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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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  • Nadī Kāshyapa

    [那提迦葉] (; Pali Nadī Kassapa;  Nadai-kashō)

  • Nāgabodhi

    [竜智] (n.d.) (;  Ryūchi)

  • Nāgārjuna

    [竜樹] (n.d.) (;  Ryūju)

  • Nāgasena

    [那先比丘] (n.d.) (, Pali;  Nasen-biku)

  • Nagoe, the lay nun of

    [名越の尼] (n.d.) ( Nagoe-no-ama)

  • Nairanjanā River

    [尼連禅河] (; Pali Neranjarā;  Nirenzen-ga)

  • Naivasamjnānāsamjnā Realm

    [非想非非想処] (;  Hisō-hihisō-sho)

  • Nakaoki, the lay priest of

    [中興入道] (n.d.) ( Nakaoki-nyūdō)

  • Nālandā Monastery

    [那爛陀寺] (;  Naranda-ji)

  • Nambu Rokurō Sanenaga

    [南部六郎実長]

  • Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

    [南無妙法蓮華経]

  • namu

    [南無] (;  namas)

  • Namu Amida Butsu

    [南無阿弥陀仏]

  • Nanda

    [難陀] (;  Nanda)

  • Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō

    [南条兵衛七郎] (d. 1265)

  • Nanjō Shichirō Gorō

    [南条七郎五郎] (1265–1280)

  • Nanjō Tokimitsu

    [南条時光] (1259–1332)

  • Nan-yüeh

    [南岳] (515–577) (PY Nanyue;  Nangaku)

  • naraka

    [地獄・奈落] (, Pali;  jigoku or naraku)

  • Nārāyana

    [那羅延] (;  Naraen)

  • Narendrayashas

    [那連提耶舎] (490–589) (;  Narendaiyasha)

  • nayuta

    [那由多] (;  nayuta)

  • near-perfect enlightenment

    [等覚] ( tōgaku)

  • Nembutsu

    [念仏] ()

  • Nembutsu Chosen above All, The

    [選択集] ( Senchaku-shū or Senjaku-shū)

  • Nembutsu school

    [念仏宗] ( Nembutsu-shū)

  • Nen’a

    [然阿]

  • Neranjarā River

    [尼連禅河] (Pali;  Nirenzen-ga)

  • Never Disparaging

    [常不軽菩薩・不軽菩薩] ( Sadāparibhūta;  Jōfukyō-bosatsu or Fukyō-bosatsu)

  • “Never Disparaging” chapter

    [不軽品] ( Fukyō-bon)

  • new translations

    [新訳] ( shin’yaku)

  • nibbāna

    [涅槃] (Pali;  nehan)

  • Nichiben

    [日弁] (1239–1311)

  • Nichidai

    [日代] (1297–1394)

  • Nichigen-nyo

    [日眼女] (1242–1303)

  • Nichigō

    [日郷・日毫] (1293–1353)

  • Nichiji

    [日持] (b. 1250)

  • Nichijū

    [日什] (1314–1392)

  • Nichijun

    [日順] (1294–1356)

  • Nichikan

    [日寛] (1665–1726)

  • Nichikō

    [日講] (1626–1698)

  • Nichimoku

    [日目] (1260–1333)

  • Nichimyō

    [日妙] (n.d.)

  • Nichinyo

    [日女] (n.d.)

  • Nichiō

    [日奥] (1565–1630)

  • Nichiren

    [日蓮] (1222–1282)

  • Nichiren school

    [日蓮宗] ( Nichiren-shū)

  • Nichiren Shōshū

    [日蓮正宗]

  • Nichirō

    [日朗] (1245–1320)

  • Nichiu

    [日有] (1402–1482)

  • Nichizen

    [日禅] (d. 1331)

  • Nichizon

    [日尊] (1265–1345)

  • Nigantha Nātaputta

    [尼乾陀若提子] (Pali;  Nikenda-nyakudaishi)

  • Niiama

    [新尼] (n.d.)

  • Niida Shirō Nobutsuna

    [新田四郎信綱] (n.d.)

  • Niike Saemon-no-jō

    [新池左衛門尉] (n.d.)

  • Nikke

    [日華]

  • Nikkō

    (1) [日興] (1246–1333); (2) [日光] ()

  • Nikō

    [日向] (1253–1314)

  • Nikō’s Records

    [日向記] ( Nikō-ki)

  • nine arrogances

    [九慢] ( ku-man)

  • nine consciousnesses

    [九識] ( ku-shiki)

  • nine divisions of the scriptures

    [九分経] ( kubun-kyō)

  • nine divisions of the teachings

    [九分教] ( kubun-kyō)

  • nine great ordeals

    [九横の大難] ( kuō-no-dainan)

  • nine great persecutions

    [九横の大難] ( kuō-no-dainan)

  • nine honored ones on the eight-petaled lotus

    [八葉九尊] ( hachiyō-kuson)

  • nine mountains and eight seas

    [九山八海] ( kusen-hakkai)

  • nine schools

    [九宗] ( ku-shū)

