Japenese Buddhism

Question 1

What do nichiren Buddhists believe?

Answer 1

• Humanity has ended and age of mappa , and other Buddhist practices no longer provided a road to enlightenment
• he concluded that the highest teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha were to be found in the lotus sutra, and honouring the sutra should be the main focus of Buddhist worship
• nichiren established the chanting of Namu-mycho-renge-kyo as the way to awaken one’s Buddha nature and tap into the deepest level of our existence. This offers a quick route to enlightenment
• this branch of Japanese Buddhism is similar to mainstream Buddhism as they both believe in enlightenment

Question 2

What do pure land Buddhists believe?

Answer 2

Honen so the most ordinary people wouldn’t be able to secure a good rebirth from their own merit, so told them to practice nembutsu “Namu Amida Butsu” which will cause the Buddha Amida to grant you a rebirth in the pure land

• they also believed that Buddhists should also try to live a good life and follow the precepts
• “ easy path“ “only repeat the name of Amida with your heart“
• reaching enlightenment is now really hard due to the Buddha living so many years ago
• pure land is similar to mainstream Buddhism as they both believe in Karma

Question 3

What do new pure land Buddhists believe?

Answer 3

• shinran argued that instead of believing in our own power to reach enlightenment, we should trust in tariki and rely on Amida
• nembutsu = Only practice Buddhist should undertake. But, he argued we can’t see ourselves as earning the reward of the pure land from our chanting, as this is egotistical. Instead, we have to trust the Amida will keep his vow to save us all, and chant our gratitude
• this is very different to mainstream Buddhism as NPL don’t believe in Karma
• shinran says that humanity is now too corrupt for anyone to reach enlightenment

Question 4

What do rinzai Zen believe?

Answer 4

• Eisai Believe that we should emphasise kensho and teach us that many years of exhaustive training is necessary for the free functioning of wisdom within the activities of daily life

Question 5

What do you Soto Zen believe?

Answer 5

• they aim to wait, calm the mind and try to catch glimpses of the Buddha within themselves.
• The main practices are Zazen
  “eat and drink moderately, cast aside all involvement. Do not think good or bad…“
  “No gap between zazen and daily life“

Question 6

What are the common features between new pure land Buddhists, pure land, nichiren, Soto Zen and Rinzai zen?

Answer 6

• They are based on the people in Japan and are based upaya and what is going to work for them.
  – Start with disillusion
  – they don’t involve studying Scriptures
• mappo

Question 7

What is Satori?

Answer 7

Catching a glimpse of how everything is connected

Question 8

What do Zen Buddhists believe?

Answer 8

• they try to understand the meaning of life directly, without being misled by logical thoughts or language. They tend not to study Scriptures, but instead learn from Zen master. Zen teaches that all humans are already Buddhas . We just have to find or connect with our own enlightenment as we are all on our own journey. The way to do this is through meditation, to calm the mind and to go beyond rational thoughts or language