Nichiren Daishonin
| Nichiren (日蓮) | |
|---|---|
A painting of Nichiren, above his image hangs his mantra Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō.
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| Religion | Hokke (Lotus) Buddhism |
| School |
Mahayana Tendai Nichiren Buddhism |
| Lineage | Various |
| Education | Kiyozumi-dera Temple (Seichō-ji), Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Born | February 16, 1222 Chiba Prefecture, Japan |
| Died | October 13, 1282 (aged 60) Ota Ikegami Daibo Hongyoji |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Japan |
| Title | Nichiren Daishōnin Nichiren Shōnin Nichiren Dai-bosatsu Jogyo Nichiren Risshō |
| Predecessor | Accordingly, Dengyō, Tientai (Zhiyi), and Shakyamuni Buddha |
| Religious career | |
| Teacher | Dōzenbo of Seichō-ji Temple |
| Reincarnation | Visistacaritra |
Nichiren (日蓮; 16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282), born as Zennichimaro (善日麿?), was a Japanese Buddhist priest who lived during the Kamakura period (1185–1333). Nichiren is known for his sole devotion to the Lotus Sutra, asserting that it was Shakyamuni Buddha's ultimate teachings and was the exclusive method to attain enlightenment. Nichiren believed that the Lotus Sutra contained the essence of all of Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings related to the laws of causality, karma, without any distinction to enlightenment. His interpretation of the Lotus Sutra centers on the emphasis of its 16th chapter, The Life Span of the Thus Come One, where he grounds his revelation that the chanting of Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō is the superior practice of Mappō or today's age.
Nichiren further justifies this practice of chanting Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō by attributing the natural and social calamities of his time to the inability of the Pure Land, Zen, Shingon, Ritsu, and Tendai schools to divinely protect Japan. Nichiren gained the attention of Japan's ruling Hōjō clan when his two Lotus Sutra-based predictions of foreign invasion and political strife were seemingly actualized by the Mongol invasions of Japan and an attempted coup within the Hōjō clan. The religious remonstration where he stated these two predictions, titled the Risshō Ankoku Ron (立正安国論) (On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Security of the Land), considered by Japanese historians to be a literary classic illustrating the apprehensions of that period.
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