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The Nichiren Mandala Part one: Origin of the mandala in Japan
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The Nichiren Mandala Study Workshop
曼陀羅 or 曼荼羅
mandala stems from Sanskrit language
meaning “concentric energy circle” or “circle”
as well as “completion”.
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Primitive mandalas Appeared in India around the sixth century c.e.
With the growth of Vajrayana Buddhism
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Association of doctrinal concepts
with specific figures and icons
Methodically arranged mandalas evolved with the
development of Mahayana philosophy
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Sutra texts transferred to icons Hensō-zu refers to the
“transformation of text into image”
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Taizōkai and Kongōkai mandalas
Arrived in Japan in the ninth century c.e.
through Saichō (Dengyō) and Kūkai (Kōbō)
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Hokke (Lotus) iconography
Developed in Heian (794~1185) Japan after Saichō
established a Mahayana ordination platform
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Nichiren mandala Gohonzon
Depicts the Ceremony of the Air representing enlightenment.
The allegory is described from the second half of the eleventh to the twenty-
second chapter in the Lotus Sūtra when Śākyamuni is joined by Tahō Buddha in
the jeweled stupa that emerges from the earth
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Concept of Nichiren’s Gohonzon
It is a Moji-mandala inscribed with logographs instead of figures
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Concept of Nichiren’s Gohonzon The depicted figures are originally from India, China and Japan
and represent the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Road
Since all the participants to the event are portrayed as being present
contemporaneously, the Nichiren mandala transcends also the traditional concept
of time and space becoming a visualization of the entanglement principle.
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Typologies of Nichiren’s Gohonzon
Four main groups,
each divided into two or three subgroups, resulting in nine different typologies
Very few identical Gohonzon
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More information in next presentation Or in the books from the Nichiren Mandala Study Workshop
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