Nichidatsu Fujii
The Venerable Nichidatsu Fujii (藤井 日達; 1885 in Aso, Kumamoto–1985 in Japan) was a Japanese Buddhist monk, and founder of the Nipponzan-Myōhōji order of Buddhism. He is best known world-wide for his decision in 1947, to begin constructing Peace Pagodas in many locations around the world, as shrines to world peace.[1]
Fujii was born into a peasant family in the wilderness of the Aso caldera. At the age of 19, he was ordained a monk in the unusually ascetic and intellectual tradition of Hoon-ji in Usuki, Ōita. Reading of Nichiren's declaration that the Lotus Sutra would one day be preached in India, he decided to go there. He arrived in Calcutta in January 1931 and walked throughout the town chanting the daimoku. In 1933, he met Mahatma Gandhi at his ashram in Wardha. They were honored by each other's presence; Gandhi added the daimoku to his ashram's prayers, and Fujii gave world peace new importance in his preaching.[2]
The first Peace Pagodas were built as a symbol of peace in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki where the atomic bombs took the lives of over 150,000 people, almost all of whom were civilian, at the end of World War II. Fujii returned to India and built a World Peace Pagoda in Rajgir, in 1965. He also built a Japanese style temple in Rajgir which is still inhabited today.
By 2000, at least 80 Peace Pagodas had been built around the world in Europe, Asia, and the United States, though not all are due to his movement.
See also
- Peace pagoda (includes a list of peace pagodas around the world).
References
- ^ Queen, Christopher S (2000). Engaged Buddhism in the West. Wisdom Publications, US. ISBN 9780861711598.
- ^ D.C. Ahir. The Pioneers of Buddhist Revival in India. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1989. pp.50-54.
External links
- Dharmawalk.org Information on Nichidatsu Fujii (Guruji) and the continuing work of the order that he founded.
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