Nichiren’s Surprising Deep Compassion for Women by Dr. Masatoshi Ueki No.77 2022.12.19

※2023年1月に公開された池田香代子の世界を変える100人の働き人（ゲスト： 植木雅俊さん）の英語版です。日本語版はこちら→ https://youtu.be/lImMDBq4fC4

The Buddhist philosopher Nichiren tends to be associated with an aggressive image. However, by reading his numerous letters which have survived, we can find that he was a man of great insight and a person with deep compassion. Subsequent to the previous dialogue with Dr. Ueki (“The Absolute Egalitarianism of Early Buddhism”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF6_T4LmOmM), this time we would like to consider Nichiren’s letters to women as a subject for discussion. Reading through the complete Buddhist scriptures and systematically grasping their meaning, Nichiren unearthed the ‘Lotus Sutra’ which preaches absolute egalitarianism as an original teaching of Śākyamuni. Nichiren’s words for women, who had their troubles or sufferings, hold good even today.
Recorded on December 19, 2022.

The books written and translated by Dr. Ueki
(1)“Nichiren no Tegami” (The Letters of Nichiren), KADOKAWA, 2021, Tōkyō. This English translation will be published with the title “The Letters of Nichiren” (tentative title) in Europe in the near future.
(2)“Sabetsu no Chōkoku” (Overcoming Discrimination — The View of the Human in the Early Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra), Publication of doctoral dissertation, Kōdansha, 2018, Tōkyō.
(3)“Therī-gāthā — Immortal Poems of Early Buddhist Nuns,” KADOKAWA, 2017, Tōkyō.
(4)“Sākasu no Shōjo” (A girl in a Circus), Cobol Publ. Inc., 2021, Tōkyō.
(5)“Hontō no Hokekyō” (The Lotus Sutra in the True Sense), Chikuma-shobō, 2015, Tōkyō.
(6)“Nichiren no Josei-kan” (Nichiren’s View of Women), Hōzōkan, 2023, Kyōto.
And many others.

Recorded on December 19, 2022.