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  • The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin I/II
    • Volume I
    • Volume II
  • The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Sutras
  • The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings
  • The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism

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“Introduction” chapter | Dictionary of Buddhism | Nichiren Buddhism Library
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Letter I

Letter I MENU

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  • icchantika

    [一闡提] (;  issendai)

  • ichinen

    [一念] (; Chin i-nien)

  • ichinen-sanzen

    [一念三千] ()

  • I-ching

    [義浄] (635–713) (PY Yijing;  Gijō)

  • Ichinosawa, the lay priest

    [一谷入道] (d. 1278) ( Ichinosawa-nyūdō)

  • ignorance

    [無明] ( avidyā; Pali avijjā;  mumyō)

  • I-hsing

    [一行] (683–727) (PY Yixing;  Ichigyō)

  • Ikegami Munenaga

    [池上宗長] (d. 1283)

  • Ikegami Munenaka

    [池上宗仲] (d. 1293)

  • Ikegami Transfer Document, The

    [池上相承書] ( Ikegami-sōjō-sho)

  • Ikkō school

    [一向宗] ( Ikkō-shū)

  • illusions of thought and desire

    [見思惑] ( kenji-waku)

  • I-lung

    [遺竜] (n.d.) (PY Yilong;  Iryō)

  • Immeasurable Meanings Sutra

    [無量義経] (Chin Wu-liang-i-ching;  Muryōgi-kyō)

  • Immovable

    (1) [不動明王] ( Achala or Achalanātha;  Fudō-myō’ō); (2) [不動仏] ( Fudō-butsu); (3) [不動智仏] ( Fudōchi-butsu)

  • Immovable Wisdom

    [不動智仏] ( Fudōchi-butsu)

  • immutable karma

    [定業] ( jōgō)

  • impure land

    [穢土] ( edo)

  • Inaba-bō

    [因幡房] (n.d.)

  • inclusion of Buddhahood in the nine worlds

    [九界即仏界・九界所具の仏界] ( kukai-soku-bukkai or kukai-shogu-no-bukkai)

  • inclusion of the nine worlds in Buddhahood

    [仏界即九界・仏界所具の九界] ( bukkai-soku-kukai or bukkai-shogu-no-kukai)

  • inconspicuous benefit

    [冥益] ( myōyaku)

  • incorrigible disbelief, persons of

    [一闡提] ( issendai)

  • Increase and Growth

    [増長天] ( Virūdhaka;  Zōjō-ten or Zōchō-ten)

  • Increasing by One Āgama Sutra

    [増一阿含経] (Chin Tseng-i-a-han-ching;  Zōichi-agon-gyō)

  • independent of words or writing

    [不立文字] ( furyū-monji)

  • Indra

    [因陀羅] (;  Indara)

  • Indra’s net

    [因陀羅網・帝網] ( Indra-jāla;  Indara-mō or Tai-mō)

  • indriya

    [根] (, Pali;  kon)

  • inferior manifested body

    [劣応身] ( retsu-ōjin)

  • Infinite Life

    [無量寿仏] ( Muryōju-butsu)

  • Infinite Light

    [無量光仏] ( Muryōkō-butsu)

  • Ingen

    [隠元] (1592–1673) (; Chin Yin-yüan)

  • inherent enlightenment

    [本覚] ( hongaku)

  • initial stage of rejoicing

    [初随喜品・初随喜] ( shozuiki-hon or shozuiki)

  • insentient beings

    [非情] ( hijō)

  • integration of the three mystic principles

    [三妙合論] ( sammyō-gōron)

  • Interfusing Nembutsu school

    [融通念仏宗] ( Yūzū Nembutsu-shū)

  • internal strife

    [自界叛逆難] ( jikai-hongyaku-nan)

  • “Introduction” chapter

    [序品] ( Jo-hon)

  • Invincible

    [無勝童子] ( Mushō-dōji)

  • Ippen

    [一遍] (1239–1289)

  • Iron Encircling Mountains

    [鉄囲山・鉄輪囲山] ( Chakravāda-parvata or Chakravāda;  Tetchi-sen or Tetsurin’i-sen)

  • Īshāna

    [伊舎那天] (;  Ishana-ten)

  • Ishikawa Monastery

    [石川精舎] ( Ishikawa-shōja)

  • Ishikawa no Hyōe, the lay priest

    [石河の兵衛入道] (n.d.) ( Ishikawa no Hyōe-nyūdō)

  • Izu Exile

    [伊豆流罪] ( Izu-ruzai)

“Introduction” chapter [序品] ( Jo-hon): The first chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Like a great many Buddhist sutras, it begins with the sentence “This is what I heard.” It then goes on to identify the setting as Eagle Peak in Rājagriha and names representatives of the countless arhats, bodhisattvas, heavenly gods, asuras, garudas, and other beings, human and nonhuman, who have gathered there to hear Shakyamuni Buddha preach. According to this chapter, the Buddha has finished preaching the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra and enters into profound meditation. At that time, four kinds of exquisite flowers rain down from the heavens, and the earth trembles in six different ways. The members of the whole assembly gain what they never had before, are filled with joy, and, pressing their palms together, gaze at the Buddha with a single mind. Then the Buddha emits a beam of light from the tuft of white hair between his eyebrows, illuminating eighteen thousand worlds to the east. All the living beings in the six paths of existence as well as the Buddhas and their disciples in all these worlds are clearly visible, and the entire assembly is astonished at these fabulous portents. Bodhisattva Maitreya then speaks on behalf of them all, asking Bodhisattva Manjushrī, who has already practiced under an incalculable number of Buddhas, to explain their meaning. Manjushrī replies that he has seen other Buddhas emit a beam of light in this way in the past, after which they have always expounded a great teaching.
  Countless kalpas ago, he says, there once appeared twenty thousand Buddhas in succession, each with the same name, Sun Moon Bright. The last and twenty-thousandth Sun Moon Bright Buddha had once preached a scripture known as the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra, after which he entered into deep meditation and the very same portents appeared. Then this Buddha immediately expounded a sutra called the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law. At that time, Manjushrī says, there was a bodhisattva in the assembly named Wonderfully Bright, accompanied by his eight hundred disciples, among whom was one named Seeker of Fame. Bodhisattva Wonderfully Bright, says Manjushrī, is now himself, and Bodhisattva Seeker of Fame is the present Bodhisattva Maitreya. The portents they are now witnessing are identical with those they saw in the past. Bodhisattva Manjushrī concludes that Shakyamuni Buddha is about to expound the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law.
  “Introduction” is also the title of the first chapter of the Chinese versions of many other sutras. In general, the “Introduction” chapter contains descriptions of the circumstances under which the Buddha is about to preach a sutra and of the causes and conditions that prompt him to preach it. See also six auspicious happenings.


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