THE PURE LAND OF SACRED EAGLE PEAK

Shortly before his exile to Sado, Nichiren began to refer in his letters and other writings to the “Pure land of Sacred [Eagle] Peak” (ryōzen jōdo). These references increase during the Sado period and especially during Nichiren’s retirement on Mt. Minobu. “Sacred Eagle Peak” (or “Sacred Vulture Peak”) translates Ryōjusen (Chn. Ling-chiu-shan), the Chinese translation for Gṛdhrakūṭa (Vulture Peak), the name of the mountain in Rājagṛha where the Lotus Sūtra is said to have been preached. The notion of Eagle Peak as a pure land seems to arise from a conflation of this site with the sūtra’s assertion that this Sahā world is the eternal dwelling place of the original Buddha:

Throughout asaṃkhya-kalpas I am always on Sacred Eagle Peak as well as in other dwelling places. When the beings see the kalpa ending and [the world] being consumed in a great fire, this land of mine is safe and peaceful, always filled with gods and humans.

In it are gardens, groves, halls, and towers . . . wherein the beings play and amuse themselves . . . My pure land is not destroyed, yet the multitude see it consumed in flames.

Worried, they fear the torment of pains. … Those who have cultivated merit, who are gentle and agreeable, straightforward and honest, all do, however, see my body dwelling here and preaching the Dharma.

Kumārajīva (344—413), the sūtra’s translator, is said to have interpreted the lines “My pure land is not destroyed / yet the multitude see it consumed in flames” to mean “the two qualities of purity and defilement dwelling in the same place.” Since his time, “Eagle Peak” was frequently understood as representing the ontological nonduality of delusion and enlightenment, or of the present, Sahā world and the Land of Ever Tranquil Light. This reading clearly informs Nichiren’s understanding of the present world as potentially the Buddha land… . However, “Sacred Eagle Peak” was also known to be a specific place and, in the manner of many continental sacred sites, had manifested itself in Japan. Mt. Hiei, Ōmine, Kasagi, and other locations of mountain ascetic practice were all at times identified with “Eagle Peak.” Nichiren, too, occasionally equated Eagle Peak with Mt. Minobu, where he, the gyōja of the Lotus Sūtra, was living. (Page 292-293)