Editing Nichiren (section)

== Writings ==
[[File:Risshou Ankokuron.jpg|thumb|A section of Nichiren's treatise Risshō Ankoku Ron (On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land)]]
Nichiren was a prolific writer. His collected works in four volumes contains up to five hundred writings.<ref name=":0" /> Nichiren also kept a copy of the ''Lotus Sūtra'' which he annotated profusely and has also been published.<ref name=":0" /> Many writings still exist in his original handwriting, some as complete works and some as fragments. Other documents survive as copies made by his immediate disciples. Nichiren's existing works number over 700 [[manuscript]]s in total, including transcriptions of orally delivered lectures, letters of remonstration and illustrations.<ref>Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee: The Writings of Nichiren, Volume I, Soka Gakkai, 2006. {{ISBN|4-412-01024-4}}</ref><ref>Burton Watson and the Gosho Translation Committee: The Writings of Nichiren, Volume II, Soka Gakkai, 2006. {{ISBN|4-412-01350-2}}</ref><ref>Kyotsu Hori (transl.): Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine Vol. 1–6, University of Hawai'i Press, 2003–2010</ref><ref>Jacqueline I. Stone, Some disputed writings in the Nichiren corpus: Textual, hermeneutical and historical problems, dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1990 [http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Dissertation/Some%20Disputed%20Writings%20in%20the%20Nichiren%20Corpus%20Textual,%20Herme.pdf PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030015535/http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Dissertation/Some%20Disputed%20Writings%20in%20the%20Nichiren%20Corpus%20Textual,%20Herme.pdf |date=30 October 2013 }} (21 MB) retrieved 26 July 2013</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Sueki |last=Fumehiko |title=Nichirens Problematic Works |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26 |issue=3–4 |pages=261–280 |date=1999}}</ref> According to Fumihiko Sueki: "the most rigorously edited and reliable collection of Nichiren’s writings is the ''Shōwa teihon Nichiren Shōnin ibun'' 昭和定本日蓮聖人遺文 (STN), edited and published after World War II by Risshō Daigaku Nichiren Kyōgaku Kenkyūjo (1988)."<ref name="Sueki1999" />

Scholars have divided the writings attributed to Nichiren into three categories: those whose authenticity are universally accepted, those generally designated as written by someone else after his death, and a third category in which the veracity of works is still being debated.<ref>{{cite web |title=Listing of Authenticated Gosho (Goibun) of Nichiren |url=http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/gosho.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326155457/http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/gosho.html |archive-date=26 March 2013 |access-date=26 December 2013}}</ref><ref name="Sueki1999" />

In addition to treatises written in formal {{nihongo|[[Classical Chinese]]|漢文|[[kanbun]]}}, Nichiren also wrote expositories and letters to followers in mixed [[kanji]]-[[kana]] vernacular as well as letters in simplified [[kana]] for believers such as children who could not read the more formal styles. Some of Nichiren's ''kanbun'' works, especially the ''Risshō Ankoku Ron'', are considered exemplary of the ''kanbun'' style, while many of his letters focus on more empathic exhortations to commoners and laypeople.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Koushiki |first=Choudhury |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=8193315049 |title=Finding peace: an Oriental quest |date=6 March 2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-81-933150-4-0 |location=London |page=141 |oclc=974496695}}</ref>

=== Selected important writings ===
Among his main Classical Chinese treatises, five are generally accepted by all Nichiren schools as his major works:<ref>Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism, Soka Gakkai, "Five Major Writings"</ref><ref>Dharma Flower, Ryuei Michael McCormick (2000), p. 156: "The five most important works of Nichiren. The five major writings are: Rissho ankoku ron (Treatise on Spreading Peace Throughout the Country by Establishing the True Dharma), Kaimoku sho (Open Your Eyes), Kanjin no honzon sho (Spiritual Contemplation and the Focus of Devotion), Senji sho (Selecting the Right Time), and Ho'on sho (Recompense of Indebtedness)."</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism, Soka Gakkai, "Ten Major Writings".</ref>

* ''On Securing the Peace of the Land through the Propagation of True Buddhism'' (''Rissho Ankoku Ron'') — written between 1258 and 1260.<ref>Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism, Soka Gakkai, "Rissho Ankoku Ron".</ref>
* ''The Opening of the Eyes'' (''Kaimoku-sho'') — written in 1272.
* ''The True Object of Worship'' (''Kanjin-no Honzon-sho'') — written in 1273.
* ''The Selection of the Time'' (''Senji-sho'') — written in 1275.
* ''On Repaying Debts of Gratitude'' (''Ho'on-sho'') — written in 1276.

[[Nikkō Shōnin]] added an additional five writings to comprise a set of ten major writings (this specific list is only central in [[Nichiren Shōshū]]).<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Authentic Writings of Nichiren Shonin &#91;1222-1282&#93; |url=http://pounceatron.dreamhosters.com/nichirenscoffeehouse.net/gosho.html}}</ref>

* ''On Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra'' (''Sho-hokke Daimoku-sho'') — Written in 1260.
* ''On Taking the Essence of the Lotus Sutra'' (''Hokke Shuyo-sho'') — written in 1274.
* ''On the Four Stages of Faith and the Five Stages of Practice'' (''Shishin Gohon-sho'') — written in 1277.
* ''Letter to Shimoyama'' (''Shimoyama Gosho-soku'') — written in 1277.
* ''Questions and Answers on the Object of Worship'' (''Honzon Mondo-sho'') —  written in 1278.

