Editing Nichiren Buddhism (section)

==Basic teachings==
The basic practice of Nichiren Buddhism is chanting the invocation ''[[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|Nam-myoho-renge-kyo]]'' to an object called the ''[[Gohonzon]]''.<ref>SGDB 2002, [http://www.sgilibrary.org/search_dict.php?id=1321 Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520071631/http://www.sgilibrary.org/search_dict.php?id=1321 |date=20 May 2014 }}</ref><ref>Kenkyusha 1991</ref> Embracing ''Nam-myoho-renge-kyo'' entails both chanting and having the mind of faith. (''shinjin'').<ref name=Stone1999a />{{rp|270}} It has three pillars namely: faith, practice and study. Both the invocation and the Gohonzon, as taught by Nichiren, embody the title and essence of the Lotus Sutra,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nichiren|editor1-last=Yampolsky|editor1-first=Philip B |translator=Burton Watson |display-translators=etal |title=Selected writings of Nichiren|date=1990|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|isbn=9780231072601|page=[https://archive.org/details/selectedwritings00nich/page/148 148]|url=https://archive.org/details/selectedwritings00nich|url-access=registration|quote=Nam-myoho-renge-kyo appears in the center of the Treasure Tower with the Buddhas Shakyamuni and Taho seated to the right and left and the four Bodhisattvas of the Earth, led by Jogyo, flank them.}}</ref> which he taught as the only valid scripture for the [[Latter Day of the Law]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Metraux |first=Daniel |chapter=The Soka Gakkai: Buddhism and the Creation of a Harmonious and Peaceful Society |editor1-last=King|editor1-first=Sallie|editor2-last=Queen|editor2-first=Christopher|title=Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements In Asia|date=1996|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany, NY|isbn=978-0-7914-2844-3|pages=366–367}}</ref> as well as the life state of Buddhahood inherent in all life.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Metraux|title=Engaged Buddhism|page=368}}</ref>

Nichiren considered that in the Latter Day of the Law – a time of human strife and confusion, when Buddhism would be in decline – Buddhism had to be more than the theoretical or [[Buddhist meditation|meditative]] practice it had become, but was meant to be practiced "with the body", that is, in one's actions and the consequent results that are manifested.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|25}} More important than the formality of ritual, he claimed, was the substance of the practitioner's life<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|107}} in which the spiritual and material aspects are interrelated.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Metraux|title=Engaged Buddhism|page=367}}</ref> He considered conditions in the world to be a reflection of the conditions of the inner lives of people; the premise of his first major remonstrance, Rissho Ankoku Ron (Establishing The Correct Teaching for the Peace of The Land), is that if a nation abandons heretical forms of Buddhism and adopts [[faith in Buddhism|faith]] in the Lotus Sutra, the nation will know peace and security. He considered his disciples the "[[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]]" who appeared in the Lotus Sutra with the vow to spread the correct teaching and thereby establish a peaceful and just society.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|22–23}} For Nichiren, enlightenment is not limited to one's inner life, but is "something that called for actualization in endeavors toward the transformation of the land, toward the realization of an ideal society."<ref name=Sato1999>{{Cite journal|last=Sato|first=Hiroo|date=1999|title=Nichiren's View of Nation and Religion|others=Habito, Ruben|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3-4|pages=319–320|access-date=29 December 2018|archive-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701053350/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|313–320}}

The specific task to be pursued by Nichiren's disciples was the widespread propagation of his teachings (the invocation and the ''Gohonzon'') in a way that would effect actual change in the world's societies<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|47}} so that the sanctuary, or seat, of Buddhism could be built.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hurst|first1=Jane|title=Nichiren Shoshu and the Soka Gakkai|date=1998|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-20460-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780520216976/page/86 86]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780520216976/page/86}}</ref> Nichiren saw this sanctuary as a specific seat of his Buddhism, but there is thought that he also meant it in a more general sense, that is, wherever his Buddhism would be practiced.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Montgomery|first1=Daniel|title=Fire In The Lotus|date=1991|publisher=Mand ala (Harper Collins)|location=London|isbn= 978-1-85274-091-7|page=133|quote=Basically, the Hommon No Kaidan is any place where a believer keeps the sutra.}}</ref><ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|111}} This sanctuary, along with the invocation and ''Gohonzon'', comprise "[[Three Great Secret Laws|the three great secret laws (or dharmas)]]" found in the Lotus Sutra.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hurst|title=The Faces of Buddhism IN America|page=84}}</ref>