Living buddhist tradition/school that focuses on the Mahaparinirvana sutra?

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nomono
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Living buddhist tradition/school that focuses on the Mahaparinirvana sutra?

Post by nomono »

Hi!

So there is the Tendai/Tiantai, Nichiren and Cheontae schools that focus mainly on the Lotus sutra. Then there are the Pureland schools which focus on the three Pureland sutras, whereas Shingon focuses on their set of Tantras+Avatamsaka sutra and the Zen/Seon tradition on the Platformsutra+Lankavata and Prajnaparamita sutras.

Is there any living tradition, either in the East Asian schools/orders or Tibetan traditions that focus mainly on the Mahaparinirvana sutra? I know that the Jonang lineage and some Kagyu subschools focus on the Tathagathagarbha teachings, but there seems no living tradition on focusing on the Nirvana sutra besides Shinnyo en that split from Shingon.

Do you know more?
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FiveSkandhas
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Re: Living buddhist tradition/school that focuses on the Mahaparinirvana sutra?

Post by FiveSkandhas »

There WAS a 涅槃宗 or "Nirvana Sect" in China, Korea, and Japan that had this sutra as its central teaching, but it died out long ago.

The Nirvana School (Niepanshi 涅槃師) concentrates on the propagation of the nirvana theory via the Nirvana Sutra in various translations and editions (the oldest translation was made by Faxian 法顯 and Buddhabadra "Fotuobatuoluo 佛陀跋陀羅": Daban nihuan jing 大般泥洹經, T 376). The larger edition is the Da niepan jing 大般涅槃經 by Dharmakśema ("Tanwuchen 曇無讖"; T 374). The corpus of the Nirvana School sutras is relatively small compared with the other schools. According to original Buddhist teaching, every being (dharma) has the Buddha-nature in itself (zhengyin foxing 政因佛性) and therewith has the potential to salvation, except so-called incorrigibles (Sanskr. icchantika; yichanti 一闡提). Adherents of the Nirvana school believed that even icchantikas are able to become a Buddha. Daosheng 道生 and Huiguan 慧觀 propagated this idea in southern China. In northern China, Huisong 慧嵩 and Daolang 道朗 wrote comments and exegeses of Dharmakśema larger Nirvana Sutra. Nirvana School monks also taught the Fahua Sutra 法華 that also belongs to the final stage of the Buddha's sermons. There are different methods to show that the Buddha-nature is inherent in all sentient beings
"One should cultivate contemplation in one’s foibles. The foibles are like fish, and contemplation is like fishing hooks. If there are no fish, then the fishing hooks have no use. The bigger the fish is, the better the result we will get. As long as the fishing hooks keep at it, all foibles will eventually be contained and controlled at will." -Zhiyi

"Just be kind." -Atisha
ItsRaining
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Re: Living buddhist tradition/school that focuses on the Mahaparinirvana sutra?

Post by ItsRaining »

The kind of view where a certain school only focuses on a certain text or select few texts is not that accurate. Chan practitioners, for example, for example often study any number of texts despite the Lanka historically being important to Bodhidharma and early Chan practitioners. Same for Huayan, Shingon, etc. In regards to the Nirvana, it exerted a strong influence on Tiantai. It's one of the fiew sturas Zhiyi regarded as definitive. His disciple Guanding wrote a commentary on it in fact.
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Aemilius
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Re: Living buddhist tradition/school that focuses on the Mahaparinirvana sutra?

Post by Aemilius »

I think that Dr Tony Page constitutes a Nirvana sutra based school of Buddhism.
svaha
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Sarvē mānavāḥ svatantrāḥ samutpannāḥ vartantē api ca, gauravadr̥śā adhikāradr̥śā ca samānāḥ ēva vartantē. Ētē sarvē cētanā-tarka-śaktibhyāṁ susampannāḥ santi. Api ca, sarvē’pi bandhutva-bhāvanayā parasparaṁ vyavaharantu."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1. (in english and sanskrit)
Malcolm
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Re: Living buddhist tradition/school that focuses on the Mahaparinirvana sutra?

Post by Malcolm »

Aemilius wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 3:04 pm I think that Dr Tony Page constitutes a Nirvana sutra based school of Buddhism.
:rolling: :rolling: :rolling:
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FiveSkandhas
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Re: Living buddhist tradition/school that focuses on the Mahaparinirvana sutra?

Post by FiveSkandhas »

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B6%85 ... %E6%9C%AC)

The Nehanshu (涅槃宗) or Nirvana Sect in Japan

The Nirvana sect was a branch of Japanese Buddhism that existed from the Azuchi-Momoyama period to the early Edo period. It was founded by Oi Shonin Kugen. Its sutras are the Nirvana Sutra and the Lotus Sutra.

It was based on the "all-embracing Buddha nature" of the Nirvana Sutra and the "Mahayana philosophy" of the Lotus Sutra. Like the Ikkyo sect, monks were married. The founder, Kugen, was a Buddhist monk with no teacher.

In the first year of the Bunroku Era (1592), Soren, who had attained self-discovery as a Buddhist monk, established a hermitage in Seimei-cho, Kyoto and began to propagate Buddhism.

On May 15, 1596, a young boy who came to hear him preach was taken as his disciple and given the Dharma name of Kuuzen (later to become Sumitomo Masatomo).

In 1602, Emperor Goyosei bestowed the title of Oi Shonin on Kugen, and he founded the Hokushiro Konkozan Nirvana Temple as the head temple in Seimei-cho.

At this time, Tenshuji Temple (Osaka), Kozawa Temple (Sakai), Toyogaku Temple (Settsu Aramaki), and Tounji Temple (Omi Kawabe) were also built by Kugen.

In the 18th year of Keicho (1613), Emperor Go-Mizuo bestowed upon Kugen the title of "Dai-Tama Shonin".
After the death of Emperor Goyosei on November 15, 1617, another sect accused Itakura Katsushige, the governor of Kyoto, of being an evil sect, and on December 2, Nirvana Temple was destroyed.

In 1618, Kugen was entrusted to Sakai Tadayo, Kuzen to the Sakura clan, Sorin to Ando Shigenobu, and Kugoshi to the Utsunomiya clan.

On August 7, 1619, Kugen, the founder of the temple, died of illness at the residence of Sakai Tadao, and the confinement of the others was lifted, and Kuzen returned to Tokyo and took the name of Yingaishamon.

Around this time, Tengai, who had received the last orders of Emperor Goyosei, decided to absorb the Nirvana sect into the Tendai sect and make it the Sanmyouin school.

In 1627, Kuzon entered the Omi Sakamoto Daigakuji Temple as the head temple of the Sanmyouin school.

Since then, the Nirvana Sect has continued as the Samyoin branch of the Tendai Sect. After the absorption by the Tendai sect, some members, like Sumitomo Masatomo, continued their faith, ostensibly belonging to other sects.
"One should cultivate contemplation in one’s foibles. The foibles are like fish, and contemplation is like fishing hooks. If there are no fish, then the fishing hooks have no use. The bigger the fish is, the better the result we will get. As long as the fishing hooks keep at it, all foibles will eventually be contained and controlled at will." -Zhiyi

"Just be kind." -Atisha
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Zhen Li
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Re: Living buddhist tradition/school that focuses on the Mahaparinirvana sutra?

Post by Zhen Li »

There are a lot of different things taught in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra and to make a "school" out of it, other than just Mahāyāna, seems difficult. But in many ways it's teachings are foundational to Shinran's thinking and his understanding of the Pure Land Sūtras. I would say that in some ways Jōdo Shinshū is a stealth Nirvāṇa Sūtra sect.
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