On this date in 1253...

Linky

In the link cited above, I was referring to this statement:

On April 28, 1253, Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, creates the mantra "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" for the first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.

Nichiren did NOT create the mantra. That's the point I am trying to make. Long before Nichiren's time, people chanted daimoku on their deathbeds. The mantra can be found in Chinese, predating Nichiren. I think this was covered in one of Jacqueline Stone's books.

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by: brooke @ Wed Apr 28, 2010 at 19:21:13 PM UTC

Fallacy

That should be on the list of top fallacies in Nichiren Buddhism: "Nichiren invented Namu myoho renge kyo." No he didn't.

"If only I had a nickel for every time I've heard someone say that the Soka skunk has changed its stripe." -- auntie

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by: mroaks @ Wed Apr 28, 2010 at 19:29:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

re; fallacy

Nichiren said he did not invent NMRK. He also addressed the practice of chanting it on your deathbed as not the same as a primary practice. Chi-ih chanted NMRK as well. Where do you think this practice on the deathbed originated? Where do you think Nichiren Buddhism originated? Chi-ih!


Markp

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by: markp @ Wed Apr 28, 2010 at 20:01:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

oh really?

The True Aspect of All Phenomena...

There should be no discrimination among those who propagate the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo in the Latter Day of the Law, be they men or women. Were they not Bodhisattvas of the Earth, they could not chant the daimoku. At first only Nichiren chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, but then two, three, and a hundred followed, chanting and teaching others. Propagation will unfold this way in the future as well. Does this not signify "emerging from the earth" ? At the time when the Law has spread far and wide, the entire Japanese nation will chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, as surely as an arrow aimed at the earth cannot miss the target.

In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself. Albert Einstein  

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by: nuevopionero @ Sun May 09, 2010 at 15:34:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

a date that will live in infamy

It seems Nichiren Shoshu has moved the date back to March.
Letter to the Priests of Seichoji Temple:
"On the twenty-eighth day of the third month in the fifth year of Kencho
(1253), I declared Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo in front of several priests,including Joen-bo, while I faced toward the south in Dozen- bo's Jibutsu-do hall, on the grounds of Seichoji Temple, located in Tojo County of Awa Province." (Gosho p. 946)  

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by: clown hidden @ Wed Apr 28, 2010 at 23:06:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]