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Nikko Shonin

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Nikko Shonin (1246-1333)

Byakuren Ajari Nikko, Nichiren Daishonin's successor. The second high priest of Nichiren Shoshu and the founder of its head temple, Taiseki-ji. He was born at Kajikazawa in Koma District of Kai Province. His father's name was Oi no Kitsuroku and his mother belonged to the Yui family in Fuji. His father died while he was a child and his mother married into another family, so he was raised by his maternal grandfather. At the age of seven he entered Shijuku-in a Tendai temple in Suruga Province, where, in addition to the Tendai doctrine, he studied the Chinese classics, Japanese literature, poetry, calligraphy and other subjects. Shijuku-in was closely affiliated with Jisso-ji, another Tendai temple in nearby Iwamoto. In 1258 Nichiren Daishonin visited Jisso-ji to do research in its sutra library in preparation for the writing of "Rissho Ankoku Ron." Nikko had an opportunity to serve him there, and was moved to become the Daishonin's disciple receiving the name Hoki-bo Nikko. He was then thirteen.

From that time on, he devotedly served the Daishonin. He joined the Daishonin in his exile on Izu, where he converted the Shingon priest Kongo-in Gyoman who then took the name Nichigyo and renamed his temple Daijo-ji (Mahayana temple). Nikko Shonin also went into exile along with the Daishonin on Sado Island. After the Daishonin returned from Sado and had his third remonstration with the government, he decided to leave Kamakura. At that time Nikko Shonin arranged with one of his converts, Lord Hakiri Sanenaga, the steward of the area that included Mt. Minobu, for the Daishonin to live in retirement there.

Nikko Shonin recorded the lectures on the Lotus Sutra which the Daishonin gave to his disciples at Minobu and compiled them as the "Ongi Kuden" (Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings) in January 1278. He also carried out a great propagation effort centered in Kai, Suruga and Izu, which spread to other provinces as well. As a result of his propagation activities in the Suruga area, priests at Shijuku-in and Ryusen-ji converted to the Daishonin's teaching. As the number of converts, including farmers, increased, so did the pressure on the Daishonin's followers. First among them to be persecuted were young priests who were expelled from Shijuku-in. At Ryusen-ji temple in Atsuhara, the deputy chief priest Gyochi threatened the priests, including Nisshu, Nichiben and Nichizen, whom Nikko Shonin had converted, and he harassed their lay converts. Eventually Gyochi had twenty farmers who were believers arrested on September 21, 1279, and three of them were beheaded on October 15. This incident is known as the Atsuhara Persecution.

Nichiren Daishonin, feeling that his death was near, designated Nikko Shonin as his successor in two transfer documents, one written in September 1282 at Minobu and the other on the day of his death, October 13, 1282, at Ikegami. The latter document also stated that Nikko Shonin should be high priest of Kuon-ji temple at Minobu. After the Daishonin's funeral, Nikko Shonin brought his ashes to Minobu and placed them in a tomb. On the hundredth day following the Daishonin's death, he held a memorial service. At that time eighteen priests-the six senior priests and twelve of their disciples-were appointed to attend the tomb on a rotation basis, one of the six seniors or two of his disciples watching over it each month. The five senior priests other than Nikko Shonin then left for their respective areas. However, none of them returned to fulfill their obligation of attending the Daishonin's tomb. Under pressure from the authorities they gradually began to drift away from the orthodoxy of the Daishonin's teachings and worshipped images of Shakyamuni Buddha, declaring themselves to be priests of the Tendai sect. Niko, one of the six senior priests, returned to Minobu around 1285, and Nikko Shonin appointed him chief instructor of the priests. However, under Niko's influence, Hakiri Sanenaga commissioned a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, made pilgrimages to Shinto shrines, contributed to the building of a Nembutsu monument and even had a Nembutsu temple erected. Nikko Shonin repeatedly warned them that such acts were in flagrant contradiction to the Daishonin's Buddhism, but to no avail. Feeling that he could no longer protect the Daishonin's teachings Mt. Minobu, Nikko Shonin left in the spring of 1289, taking the Dai-Gohonzon, the Daishonin's ashes and other treasures with him. He stayed for a while at the home of his maternal grandfather in Kawai of Fuji District, but soon moved to Nanjo Tokimitsu's estate at Nikko Shonin

the latter's invitation. Nikko Shonin built small temple known as the Dai-bo at Oishigahara, a tract of land donated by Lord Nanjo. His disciples also established their lodging temples surrounding the Dai-bo, which was the start of Taisekiji, the head temple of Nichiren Shoshu.
Nikko Shonin later appointed six main disciples (Nichimoku, Nikke, Nisshu, Nichizen, Nissen and Nichijo) to protect the Dai Gohonzon at Taiseki-ji. In 1298 he established the nearby Omosu Seminary, where he devoted himself to training the six new disciples (Nichidai, Nitcho, Nichido, Nichimyo, Nichigo and Nichijo), whom he charged with the task of propagation after his death. Shortly before his death he wrote the "Nikko Yuikai Okimon" as an admonishment to priests and lay believers to maintain the purity of Nichiren Daishonin's teachings. He transferred the entirety of the Daishonin's Buddhism to the third high priest, Nichimoku Shonin and died at the age eighty-eight.

Source

nichiren.hostzi.com [[Category:]]