Yoichi Aizawa

This study focuses upon the origin, development and significance of the Nichiren Buddhist practice of fuju-fuse, whereby Nichiren clergy may not accept and laity may not offer alms to adherents of rival sects. The various Nichiren factions, emerging soon after the death of Nichiren, all observed this practice of alms-refusal as one of three approaches to proselytizing--the other two being shuron, or sectarian debates, and kangyo, or the practice of admonishing secular authorities to embrace the faith of the Lotus Sutra. Confrontation with authorities led to persecution and the practice was banned in the 1660's, resulting in the formation of the Fuju-fuse sect underground. ;In section one of the present study, I examine the origin of fuju-fuse in early Buddhism, basing my findings on Theravada Vinaya texts, and in the Mahayana tradition, relying principally on the Brahmajala-sutra and the Lotus Sutra. In section two, I review the history of the Nichiren school from the perspective of the development of the fuju-fuse doctrine and practice; discuss how Nichiren and Nichio --the sectarian founder--justified their stands on fuju-fuse. In my discussion of Nichio, my major concern in this study, I rely heavily on his works--treatises, essays, and letters--heretofore unexamined by Western scholars. ;The study of the Fuju-fuse sect, with only a handful of monks serving less than five thousand households since 1876, when the Meiji government officially recognized the group, is crucial to our understanding of not only of the mainstream Nichiren Buddhist movement but also of numerous offshoots that comprise the majority of the so-called "new religions" in Japan today.