Nichiren, the Buddhist prophet

Preface

SINCE the appearance of Professor James’ “ Varieties of Religious Experience,” the attention of scholars has been strongly drawn toward men of original religious experience, with emphasis on the psychological point of view, disregarding doctrinal considerations. A conspicuous result of the change brought about by this book is that religious psychology has been extended from a study of material taken from the average masses, to the study of strong personalities and their characteristic faith. The primary motive of the present work is to contribute to this newer branch of religious psychology a study of a man who has been comparatively unknown to Western scholars. Another impetus to thepublication of this study was derived from the encouragement given by Professor Royce. After reading his book, “ The Problem of Christianity,” I presented to him an essay on the Buddhist conception of life, as a counterpart of his chapter on the Christian doctrine of life. A reference to Nichiren made in that paper led me to tell the senior philosopher of Harvard more about the Buddhist prophet. The present volume is a result of his advice and encouragement to write something on Nichiren.

Nichiren’s personality has various peculiar interests of its own. Besides the points which I have tried to bring out in this book, it is deserving of special mention that a great amount of material for the study of his life is available in his numerous writings, amounting to more than four hundred essays and epistles. Not only have most of them been proved to be authentic, but about one-third are preserved

VI

PREFACE in Nichiren’s original hand-writing, while many others have come down to us in old manuscripts made by his disciples or later followers. These authentic writings contain ample and trustworthy sources for the study of his life and thought, and nearly every step of his development, his struggles, and his faith can be clearly traced in them; for Nichiren was a man who told much about himself, his experiences and ambitions, his thoughts and sentiments. Moreover, he was an unexcelled calligrapher, and his autographs have a characteristic vividness of expression, due to the picture-like forms of the Chinese ideographs. Thus, not only can his thoughts and the incidents of his life be learned from his own words and sentences, but the modulations and changes of sentiment and emotion can be closely followed in his writings. It is rare that the works of an ancient author are so well preserved and furnish us so abundantly with the means of investigating his career and ideas as in this case.‘ In the present sketch all traditions and legends of later growth have been excluded, and all the main points, as well as many minor details, are related exclusively on the basis of Nichiren’s own statements. For this reason it may be regarded as virtually a record of Nichiren’s own confessions, and as such, it will, I hope, be found a useful study in the religious psychology of a prophetic leader.

To the intrinsic interest of the life of Nichiren as a Buddhist reformer of the thirteenth century, may be added the fact that there has been a noteworthy revival of his teaching and spirit in modern Japan. Details about this revival, as well as the growth of Nichiren’s influence after his death,

^ Omitting remarks on editions of his writings, I note here that these writings are cited in this book from Rev. B. Kato’s edition, of igo4, and that the majority of the autographs are now accessible in splendid photographic reproductions.

PREFACE

Vll will be treated in my forthcoming book on the Religious and Moral Development of the Japanese. Perhaps I may be permitted to say a little concerning my personal relation to the Nichirenite revival. It was during my stay in England and India that my dear friend, Chogyu Takayama, was converted to Nichiren’s faith and that I criticized him in correspondence. Takayama’s conversion caused a great stir, and though there were adverse critics, there were also enthusiastic admirers, especially among the younger generation, who flocked to the ardent convert and his accepted prophet. Since then, many societies have been organized for the study — both historical and religious — of Nichiren, and their membership comprises students and scholars, lawyers and business men, military and naval officers. When I returned to Japan in June, 1903, my friend had already been dead six months; but his influence was rapidly growing, and he who had once been called “ the Nietzsche of Japan ” was regarded as the standard-bearer of the Nichirenite revival. The task of editing Takayama’s writings gave me occasion to study the process of his conversion, together with the life and personality of his prophet. Further studies have brought me into closer and closer touch with Nichiren’s faith and thoughts. The consequence is that in writing this book I have always been tempted to tell the stor>’ fully, and have found it difficult to decide how much should be omitted. At any rate, I offer this little volume to the public with a full confidence that I have not misrepresented the great teacher.

