(3) The kaidan,or ordination platform.This des-
ignates the place of practice. Nichiren’s own writings
do not explain it in detail, and considerable contro-
versy has surrounded its interpretation. Nichiren
himself may well have envisioned the kaidanas an ac-
tual physical structure, supplanting the other, court-
sponsored ordination platforms of his day, to be
erected by imperial authority at some future time
when people had widely embraced faith in the Lotus
Sutra.At the same time, the kaidanhas often been
interpreted metaphorically, to mean that wherever
one embraces faith in the Lotus Sutrais the buddha
land.
Although he taught devotion to the Lotusas a self-
contained, exclusive practice, Nichiren understood
that practice as encompassing all possible benefits: re-
alization of buddhahood, assurance for one’s next life,
eradication of sin, cultivation of merit, and protection
and blessings in this world.
Contributions to Japanese culture
A key element of Nichiren’s legacy is his doctrine of
rissho ankoku(establishing the right [dharma] and
bringing peace to the land), which holds that faith in
the Lotus Sutracan manifest the buddha land in this
present world. This ideal supports the value of posi-
tive engagement with society and may have con-
tributed to the growth of mercantile culture in Japan’s
medieval cities. In the mid-fifteenth century, half the
population of Kyoto—the majority of them manu-
facturers, tradespeople, and moneylenders—is said to
have belonged to the Nichiren school. Since the late
nineteenth century, Nichiren’s goal of transforming
this world into a buddha land has been assimilated to
a range of political and social goals. During Japan’s
modern imperial period (1868–1945), some Nichi-
renist lay societies, such as the Kokuchukai (Pillar of
the Nation Society), established in 1914 by Tanaka
Chigaku (1861–1939), interpreted Nichiren’s rissho
ankokuideal in terms of Japanese nationalism and de-
ployed it to legitimize the armed expansion of em-
pire. In the post–World War II period, especially
among the new religious movements, it has been
interpreted as a spiritual basis for the antinuclear
movement, efforts for global peace, and a range of hu-
manitarian endeavors. Nipponzan Myohoji, a small
Nichiren Buddhist monastic order, embraces absolute
pacificism and engages in peace marches and civil
protest, while Nichiren- or Lotus-based lay organiza-
tions, notably Soka Gakkai and RisshoKoseikai, sup-
port the United Nations as NGO (nongovernmental
organization) members and engage in relief work and
civic projects. This side of Nichiren Buddhism lends
itself to contemporary emphasis on Buddhist social
engagement.
Another, less well-recognized contribution of the
Nichiren school lies in its history of committed indi-
viduals, beginning with Nichiren himself, who risked
official displeasure for the dharma’s sake. Once well
established, most Nichiren Buddhist institutions, both
past and present—like religious institutions more
generally—have tended to take a conciliatory stance
toward existing authority and support the status quo.
Nonetheless, Nichiren’s teaching that one must uphold
the Lotus Sutraeven in the face of persecution from
the country’s ruler created a moral space exterior to
worldly authority, from which that authority could be
criticized and, if necessary, opposed. This attitude of
defiance has periodically resurfaced, often on the part
of those who saw themselves as reformers within the
Nichiren school, seeking to revive the founder’s spirit.
Medieval hagiographies celebrate the stories of those
monks of the tradition who, in imitation of Nichiren,
admonished high officials to take faith in the Lotus
Sutrafor the country’s welfare and were imprisoned
or tortured as a result. A later example is the Nichiren
fuju fuse(neither receiving nor giving) movement of
the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, whose
monks—until driven underground—resisted official
controls imposed on religious institutions, refusing
to accept alms from rulers who were not Lotusdevo-
tees or to participate in public religious ceremonies
for their benefit. Similarly, during the 1940s, leaders
of both Honmon Hokkeshu and Soka Gakkai were
imprisoned for their defiance of wartime government
religious policy, which mandated displays of rever-
ence for state Shinto. Nichiren’s intransigent spirit
and his example of unwavering loyalty to a transcen-
dent truth have also inspired individuals, linked only
tenuously to the Nichiren tradition or even outside it
altogether, who have faced official sanctions for their
beliefs. These include the Christian leader Uchimura
Kanzo (1861–1930) and the socialist activist Senoo
Giro(1890–1961).See also:Engaged Buddhism; Kamakura Buddhism,
Japan; Original Enlightenment (Hongaku)Bibliography
Dolce, Lucia Dora. “Esoteric Patterns in Nichiren’s Interpreta-
tion of the Lotus Sutra.” Ph.D. diss. University of Leiden,
2002.NICHIRENSCHOOL