Buddhism in Japan: Photos and quotes by Nichiren (art)

Buddhism in Japan: Photos and quotes by Nichiren (art)

Kanako Mita and Sawako Utsumi

Modern Tokyo Times

Buddhism and Shintoism continue to play an essential role in Japanese society. Naturally, the ideas of Confucianism from the Middle Kingdom (China) also impacted heavily on Japan.

Nichiren said: “If you light a lantern for another, it will also brighten your own way.”

Nichiren pointedly said: “By an increase in anger, warfare arises. By an increase of greed, famine arises. By an increase of stupidity, pestilence arises. Because these three calamities occur, the people’s earthly desires grow all the more intense, and their false views thrive and multiply.”

The Soka Gakkai website says, “Nichiren was born in a small coastal hamlet to a family engaged in fishing—people on the lowest rung of the strict social hierarchy of 13th-century Japan. At the age of 12 (in East Asian age reckoning), he began his schooling at a local temple called Seicho-ji and formally entered the priesthood at the age of 16. Nichiren was moved by the plight of the ordinary people, as seen in the daily hardships of the people of his village. This concern for human suffering was a profound motivational force in his efforts to grasp the heart of Buddhist doctrine. In one of his letters, he describes how, from the time he was a child, he had prayed “to become the wisest person in Japan.”