Nichiren Shonin stated that within the first stages
of the “Four Stages of Faith” and the “Five Stages
of Practice” are the “casket containing merits of enlightenment
of the one hundred worlds and thousand factors and three thousand
realms in a single life moment, and it is the gate from which all
buddhas of ten directions and three existences emerged”.
The Sect of Nichiren Shonin was not an officially sanctioned religious
sect during his lifetime. It was generally viewed as an affiliate
of the Government approved religion of Tendai Hokke Sect. Had Nichiren
Shonin named his sect as “Hokke Sect”, he would have encountered
strong opposition from the Tendai Hokke Sect due to its similarity.
Actually, some disciples of Nichiren Shonin’s had taken up refuge
in the Tendai Hokke Sect, and they used it as a base to spread the
teachings of Nichiren Shonin by disguising themselves as Tendai Hokke
Shu priests. Among those disciples was Priest Nikko.
Priest Nikko was originally a priest at Jissoji Temple in Iwamoto
County of Suruga Territory, now known as Shizuoka Prefecture. In early
Bunei Era, about 1264, Priest Nikko met Nichiren Shonin and he became
Nichiren Shonin’s disciple after falling in love with his character
and his teachings.
Priest Nikko, who had accompanied Nichiren Shonin to the Sado Island,
served as priest of various temples beginning with Atsuhara Ryusenji
Temple, Iwamoto Jissoji Temple, and Kaibara Yonjuku Temple after Nichiren
Shonin entered Mount Minobu. During that period, Priest Nikko recruited
many priests, converted them to the religion of Nichiren Shonin and
made them his disciples.
Naturally, with the increase of Nichiren Shonin’s disciples
and grand disciples, the teachings of Nichiren Shonin had spread to
priests of other sects and to the common people. This condition caused
serious frictions among the priests of other sects, especially, among
the anti and pro Nichiren Shonin’s priests of Tendai Hokke Sect.
That struggle resulted in the “Incident of Atsuhara” in
1279, and criticism was directed at Jonin Toki, who was the leader
of parishioners of Nichiren Shonin’s school. It meant that priests
of Tendai Hokke Sect were censuring followers of Nichiren Shonin.
They claimed that the followers of Nichiren Shonin were only chanting
the Odaimoku and not abiding by the three practices of Buddhism ?
the precept, meditation, and wisdom. Toki had the knowledge to ward
off Tendai’s criticisms, but he consulted Nichiren Shonin for
his opinion.
In response, Nichiren Shonin wrote the “Treatise on the Four
Stages of Faith and Five Stages of Practice”. In the first part,
Nichiren Shonin wrote: “Scholars of Buddhism these days all
agree that those who wish to practice the Lotus Sutra must devote
themselves to the three types of learning. Should they neglect any
one of them, they will be unable to attain enlightenment”. In
those days, the “scholars” were thought to be scholars
of Tendai Hokke Sect. |
