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法華取要抄

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Text ID
KR6t0404
Date
1274–1274
Dynasty
日本

Fǎhuā qǔyào chāo 法華取要抄

Taking the Essentials of the Lotus by 日蓮 Nichiren (述)

About the work

A single-fascicle Nichiren doctrinal essay by Nichiren 日蓮 日蓮 (1222–1282), composed at Minobu in Bun’ei 11 / 1274 / 5th month / 24th day, when Nichiren was 52. The essay was written in the first month after Nichiren’s release from Sado exile and his retreat to Mt. Minobu. It is a relatively concise statement of the Nichiren doctrinal core, identifying the essential elements (shuyō 取要) of the Lotus Sūtra that must be extracted and acted upon by the practitioner.

Abstract

The work identifies four essential elements: (1) the Jūryō-bon (chapter 16, the Lifespan chapter) as the doctrinal center of the Lotus; (2) the daimoku Nam-myōhō-renge-kyō as the acoustic crystallization of the Lotus doctrine; (3) the honzon as the visual / graphic crystallization; (4) the practitioner’s active propagation (弘通 gutsū) of the daimoku and honzon to others, especially in the mappō age.

The work is concise — shorter than the Five Major Writings — but doctrinally important as the most compact statement of the Nichiren doctrinal package. It was written explicitly as a teaching reference for Nichiren’s lay disciples and circulated widely in his own lifetime in that capacity. It is doctrinally adjacent to the Kanjin honzon-shō KR6t0403 but more practically oriented.

Date. Internally Bun’ei 11 / 1274 / 5th month / 24th day, at Minobu.

Structural Division

The CANWWW entry (div29.xml, T84N2693) records the work as a single-fascicle treatise by Nichiren with no internal toc sub-list and no related-text cross-references tabulated.

Translations and research

English translations:

  • SGI (eds.), The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin (1999), vol. 1.
  • Burton Watson (trans.), in Selected Writings of Nichiren (Columbia UP, 1990).

Major studies: Jacqueline I. Stone, Original Enlightenment (Hawai’i, 1999); Tamura Yoshirō, Nichiren Shōnin (Kōdansha, 1973); Asai Endō, Nichiren shōnin kyōgaku no kenkyū (Heirakuji, 1976).

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