of devotional songs that can be sung by priests or by
worshipers playing drums and other instruments.
Modern published literature
The printing press expanded the possibilities of Newar
Buddhist piety, as devotees continue to make books for
merit, memorialize the dead, pen new translations,
and create hundreds of new magazines that disseminate
works of scholarly interpretation and Buddhist re-
vivalism. In these forums, partisans of traditional Newar
Buddhism, as well as advocates of the THERAVADAmove-
ment, have sought to promote their traditions. Leading
vajracaryapriests have continued their tradition of com-
posing ritual guide pamphlets and anthologies for their
colleagues, with such publications numbering over a
thousand since 1950. Since about 1960, Theravadin
scholars have published Newari translations of nearly the
entire Pali canon. Traditional panditas and private
scholars have likewise published their own new com-
plete Newari translations of the Mahayana classics, in-
cluding the AstasahasrikaPrajnaparamitaby Jog Muni
Vajracarya (Kathmandu, 1968), the LALITAVISTARAby
Nisthananda Vajracarya (1978), the BODHICARYAVATARA
by Dibyabajra Bajracarya (1986), and the Saddharma-
pundarlka-vaipulyasutra by Saddharmaraja Vajracarya
(1989). Special mention should be made of Sugata
Saurabha (The Sweet Fragrance of the Buddha), a
book-length life of the Buddha that was written in
Newari by Nepal’s greatest twentieth-century poet,
Chittadhar Hridaya. Newar poets have also composed
songs for bhajansinging that have been widely pub-
lished and used.
Finally, since 1950, a vast library of Newari schol-
arly publications has come into being. These works
concern local epigraphy, texts, temples, and cultural
traditions. Most notable among indigenous scholars is
Hem Raj Shakya, whose monographs on the Svayam-
bhustupa (1977), the Samyakfestival (1980), and other
monuments testify to the Newars’ vigorous love of their
own culture and the continuing high regard in Newar
society for literary works on Buddhism. The views of
a medieval copyist are still discernible at the begin-
ning of the twenty-first century: “I have written this
manuscript painstakingly. Try your best to protect
and preserve this MSS from oil stains, fire, and thieves.
Look after it as you would your own offspring because
while writing this mss my backbone, my head, and my
eyesight have all bent downward” (Vaidya and Kam-
sakar, p. iv).
See also:Nepal
Bibliography
Lewis, Todd T. “Mahayana Vratasin Newar Buddhism.” Jour-
nal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies12, no.
1 (1989): 109–138.
Lewis, Todd T. “The Nepal Jana Jlvan KriyaPaddhati: A Modern
Newar Guide for Vajrayâna Life-Cycle Rites.” Indo-Iranian
Journal37 (1994): 1–46.
Lienhard, Siegfried, ed. The Songs of Nepal: An Anthology of
Nevar Folksongs and Hymns.Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 1984.
Locke, John. “The Uposadha Vrata of Amoghapasha Lokesh-
vara.” L’Ethnographie83, nos. 100–101 (1989): 109–138.
Malla, Kamal Prakash. Classical Newari Literature.Kathmandu:
Nepal Study Centre, 1981.
Tatelman, Joel. “ ‘The Trials of Yashodhara’: The Legend of the
Buddha’s Wife in the Bhadrakalpavadana.” Buddhist Litera-
ture1 (1999): 176–261.
Vaidya, Janak Lal, and Kamsakar, Prem Bahadur. A Descriptive
Catalogue of Selected Manuscripts Preserved at the As ́aSaphu
Kuthi.Kathmandu: Cvasapasa, 1990.TODDT. LEWISNICHIRENNichiren (1222–1282) is regarded as the founder of
the Hokke (Lotus) or NICHIREN SCHOOL, one of sev-
eral new Buddhist movements that emerged in Japan’s
Kamakura period (1185–1333). Of humble origins,
Nichiren was ordained at age sixteen at Kiyosumi
Temple in Awa province (now Chiba prefecture) and
trained especially in the Tendai school’s teachings of
the LOTUS SUTRA (SADDHARMAPUNDARIKA-SUTRA)
and in esoteric Buddhism. Later he studied in Ka-
makura, site of the new shogunate or military gov-
ernment, and at the great Tendai center on Mount
Hiei, as well as at other major Buddhist temples in
western Japan. Eventually he based himself in Ka-
makura and won followers among the eastern war-
riors. Nichiren’s early writings are critical of PURE
LANDBUDDHISM, especially the newly popular Pure
Land doctrine of HONEN(1133–1212), which he saw
as undermining traditional Tendai emphasis on the
Lotus and esoteric teachings. Over time, however,
Nichiren developed a doctrine of exclusive devotion
to the Lotus Sutra, which he regarded as the Buddha’s
highest teaching and the sole vehicle for realizing bud-
dhahood now in the final dharma age (mappo). He
advocated chanting the DAIMOKUor title of the Lotus
Sutrain the formula “Namu Myoho-renge-kyo,” andNICHIREN