Ohigashi schism

TheOhigashi schism(お đông tao động ) was a religiousschismin theŌtani-ha(also known asHigashi Honganji) subsect of theJōdo Shinshūschool ofBuddhismthat occurred in 1969 after a reformist group created internal divisions.

History

The Dobokai Movement ( đồng bằng hội vận động ), a reform group within Higashi Honganji, officially began on the 700th memorial ofShinranin 1962, though its roots were in a movement started in 1947 by a group of practitioners calling themselves theshinjinsha"true person community".The grass-roots reform group was led byKurube Shin'yū.Akegarasu Haya,Soga Ryōjin,and other disciples ofKiyozawa Manshiwere also closely involved.

The goal of the Dobokai movement was to awaken and unite members of Higashi Honganji due to internal conflict over differences of doctrinal opinion such as over the idea ofshinjinand whether thepure landwas to be entered in death or in this life. The Dobokai movement based itself largely on theTannishō,a collection of sayings attributed to Shinran with commentaries byYuien-bo,one of his disciples, and the idea of cutting through spiritual differences.

The movement split Higashi Honganji into four different groups. What is now known as the Higashi Honganji-ha is centered in Tokyo. The physical property of Higashi Honganji temple is run by the much-larger Ōtani-ha, which changed the temple's name to "Shinshū Mausoleum". Meanwhile, the treasure of Higashi Honganji-ha at the time, amounting to about $200 million in donations, was seized for use by a "nonprofit organization" which does not maintain any temples.In 2012 a court ruled that this money must be returned.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Suzuki, David A. (1985). Crisis in Japanese Buddhism: case of the Otani Sect. Los Angeles: Buddhist Books International.ISBN0914910515
• Shojun Bandō, Harold Stewart, Ann T. Rogers, Minor L. Rogers (trans.):Tannishō: Passages Deploring Deviations of Faith and Rennyo Shōnin Ofumi: The Letters of Rennyo.Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research 1996.ISBN1-886439-03-6