Devadatta the monks to live a rigorous lifestyle. This has led Ray to regard the story of Devadatta as a legend produced by the Sthavira group. Faxian and other Chinese pilgrims who travelled to India in the early centuries of the current era recorded the continued existence of "Gotamaka" buddhists, followers of Devadatta. Gotamaka are also referred to in Pali texts of the second and fifth centuries of the current era. The followers of Devadatta are recorded to have honored all the Buddhas previous to Śākyamuni (Gautama Buddha), but not Śākyamuni himself. According to Faxian, Xuanzang and Yijing's writings, some people
Shinji Takahashi (religious leader) Shinji Takahashi (religious leader) Takahashi was born on September 21, 1927, in Saku, Nagano, Japan, into a farming family. He was the second eldest son among 10 children. At age 13, Takahashi entered the Army Cadet School after dropping out in his second year of a middle school that was run under the old system of education. He then completed his studies and graduated from the Army War College, after which he was assigned to be an aerial navigator. At the end of World War II in 1945, Takahashi returned to his hometown. On moving to Tokyo, he passed a