A Byrd's Eye View

Queen Lolo -

Personally I don't think 25 words or less is adequate, although others may have wordsmithing skills I don't. In boiling things down this way, inevitably some of the important stuff gets lost; reconstituting (just add water) doesn't bring it back to the same thing one started with.

I feel this is true of any religio-philosophical construct that takes on life as a whole.......My 2c of course. YMMV.

Namaste, Engyo Mike Barrett

I would say he changed nothing that Shakyamuni taught as far as buddhist theory. He said the sole effective practice was chanting daimoku.

Did it in 23.

Philip

In every here and now
Faithfully rejoice in the Wonderful Dharma
of the Lotus Flower Teaching
thus eliciting, actualizing, and expressing buddhahood for all beings.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei

Mike, I was kidding about the 25 words or less. I'm just looking for the short-form reply to people's question, "How does Nichiren Buddhism differ from what I know of basic Buddhism?" People are familiar with the Four Nobel Truths and meditation and non-attachment... but how does what Nichiren teaches expand on or differ from this?

Oh, since we are not restricted to 25 words:

Namu - understanding suffering we turn to:

Myoho - cutting off the causes of suffering
through the wondrous truth and thereby

Renge - realizing the full blossoming of the cessation of suffering

Kyo - enabling us to express the Middle Way of the cessation of suffering in every thought, word, and deed in both stillness and action.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei

What I'm looking for is a simple explanation for people who ask but don't want the whole enchilada... for people who aren't interested in practicing, but curious about the practice. Maybe a better way to put my question would have been "Why do you chose to follow the teachings of Nichiren rather than another Buddhist teacher?"

Richard Hooker put it this way in an online dictionary of Buddhism:
"Nichiren Buddhism was one of the key sects in medieval Japan. Nichiren (1222-1282) was a Tendai Buddhist monk who left the monastery and invented what was truly a Japanese version of Buddhism; rather than focus on the saving power of the Amida, Nichiren stressed that the Lotus Sutra, upon which Tendai doctrine was based, was the key to all enlightenment and fully embodied the truth of the Buddha Trinity (Vairochana, the Eternal Buddha (in Japanese: Dainichi); Amitabha, the Body of Bliss or Eternal Buddha (which is what the Amidists worshipped); Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha). Nichiren required that all boddhisattvas (those striving to become a Buddha) recite the Lotus sutra rather than the name of Amida; unlike Amidism, Nichiren Buddhism laid emphasis on individual effort rather than salvation through the action of the Buddha."

Queen Lolo and all -

I personally have given up trying to have any sort of prepared explanation for these situations. For me it works better to first listen to the person I am talking with, and then just answer what they are asking. What comes out of my mouth then often surprises me, but usually has much more impact on the person I am speaking to than if I worked from some sort of prepared script of sorts. A number of times I have been told that I spoke more appropriately to that specific person than I should have been able to. I don't try to say here that everyone should do this, of course, but it is what has been most effective for me.

Namaste, Engyo Mike Barrett

HRH Queen Lolo:

"Why do you choose to follow the teachings of Nichiren rather than another Buddhist teacher?"

All of Buddhism is my teacher. Nichiren taught a direct way to attain enlightenment based on the Lotus Sutra. It has never failed me.

Charles

Beautiful, Charles!

Did you intentionally make it 24 words + your name = 25?! You win the grand prize!

"How does Nichiren Buddhism differ from what I know of basic Buddhism?"

It depends on what you think is Buddhism. What perhaps make Nichiren distinct is the focus on actual proof. In other words, direct experoence.
robin

"Just the clean, clear basic essense of what he taught and what he added (or reinterpreted) to what the original Buddha had to say."

Nichiren taught Buddhahood is a manifest reality. Nothing was added.

Robin wrote: "What perhaps make Nichiren distinct is the focus on actual proof. In other words, direct experience."

Queen Lolo replies: The Kalama Sutra states, "Do not be satisfied with heresay or with tradition or with legendary lore or with what has come down in scriptures or with conjecture or with logical interference or with weighing evidance or with liking for a view after pondering over it or with someone else's ability or with the thought, 'The monk is our teacher.' When you know in yourselves: 'These things are wholesome, blameless, commended by the wise and being adopted and put into effect they lead to welfare and happiness, then you should practice and abide in them."

This emphasis on "actual proof" is straight from The Buddha, so it's not what makes Nichiren's teachings unique. It's behind every Buddhist tradition I know of, including Zen meditation.

"This emphasis on "actual proof" is straight from The Buddha, so it's not what makes Nichiren's teachings unique. It's behind every Buddhist tradition I know of, including Zen meditation."

Okay, in Nichiren Buddhism, the three practices of Precept, Meditation, and Wisdom are the Kaidan, the Honzon, and the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra. robin

(Count em, both replies. Accidental -- LOL)