Beschreibung:
Nichiren, like others regarded as the "founders" of the new Buddhist movements of the Kamakura period, takes as his starting point belief in the Final Dharma age (mappō), when human capacity is said to have greatly declined, and liberation to be extremely difficult to achieve. Yet while mappō thought entails a recognition of human limitations, Nichiren also maintained faith in the possibility of human enlightenment, on the basis of his understanding of the Tendai concept of "three thousand realms in one thought-moment" (ichinen sanzen), which sets forth the potential for buddhahood in ordinary worldlings. This classic essay, first published in 1968 and translated here from its reprint in 1997, analyzes how these two concepts of human capacity-one negating, the other affirming-are maintained in a dynamic tension at the foundation of Nichiren 's thought. It also presents an illuminating comparison with the teachings of Hōnen, another of the new Buddhist founders who lived slightly before Nichiren and had addressed similar issues.