Nichiren (1222–82). Founder of the Nichiren-shū school during the Kamakura period in Japan. Born in 1222 in the seaside town of Kominato in Awa province to a family of fishermen, he is the only founder of one of the new sects of Kamakura Buddhism not to come from the central provinces around the capital and not to be from an aristocratic family, a factor that some scholars believe accounts for his hard-hitting and uncompromising style of religion. At the age of 12, he entered religious life at the Kiyosumi-dera, a Tendai temple near his family home, and studied Tendai nembutsu practice there with his master. Fully ordained at 16, he went to the capital in 1239 to study at the eminent temples in Kamakura and Kyoto, where he no doubt encountered discrimination and derision due to his rustic speech and manner. Perplexed by the complexity and lack of consistency in the doctrines of various schools, he determined during this period of study that the Tendai school needed to return to its teachings, given by Chinese T'ien-t'ai founder Chih-i (538–97) and Japanese Tendai founder Saichō (767–822), promulgating the Lotus Sūtra as the Buddha's definitive teaching, and relegating all other teachings to a provisional status. However, unlike his predecessors and others in the history of east Asian Buddhism who assigned some value to these provisional teachings as expedient devices designed to reach those not prepared to accept a full revelation of the truth, Nichiren decided that these other teachings were of no account whatsoever and were to be abandoned as heretical. Returning to his home district in 1253, he took the new religious name Nichiren (Lotus of the Sun) and began promoting his views and attacking the teachings of the other schools openly. He went so far as to blame a series of calamities such as earthquakes, epidemics, and typhoons in the eastern provinced between 1257 and 1260 on the popularity of other sects, notably zen and Pure Land, and promised the shōgunate that such disasters could be averted by returning to the true faith of the Lotus Sūtra. He set forth his recommendations to the government in a tract composed in 1260 and presented to the regent, Hōjō Tokiyori, entitled Risshō ankoku ron (Treatise on Establishing the Right for the Protection of the Nation). He experienced exile and persecution for his efforts, but accepted it as fulfilment of a passage in the Lotus Sūtra itself that said proponents of the true teaching would be persecuted in the Age of the Final Dharma (Jap., mappō).

In terms of religious practice, Nichiren wanted people to place their faith in the power of the Lotus Sūtra, expressing this faith by reciting the daimoku, or ‘great title’: Namo myōhō renge kyō, ‘I take refuge in the Sūtra of the Lotus of the Wonderful Dharma’. For those lacking in time or ability to read the scripture, this simple declaration of faith in the sūtra's efficacy and truth gained salvation, and this simple means to liberation itself was provided by the Buddha Śākyamuni himself as a means for those living in the time of mappō. His unrelenting practice of shakubuku, or direct confrontation with heretical teachings, continued to earn him persecution and attack. In 1268, an envoy arrived in Japan with a message from the Mongol leader Kublai Khan (see Mongolia) demanding tribute and vowing to attack Japan if it were not forthcoming, and Nichiren heightened his call for national conversion to faith in the Lotus Sūtra. However, the attack did not materialize immediately, and Nichiren was sent into exile on Sado Island in 1271, where he remained for three years. These were productive years, and mark a turning point in Nichiren's thought in several ways. First, he wrote several more treatises there, in which he made a break with the Tendai school and began styling himself simply as ‘a priest of Japan’. Second, he created the Daimandara, or ‘great maṇḍala’ there, in which he created a map of the cosmos with the words of the daimoku springing out of the earth and connecting it with the heavens, surrounded by the Buddhas Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna (both prominent in the sūtra) and four Bodhisattvas. Third, he began to identify himself as an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Jōgyō, or ‘Eminent Conduct’, who appears in the Lotus Sūtra as the protector of the scripture. Significantly, this Bodhisattva leads all the others in Nichiren's maṇḍala. Fourth, he began turning his energy from the conversion of the nation as a whole to be effected by direct appeal to the government to conversion of individuals one at a time.