I cannot let this book appear without expressing my deep gratitude to Professor Josiah Royce and Professor George F. Moore. The former, as I have said above, showed his interest in the subject and gave me valuable aid by reading through the manuscript and suggesting various points that

Vlll

PREFACE might with advantage be recast, for all of which I am very grateful. Professor Moore has kindly revised the manuscript, made arrangements for publication, and consented to read the proofs. Indeed, without such encouragement and assistance from my fatherly colleagues at Harvard this publication would not have been possible. The present volume will always recall to me pleasant memories of my delightful stay at Harvard, during my two years of work there. I hope that I may soon give another humble sign of my homage to Harvard by a publication dealing with the religious and moral history of Japan, which was the subject of my lectures there.

M. Anesaki.

Cambridge, Massachusetts,

June Qth, 1915,

the six hundred and thirty-fourth anni% ersary of the arrival of the Mongol armada at the Bay of Hakata.

CHAPTER I Nichiren and His Time Nichiren the prophet 3

The social degeneracy and a Buddhist prediction 4

The political situation of his time 6

The “ degenerate Buddhism the four schools of Buddhism , 7

Chapter II

Nichiren’s Birth, Stthhes, and Conversion. The Lotus of Truth

Nichiren’s childhood and the years of his study 12

The final resort of his faith and the “ Sacred Title ” of the

Scripture 15

The Lotus of Truth; its general nature 18

The introduction and the exposition of the ideal aim 19

The perpetuation of the Truth 22

The revelation of the real entity of Buddha’s personality ... 26

The “ consummation and perpetuation ” 29

Nichiren’s personal touch with the Scripture 30

CHAPTER III Nichiren’s Public Appearance and Persecution

His proclamation of his new faith 33

His warning and the first exile 36

His perilous experiences and the “ Stanzas of Perseverance ” . 39

Reflections on the relations of his mission 41

CHAPTER IV An Interlude and a Narrow Escape

His pugnacious spirit and his tender heart 46

His mother and his old master 47

The peril of the pine forest and the escape 49

His missionary journeys and converts 50

ix

X

CONTENTS

CHAPTER V The Threatening Mongol Invasion and the Sentence of Death

The arrival of the Mongol envoys and Nichiren’s renewed remonstrance 52

Prosecution and sentence of death; the narrow escape and a

“ resurrection ” 54

Release from death and second exile 58

Chapter VI

The Exile in Sado and the Ripening of Nichiren’s Faith in His Mission

A calm reflection and the attainment of faith in his mission . . 60

His life in solitary exile 63

“ The Heritage of the Great Thing Concerning Life and Death ” . 65

“ Opening the Eyes the ethical aspects of religious life and

faith 68

Absolute trust in Buddha’s prophetic assurance 70

A better time, and Nichiren’s thought about sin 73

CHAPTER VTI

The Climax of Nichiren’s Life; the Graphic Representation OF THE Supreme Being

Peace in exile; the object of religious worship 76

The Supreme Being and the doctrine of “ mutual participation ” 79

The Supreme Being; the union of the Truth and his Person . . 81

“The Reality as It is” and the personal realization of Buddha-

hood 82

The revelation of the Great Mandala and further thoughts on his mission 85

CHAPTER VIII Release and Retirement; Further Confirmation OF His Faith

Nichiren’s attitude toward the government and the nation . . 89

His return to Kamakura and the last breach with the government 91

His retirement and his reason for retiring from the world ... 93

CONTENTS

XI

CHAPTER IX A Paradise on Earth and the Holy See

Minobu, the place of retirement 97

The world and the individual; the ideal and the actual .... 98

“ The Testimony Common to all Buddhas ” loi

The true Buddhist creates a paradise everywhere 104

The Kingdom of Buddha and the Holy See 108

“ The Three Great Mysteries ” 109

CH.-\PTER X

Silent Prayer and Anxious Watching

The hope of the future and the present danger 1 1 2

The curse on the infidels 116

The curse and the sense of sinfulness, individual and national . 1 1 7

Dedication of good to fellow-beings 119

Sense of indebtedness and fellowship 120

Nichiren’s world-wnde scheme 124

The Mongol invaders and their final defeat 125

The holy person and the holy place 129

CHAPTER XI The Last Stage of Nichiren’s Life and His Death

His ideas about illness and death 13 1

His last moments and his legacy 133

Appendix

The Buddhist Conception of Reality

I. The fundamental tenets of Buddhism concerning reality . . 137 II. Tendai’s doctrines of the Middle Path and reality .... 148 Chronological Table 157

NICHIREN

THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Chapter I Nichiren And His Time

IF JAPAN ever produced a prophet or a religious man of prophetic zeal, Nichiren was the man. He stands almost a unique figure in the history of Buddhism, not alone because of his persistence through hardship and persecution, but for his unshaken conviction that he himself was the messenger of Buddha, and his confidence in the future of his religion and country. Not only one of the most learned men of his time, but most earnest in his prophetic aspirations, he was a strong man, of combative temperament, an eloquent speaker, a powerful writer, and a man of tender heart. He was bom in 1222, the son of a fisherman, and died in 1282, a saint and prophet.

