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So, too, at the time of the rise of the new Buddhist sects, there was considerable persecution, especially with the rise of the Nichiren Shu. And when the testing time of Christianity came, under the edict of the Tokugawas by which it was suppressed, tens of thousands were found who preferred death to the surrender of their faith.
In the Japanese tongue, Ho-ke-kyo; in Sanscrit, Saddharma Pundarika: 'The Sutra of the Lotus of the Good Law, the divine book of the Nichiren sect. Very brief, indeed, is my little feathered Buddhist's confession of faith only the sacred name reiterated over and over again like a litany, with liquid bursts of twittering between. 'Ho ke-kyo!
So soon as this was over, the lay clerk sat himself down by the hanging drum, and, to its accompaniment, began intoning the prayer, "Na Mu Miyô Hô Ren Go Kiyô," the congregation fervently joining in unison with him. These words, repeated over and over again, are the distinctive prayer of the Buddhist sect of Nichiren, to which the temple Chô-ô-ji is dedicated.
When the work of Nichiren had been completed, and his realistic pantheism had been able to include within its great receiver and processes of Buddha-making, everything from gods to mud, the circle of doctrine was complete. All grades of men in Japan, from the most devout and intellectual to the most ranting and fanatical, could choose their sect.
His history, full of amazing activity and of romantic adventure, is surrounded by a perfect sunrise splendor, or, shall we say, sunset gorgeousness, of mythology and fable. Nichiren was a fiery patriot, and ultra-democratic in his sympathies. He was a radical believer in "Japan for the Japanese." He was an ecclesiastical Soshi.
Slowly the procession jolted up the steep stairway, and came to rest with their heavy burdens in front of the temple of Nichiren. "It is very silly," said cousin Sadako, "to be so superstitious, I think." "Then why are we here?" asked Asako. "My grandfather is very superstitious; and my father is afraid to say 'No' to him.
Its founder, known by the name of Nichiren, was a man of extraordinary independence and religious fervor. Wholly by his original questions and doubts as to the prevailing doctrines and customs of the then dominant sects, he was led to make independent examination into the history and meaning of Buddhistic literature and to arrive at conclusions quite different from those of his contemporaries.
12 Such at least is the mourning period under such circumstances in certain samurai families. Others say twenty days is sufficient. The Buddhist code of mourning is extremely varied and complicated, and would require much space to dilate upon. 13 In spite of the supposed rigidity of the Nichiren sect in such matters, most followers of its doctrine in Izumo are equally fervent Shintoists.
Thereafter, for a space of 387 years, there was no addition to the number: things remained stationary until 1196, when Honen began to preach the doctrines of the Jodo sect, and in the space of fifty-six years, between 1196 and 1252, three other sects were established, namely, the Zen, the Shin, and the Nichiren.
Foxy-faced satellites of the abbey were doing a roaring trade in charms against various accidents, and in sacred scrolls printed with prayers or figures of Nichiren. The temple-yard was an immense fancy fair. The temple pigeons wheeled disconsolately in the air or perched upon the roofs, unable to find one square foot of the familiar flagstones, where they were used to strut and peck.
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