Four dictums
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four dictums
四箇の格言 (Jpn shika-no-kakugen )
Also, four maxims. Four statements with which Nichiren (1222-1282) denounced the four most influential Buddhist schools of his time in Japan the Pure Land (Jodo) school (also, the Nembutsu school), the Zen school, the True Word school (Shingon), and the (Ritsu) Precepts school . Based on his understanding of the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra and his perception of the slander of these schools against the sutra, he repudiated their doctrines and declared as follows:
(1) "Nembutsu leads to the hell of incessant suffering,"
(2) "Zen is the invention of the heavenly devil,"
(3) "True Word will ruin the nation," and
(4) "Precepts is a traitor to the nation."
