Risshō Kōseikai

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The Great Sacred Hall ( 大 聖堂 , Daiseidō ) in Suginami , Tokyo
The uppermost sanctuary within the great hall

The Risshō Kōseikai ( Japanese 立正 佼 成 会 , dt. "Society for the establishment of law and human relationships") is a new religious phenomenon of Japanese Buddhism that emerged from the Reiyūkai , a branch of Nichiren Buddhism . It was founded on March 5, 1938 by Nikkyō Niwano (1906-1999) and Myōkō Naganuma (1898-1957). After the founder's death, his eldest son, Nichiko Niwano , took on the role of leader. He is called the President. The succession rule for the future is that the incumbent president determines a successor. This has already happened: the daughter, granddaughter of the founder, Kōshō Niwano , will take over the office of president after her father.

The community, organized as a lay community, reveres the Lotus Sutra as the highest expression of the Buddhist message and emphasizes in its practice human perfection, the common concern and the socio-ethical aspects of teaching.

Religious celebrations with the congregation, with prayers, songs, organ playing and lectures by the current president take place on the 1st, 4th, 10th and 15th day of each month in the "Great Sacred Hall". There are also special celebrations on the three important days of Mahayana Buddhism: Buddha's birthday (Hanamatsuri, March 3rd), the "Wheel of Teaching" ( Asala , June 30th) and the day of Buddha's enlightenment ( Bodhi , December 8th). Besides the common prayers in the hall of the center, which is located in Wada, Suginami-ku , Tokyo , it is not uncommon for members to pray and recite the daimoku with their families in front of the house altar .

Rissho Koseikai's social activities are diverse in their areas. It is emphasized that food and / or toys have already been donated for children in developing countries. It is a tradition for some members to skip a meal on the first and 15th day of the month and instead donate an amount of money to people in need. The social activities in Japan are not numerous, they are rather limited to foreign countries.

The community is predominantly in Japan, but also spread overseas and has 3 to 5 million followers. The information on the number of members varies. For example, the community gave two figures at the World Parliament of Religions in Melbourne in 2009: the abstract speaks of 2 million households in Japan, and the lecture of 1.5 million. Around 16,000 members lived in other countries.

The organization was also known through the Tōkyō Kōsei Wind Orchestra, which it founded .

Individual evidence

  1. http://www.rk-world.org/presdesignate.aspx
  2. Gene Reeves, Parliament of the World's Religions ( Memento of the original from November 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 2009, p. 186 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.parliamentofreligions.org

literature

  • Margareta von Borsig (ex.): Lotos Sutra - The great book of enlightenment in Buddhism. Herder Verlag, new edition 2009. ISBN 978-3-451-30156-8
  • Katō Bunno, Tamura Yoshirō, Miyasaka Kōjirō (tr.), The Threefold Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings; The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law; The Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue , Weatherhill & Kōsei Publishing, New York & Tōkyō 1975 (Rissho Kosaikai) PDF (1.4 MB)
  • Kyoden Sutra Readings: Extracts from the Threefold Lotus Sutra, Romanized Japanese and English Translation, Rissho Kosei-kai 1994
  • Andreas Nehring: Rissho Kosei-kai: A New Buddhist Religion in Japan (Erlanger Monographs from Mission and Ecumenism, Vol. 16), Verlag der Ev.-Luth. Mission 1992. ISBN 3-87214-316-6
  • Morioka, Kiyomi (1994). Attacks on the New Religions: Risshō Kōseikai and the Yomiuri Affair ( Memento from August 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 21 (2-3), 281-310
  • Nikkyo Niwano: A Guide to the threefold Lotus Sutra (PDF; 800 kB), Kosei Publishing 1989. ISBN 4-333-01025-X
  • Christiane Schulze: "Peace through Religion" - a Japanese model. The interreligious peace program of the Risshō Kōsei-kai (1957–1991). Studies on the history of development, objectives and function: Setting the course in three decades (1949–1979) . Peter Lang, Frankfurt / Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-631-55611-5
  • Gerlitz, Peter, "The Rissho Kosei-kai and their assimilation in the west", in: Michael Pye, Renate Stegerhoff (eds.), Religion in a foreign culture. Religion as a minority in Europe and Asia, Saarbruecken: Dadder 1987, pp. 111-122.
  • Rolf Italiaander, A Religion for Peace: the Rissho Kosei-kai. Japanese Buddhists for the Ecumenism of Religions, Verlag der Ev.-Luth. Mission 1973

Web links

Commons : Risshō Kōseikai  - Collection of images, videos and audio files