Nij
shi-ryu
(Jap., ‘24 currents’). The twenty-four Zen schools or traditions in Japan. They include the three major divisions,
Rinzai
,
S
t
, and
Obaku
, and also the divisions of Rinzai usually named after the monastery where they began.
Nik
(marriage contract):
Nik
ya
(P
li, ‘body’). A collection of works within the ‘baskets’ (
pitaka
) of the Buddhist P
li canon. Thus the
S
tra-pi
aka
contains five nik
yas: D
gha, Majjhima, Sa
yutta, Anguttara, and Khuddaka. It may also be a ‘body’ of
bhik
us
(monks), and is so used of sects or schools in the
sa
gha
.