Samurai Buddhist saints
Bodhidharma (Shaolin & Samurai Patron)
When Buddhism was holocausted by Hindus in India via coup de tat, Bodhidharma ordered temples to have warrior monks. After founding Shaolin Kung Fu at the world's most famous temple, he met Prince Shotoku of Japan who went on to make Buddhism the State Religion of Japan in history's oldest Constitution. Daruma today is the cultural mascot of Japan -- which again reiterates why Japan is the true Land of Buddhism while India is the land of the Buddhist Holocaust.
Takuan Soho & Shinran Shonin
Takuan Soho was the most celebrated saint of the Tokugawa dynasty and the personal mentor to Miyamoto Musashi, history's greatest warrior. Soho founded the concept of Fudoshin or standing in the Power of Almighty Fudo Myoo - the Supreme Deity of the Samurai. This concept of being tough and unbending to life's challenges and adversaries made Fudoshin the favorite mantra of Shinzo Abe - Japan's longest serving Prime Minister from the Abe Samurai clan. Shinran Shonin is also important as he made Buddhism accessible to the common man and his congregation became the Ikko Ikki warriors of repute and acclaim.
Dr. Ambedkar (Earthly Bodhisattva)
Although we do not follow Ambedkarite Buddhism, we honor Ambedkar who is considered India's greatest ever public intellectual and human rights champion that played a key role in unearthing Buddhist history in India. Ambedkar has his own statue in Koyasan -- the holiest site in all of Japan that has Pagodas for all of the most famous Samurai warriors and saints of Japan. Ambedkar wore a suit and fought against Brahmins and Hindu enemies of Buddhism and used Buddhism to empower women and low caste untouchables. The head of the Ambedkarite Movement in India is a Japanese priest Bhante Sasai from Koyasan,