After his release from exile in 1274, Nichiren returned briefly to Kamakura. Many in government felt that the threatened Mongol invasion was then imminent, and requested him to perform rituals for the protection of the nation. However, they balked at his demand that only he be engaged to perform these rituals and that all other schools of Buddhism be barred, and the success of another group's rituals in producing rain damaged his case to exclusive efficacy. Discouraged, he finally retired from the world and repaired to Mt. Minobu in Kai province, a high and almost inaccessible peak, where he built a small hermitage in which he and his followers would await the coming of the Mongols. They fully expected the utter destruction of Japan for its failure to place its faith exclusively in the Lotus Sūtra. The invasion did indeed arrive late in 1274, but both this first wave and the much larger second wave that arrived in 1281 were destroyed in Hakata Bay by typhoons, and ritual specialists of the Shingon school claimed credit for having produced these storms through their rites. Nichiren spent his last years on Mt. Minobu, tending to the flock of residents whose swelling numbers gradually transformed his residence from a crude hermitage to a temple, and in the composition of further works detailing his theology, notably the Hokke-shuyō-shō (Treatise Selecting the Essentials of the Lotus School). The disappointments of life and hardships of the mountain proved severe, and he died in 1282 at the age of 60.

Some scholars have pointed out that both the simplicity of the practice that Nichiren advocated and the vehemence with which he set his views forth stemmed from his humble beginnings and the discrimination he experienced as a young rustic monk thrust into the company of aristocratic scions. However, Nichiren was also a subtle thinker and the originality of his reshaping of Tendai theology deserves attention. From the beginning of the school in Sui-dynasty China, the T'ien-t'ai and Tendai schools have always asserted that the Lotus Sūtra is the highest Buddhist scripture and the one in which the Buddha states his teachings most directly, and that the essence of the scripture is contained in its title. Furthermore, the Tendai school had always understood enlightenment (bodhi) to be both a goal and an immanent part of human nature. It was precisely because of innate original enlightenment (Jap., hongaku) that one had any real hope of working toward the attainment of acquired enlightenment (Jap., shikaku). Nichiren, unlike other thinkers in Buddhist history who were willing to grant a place to expedient or indirect teachings as a means of reaching beings unable to assimilate a full and direct exposition of the truth, sought to eliminate all expedient or gradual approaches altogether, and make available to common followers a direct access to the absolute. The Lotus Sūtra, as the scripture that directly revealed the totality of Buddhist truth, provided a door, and since its essence was contained within its title, the chanting of this title could, by itself, unlock the enlightenment that was always already part of the makeup of the human being. With this practice in place, all other expedient means and theoretical speculations could be nothing more than distractions from the path, and so Nichiren sheared away everything in his Tendai heritage that represented idle philosophizing and compromise with other paths in order to provide his followers and the nation with the most direct means of liberation.

Nichiren

The Japanese Buddhist monk Nichiren (1222-1282), also known as Rissho Daishi, was the founder of the Nichiren sect. Different from other Buddhist leaders of his time because of his uncompromising attitude toward religion and state, he intended to purify and unite Buddhism.

Nichiren was born the son of a humble fisherman in Kominato, Awa Province. He was given the name Zennichimaru, but in 1237 he was ordained under the religious name of Rencho, which he later changed to Nichiren (nichi, "sun," standing for the Light of Truth as well as for the Land of the Rising Sun, and ren, "lotus," for the Lotus Sutra). He received instruction in Amidist ideas but apparently from the beginning doubted the efficacy of the nembutsu (invocation of Amida's name).

From 1243 to 1253 Nichiren studied at the Tendai center on Mt. Hiei. He came to feel that the true teaching lay in Tendai doctrine, not, however, the degenerate one of his own times but that of Saicho, the founder of the sect. Tendai since Saicho, he felt, had degenerated, for it had been largely infiltrated by Esoteric practices. Thus Nichiren's aim was to unify and to purify Japanese Buddhism. In 1253 he left Mt. Hiei and returned to his former monastery at Kiyozumi. There he preached his new doctrine: hope for the present degenerate age lay in the Lotus Sutra.

Views on Religion and State

Concerned about the state of the nation, Nichiren in 1260 presented to the regent a tract entitled Rissho ankoku ron (A Treatise on the Establishment of Righteousness and the Peace of the Country). This important work was conceived in the form of a dialogue between a householder (Nichiren, probably) and a visitor with whom he discusses the times. The author claims that religion and national life are one and the same and proposes that his doctrine become a kind of state religion. The intolerance of his tone is striking: killing heretics, he claims, is not murder; and it is the duty of the government to root them out by the sword. He especially censures Honen and his works.

