Risshō Ankokuron
Risshō Ankokuron (立正安国論) is a Japanese Buddhist treatise by the Kamakura-period monk Nichiren.
Authorship, date, and title
[edit]Risshō Ankokuron was written by the monk Nichiren.[1] It dates to the first year of Bun'ō (1260).[1] Nichiren presented it as a petition to the regent (shikken) Hōjō Tokiyori,[2] but it was ignored,[2] and brought the anger of the authorities down on Nichiren.[2]
The title Risshō Ankokuron translates to "Establishing Right Doctrine and Peace of the Nation", and is occasionally abbreviated to Ankokuron.[3]
Contents
[edit]The work consists of a single book in ten paragraphs.[4] It takes the form of a dialogue between "a visitor" and "the master",[1] and is written in kanbun (Classical Chinese).[1]
It propounds the idea that placing one's faith in the Lotus Sutra protect the safety of the nation.[4] Nichiren invokes the fear of natural disasters, famine and plague and quotes from a variety of Buddhist sutras to demonstrate that the reason for such problems is the failure of the sovereign to embrace the correct religious doctrine.[4] He attacks the Pure Land school of Hōnen as a sinister cult (邪宗 jashū)[4] and emphasizes the need to reject such false doctrines and place one's faith in the Lotus Sutra.[5]
Nichiren also predicted a foreign invasion,[2] a prediction which came true more than a decade later when Japan was invaded by the forces of Kublai Khan.[2]
Endō Asai, in his article on the work for the Encyclopedia Nipponica remarks that because of its status as a polemic against the religious practices of the nation, it lacks an explanation of the causes that lead to its conclusions,[3] and recommends reading it in combination with Shugo Kokkaron (守護国家論), which Nichiren had published the previous year.[3]
Textual tradition
[edit]A copy of the text in Nichiren's own hand, dating to 1269, is preserved in Hokekyō-ji in Ichikawa, Chiba.[3]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]Works cited
[edit]- Kubota, Jun, ed. (2007). "Risshō Ankokuron" 立正安国論. Iwanami Nihon Koten Bungaku Jiten (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. pp. 364–365.
- Asai, Endō (2001). "Risshō Ankokuron" 立正安国論. Encyclopedia Nipponica (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
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