flowers of heaven.
Sakras and Brahmans came from the [other] Buddha-worlds
As many as there are sands in the River Ganges.[The gods] rained down candana and aloes [powder],
And offered it to the Buddhas.
The powder came down fluttering
Just as birds fly down from the sky.Heavenly drums automatically sounded
Wonderful in the sky.
Thousands of billions of heavenly garments
Whirled down.[The gods] burned priceless incense which was put
In wonderful incense-burners of many treasures.
The incense-burners automatically went around,
And the odor was offered to the World-Honored Ones.The great Bodhisattvas lined up vertically one upon another
To the Heaven of Brahman, holding
Billions of lofty and wonderful canopies and streamers
Made of the seven treasures.[The great Bodhisattvas] hoisted before the Buddha
Jeweled banner adorned with excellent streamers.
They also praised the Tathāgatas
With tens of millions of gāthās.I have never seen these things before.
All living beings
Rejoice at hearing
That the duration of your life is immeasurable.Your fame is extended over the worlds of the ten quarters.
You benefit all living beings.
The root of good which they have planted
Will help them aspire for unsurpassed [enlightenment].
The Daily Dharma from June 4, 2023, offers this:
Having heard from you
Of the duration of your life,
Living beings as many as the particles of earth
Of eight Sumeru-worlds
Aspired for unsurpassed [enlightenment].
The Bodhisattva Maitreya sings these verses in Chapter Seventeen of the Lotus Sutra. He describes the effect on all beings of the Buddha’s revealing his existence as the Ever-Present Śākyamuni. If we believed that the Buddha was just a man who lived 2500 years ago, we might think that we had to wait until another being became enlightened before we could follow them on the path to our own awakening. But with this understanding that the Buddha is always helping us, here and now, then we awaken our capacity to see things as they are and work confidently for the benefit of all beings.
The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com
Gen. Ishiwara’s Violent Millennialist Vision
Japanese Lotus Millennialism, p271-272The potential influence of one individual’s violent millennialist vision is yet more vividly illustrated by the example of Ishiwara Kanji (1889-1949). …
Nichiren, as we have seen, had accepted the traditional theory of Buddhist decline occurring over five five-hundred-year periods. This scheme provided Ishiwara with a framework for his views on the “final war,” a concept he had begun developing in the early 1920s and to which he would devote most of his life (Peattie 1975, 53-74). War, for Ishiwara, was a driving force of historical progress, in which the struggles of nations and peoples to impose their ideologies on their neighbors led to higher levels of civilization. By the present time, Ishiwara believed, these competing cultures and ideologies had aligned themselves along two polar axes: the West, led by the United States, which followed the “way of dominance,” and Asia, to be headed by Japan, which followed the “way of righteousness.” The conflict between these two was destined to end in Japanese victory ushering in everlasting peace. Ishiwara drew support for his theory from Nichiren’s statement that in the fifth five-hundred-year period following the Buddha’s nirvana—that is, at the beginning of the Final Dharma age—”a great war, unprecedented in prior ages, shall break out in the world” (Senji shō in Risshō 1988, 2:1008). Nichiren was referring to the Mongol invasion, which he saw as divine punishment for Japan’s neglect of the Lotus. For Ishiwara, however, Nichiren’s “unprecedented great war” signified the final war that would pit the imperialistic West against an East Asia united under Japanese leadership in a conflict of apocalyptic proportions. To prepare for this cataclysm, Japan would need to mobilize the resources of China and Manchuria—an argument Ishiwara used to justify Japanese military aggression on the Asian continent. Through this war to end all wars, “Our powerful enemies will be vanquished, the glorious spirit of the Japanese kokutai will come home to the hearts of the peoples of all nations, and the world will enter an era of peace under the guidance of the imperial throne” (Ishiwara 1968, 1:431; trans. from Peattie 1975, 74).