His time was a most significant epoch in the history of Japan, in poUtical and social, religious and moral aspects. New energies were at work on every side, and new inspirations were the need of the time. Nichiren passed his life of sixty years in combating the prejudices of the age and in giving warnings to the authorities and the people, not only in religious matters but in state affairs. His personality was partly a product of his time, but he Uved both in the past and in the future, being convinced of his predestined message and aspiring for future realization of his ideals.

Nearly seven hundred years had passed since the introduction of Buddhism into Japan. It had become the religion of the state, and its hierarchies had attained the power and dignity of state authorities, but inner decay was manifesting itself, and the corruption of the clergy was becoming appalling. The central government, firmly established since the seventh century, was disintegrating through the degeneration of the court bureaucracy. The actual power was transferred to the hands of the military clans. The passing of the luxury and grandeur, “ Peace and Ease,” of the court nobles in Miyako, and the establishment of the military dictatorship at Kamakura, far away in an eastern province, impressed the people immensely. The cherry blossoms, in full bloom, were suddenly scattered by a frosty storm. Not only did the poets so feel and sing, but the people were aware of the great changes going on around them.

In addition to these changes, the minds of the Buddhist leaders were in turmoil, excited by the prophecy of a great crisis to occur about that time — a crisis not only for Japan, but for the whole world. An old Buddhist tradition distinguished three periods of the Buddhist religion {Dharma, or Law) after the death of its founder. The first thousand years made up the age of the Perfect Law, in which the monastic discipline was strictly observed and the believers were sincerely pious. The second millennium, the age of the Copied Law, was a time during which faith and morality declined, but piety was shown in the foundation of numerous temples and sanctuaries. The third age, the ten thousand years after that, was to be the age of the Latter Law, a reign of vice and strife. Though there were minor variations in the tradition as regards the time divisions, all Japanese Buddhists believed in the apocalyptic legend as a whole.

HIS TIME

And since they put Buddha’s death in 949 b.c., they believed that the last of the three ages began in the year 1052 A.D., twenty-four years after the death of the Regent Michinaga, with whom the pomp and splendor of the court life in Miyako reached its culmination.

What form of Buddhism would be best suited to the coming days of degeneration was a question which had occupied the thought of many Buddhist leaders since the ninth century. Saicho, who founded a new centre of Buddhism on Mount Hiei, near the then new capital Miyako, in the beginning of the ninth centurj', meant the foundation to be a preparation for the approaching days of the third age. He said: “ Approaching is the end of the age of the Copied Law, and nigh is coming that of the Latter Law; the ripe time for the propagation of the unique truth expounded in the Lotus of Truth.” ^ Thenceforward, none of the leaders escaped the influence of the prophecy, and serious thought on the Latter Days was growing during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. And it was Nichiren who came to the front as the most ardent follower of Saicho, and was destined to encounter perils on that account.

When Nichiren appeared in public with his cry of warning, two hundred years had passed since the supposed beginning of the Latter Days. The vicissitudes of the rising and falling clans, culminating in the establishment of the military dictatorship by the ^Minamotos, seemed to manifest the dangerous signs of the times. The irremediable corruption of the hierarchies gave clamorous testimony to the decline of the rehgion. Let us consider the poUtical and religious con-

* Or, The Lotus of the Perfect Truth, Saddharroa-pundarika in Sanskrit, the most important scripture of Japanese Buddhism, of which we shall learn more later on.

ditions against which Nichiren stood forth as a warning prophet.

