Buddha’s teachings, he spent the next sixteen years
studying at major monasteries, including the great
Tendai Buddhist center at Mount Hiei near Kyoto, the
imperial capital. Later he based himself in Kamakura,
seat of the newly established shogunate or military gov-
ernment, where he proselytized among warriors of
middle and lower rank. Nichiren’s early teachings draw
heavily on Tiantai/Tendai thought grounded in the
Lotus Sutraand its commentaries, as well as on eso-
teric Buddhism. His early teachings also championed
traditional Buddhist institutions over and against the
growing influence of the new Pure Land sect founded
by HONEN(1133–1212). Over time, however, Nichiren
increasingly stressed that only the Lotus Sutraleads to
liberation during this Final Dharma age, and he be-
gan to dissociate himself from the Tendai Buddhist
establishment, which he saw as having adulterated de-
votion to the Lotuswith the practice of provisional
teachings no longer suited to the times. Based on
Tendai doctrines of the nonduality of persons and
their environment, Nichiren interpreted the disasters
of his day—including famine, epidemics, and Mongol
invasion attempts—as karmic retribution for people
having abandoned the Lotus Sutrain favor of lesser
teachings; conversely, he held, the spread of faith in
the Lotuswould transform this world into the Bud-
dha land. This theme informs his famous admonitory
treatise, Risshoankoku ron(On Establishing the Right
[Dharma] and Bringing Peace to the Land), delivered
to the shogunate in 1260, as well as his later writings.
Convinced of the pressing need to communicate his
message, Nichiren adopted shakubuku,a confronta-
tional method of teaching the dharma by directly re-
buking attachment to provisional teachings, whether
through writing, preaching, or religious debate.
Nichiren’s mounting criticism of other forms of Bud-
dhism, and of government officials for supporting
them, soon incurred the anger of the authorities. He
was exiled twice, to the Izu peninsula (1261–1263) and
to Sado island (1271–1274), and was once nearly be-
headed during the so-called Ryukoor Tatsunokuchi
persecution of the twelfth day, ninth month, 1271. Sev-
eral of his followers were imprisoned or had their lands
confiscated. Nichiren considered these trials a proof of
the righteousness of his convictions and asserted the
need to uphold the Lotus Sutrain the face of opposi-
tion, even at the cost of one’s life. His mature teach-
ings were developed during his exile to Sado and his
subsequent reclusion on Mount Minobu (1274–1282),
where he devoted his last years to writing and to train-
ing successors. More than a hundred of his writings,
including personal letters and doctrinal essays, survive
in his own hand.Nichiren’s teachings
Nichiren adopted the TIANTAI SCHOOL doctrine of
reality as “three thousand realms in a single-thought
moment” (ichinen sanzen) to explain the theoretical ba-
sis upon which ordinary people can realize buddha-
hood, and their surroundings become the buddha land.
In terms of practice for the Final Dharma age, however,
Nichiren understood “the single thought-moment be-
ing three thousand realms,” not as a formless principle
to be discerned within one’s own mind, as in Tiantai
meditation, but as manifested in concrete form as the
“three great secret dharmas” (sandai hiho). Derived
from the “origin teaching” (honmon) or latter half of
the Lotus Sutra,regarded as the preaching of the orig-
inal or primordially enlightened Buddha, these three
constitute the core of Nichiren’s teaching. They are:(1) The daimoku.For Nichiren, the five characters
Myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo (in Japanese pronunciation) that
comprise the Lotus Sutra’s title are not merely a name
but embody the essence of all Buddhist teachings and
are the seed of buddhahood for all beings. All the prac-
tices and resulting virtues of the primordial Buddha
are encompassed in these five characters and are “nat-
urally transferred” to the practitioner in the moment
of FAITHand practice. That is, the practitioner and the
original Buddha are identified in the act of chanting
the daimoku.
(2) The honzon, or object of worship.Nichiren’s
honzonhas the two inseparable aspects of the “Bud-
dha,” the primordial S ́akyamuni of the origin teach-
ing, enlightened since the beginningless past, and the
“dharma,” the truth of “Myoho-renge-kyo,” to which
this Buddha is awakened. Nichiren gave this object of
worship iconic form as a calligraphic MANDALAof his
own devising. “Namu Myoho-renge-kyo” is inscribed
down its center, while to the left and right are written
the characters for the names of the two buddhas,
S ́akyamuni and Prabhutaratna, along with the names
of other representatives of those present at the assem-
bly of the Lotus Sutra. This mandala depicts the realm
of the primordial Buddha, which, Nichiren taught, or-
dinary persons can enter through faith. More than 120
of these mandalas, inscribed for individual followers
and their families, survive in Nichiren’s handwriting.
Various configurations of sculpted images represent-
ing the original Buddha and his Lotusassembly were
also used by later Nichiren followers.NICHIRENSCHOOL