Viśiṣṭacāritra

Viśiṣṭacāritra (Sanskrit: विशिष्टचारित्र; also known as Superior Practice) is a bodhisattva mentioned in the 15th, 21st, and 22nd chapters of the Lotus Sutra. He is one of the four great perfected bodhisattvas who attends Gautama Buddha and protects the Lotus Sutra and its devotees.^[1] The other three are Anantacaritra, Visuddhacaritra, and Supratisthitacaritra; together they make up the four great primarily evolved bodhisattvas.^[1][2] Viśiṣṭacāritra is also believed to represent the "true self" characteristic of buddhahood, which is the selflessness of Nirvana.^[3]

Viśiṣṭacāritra
Sanskrit	विशिष्टचारित्र Viśiṣṭacāritra
Chinese	上行菩薩 (Pinyin: Shàngxíng Púsà)
Japanese	上行菩薩（じょうぎょうぼさつ） (romaji: Jōgyō Bosatsu)
Khmer	វិសិស្តចារិត្រ (vi-ses-chaa-reut)
Korean	상행보살 (RR: Sanghaeng Bosal)
Tagalog	Bisistakalitla
Tibetan	སྤྱོད་པ་ཁྱད་པར་ཅན་ Wylie: spyod pa khyad par can
Vietnamese	Thượng Hạnh Bồ Tát
Information
Venerated by	Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna
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In Nichiren Buddhism

In most schools of Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren is believed to have fulfilled the vow of Viśiṣṭacāritra during his lifetime.^[3] This is because he revealed what he held to be the Superior Practice of chanting the title (daimoku) of the Lotus Sutra, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, which would quickly allow all beings to attain enlightenment in their present lifetime, no matter what their capacities. According to Anesaki, from the time of his exile to Sado Island Nichiren deemed himself as the reincarnation of Viśiṣṭacāritra.^[4]

Nichiren Shōshū, Soka Gakkai and Kempon Hokke

In Nichiren Shōshū, Soka Gakkai and the Kempon Hokke schools, Nichiren is revered as the reincarnation of Viśiṣṭacāritra^[5] because he revealed the "cause" of Buddhahood: chanting "Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō", a practice called daimoku, whereas Gautama is seen as the "Buddha of True Effect" as he only revealed the "effect" of Buddhahood.^[5] This is based on the passage in Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra that reads, "Originally I [Shakyamuni Buddha] practiced the bodhisattva way, and the life that I acquired then has yet to come to an end"^[6] Nichiren Shōshū and Soka Gakkai interpret the passage to mean that Gautama Buddha must have practiced something to attain Buddhahood, but in the Lotus Sutra he did not reveal what that practice was, whereas Nichiren taught the daimoku, which leads all beings to Buddhahood.

These groups conclude Shakyamuni Buddha attained buddhahood in the remote past through the daimoku.^[6] The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind states, "Showing profound compassion for those unable to comprehend the gem of the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, the Buddha wrapped it within the five characters [of Myōhō Renge Kyō], with which he then adorned the necks of the ignorant people of the latter age.^[7]

References

Footnotes

1. Kato 1993, p. 372
2. Reeves 2008, p. 280
3. McCormick, Ryuei M. "The Bodhisattvas of the Earth" Nichirenscoffeehouse.net. Nichiren's Coffeehouse and Gohonzon Gallery, 2002. Web. 21 Feb. 2011.
4. Anesaki, Masaharu (1916). Nichiren, the Buddhist Prophet. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9781498186582. This is the first definite statement' about his personal connection with Viśiṣṭacāritra (Jap. Jogyo), the leader of the saints called out of earth in the chapter on the 'Apparition of the Heavenly Shrine.' From this time on, Nichiren remained constant in the belief that his former life was that of Viśiṣṭacāritra, although he often referred to other saints as his predecessors, and spoke as if he were a reincarnation of one of them.
5. "About Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism". Nichiren Shoshu Temple.
6. "'True Buddha'". Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism. Archived from the original on 2013-09-20. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
7. Nichiren Daishonin (1999). The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin. Soka Gakkai. p. 376. ISBN 9784412010246. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02.

Sources

• Kato, Bunno (1993). The Threefold Lotus Sutra. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Company. ISBN 4-333-00208-7.
• Reeves, Gene (2008). The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic. Somerville: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0-86171-571-8.

Further reading

• Buswell, Robert Jr; Lopez, Donald S. Jr., eds. (2013). "Viśiṣṭacāritra", in Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. 981–982. ISBN 9780691157863.
• Jaffe, P. D. (1986). "Rising from the Lotus: Two bodhisattvas from the Lotus Sutra as a psychodynamic paradigm for Nichiren". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 13 (1): 81–105. doi:10.18874/jjrs.13.1.1986.81-105. Archived from the original on 2013-12-30.
• Stone (2012). The Sin of "Slandering the True Dharma". In Phyllis Granoff, Koichi Shinohara (eds): Sins and Sinners: Perspectives from Asian Religions. BRILL. pp. 139–. ISBN 978-90-04-22946-4.