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Nichidatsu Fujii (藤井 日達, Fujii Nichidatsu, August 6, 1885 – January 9, 1985) was a Japanese Buddhist monk, and founder of the Nipponzan-Myōhōji order of Buddhism. He is best known for his decision in 1947 to begin constructing Peace Pagodas in many locations around the world as shrines to world peace.[1]
Nichidatsu Fujii | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Born | 6 Aug 1885 Japan |
| Died | 9 Jan 1985 |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| Known for | Peace Pagoda |
| Organization | |
| Founder of | Nipponzan-Myōhōji order of Buddhism |
Fujii was born into a peasant family in the wilderness of the Aso Caldera. At the age of 19, he was ordained a monk in the unusually ascetic and intellectual tradition of Hōon-ji in Usuki, Ōita. He started missionary activities in Manchuria in 1917, but the Great Kanto earthquake made him return to Japan in 1923.[2] After reading Nichiren's declaration that the Lotus Sutra would one day be preached in India, he decided to go there. He arrived in Calcutta in January 1931 and walked throughout the town chanting the daimoku and beating a drum, a practice known as gyakku shōdai.[3]
In 1933, he met Mahatma Gandhi at his ashram in Wardha. Gandhi was honored by his presence, and added the daimoku to his ashram's prayers.[3] He also gifted a small statue of Three Wise Monkeys to Gandhi.[4] During World War II and despite the dangers to himself he declared himself in favour of pacifism and went round Japan actively promoting it.[5] He later recollected: "The Pacific war raged ever more brutally. I could no longer...keep silent about the war, in which people were killing one another. Thus I traveled through the whole of Japan and preached resistance against the war and [advocated] the prayer for peace. It was a time in which any person who only spoke about resistance to the war, would go to prison because of that alone".[5]
- ^ Queen, Christopher S (2000). Engaged Buddhism in the West. Wisdom Publications, US. ISBN 978-0-86171-159-8.
- ^ Tsujimura Shinobu; Fuji Nichidatsu`s Buddhist Pan-Asianism in Manchuria and India, in: Modern Japanese Buddhism and Pan-Asianism, The 19th World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, Tokyo, March 28, 2005, pp.11-12.
- ^ a b D.C. Ahir. The Pioneers of Buddhist Revival in India. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1989. pp.50-54.
- ^ "Mahatma Gandhi's monkeys were originally 4 in number: What did the 4th one signify". The Times of India. 2024-08-21. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
- ^ a b Klaus Schlichtmann (2009). Japan in the World: Shidehara Kijuro, Pacifism, and the Abolition of War. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 29.