There is definitely an apocalyptic character about this work. Nichiren divided Buddhist history into three millennia since the death of the historical Shakyamuni, which, according to Chinese reckoning, took place in 947 B.C. Thus the world of the 13th century was in the third period, that of disintegration, or mappo (End of the Law). The Lotus Sutra tells how the bodhisattva of Superb Action (Vishishtacharita; Japanese, Jogyo) was to preach the doctrine after the Buddha's death. Nichiren considered himself to be the reincarnation of this bodhisattva, and his aim was to fulfill the prediction by specifically preaching the Lotus Sutra. The Sutra, he maintained, was concentrated in the invocation namu myo ho renge kyo (Hail to the Scripture of the Lotus of the Good Law). Sakyamuni, as the eternal, omnipresent mind, encompasses all. Every grain of dust can become Buddha, for it exists in the Buddha mind and shares its essence. In the Rissho ankoku ron Nichiren was uncompromising in his disdain of other sects, especially Jodo; but elsewhere Zen, Shingon, and Ritsu receive the same treatment. Kukai he called Japan's great liar (Nihon no dai mogo), and Zen a doctrine of demons and fiends.

His Banishment

The government was shocked at the Rissho ankoku ron, and a mob was incited by his enemies to attack his hermitage. Nichiren escaped, but on his return to Kamakura in 1261 he was banished to Izu Peninsula. For reasons unknown, the banishment was short, and he returned, unrepentant, to Kamakura.

In 1264 Nichiren returned to his native village, for his mother was seriously ill. Her unexpected recovery, he claimed, was due to the intervention of his prayers. Then, from 1264 to 1268, he traveled on missionary work throughout the eastern provinces, where he was successful in making many converts.

As he had predicted in the Rissho ankoku ron, Mongol envoys arrived in 1268 to demand tribute; and Nichiren called on the government to adopt his teachings as the national religion, claiming that this was the only way to save the country. For 3 years the government made no move; but in 1271 Nichiren was arrested, tried, and sentenced to banishment. But according to the custom at the time, the authorities had the right to execute if they so wished, and the death penalty was set for Oct. 17, 1271.

There are a number of stories of how the execution was stayed while Nichiren was on the very execution ground, Nichiren himself claiming divine intervention. He was detained in Kamakura until December of that year and then sent to the isle of Sado, off Echigo, where he remained until 1274. There in 1272 he wrote his famous Kaimokusho (Eye-opener), in which he vehemently confirmed his intention of continuing his former activities. In it he set forth his three vows: he would be the pillar of Japan, the eyes of Japan, and the great vessel of Japan, by which he doubtless meant that he would be the receptacle that contained the Truth that was to save the country.

In 1274 he was released from Sado and returned to Kamakura, where he found a more conciliatory government despite his continued adamancy. He left Kamakura and with some disciples settled at Minobu near Mt. Fuji. He built temples there and at Ikegami which are still the chief sites of the sect. He died at Ikegami reciting stanzas from the Lotus Sutra. He was accorded the posthumous title of Rissho Daishi.

Nichiren in his aggressiveness corresponded to the rough warrior type of the age. He reacted strongly against what seemed to him the flaccidity of the Amidists. Salvation had to be strived for by positive action; it was not enough to put oneself passively in the hands of a saving divinity like Amida. In this period of warfare, interest turned to Zen on the one hand, with its direct, anti-intellectual apprehension of the Truth, and to the crusading spirit of Nichiren's beliefs.

Further Reading

Translated excerpts from some of Nichiren's writings are in Ryusoku Tsunoda, William Theodore de Bary, and Donald Keene, eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition (1958; 2d ed. 1964). Masaharu Anesaki, Nichiren: The Buddhist Prophet (1916; repr. 1966), is an informative and readable account of Nichiren and his beliefs. A good short essay on Nichiren by G. B. Sansom is in Sir Charles Eliot, Japanese Buddhism (1935).

Additional Sources

Kirimura, Yasuji, The life of Nichiren Daishonin / EDITION:First ed, Tokyo: Nichiren Shoshu International Center, 1980. □

