256 CHAPTER TENAfter pursuing many paths, his studies eventually took him to Mount Hiei,
where he was drawn by the nationalistic elements in Saicho's teachings. He
came to the conclusion that Saicho had been right in basing his teachings on
the Lotus Siltra, but wrong in adding to it teachings from other Sutras and
schools. Only the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren felt, contained the unadulterated True
Dharma. All other Buddhist sects were wrong-and not only wrong, but ac-
tually evil in that they obscured and distorted the truth, advocating the wor-
ship of false Buddhas. The chief culprit in this regard was the Pure Land
movement. Instead of viewing this movement as a possible solution to the
Mappo, Nichiren viewed it as the Mappo's primary cause. The calamities be-
falling the nation and the imperial family could be traced to the emperor's
having allowed false Dharma to be propagated in the country. The only solu-
tion was to punish the evil individuals who were responsible for the situation,
and to bring the entire nation to the worship of the truth as contained in the
Lotus Sutra. As a result of this realization, Rencho took on the name Nichiren
(SunLotus), thus combining the symbols of the two concerns foremost in his
mind-the Lotus Sutra and the Japanese nation-with the intention of show-
ing that hope for salvation lay in their union.
Nichiren presented his doctrines as complex meditations on the Lotus
Sutra's teaching of the original Buddha-nature and on the Tantric doctrine of
the dhari!fi that contains in one phrase the truth of all true Dharma state-
ments. However, the practice he recommended was simplicity itself: the repe-
tition of the daimoku (mantra) "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo"-Homage to the
Scripture of the Lotus of the Perfect Truth-while at the same time placing
faith in the conviction that the Eternal Buddha Sakyamuni, the truth of the
Sutra, and all be.ings were ultimately one, fully encompassed by the daimoku.
Later he worked out a mal!<;lala representing his beliefs, called the gohonzon, at
which one was to stare while repeating one's declaration ofhomage.
Nichiren's life followed the pattern of a Shinto shaman more than that of a
Buddhist leader. He attracted a following largely through his courage and the
incandescent intensity of his personality, which at times resembled that of a
medium possessed. His life was reportedly marked by omens and portents,
and he was hailed as a great diviner when the Mongol invasion that he had
predicted in 1260 and 1268 was actually attempted in 1274. His utopian vi-
sion predicted that Japan, by following his teaching alone, would become a
Buddha-land on Earth, from which the revived and purified Dharma would
spread to the rest of the world. Later in life, he became convinced that he was
an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Visi~tacaritra (Superb Conduct), the leader
of the bodhisattva hosts whom Sakyamuni had summoned out of the earth
with the command to worship and protect the Lotus Sutra. All who followed
him were identified with the bodhisattva hosts. Of all the medieval Japanese
Buddhist sects, Nichiren-sho-shu conceived a Buddha closest to the tradi-
tional kami, and followed a leader closest to the traditional prophet/leader of
an uji. Nichiren's following, in terms of its intolerance of others and its sense
of its own special identity and mission, embodied the traditional uji's tribal
side. The school's only Buddhist competition in terms of these traits comes