Early in the thirteenth century, the power of the ruUng clan Minamoto passed gradually into the hands of their usurping major-domos, the Hojo family. The latter ruled with the modest title of Shikken, or Commissioners, with the puppet dictatorship ostensibly over them. Their government was famous for strict execution of justice and for simplicity of administration; and the Commissioners themselves set examples of simple life and stern justice. But their modesty was, in the eyes of those who regarded them as usurpers, merely a means to their ambition — the ambition to secure popularity — and their equity but a method of solidifying their rule. Indeed, the Hojbs understood how to sacrifice everything in titulo to the power de facto, and to become the real rulers of the nation by pushing aside the Imperial family and the titulary Dictator. A firm peace was established, and economic conditions prospered; but there was something lacking in it. There prevailed a feeling among the thoughtful minority that the “ country of the gods ” ^ was not being actually ruled by its legitimate rulers, (_the descendants of the Sun-goddess.

Availing themselves of this unexpressed dissatisfaction, the Imperial party framed a plot against the Hojos in 1221, a few months before the birth of Nichiren. The plot was defeated, and the Commissioner government dared to banish prominent members of the Imperial family to remote islands, and to put an infant on the throne. Thus, the Hojo power was consolidated and immensely increased, although these rulers stiU retained the modest title of Commissioner. The

* This appellation of Japan came into vogue after the latter half of the twelfth century, and was closely connected with the belief that the Imperial family were descendants of the Sun-goddess, the chief national deity.

HIS TIME resentment of the discontented patriots only grew deeper in consequence of the forcible suppression of the movement, but politically their cause had already been hopelessly lost. It was under these circumstances that Nichiren appeared on the public platform as a spokesman of the patriotic cause whose utterances were deeply tinged with religious fervor. He declared that the nation would be ruined, unless the fundamental principle of the national hfe should be restored, that is, unless the people were governed by rulers legitimate both in title and authority. Herein lay the national standpoint of his religious ethics, and this plea attracted to his teaching many warriors who were imperialists in principle or covert malcontents against the existing regime. This was also the reason why the Hojo government, as we shall presently see, treated the clamorous protestant as a traitor.

Turning to another matter, the religious conditions, Nichiren saw similar evils, closely connected with the poHtical and social disorders. The far-reaching plan of Dengyo, the reformer of the ninth century, for establishing the centre of Japanese Buddhism on Mount Hiei and unifying its church organization, had been partly realized. But even this partial attainment of the ideal of a state church was of merely temporary duration, because the relations established between the church hierarchy and the government bureaucracy had had a corrupting influence on both of them. The centralization of government and the consequent accumulation of wealth in the capital were concomitant with the development of ecclesiastical power and the growth of secular aims and motives among the clergy. The government fell into the hands of the Fujiwara oligarchy, who now became the supporters of the church with its rituals and mysteries; and the priesthood degenerated into tools of the ambitious aristocrats, by promising them the supernatural aid of rehgion, and by supplying them with elaborate ceremonies for the gratification of their over-refined tastes. The final result was the collapse of the effeminate court nobility and the rise of the miUtary class. To the eyes of those — few in number — who adhered to the ideal of Dengyo, the political disintegration seemed to be a necessary consequence of the ecclesiastical degeneration. Nichiren was one of these, and the one who was most severe in attacking the existing regime — both political and ecclesiastical.

The chief cause of the degeneration of the Buddhist Church lay, as Nichiren thought, in its promiscuous adoption of Shingon mysticism, a form of Buddhism contaminated with Hinduism and other alien elements. It was this admixture that appealed to the court nobles and supplied them with brilliant spectacles and occult mysteries. It was this secularization, or vulgarization, of religion that had obscured the high ideals of Dengyo and reduced his institutions on Hiei to instruments of greed and vice. Even after the fall of the Fujiwara nobles, the supporters of Hiei, this religion of occult rites exercised its influence far and wide among the people at large through the superstitious practice of magic and sorcery. Therefore, Nichiren’s bitterest attacks were directed against this corrupt religion and its centre, Hiei. He firmly believed that the sole way to restore Dengyo’s religion consisted in adhering faithfully and exclusively to the scripture, the Lotus of Truth.

Another form of Buddhism, in which Nichiren saw a curse, was the worship of the Buddha Amita. This was a special development of Buddhist faith which emphasized the

HIS TIME simple-hearted devotion to Amita, the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, the Lord of the Western Paradise. This worship seemed to Nichiren to be a desertion of the Buddha Sakya-muni, the genuine founder of Buddhism and the Lord of the Universe, as he was revealed in the Lotus of Truth. The gospel of salvation by the all-redeeming grace of Amita Buddha had crept into the institutions of Hiei, and, later, produced an independent sect, through the personal inspiration of the pietist Honen and by its appeal to distressed hearts in the turbulent times toward the end of the twelfth century. Amita Buddha was, in the eyes of Nichiren, nothing but a usurper of the true dignity of Buddha, and the piety of multitudes toward the supposed savior but a manifestation of the hysterical tendency of the age. Nichiren boldly declared that those who believed in this usurper were destined to fall to the nethermost hell, while the Shingon mysticism was denounced by him as a religion that was ruining the vitaUty of the nation.

