Agon Shu

Agon Shū (阿含宗, "Agama School"^?) is Japanese new religion in which the basic tenets are based on the āgama, a collection of early Buddhist scriptures, which comprise the various rescensions of the Sūtra Piṭaka. The organization was founded in 1954 by Kiriyama Seiyū (born 1921) and was legally recognized in 1981. Its headquarters are in Kyōto.

Agon Shū believes that it takes its principles directly from the Buddha's teachings, which in the original Sanskrit language are called the Agamas or the Agama Sutras, literally meaning "the teaching of the Buddha". According to Agon Shū, these sutras are the true records of the teachings of Gautama Buddha, whereas Mahayana Buddhism is a deviation from the original teachings of the Buddha. The word Hinayana, meaning "Lesser Vehicle" is rejected as a derogatory term.

In particular, members of Agon Shū trace their practices to the Agon Sutras, in which the Buddha is reported to have taught his disciples a method known as the "Seven Systems and 37 practices for attaining Supreme Wisdom".

Seiyū Kiriyama was in a difficult phase of his life, due to illness, when he felt himself rescued by the bodhisattva Juntei-Kannon. He founded the Kannon Jikei-kai (Society of the Mercy of Kannon Bosatsu) in 1954 in Yokohama. He devoted himself to the study of divination, the Lotus Buddhism and Shingon Buddhism, which he reinterpreted in his own way. He also studied the historical development of the Buddhist traditions in Sri Lanka and India. The Kannon Jikeikai-based itself on the Kannon Sutra in Mahayana Buddhism. Kiriyama led the Kannon Jikeikai until 1978.

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