=== Personal letters ===
Among the collection of his extant writings are numerous letters to his follows in the form of thank you notes, messages of condolence, responses to questions, and spiritual counseling for trying moments in his followers' lives. Collectively these letters demonstrate that Nichiren was a master of providing both comfort and challenge befitting the unique personalities and situations of each individual.<ref name=Iida1987 />{{rp|102}}<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|52}}

Many of these letters use tales drawn from Indian, Chinese, and Japanese traditions as well as historical anecdotes and stories from the Buddhist canon. Nichiren incorporated several hundred of these anecdotes and took liberty to freely embellish some of them; a few of the stories he provided do not appear in other collections and could be original.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|47–50}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rodd|first=Laurel Rasplica|date=1978|title=Nichiren and Setsuwa|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2965|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=5/2-3 June–September|pages=159–185|access-date=4 December 2018|archive-date=4 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704202453/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2965|url-status=live}}</ref>

Another category of his letters follow the genres of Japanese ''[[zuihitsu]]'', lyrical and loosely organized essays that combine personal reflection and poetic language, or personal diaries (''[[Nikki Bungaku|nikki]]'') Nichiren was a master of this genre and these colloquial works reveal his highly personal and charismatic method of proselytization as well as his deep caring for his followers.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|47–50,52}}

Nichiren used his letters as a means to inspire key supporters.  About one hundred followers are identified as recipients and several received between 5 and 20 of them.  The recipients tended to be of the warrior class and only scattered references appear about his lower status followers, many of whom were illiterate. The series of letters he wrote his followers during the "Atsuhara affair" of 1279 provide a case study of how he used personal written communications to direct a response to the government's actions and to keep his followers steadfast during the ordeal.<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|55n}}<ref name=Stone2014 />{{rp|156n,158}}

=== Writings to women ===
Against a backdrop of earlier Buddhist teachings that deny the possibility of enlightenment to women or reserve that possibility for life after death, Nichiren is highly sympathetic to women. Based on various passages from the ''Lotus Sutra'', Nichiren asserts that "Other sutras are written for men only. This sutra is for everyone."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kurihara |first=Toshie |date=2003 |title=A History of Women in Japanese Buddhism: Nichiren's Perspectives on the Enlightenment of Women |journal=The Journal of Oriental Studies |volume=13 |page=94 |url=http://www.iop.or.jp/0313/kurihara.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314095112/http://www.iop.or.jp/0313/kurihara.pdf |archive-date=14 March 2012 }}</ref><ref>Oguri, Junko. 1987. '' Nyonin ojo: Nihon-shi ni miru onna no sukui ''(Women's Capacity to Be Reborn in the Pure Land: Women's Salvation in Japanese History). Jimbun Shoin, p. 122. See also: Oguri, Junko. 1984. "Views on Women's Salvation in Japanese Buddhism" in Young East 10/1, pp 3–11.</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=385&m=0&q=| title = (WND, p. 385)| access-date = 28 October 2010| archive-date = 1 October 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111001041038/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=385&m=0&q=| url-status = live}}</ref>

Ninety of his extant letters, nearly a fifth of the total, were addressed to female correspondents.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADQNAQAAMAAJ&q=nichiren+extant|title=Gender Equality in Buddhism|last=Ueki|first=Masatoshi|page=114|date=2001|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-0-8204-5133-6|access-date=21 October 2018|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601192136/https://books.google.com/books?id=ADQNAQAAMAAJ&q=nichiren+extant|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Nichiren Shu]] has published separate volumes with those writings.<ref>Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Translated by Nichiren Shu Overseas Ministers in North America, Edited and Compiled by Kyotsu Hori, published 1995 by Nichiren Shu Overseas Propagation Promotion Association</ref> In these letters Nichiren plays particular attention to the instantaneous attainment of enlightenment of [[Longnü|the Dragon King's daughter]] in the "Devadatta" (Twelfth) chapter of the ''Lotus Sutra'' and displays deep concern for the fears and worries of his female disciples.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rasplica Rodd|first=Laurel|title=Nichiren's Teachings to Women|url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wcaaspapers/vol1/iss5/1|journal=Selected Papers in Asian Studies: Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies|date=6 June 2016|volume=1|issue=5|pages=8–18|access-date=17 September 2018|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918090920/https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wcaaspapers/vol1/iss5/1/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender, Bernard Faure,{{ISBN|978-1-4008-2561-5}}, Princeton University Press, 2009, p.93</ref>

=== Problematic writings ===
There is a lively scholarly debate as to the authenticity of many writings attributed to Nichiren. Such disputed works include the ''Sandai hihō honjōji'' and the ''[[Ongi kuden|Ongi Kuden]]''.<ref name=":0" /> Some Japanese scholars initially questioned whether any work which contained [[Original enlightenment|hongaku]] thought could be Nichiren's. These include important writings sent to the Tendai monk Sairen-bo which also show some stylistic differences to other writings by Nichiren.<ref name="Sueki1999" /> More recent scholarship by authors like Jacqueline Stone have argued that this single criterion is not enough for rejecting a work's authenticity.<ref name="Sueki1999" /> Thus, according to Sueki, the authenticity of the ''Risshōkan jō'' (Treatise on right contemplation) is highly probable.<ref name="Sueki1999" /> In 1997, Ito Zuiei used computer analysis to study the ''Sandai hihō honjōji'' and argued that it is possibly authentic. Thus, the scholarship on Nichiren's "problematic" works is still up for debate and continues to change.<ref name="Sueki1999" />