History of Buddhism in Japan

say that if a good man could enter paradise, how much more easily so could an evil man. His implication was that the good man was attempting salvation through good works - there's that jiriki again - while the evil man who repents with his last breath and sincerely calls upon the Amida Buddha (sincerity is vital to success) for salvation has truly trusted the Buddha to save him.

A monk named Nichiren founded the Lotus (Hokke) sect in 1253. In founding his sect, Nichiren stated that indeed one needed only call one name to be saved, but that the name with the power of salvation was not that of the Amida Buddha. It was the blessed name of the Lotus Sutra. Thus, feverishly chanting "Namu myoho-renge-kyo" (Hail to the Lotus Sutra), was the only road to salvation for the individual and the nation.

Nichiren had been a fire-and-brimstone street evangelist who was both frightening and compelling in person. He believed the country was possessed by demons, thanks to the failure of the Tendai monks who were supposed to be guarding the country from the "demon quarter" (the northeast). The Tendai sect failed, Nichiren demanded, because the monks were worldly and depraved. Nichiren pressed the shogunate to expel all other Buddhist sects and to allow him as high priest to perform an exorcision on the country. He predicted that there would be serious repercussions otherwise, including an invasion by foreigners.

Nichiren's nationalistic zeal won him many followers, and his accurate "prediction" of the Mongol Invasions in 1274 and 1281 won him the ear of the shogunate briefly, but in the long run his demands were too extreme and his personality too abrasive for his own good.

Finally, we have the two Zen Buddhist sects called Rinzai and Soto, which arose during the Kamakura Period. Unlike the Mahayana ("large vehicle") sects mentioned previously, Zen eschewed theories of demon possession and mappo, and believed whole-heartedly in enlightenment through self-effort - often austere and uncomfortable self-effort.

Rinzai featured the famous Zen riddles (e.g. "What is th sound of one hand clapping?"), called "koan," which were meant to drive the mind out of its literalistic rut and into a state of "mushin" (no mind). Rinzai gained popularity with the bushi (warrior) aristocracy for its austerity, pragmatism and fatalistic approach. It was also hailed by the samurai for its alleged ability to inspire calmness and attention to detail, even in

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