Those who have made a commitment to follow the sixteen Bodhisattva Precepts in Mukyõhõ Buddhist practice are termed Bodhisattva monks (Bosatsusõ 菩薩僧).

Down through history, there are those Chinese and Japanese Buddhist sects whose founders were never “officially” ordained, but rather self-ordained. This was a common occurrence in early China and later in Japan and was the case with Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi whose teachings Mukyõhõ is strongly influenced by.

These Buddhist monks were referred to as self-enlightened and self-certified (jigo jishõ 自悟自証) or enlightened without a teacher (mushi dokugo, 無師獨悟). They were also more generally known as self-ordained monks (jidosõ 自度僧).

The self-vow or self ordination is outlined by Queen Śrimālā in the Śrimālā sūtra and a guide for it’s undertaking is found in the Brahma Net Sutra (Bonmõkyõ 梵 網 経). This is the Bodhisattva ordination. The idea of self-ordination in Japan dates back to the self-vow ordination of Prince Shõtoku (573-621), and performed by Empress Suiko the 33rd ruler of Japan and the first Buddhist monarch (reigned 554-628). Prince Shõtoku lectured twice on this text before the throne. On the second occasion the Empress Suiko stood up before the Buddha images and loudly repeated Queen Śrimālā’s vows as her own. This was the first example of the self-vow ordination ever practised in Japan and is recorded in the Kojiki (古事記 680 A.D.). Prince Shõtoku later followed her lead. 

A great many of Japan’s Buddhist monks down through history were in fact self-ordained, having achieved realisation on their own, especially in the Nara period (710 -794) and down through the Kamakura period (1192-1333) and then again in the early to mid-Tokugawa period (1600-1868) when many considered the teaching of the Dharma to be in decline.

As far back as the Nara period, there were those monks who were known as Bodhisattva monks and who resided in the mountains and caves around the capitol (Nara). They were inspired to call themselves Bodhisattva monks after having taken the Bodhisattva precepts as outlined in the Bonmokyõ.

These monks organised themselves into groups based on family or village affiliations. Some members of these groups, having ordained themselves, were not recognised by the government. Others were officially ordained monks who were forced to wander around when their temples were closed down. These monks were often married but they were not laymen since they followed certain monastic practices such as begging for their food, shaving their heads, wearing Dharma robes (hõi 法衣), carrying the shakujõ (錫杖) and performing austerities. They were not associated with any temples and most were not associated with any particular sect of Buddhism having a rather eclectic approach to practising the Dharma. They were in great demand by the common folk who otherwise would not have had much connection to the Buddha Dharma as it was mostly restricted to the courts and nobles.

Many of these Bodhisattva monks travelled about Japan preaching the Buddha Dharma and begging in villages. The government attempted to suppress the Bodhisattva monks since they violated laws restricting the numbers of people who could become monks and nuns, as well as laws limiting the movements of the clergy. It is due to these early Bodhisattva monks that Buddhism spread among the masses and reached a greater audience.

The Bodhisattva monk, as a Buddha-to-be, chooses to function in the world, approaching the world’s ills with compassion and seeking skilful means to redress them. They are rather secular in their outlook preferring to do away with rituals and performances and prefer a natural unfolding of awakening to the forced and regulated monastic teachings found in many temples.

Saichõ, (the founder of Tendai-shu in Japan) inspired by these itinerant monks, proposed that Tendai-shu monks and monks who had taken the Bodhisattva Precepts (Bosatsukai 菩薩戒) call themselves Bodhisattva monks. It was Saichõ who petitioned the Emperor asking for permission to ordain monks using only the ten major precepts for Bodhisattvas and the forty-eight minor precepts instead of the two hundred and twenty-seven Vinaya Precepts (Pratimoksha) that were ordinarily used by the six Nara sects of Buddhism. Saichõ wished to use the Bodhisattva Precepts at ordination, and interpreted them based on the Lotus sūtra, known in the Tendai-shu teachings as the teaching for perfect and immediate enlightenment, or the perfect teaching.

Saichõ petitioned for many years but died before his request was realised. The Emperor however granted permission posthumously for monks in Tendai-shu to be ordained receiving the Bodhisattva Precepts. Eventually the Bodhisattva Precepts came to be used by all Japanese Buddhist sects in ordaining monks. Saichõ thus laid the foundation for the establishment of an ordination platform for administering the precepts of perfect and immediate enlightenment. In the Zen school of Buddhism sixteen modified Bodhisattva Precepts have been formulated and are specific to the Zen school.

In the Kamakura period (1192-1333) Eison (1201-1290) founded the self-ordination school of Ritsu-shu which he termed Shin Ritsu-shu (New Ritsu sect). This was a revival of the self-vow ordination of Prince Shõtoku. Eison had studied the vinaya literature at the Tõdaiji and, as he became aware of the idea of the self-vow running through the Śrimālā and Brahma net texts and the Tendai-shu and Zen-shu, he founded the Shin Ritsu-shu sect of self-ordination formalism. His intention was to revert to the original idea of the Buddha and Prince Shõtoku, following the general tendency of Buddhism of the Kamakura age. In 1300 Eison was bestowed the title of Kõshõ Bosatsu (Bodhisattva of promoting righteousness) by the Emperor Go Uda (1267-1324).

During the Tokugawa period, the Myõhõ Ritsu-shu and the Shõbõ Ritsu-shu had certain connections and influences with Eison’s teachings. It was these teachings that Suzuki Shõsan Rõshi had come into contact with while studying at Tõdaiji. Shõsan Rõshi studied the Ritsu-shu and the teachings of Eison together with the abbot Sessõ from Buzanji who had also come to study the vinaya. Shõsan Rõshi underwent his own self-ordination in accordance with the teachings of Eison.

Motivated by compassion and tempered by the perfection of wisdom, the Bodhisattva monk generates the thought of awakening, undertakes the vow to uphold the Precepts and strives towards gaining awakening. As Bodhisattva monks we are involved in every walk of life and in all professions, including that of homemaker. Leading an ordinary life as citizens we strive to practice the teachings and guide other people by sharing the teachings and our experiences. Bodhisattva monks are not mendicant monks, or monastery monks, but neither are we lay Buddhists. The lifestyles of Bodhisattva monks vary considerably with no rules other than the Precepts themselves.

“I never had any teacher or divinity to teach me or tell me how to gain enlightenment.
What I achieved I did by my own effort, energy, knowledge and purity.”
- The Buddha

Mukyõhõ carries on the tradition of jigo jishõ as established by Prince Shõtoku and Empress Suiko over a thousand years ago. To move towards our own enlightenment unhindered by the views and constraints of others awakens a true, independent and refreshingly individual awareness. As the Buddha himself strove to realise independently, to win realisation on his own without someone else to sanction his enlightenment, so too do Mukyõhõ Bodhisattva monks. It is our mind alone, through determined effort, not the written paper sanctions of others, that brings about awakening.