  • ninety-five non-Buddhist schools

    [九十五種の外道] ( kujūgoshu-no-gedō)

  • nine types of arrogance

    [九慢] ( ku-man)

  • nine worlds

    [九界] ( ku-kai or kyū-kai)

  • Ninshō

    [忍性]

  • ninth period of decrease in the kalpa of continuance

    [住劫第九の減] ( jūkō-daiku-no-gen)

  • nirmāna-kāya

    [応身] (;  ōjin)

  • nirvana

    [涅槃] (; Pali nibbāna;  nehan)

  • nirvana of no remainder

    [無余涅槃] ( muyo-nehan)

  • nirvana of remainder

    [有余涅槃] ( uyo-nehan)

  • Nirvana school

    [涅槃宗] (Chin Nieh-p’an-tsung;  Nehan-shū)

  • Nirvana Sutra

    [涅槃経] (Chin Nieh-p’an-ching;  Nehan-gyō)

  • Nishiyama, the lay priest of

    [西山入道] (n.d.) ( Nishiyama-nyūdō)

  • Nissen

    [日仙] (1262–1357)

  • Nisshō

    [日昭] (1221–1323)

  • Nisshū

    [日秀] (d. 1329)

  • Nitchō

    (1) [日頂] (1252–1317); (2) [日澄] (1262–1310)

  • noble eightfold path

    [八正道] ( hasshō-dō)

  • non-duality of body and mind

    [色心不二] ( shikishin-funi)

  • non-duality of delusion and enlightenment

    [迷悟不二・迷悟一体] ( meigo-funi or meigo-ittai)

  • non-duality of good and evil

    [善悪不二] ( zen’aku-funi)

  • non-duality of life and its environment

    [依正不二] ( eshō-funi)

  • non-duality of living beings and Buddhas

    [生仏不二・生仏一如] ( shōbutsu-funi or shōbutsu-ichinyo)

  • Nōnin

    [能忍] (n.d.)

  • non-returner

    [阿那含・不還] (, Pali anāgāmin;  anagon or fugen)

  • non-substantiality

    [空] ( shūnya or shūnyatā;  kū)

  • Northern Buddhism

    [北方仏教・北伝仏教] ( Hoppō-bukkyō or Hokuden-bukkyō)

  • Northern school of Zen

    [北宗禅] ( Hokushū Zen)

  • numberless major world system dust particle kalpas

    [五百塵点劫] ( gohyaku-jintengō or gohyaku-jindengō)

  • Nyagrodha

    [尼倶律陀] (;  Nikurida)

  • nyagrodha tree

    [尼拘律樹・尼倶類樹] (;  nikuritsu-ju or nikurui-ju)

  • Nyohō

    [如宝] (d. 814 or 815) (; Chin Ju-pao)

  • nyūdō

    [入道] ()

nirvana [涅槃] (; Pali nibbāna;  nehan): Enlightenment, the ultimate goal of Buddhist practice. The Sanskrit word nirvāna means “blown out” and is variously translated as extinction, emancipation, cessation, quiescence, or non-rebirth. Nirvana was originally regarded as the state in which all illusions and desires as well as the cycle of birth and death are extinguished. Hinayanists distinguish two types of nirvana. The first is that of the arhat who has eliminated all illusions and will no longer be reborn in the six paths, but who is still bound to the world of suffering in that he possesses a body. This is called the nirvana of remainder or incomplete nirvana. The second is that which the arhat achieves at death, when both body and mind—the sources of suffering—are extinguished. This is called the nirvana of no remainder or complete nirvana. Because Hinayana Buddhism teaches that the ultimate goal of practice can only be achieved at death, it was called the teaching of “reducing the body to ashes and annihilating consciousness.” Mahayanists criticized the practice directed toward this goal as escapist and indifferent to the salvation of others, and probably derogatively coined the above phrase. In Mahayana Buddhism, nirvana came to mean not so much an exit from the phenomenal world as an awakening to the true nature of phenomena, or the attainment of Buddha wisdom. Even in Mahayana sutras, however, this attainment is regarded as requiring the elimination of earthly desires in the same manner as expounded in the Hinayana teachings. Therefore, it is taught that nirvana requires an immeasurably long period to achieve.
  In contrast, the Lotus Sutra teaches that, by awakening to one’s innate Buddha nature, one can reach the state of nirvana in his or her present form as an ordinary person who possesses earthly desires and undergoes the sufferings of birth and death. It reveals the principle that the sufferings of birth and death are none other than nirvana. From the standpoint of the Lotus Sutra, birth and death are two integral phases of eternal life. Nirvana, therefore, is not the cessation of birth and death, but a state of enlightenment experienced as one repeats the cycle of birth and death. The sufferings of birth and death and nirvana, or enlightenment, are inseparable: it is not necessary to extinguish one in order to attain the other. These sufferings belong to the nine worlds, and nirvana, to the world of Buddhahood. The nine worlds and the world of Buddhahood are mutually inclusive. By manifesting the state of Buddhahood, one enjoys nirvana while repeating the cycle of birth and death.


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