Nichiren (1222–82). Japanese Buddhist monk who was the founder of Nichiren Shū, and whose name literally means ‘Sun Lotus’, ‘sun’ standing for Japan and ‘lotus’ for the Lotus Sūtra. While young, he travelled to various temples in search of a form of religious teaching and practice which he could regard as ‘true Buddhism’. In Kamakura, he studied the teachings of Pure Land school (Jōdo Shū) and Zen. Later, after a brief return visit to Seichōji in his home village, he enrolled in the monasteries of Mount Hiei and began an intensive study of Tendai teaching and practice. Because of his radical ideas, he was driven out of Mount Hiei, and so he moved on to Mount Kōya to study the esoteric teachings and practice of the Shingon (‘True Word’) school of Buddhism. It was during his study on Mount Kōya that he finally concluded that the only true form of Buddhism was that taught by Saichō (Dengyō Daishi, ‘great teacher Dengyō’), who had established the Tendai (Chin., Tʾien-tʾai) School of Buddhism in Japan in the 8th cent. Saichō taught the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra over all Buddhist sūtras. Nichiren, after discovering the Lotus Sūtra for himself, returned to his home village and began preaching to the common people that enlightenment was available to every human being through simple trust in the truth (dharma) expressed in this sūtra.

The act of faith which Nichiren taught was the invocation of a specific mantra which he called daimoku, ‘sacred title’: namu myōhō renge kyō, ‘I take refuge in the Lotus of the Wonderful Law Sūtra.’

In Feb. 1260, Nichiren wrote his well-known essay, Risshō ankoku-ron (Treatise on the Establishment of Righteousness to Secure the Peace of the State).

Because of the radicalness and outspokenness of his criticism of the government and his attacks against other schools of Buddhism, Nichiren was arrested in 1261 and exiled to the Izu Peninsula for two years. He was pardoned in 1264. However, Nichiren did not recant. He returned to Kamakura and began publicly denouncing the government in sermons he preached on the streets of the city. Nichiren was again arrested, this time receiving the death sentence. According to tradition, the executioner's sword was struck by lightning just at the moment he began to strike at Nichiren's neck. Whatever happened, the execution was stayed, and he was again sentenced to exile, this time on the isolated island of Sado in the Sea of Japan.

During the three years of his second exile on Sado Island (1271–4), Nichiren wrote Kaimokushō (Treatise on Opening the Eyes) and Kanjin Honzonshō (Treatise on Contemplating the True Object of Worship).

Together with Risshō Ankokuron and two later works, Senjishō (Selection of the Time) and Hōonshō (Repaying Kindness), these two treatises comprise Nichiren's major writings. Along with 230 letters collected in his Gosho (Sacred Writings) these serve as scripture for Nichiren Buddhism. Nichiren is also believed to have created the original Object of Worship, the gohonzon, a calligraphic inscription on wood of the invocation, namu myōhō renge kyō. The Nichiren Shū claims it is enshrined at their headquarters temple at Mount Minobu, while the Nichiren Shōshu claims it for theirs at Taisekiji.

Again Nichiren was pardoned on 13 Mar. 1274. During this final stage of his career, he set out to establish ‘Vulture Peak’, the mythical mountain where the historical Buddha, Śākyamuni, is said to have delivered the teachings of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren believed the earthly form of Vulture Peak was in Japan, and he selected Mount Fuji (Fujisan) as the site, and established a temple, Kuonji, nearby on Mount Minobu.

Nichiren died on 13 Oct. 1282, at the home of a patron named Uemondayū Munenaka Ikegami. According to Nichiren Shū teaching, Nichiren's remains are now enshrined at Mount Minobu. For subsequent developments, see NICHIREN SHŪ.

Nichiren [Jap.,=sun lotus], 1222-82, Japanese Buddhist priest, founder of Nichiren Buddhism. Of humble birth, Nichiren (whose given name was Zennichimaro) early became a monk, and traveled to many temples in search of true Buddhism. In 1253, convinced that contemporary Buddhism was inadequate for a degenerate age, he proclaimed faith in the Lotus Sutra as the only means of salvation. Conflict with both religious and civil authorities marked the remainder of his life. He condemned Zen Buddhism for stressing extrascriptural transmission, Pure Land Buddhism for devaluing the present lifetime, and civil authorities for supporting "false religions." His uncompromising evangelism led to several periods in exile as well as great mass appeal, which continues to this day (see Soka Gakkai ).

Bibliography: See M. Kanko, The Nichiren Sect (1958); A. Masaharu, Nichiren the Buddhist Prophet (1966); T. Yutaka, Nichiren (1970); P. B. Yampolsky, ed., Selected Writings of Nichiren (1990).

Nichiren a Japanese Buddhist sect founded by the religious teacher Nichiren (1222–82) with the Lotus Sutra as its central scripture. There are more than 30 million followers in more than forty subsects, the largest now being Nichiren-Shoshu, which is connected with the religious and political organization Soka Gakkai.