Nichiren (日蓮; Japanese pronunciation: [ɲi.tɕiꜜ.ɾeɴ, ɲiꜜ.tɕi.ɾeɴ], 16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist monk and philosopher of the Kamakura period. His teachings form the basis of Nichiren Buddhism, a unique branch of Japanese Mahayana Buddhism based on the Lotus Sutra.
Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhism and that it is the only sutra suited for the Age of Dharma Decline. He insisted that the sovereign of Japan and its people should support only this form of Buddhism and eradicate all others, or they would face social collapse and environmental disasters. Nichiren advocated the faithful recitation of the title of the Lotus Sutra, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, as the only effective path to Buddhahood in this very life, a path which he saw as accessible to all people regardless of class, education or ability. Nichiren held that Shakyamuni and all other Buddhist deities were manifestations of the Original Eternal Buddha (本仏 Honbutsu) of the Lotus Sutra, which he equated with the Lotus Sutra itself and its title. He also declared that believers of the Lotus Sutra must propagate it even though this would lead to many difficulties and even persecution, which Nichiren understood as a way of "reading" the Lotus Sutra with one's very body. Nichiren believed that the spread of the Lotus Sutra teachings would lead to the creation of a Pure Land on earth.
Nichiren was a prolific writer and his biography, temperament, and the evolution of his beliefs has been gleaned primarily from his writings. He claimed to be the reincarnation of bodhisattva Viśiṣṭacāritra (Jōgyō), and designated six senior disciples, which later led to much disagreement after his death. Nichiren's harsh critiques of the Buddhist establishment led to many persecutions against him and his followers. He was exiled twice and some of his followers were imprisoned or killed. After his death, Nichiren’s followers continued to grow, making it one of Japan's largest Buddhist traditions. He was posthumously bestowed the title Nichiren Dai-Bosatsu (日蓮大菩薩; Great Bodhisattva Nichiren) by the Emperor Go-Kōgon in 1358. The title Risshō Daishi (立正大師; Great Teacher of Correction) was also later conferred by the Emperor Taishō in 1922.
Nichiren Buddhism today includes more than forty different officially registered organizations, some of which have significant international presence. These include traditional temple schools such as Nichiren-shū sects and Nichiren Shōshū, as well as modern lay movements such as Soka Gakkai, Risshō Kōsei Kai, Reiyūkai, Kenshōkai, Honmon Butsuryū-shū, Kempon Hokke, and Shōshinkai among many others. Each group has varying views of Nichiren's teachings, some being more exclusivist than the others. Some see Nichiren as being the Bodhisattva Viśiṣṭacāritra, while other sects claim that Nichiren was actually the Primordial or "True Buddha" (本仏, Honbutsu).
The main narrative of Nichiren's life has been constructed from extant letters and treatises he wrote, counted in one collection as 523 complete writings and 248 fragments. Aside from historical documents stored in the repositories of various Nichiren sects, the first extensive non-religious biographical account of Nichiren did not appear until more than 200 years after his death. Several hagiographies about Nichiren are reflected in various pieces of artwork about incidents in his life.
Nichiren is most well known for his promotion of Lotus Sutra devotion over and above all other Buddhist scriptures and teachings. He held that reciting the title of the Lotus Sutra (with the formula Nam(u)-myoho-renge-kyo) encompassed all Buddhist teachings, and thus it could lead to enlightenment in this life. As a result of his adamant stance, he experienced severe persecution imposed by the Kamakura Shogunate, which Nichiren saw as proof of the righteousness of his cause to spread the Lotus Sutra.
Nichiren remains a controversial figure among scholars who cast him as either a fervent nationalist or a social reformer with a transnational religious vision. Critical scholars have used words such as intolerant, nationalistic, militaristic, and self-righteous to portray him. On the other hand, Nichiren has been presented as a revolutionary, a classic reformer, and as a prophet. Nichiren is often compared to other religious figures who shared similar rebellious and revolutionary drives to reform degeneration in their respective societies or schools.
According to the lunar Chinese calendar, Nichiren was born on 16th of the second month in 1222, which is 6 April in the Gregorian calendar.
Nichiren was born in the village of Kominato (today part of the city of Kamogawa), Nagase District, Awa Province (within present-day Chiba Prefecture). Accounts of his lineage vary. Nichiren described himself as "the son of a Sendara (Skt: chandala, despised outcast), "a son born of the lowly people living on a rocky strand of the out-of-the-way sea," and "the son of a sea-diver." In contrast, Hōnen, Shinran, Dōgen, and Eisai, the other founders of religious schools who predated Nichiren, were all born in the Kyoto region and came from noble or samurai backgrounds. Although his writings reflect a fierce pride of his lowly birth, followers after his death began to ascribe to him a more noble lineage, perhaps to attract more adherents. Some have claimed his father was a rōnin, a manorial functionary (shokan), or a political refugee.
Nichiren's father was Mikuni-no-Tayu Shigetada, also known as Nukina Shigetada Jiro (died 1258); and his mother was Umegiku-nyo (died 1267). On his birth, his parents named him Zennichimaro (善日麿) which has variously been translated into English as "Splendid Sun" and "Virtuous Sun Boy" among others. The exact site of Nichiren's birth is believed to be currently submerged off the shore from present-day Kominato-zan Tanjō-ji (小湊山誕生寺) near a temple in Kominato that commemorates his birth.
At the age of 12 he began his Buddhist study at a temple of the Tendai school, Seichō-ji (清澄寺; also called Kiyosumi-dera). He was formally ordained as a novice at sixteen years old to became a monk at twenty years old and took the Buddhist name Zeshō-bō Renchō (是生房蓮長), Renchō meaning "Lotus Growth".
Between the years 1233 and 1253 Nichiren studied the major Buddhist traditions in Japan at that time, including Tendai, Pure Land Buddhism and Shingon. During these years, he became convinced of the preeminence of the Lotus Sutra and in 1253 returned to the temple where he first studied to present his findings.
In a 1271 letter Nichiren writes of this time of his life:
Determined to plant a seed of Buddhahood and attain Buddhahood in this life, just as all other people, I relied on Amida Buddha and chanted the name of this Buddha since childhood. However, I began doubting this practice, making a vow to study all the Buddhist sutras, commentaries on them by disciples, and explanatory notes by others.
He later left Seichō-ji for Kamakura where he studied Pure Land Buddhism, a school that stressed salvation through the invocation of the name Amitābha (Japanese Amida), a practiced called nembutsu. He also studied Zen which had been growing in popularity in both Kamakura and Kyoto. He next traveled to Mount Hiei, the center of Japanese Tendai Buddhism, where he scrutinized the school's original doctrines, including Pure Land and Tendai Esoteric Buddhism. In the final stage of this twenty-year period he traveled to Mount Kōya, the center of Shingon esoteric Buddhism, and to Nara where he studied its six established schools, especially the Ritsu sect which emphasized strict monastic discipline.
Declaration of the Lotus Sutra
According to one of his letters, Nichiren returned to Seicho-ji Temple on 28 April 1253 to lecture on the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra. What followed was his first public declaration of Nam(u) Myoho Renge Kyo atop Mount Kiyosumi that same day. This marked the start of his campaign to convince the Tendai tradition to shift its focus back to the Lotus Sutra and his efforts to convert the entire Japanese nation to this belief. This declaration also marks the start of his efforts to make profound Buddhist theory practical and actionable so an ordinary person could manifest Buddhahood within his or her own lifetime in the midst of day-to-day realities.