Three Reasons for Founding Agon Shu

  1. In the past, Mahayana Buddhism asserted that Mahayana Sutras are Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings. Many Buddhist sects and organizations founded were based on Mahayana Sutras. Moreover, most of the Buddhism in Japan consists of sects and organizations based on these sutras.

    Kiriyama Kancho realized this was incorrect and that Agon Sutras is the only sutras Shakyamuni Buddha truly taught. (This has become an established view with modern Buddhism studies.)

    He then thought that founding a religious sect based on false sutras no one knew who wrote (the Mahayana Sutras) and propagating this religion would therefore be improper.

    He decided he needed to correct the wrong for the sake of true Buddhism.

  2. It was not just a matter of whether the Mahayana Sutras is the direct teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. Kiriyama Kancho discovered that the Mahayana Sutras had a fatal defect.

    As you are aware, the Buddhist religion has a goal that one trains and practices in order to be liberated from innen ( Innen Gedatsu ) and attain Buddhahood ( Jobutsu ). Therefore, the sutras should include how to train and practice to achieve them. However, the Mahayana Sutras do not contain any such teachings at all.

    Agon Sutras, on the other hand, explicitly teaches how to train and practice in order to achieve Innen Gedatsu and Jobutsu. Let us add that Agon Sutras are the only sutras containing such teachings.

    These teachings are called Shichika Sanjushichidohon or the Seven Systems and Thirty-Seven Practices. Kiriyama Kancho named them as the “Seven Systems and Thirty-Seven Curricula to be a Buddha,” and introduced them widely to society. Kiriyama Kancho is the only one who accomplished this during the two thousand-year history of Buddhism.

  3. Kiriyama Kancho believed that Shichika Sanjushichidohon or the Seven Systems and Thirty Seven Curricula taught by Shakyamuni Buddha are the foundation and center of Buddhism, and he trained and practiced these methods to master them. As he practiced, he became more and more convinced that they truly are the foundation of Buddhism. This led him to found Agon Shu to propagate the true teachings of the Buddha.