Pieters (December 15, 1995)
The Buddha denies the existence of a soul. There is no self, ego, Anatman. I encounter the expression “the soul of Nichiren”. Did Nichiren have a soul?

Murano (February 1, 1996)
I think that this expression is a translation of “Nichiren-ga-tamashii”. A soul is thought to be left over after one’s death. According to Buddhism, a soul transmigrates from one to another of the six regions, rambling around the world of birth-and-death. We never say “the soul of the Buddha.” The same should be said of Nichiren. Tamashii is usually translated as “soul,” but “soul” is in more cases a translation of reikon. Yamato-damasii means “the Japanese spirit.” We never say “Yamato-reikon.”

“Mitsugo-notamashii-hyaku-made-mo” means, “The tamashii of a three-year-old child will not change even when it grows one hundred years old.” If you say “mitsugo-no-reikon”, you will make us to think that the child died when he was three years old. A soul is in popular usage not for a living person except a timid soul. “Nichiren ga tamashii” does not mean the soul of Nichiren. It means, “What I, Nichiren, have in mind,” or “My true intention.”

Rei or reikon, meaning soul, is more abusively used in Japanese than in English. When you want to dedicate a new book to the person who is already dead, you write in front page, “To the Memory of.” We write “To the Soul of.” On the monument to the war dead, we write “This monument is dedicated for the purpose of consoling the souls of the war dead,” while you write only “To an Unknown Soldier” at Arlington Cemetery. The name of Reiyukai is beautifully translated as “Spiritual Friends Society,” but the society was primarily organized in the notion of “The Society of Friends of Souls”. There is no word corresponding to the soul in the Lotus Sutra.