Nichiren’s third object of attack was a school of Buddhist monastic discipline. In the twelfth century a reaction against the corruption of the hierarchy took, with certain reforming leaders, the shape of enforcing a strict observance of the monastic rules. They systematized the principles of Buddhist ethics from the standpoint of monastic discipline. This school was called Ritsu, or Disciplinary School, and developed a one-sided rigorism, which manifested in the course of time the evils of formahsm. Training in morality, under rules, cultivated a tendency to practise virtue merely for the sake of individual salvation. Self-satisfaction easily grew into self-conceit, which often tempted the adept in these extraordinary ways of life to make his attainments the means of attracting popular admiration and reverence.

lO NICHIREN, THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Moreover, the slavish and formal observance of disciplinary rules which had originally been intended for Hindu monks, aroused antagonism in those who adhered to Japanese ideas and customs. Nichiren, as a nationalist and an advocate of a broader Buddhism, could not fail to protest vigorously against the Ritsu Buddhists. He called them traitors to their country.

The introduction of a new Buddhist school, called Zen, or the Meditative School, increased the religious confusion. Zen was a simple method of training intuitive insight by the practice of meditation, which aimed at revealing the primordial purity of the cosmic soul in each individual soul. Riddle-like questions were given by the master which the disciples had to solve, sitting in meditation, by avoiding the usual process of reasoning and trying to discover an unexpected light by a flash of illumination. This new method of mental training and spiritual drill commended itself to the minds of military men, and they found in it a verj'^ beneficial exercise for keeping their composure and preparing for resolute action. Not only did Zen reject systematic thought on religion and ethics, but it induced those robust but rude men to take pride in self-assertion and often to run to an excess of individualism. Nichiren saw in this new method of Buddhist meditation a rebellion against the genuine Buddhism of the Lotus, as well as a fruitful source of rampant selfishness. “ Devil ” was the name given by Nichiren to the Zenist, and the “ devils ” were threatening the national integrity of Japan and the authority of the true Buddhism.

Shingon occultism ruining the nation, Ritsu methodism betraying the country to foreign customs, Amita-Buddhism leading people to the hells, and Zen meditation alluring men to devilish pride — these four were declared by Nichiren to

HIS TIME

II be the greatest curses of the age. The violent antagonism of Nichiren was due to his exclusive faith in the teachings of the scripture, Lotus, as representing the genuine and deepest truth of Buddhism. Now, we shall see why and how he arrived at this conviction, and what the Lotus of Truth is.

CHAPTER II NICHIREN’S BIRTH, STUDIES, AND CONVERSION The Lotus of Truth

NICHIREN was bom on the seacoast of the southeastern comer of Japan, in a fishing village surrounded on the north by undulating hills and washed by the dark blue waves of the Pacific Ocean on the south. Tidal waves have washed away the part of the seacoast where his father’s house stood, and today the spot is pointed out in the depths of the wonderfully clear water, on the rocky bottom of the sea, where lotus flowers are said to have bloomed miraculously at the birth of the wonderful boy. His father was a fisherman, and doubtless the boy was often taken out in the father’s boat, and must have enjoyed the clear sky and pure air of the open sea. When in later years, during his retirement in the mountains, a follower sent him a bunch of seaweed to eat, the old hermit wept as he called to mind his early memories of the seaweeds, which are, indeed, a charming sight as they are seen through the transparent water. Far away from the effeminating air of the Imperial capital, far away from the turmoils and agitations of the Dictator’s residence, the boy grew up in the fresh and invigorating atmosphere of a seaside village, in the midst of unadorned nature — wooded hills and green trees, blue waters and sandy beaches. The inspiration of nature and the effect of association with the simple, sturdy people are manifest in each step of Nicheren’s later career, in his thoughts and his deeds. The new light was to come out of the East for the salvation of the Latter Days — this prophetic zeal of Nichiren is in large measure to be attributed to his idea about his birth, and to the surroundings of his early life.

