After
Nichiren Daishonin died in 1282, his six senior priests and one of his
disciples started their own schools of Buddhism teaching Nichiren Buddhism as
they saw it.
The five
main schools were:
The
Fuji School established by Nikko Shonin
The
Minobu School established by Niko Shonin
The
Hama School established by Nissho Shonin
The
Ikegami School established by Nichiro Shonin and Nitcho Shonin (who 20 years later joined
Nikko Shonin’s Fuji School)
Nichiji
Shonin also established a school, but after he moved to Asia his school is thought to
have died out.
Another
school, The Nakayama School, was started by Toki Jonin (one of Nichiren’s
disciples)
Nikko
Shonin, founder of Nichiren Shoshu, is the legitimate successor of
Nichiren Daishonin, although the other schools dispute this and claim Nichiren left his teachings
to all of them equally.
In the
late 1950s, the four remaining schools (Minobu, Hama, Ikegami and Nakayama)
merged together, changed their name to Nichiren Shu (Nichiren School) and
established their head temple at Mt. Minobu. They chant “NAMU Myoho Renge Kyo” instead of
“NAM Myoho Renge Kyo” and still believe the object of worship can be a
Gohonzon, an inscription of "Namu-myoho-renge-kyo", statues of
Shakyamuni Buddha and statues of the four Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Nichiren
Shu claim that Nichiren’s ashes are still entombed at Mt. Minobu, but Nikko
Shonin is supposed to have taken these with him to Taiseki-ji when he left.
One of
the other older schools of Nichiren Buddhism is Kempon Hokke Shu (literally The Lotus Sutra Revealing
The Original Buddha School).
It doesn’t have a direct lineage to Nichiren Daishonin, but was founded in
1384 by Nichiju. Nichiju (often referred
to as the Master) was part of the Tendai school but after being introduced to,
and studying, Nichiren’s teachings decided to become a follower of Hokke (the
Lotus Sutra). He believed that the
existing schools of Nichiren Buddhism had deviated from Nichiren’s true
teachings and established Myomanji-ha, which later changed its name to Kempon
Hokke. Like Nichiren Shu, they chant "NAMU Myoho Renge Kyo" but their object of devotion is, like Nichiren Shoshu, exclusively the Gohonzon. Their main text is the Lotus Sutra which is supported by the writings of Nichiren Daishonin that they consider authentic.
The two major schools of Nichiren Buddhism today are Nichiren Shoshu and Nichiren Shu and, apart from Kempon Hokke, all of the other Nichiren Buddhist schools generally come from lay organisations or spin-offs of these two groups from the 1930s onwards. The Soka Gakkai is a lay organisation of the Nichiren Shoshu / Fuji School of Buddhism and we believe, as do all of the other schools, that we are correctly following the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin. (See also http://nichirenbuddhist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-single-truth.html )
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