Role Priest Name Nikko Nikko | Died February 7, 1333 | |
Nikko (日興, 1246–1333), also known as Nikko Shonin, is the founder of a major branch of Nichiren Buddhism that includes the present-day Nichiren Shoshu school of Japanese Buddhism. His full Buddhist name was Hawaki-bo Byakuren Ajari Nikko (伯耆房 白蓮阿闍梨 日興).
Contents
Early life
Nikko was born at Kajikazawa in Koma District of Kai Province. His father, Oi-no Kitsuroku, died when Nikko was a child. He was raised by his grandfather. As a child, he entered the Tendai temple Shijuku-in, in Suruga Province. He received his education here, which as well as Tendai doctrine, included Chinese classics, Japanese literature, poetry, calligraphy, as well as other subjects.
Conversion to Nichiren's teachings
In 1257, Nichiren visited Jisso-ji Temple, which was closely affiliated with Shijuku-in Temple, to study at the sutra library for His 'Rissho Ankoku Ron' (立正安国論, Eng. Establishing the Correct teaching for the Peace of the Land). Nikko served Nichiren here, and decided to become His disciple.
He served Nichiren closely from then until the latter's passing. According to historical documents of Nichiren Shoshu, Nikko accompanied Nichiren on his two exiles. Nikko is credited with preserving many of Nichiren's voluminous writings. He was particularly careful to ensure the survival of Nichiren's many letters written in simple language (Kana) for uneducated followers.
As one of Nichiren's senior disciples
On October 8, 1282, Nikko was one of six senior priests whom Nichiren designated to carry on his faith after his death. According to Nichiren Shoshu doctrine, on October 13 Nichiren further designated Nikko the chief priest of Kuon-ji, the temple at Mt. Minobu where Nichiren had spent the last years of his life, in a document called Minobu-zan Fuzoku-sho[1] ("Document entrusting Mt. Minobu"); however, the authenticity of this document is disputed by other branches of Nichiren. Later that day, Nichiren died at Ikegami, now part of Tokyo.
Following Nichiren's funeral, Nikko left Ikegami on October 21 to carry Nichiren's ashes back to Mt. Minobu, arriving on October 25. On the hundredth-day anniversary of Nichiren's death, Nikko, the other five senior priests, and their disciples conducted a 100th-day memorial service, after which the others departed for the localities where they were active.
From then on Nikko carried out his duties as chief priest of Kuon-ji, teaching disciples and looking after the laity. Central to his work was attending to Nichiren's tomb, and collecting and cataloging Nichiren's many writings, all to ensure the untainted perpetuation of Nichiren's teachings.
Over the following years, the other five senior priests only rarely returned to Mt. Minobu, and they began to slowly deviate from what Nikko viewed as Nichiren's orthodox teachings. For example, some started to worship images of Sakyamuni Buddha or to identify themselves as priests of the Tendai school. The steward of the district, a convert of Nikko's called Hagiri Sanenaga, also began to commit "heresies"—actions such as building a private temple dedicated to the Buddha Amida and visiting Shinto shrines—with assurances from one of the other six senior priests, Mimbu Niko (民部日向, 1253–1314), that this was acceptable.
These developments eventually led Nikko to conclude that the spirit of Nichiren could no longer reside at Mt. Minobu, and that Kuon-ji was not the place for perpetuating Nichiren's teachings. As the priest whom Nichiren had selected to be his sole successor as high priest, Nikko decided it was time to leave.
Nikko left Mt. Minobu with his disciples in the spring of 1289. Nanjo Tokimitsu, a lay believer residing near Mt. Fuji in today's Fujinomiya, offered them a place to stay, later donating a tract of land for a new temple that became Taiseki-ji Temple. Taiseki-ji is today the head temple of the Nichiren Shoshu school and, since its founding on October 12, 1290, has always been a major center of the Komon-ha (興門派, also called the 富士派: Fuji-ha) branch of Nichiren Buddhism, as the schools stemming from Nikko were traditionally known.
After his involvement with the founding of Taiseki-ji, Nikko named his disciple Nichimoku (1260–1333) as his successor and retired a few miles away to Omosu, where he founded a seminary and temple, Ikegami Honmon-ji, and concentrated on training disciples until his death in the second lunar month of 1333 at the age of 87.
Legitimacy as Nichiren's successor
Some followers of the Nichiren schools stemming from Nikko, in particular Nichiren Shoshu, view Nikko as the sole legitimate successor to Nichiren and therefore the high priest of the school. This is based on a document dated the ninth lunar month of 1282 called the Nichiren ichigo guho fuzoku-sho[2] ("Document assigning all the teachings spread by Nichiren during his lifetime"). In this document, Nichiren entrusts the "entirety of his lifetime of teaching[3]" to Nikko and names him the "supreme leader of propagation of the true teaching[4]". Schools stemming from the other five elders, many of which are now amalgamated into Nichiren Shu based at Kuon-ji, reject this claim, as the document does not exist in Nichiren's hand or any of His immediate disciples.
Some of Nikko's direct disciples also eventually spawned schools that deviated to some degree or another from the doctrines maintained by Taiseki-ji, often due to political pressure or internal power plays. Over their history, these sub-schools, sometimes no more than single temples, have reverted to and separated themselves from Taisekiji repeatedly; in the post-war period.
Original Japanese terms
- ^ 身延山付嘱書, also called the Ikegami sojo (池上相承) "Succession document [written at] Ikegami"
- ^ 日蓮一期弘法付嘱書: Nichiren ichigo guho fuzoku-sho
- ^ 日蓮一期の弘法: Nichiren ichigo no guho
- ^ 本門弘通の大導師: Honmon Guzu no Daidoshi