TOKYO, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ --
A Chinese website featuring the writings of Nichiren was launched on April 28, 2012, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the first publication in Japanese of his complete writings (Nichiren Daishonin Gosho Zenshu) on April 28, 1952. Nichiren (1222-82) was the Japanese Buddhist teacher whose interpretation of the Lotus Sutra forms the basis of the practice of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) members around the world.
The new website contains over 400 letters written by Nichiren to his followers, as well as treatises addressed to leading figures in the Kamakura shogunate such as his seminal work "Rissho Ankoku Ron" - which describes how the philosophy of the Lotus Sutra can help restore a focus on the dignity of life to an age riven by conflict and disaster. The site, containing a comprehensive search system, has been designed to meet the needs of both practitioners and researchers of Buddhism.
Robin Lu, an SGI representative involved in the project, comments, "We are proud to have completed this exhaustive work and hope it will provide inspiration, especially to young people who have until now not had easy access to the wisdom of Nichiren, which is as relevant to us today as it was to Japan in the 13th century."
The website is available in both traditional Chinese at http://cht.sgilibrary.org/ and simplified Chinese at http://chs.sgilibrary.org/. In addition, Chinese-language versions of the Lotus Sutra and Soka Gakkai's Dictionary of Buddhist Philosophy (containing 17,000 entries) have also been made available online. An English-language translation of Nichiren's works is already online at http://www.sgilibrary.org/writings.php.
Second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda spearheaded the compilation and publishing of a complete collection of the extant writings of Nichiren on April 28, 1952, to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Nichiren's declaration of the invocation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as the most effective way to develop the qualities of the Buddha in order to challenge the realities of life.
The writings of Nichiren have so far been translated into English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Korean among other languages.
Soka Gakkai International is a socially engaged Buddhist association with over 12 million members around the world. For more information, visit www.sgi.org (available in English, Chinese and Spanish).
Contact:
Cheong Pak Yee
Office of Public Information
Soka Gakkai International
Tel: +81-80-5957-4728
Fax: +81-6-5360-9885
E-mail: cpyee [at] sgi.gr.jp
