Myōchikai Kyōdan

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Myōchikai Kyōdan (妙智会教団) is a Japanese Buddhist lay organisation that stems from Reiyūkai. [1] It was founded in 1950 by Miyamoto Mitsu. Its teachings are based on Nichiren Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra. By its own account it has close ties as an NGO with UNICEF and the UNHCR. [2] [3] The director of Myōchikai Kyōdan, was selected for General Director for the Japanese Council of the World Council of Religions for Peace. [4]

Reiyūkai, or Reiyūkai Shakaden, is a Japanese Buddhist new religious movement founded in 1925 by Kakutarō Kubo (1892-1944) and Kimi Kotani (1901-1971). It is a lay organization associated with Nichiren Buddhism.

Nichiren Buddhism Branch of Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren

Nichiren Buddhism(Japanese: 日蓮宗) is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of the Kamakura Buddhism schools. Its teachings derive from some 300–400 extant letters and treatises attributed to Nichiren.

Lotus Sutra sutra

The Lotus Sūtra is one of the most popular and influential Mahayana sutras, and the basis on which the Tiantai, Tendai, Cheontae, and Nichiren schools of Buddhism were established. According to Paul Williams, "For many East Asian Buddhists since early times the Lotus Sutra contains the final teaching of the Buddha, complete and sufficient for salvation."

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Its current leader is Miyamoto Takeyasu who is also president of the Arigatou Foundation. The organisation’s headquarters is in Tokyo and by its own account it has 957.000 members, most of which are in Japan. Reciting the Lotus Sutra as a means of moral self-cultivation and ancestor veneration are said to be fundamental to its religious practice. [5]

Tokyo Metropolis in Kantō

Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, one of the 47 prefectures of Japan, has served as the Japanese capital since 1869. As of 2018, the Greater Tokyo Area ranked as the most populous metropolitan area in the world. The urban area houses the seat of the Emperor of Japan, of the Japanese government and of the National Diet. Tokyo forms part of the Kantō region on the southeastern side of Japan's main island, Honshu, and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Tokyo was formerly named Edo when Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters in 1603. It became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from Kyoto in 1868; at that time Edo was renamed Tokyo. Tokyo Metropolis formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. Tokyo is often referred to as a city but is officially known and governed as a "metropolitan prefecture", which differs from and combines elements of a city and a prefecture, a characteristic unique to Tokyo.

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<i>Gohonzon</i>

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Viśiṣṭacāritra is a bodhisattva mentioned in the 15th, 21st, and 22nd chapters of the Lotus Sutra. He is one of the four great perfected bodhisattvas who attends Gautama Buddha and protects the Lotus Sutra and its devotees. The other three are Anantacaritra, Visuddhacaritra, and Supratisthitacaritra; together they make up the four great primarily evolved bodhisattvas. Viśiṣṭacāritra is also believed to represent the "true self" characteristic of buddhahood, which is the selflessness of Nirvana.

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Bodhisattvas of the Earth, also sometimes referred to as "Bodhisattvas from the Underground," "Bodhisattvas Taught by the Original Buddha," or "earth bodhisattvas," are the infinite number of bodhisattvas who, in the 15th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, emerged from a fissure in the ground. This pivotal story of the Lotus Sutra takes place during the "Ceremony in the Air" which had commenced in the 11th chapter. Later, in the 21st chapter, Shakyamuni passes on to them the responsibility to keep and propagate the Lotus Sutra in the feared future era of the Latter Day of the Law.

References

  1. Montgomery, Daniel (1991). Fire in the Lotus, The Dynamic Religion of Nichiren, London: Mandala, ISBN   1852740914 , page 221
  2. Message from Rev. Takeyasu Miyamoto
  3. UNICEF: Reverend Takeyasu Miyamoto
  4. Religious Information Research Center
  5. Pokorny, Lukas (2011). Neue religiöse Bewegungen in Japan heute: ein Überblick [New Religious Movements in Japan Today: a Survey]. In: Hödl, Hans Gerald and Veronika Futterknecht, ed. Religionen nach der Säkularisierung. Festschrift für Johann Figl zum 65. Geburtstag, Wien: LIT, p.190

Bibliography

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