Despite Japan’s advantageous terrain preventing foreign armies from efficiently invading it, Japan still faced a foreign threat that made another attempted Mongol Invasion look more appealing. This threat was Buddhism. Despite Buddhism’s current depiction being largely peaceful and amiable, Buddhism had quite a history of insubordination against various forms of medieval Japanese government. It was particularly effective because Buddhism shifted itself to fit the social landscape and capitalized on both political shortcomings and prosperities. It could manipulate political situations to its advantage. This is because of Buddhism’s origins are a form of magic that could assist in achieving political prominence. Buddhism was the largest threat
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Nichiren Buddhism was an elitist revolution that was very much seeking power. Like Amida, Nichiren Buddhism capitalized on the sense of anxiety the Japanese commoners had. It had a message of common appeal, but was aggressively trying to convert people to join. Nichiren, who believed he was the soul of Japan, further demonstrates Buddhism’s duality to appeal to both peaceful times and times of terror when he denounces Emperor Shomu’s interpretation of Buddha. His interpretation relied on the Lotus Sutra being the most important text to Buddhism because of its ability to account for such discrepancies. This permissiveness of duality led to some infighting, as competing schools rapidly became intolerant of each other, especially when one of those schools was led by a man who called himself, “the pillar of Japan, the eye of the nation”. The government saw this as very threatening, obviously and sentenced him to death for his relentless criticisms on sects that the Japanese government favored but Nichiren lived and used the sudden turn of events to martyr himself and accumulate even more popularity. In his speech, “Rectification for the Peace of the Nation”, Nichiren talks about the different sects before dismissing them as “exhaust[ing] themselves in vain” before going on a grotesquely accurate version of medieval Japan because they are not worshipping all of the Buddhas. This view eventually became so prolific, that when Christianity first came to Japan, it was regarded as a form of Buddhism because Christ was simply regarded as another
Nichiren Buddhism was an elitist revolution that was very much seeking power. Like Amida, Nichiren Buddhism capitalized on the sense of anxiety the Japanese commoners had. It had a message of common appeal, but was aggressively trying to convert people to join. Nichiren, who believed he was the soul of Japan, further demonstrates Buddhism’s duality to appeal to both peaceful times and times of terror when he denounces Emperor Shomu’s interpretation of Buddha. His interpretation relied on the Lotus Sutra being the most important text to Buddhism because of its ability to account for such discrepancies. This permissiveness of duality led to some infighting, as competing schools rapidly became intolerant of each other, especially when one of those schools was led by a man who called himself, “the pillar of Japan, the eye of the nation”. The government saw this as very threatening, obviously and sentenced him to death for his relentless criticisms on sects that the Japanese government favored but Nichiren lived and used the sudden turn of events to martyr himself and accumulate even more popularity. In his speech, “Rectification for the Peace of the Nation”, Nichiren talks about the different sects before dismissing them as “exhaust[ing] themselves in vain” before going on a grotesquely accurate version of medieval Japan because they are not worshipping all of the Buddhas. This view eventually became so prolific, that when Christianity first came to Japan, it was regarded as a form of Buddhism because Christ was simply regarded as another