Michael got to talk to one Rev Nakao. The guy had some provocative things to say:
http://www.fraughtwithperil.com/blogs/ryuei/archives/000975.html
He claims that "There is no evidence that Nichiren was ever fully ordained in the Tendai school. There is also no evidence that he wasn't, but Prof. Nakao pointed out that only well connected monks were fully ordained. Most were just given tokudo, so technically they were just shamis (novices)." I thought this was a strange attitude. Where in Buddhism do layers of ordainment come in? Who ever "fully ordained" Shakyamuni? And what was involved in becoming "fully ordained" other than renouncing secular life and taking bodhisattva vows?
I have been under the impression, based on my readings about Tendai, that Tendai initiations were also esoteric initiations. Why would any Nichiren monk even want that? But I don't know, so I'll ask Mike to ask Rev. Nakao about this.
Hi Chris,
I answered over on my blog. In short, in the Vinaya it spells out the different levels of ordination and precepts that are associated with them. Esoteric initiations are something else again. Also the Mahayana precepts complicated things as they are not from the Vinaya at all - and the Brahma Net Sutra is an apocryphal Chinese text, but Saicho used them anyway to replace the regular 250 precepts of the full Hinayana monastic ordination.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
Hi Chris,
Also this article deals with ordination procedures as they evolved in the early Sangha according to the Vinaya:
http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/Ryuei/formation_of_sangha.html
Posted by: Ryuei at April 18, 2006 05:24 PM