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From: torkel@sics.se (Torkel Franzen)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.eastern
Subject: Re: Is Nicherin Shoshu Buddhism?
Message-ID: <1991Feb12.181937.9793@sics.se>
Date: 12 Feb 91 18:19:37 GMT
References: <Feb.11.15.49.47.1991.9097@paul.rutgers.edu>
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In-Reply-To: moskowit@paul.rutgers.edu's message of 11 Feb 91 20:49:47 GMT

In article <Feb.11.15.49.47.1991.9097@paul.rutgers.edu> moskowit@paul.rutgers.
edu (Len Moskowitz) writes:

   >I have been concerned about Keith Evans' posts describing the Nicherin
   >Shoshu sect.  What he describes is nothing like the Buddhism with
   >which I'm familiar.

   I think it's of interest here to quote the views of a well-known Buddhist
scholar, Edward Conze. In his "Buddhism: its essence and development", he
remarks:

        It is customary to reckon the sect of Nichiren (1222-1282)
        as one of the schools of Amidism. It would be more appropriate
        to count it among the offshoots of nationalistic Shintoism.
        Nichiren suffered from self-assertiveness and bad temper, and
        he manifested a degree of personal and tribal egotism which
        disqualifies him as a Buddhist teacher. He did not only convince
        himself that he, personally, was mentioned in the "Lotus of the
        Good Law," but also that the Japanese were the chosen race
        which would regenerate the world. The followers of the Nichiren
        sect, as Suzuki puts it: "even now are more or less militaristic
        and do not mix well with other Buddhists."