In 1233, when the boy was eleven years old, his parents sent him to a monastery on the hill known as Kiyozumi, the “ Clear Luminosity,” near his home. The reason is not given, but it was in no way an exceptional or extraordinary step; in those days many a father did the same, whether from motives of piety or for the sake of the boy’s future career. The peaceful and innocent days of the boy novice passed; he was made an ordained monk when he was fifteen years old, and the religious name given by his master was Renchb, or “ Lotus-Eternal.” Doubts grew with learning, because too many tenets and practices were included in the Buddhist religion of his days, and the keen-sighted youth was never satisfied with the incongruous mixture in the religion he was taught. “ My wish had always been,” he tells us in his later writings,* “ to sow the seeds for the attainment of Buddhahood, and to escape the fetters of births and deaths. For this purpose I once practised, according to the custom of most fellow-Buddhists, the method of repeating the name of Amita Buddha, putting faith in his redeeming power. But, since doubt had begun to arise in my mind as to the truth of that belief, I committed myself to a vow that I would study all the branches of Buddhism known in Japan and learn fully what their diverse teachings were.” His distress of mind was, however, not over a merely intellectual problem, but was a deeply religious crisis; and, indeed, the young monk was then passing through so violent a struggle of rehgious conversion that he at last fell into a swoon, following a fit of spitting blood. It is said * Nichiren’ s Works (ed. Kato, Tokyo, 1904), p. 1770.

that during this swoon he saw, in vision, Kokuzo, the deity of wisdom.

This happened when Rencho was seventeen years old, and in the next year we find him studying under a teacher of Amita-Buddhism in Kamakura, the residence of the Commissioners. The uneasiness of the young monk was not allayed, and his quest of truth was not satisfied by the teachers who were accessible in the provinces. Rencho then went to Hiei, the greatest centre of Buddhist learning and discipline, where he stayed from 1243 to 1253, pursuing a varied course of study and training. During these years he also visited other centres of Buddhism, where special branches of Buddhism were taught and practised, and extended his study even to Shinto and Confucianism. The results of all this study and investigation are shown, not only in the erudition of his later writings, but in the comprehensive breadth of his doctrine. But the range of his studies never diverted him from his central problem: What is the true form and the unique truth of Buddhism ? On the contrary, as he progressed in knowledge, the conviction gradually grew strong in his mind that the truth is one, and that the essence of the Buddhist religion — nay, of human life — is not manifold. “ I had gone to many centres of the religion,” he says in reminiscence, “ during those twenty years, in the quest of Buddhist truths. The final conclusion I arrived at was that the truth of Buddhism must be one in essence. Many people lose themselves in the labyrinth of learning and studies, through thinking that every one of the diverse branches might help to the attainment of Buddhist ideals.” ^ Wherein, then, did the young zealot find the unique truth ?

Fierce internal struggles, wide study, and prolonged thought brought this sincere seeker after truth to the final conviction that the scripture, “ The Lotus of Truth,” was the deposit of the unique truth, the book in which the Lord Buddha had revealed his real entity, and on which the great master Dengyo had based his religion and institutions. The name Rencho was now exchanged for Nichiren, which means Sun-Lotus; the Sun, the source of universal illumination, and the Lotus, the symbol of purity and perfection, were his ideals. Nichiren’s firm belief was that the Lotus of Truth was not only the perfect culmination of Buddhist truth, but the sole key to the salvation of all beings in the latter days of degeneration. Thus, all other branches of Buddhism, which deviated from the principle of the exclusive adoration of this scripture, were denounced as untrue to Buddha, as we have already seen in Nichiren’s condemnation of the prevalent forms of Buddhism. Nichiren’s idea was the restoration of Buddhism to its original purity, and to the principles propounded by Dengyo; but what he understood by restoration was quite different from our modern idea of historical criticism. The truths are eternal, but the method should be a simple one, available for all, especially for men of the Latter Days, and without regard to differences among them in wisdom and virtue. These convictions of Nichiren had a complicated background of philosophical thought, in accord with the general trend of Buddhist speculation, and as a result of his learning. But all these doctrines and arguments were fused by the white-heat of Ids faith and zeal; that is, he simplified the whole practice of religion to an easy method, that of uttering the “ Sacred Title ” of the Scripture.