Editing Nichiren (section)

== Teachings ==
[[file:NDL-DC 1312535 01-Tsukioka Yoshitoshi-日蓮上人石和河にて鵜飼の迷頑を済度したまふ図-crd.jpg|thumb|Print illustration of Nichiren and a disciple, by [[Tsukioka Yoshitoshi]]]]
Nichiren's teachings developed over the course of his career and their evolution can be seen through the study of his writings as well as in the annotations he made in his personal copy of the ''Lotus Sutra'', the so-called ''Chū-hokekyō''.<ref name=Dolce1999 />{{rp|363}} Some scholars set a clear demarcation in his teachings divided by his arrival on Sado Island, whereas others see a threefold division of thought: (1) up to and through the Izu exile, (2) from his return to Kamakura through the Sado Island exile, and (3) during his years at Minobu.<ref name="Dolce1999">{{Cite journal|last=Dolce|first=Lucia|date=1999|title=Criticism and Appropriation: Nichiren's Attitude toward Esoteric Buddhism|url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2682|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26/3-4|access-date=31 October 2018|archive-date=2 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202120830/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2682|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|252–253}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nichiren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7XqUdwzb0oC&q=nichiren+revelation&pg=PA238 |title=Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Doctrine 2 |date=2002 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-2551-5 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706211100/https://books.google.com/books?id=W7XqUdwzb0oC&q=nichiren+revelation&pg=PA238 |archive-date=6 July 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|238}} According to Anesaki, Nichiren, upon his arrival at Minobu, quickly turned his attention to consolidating his teachings toward their perpetuation. The scope of his thinking was outlined in an essay {{nihongo||法華取要抄|Hokke Shuyō-shō|"Choosing the Heart of the Lotus Sutra"}}, considered by [[Nikkō Shōnin]] as one of Nichiren's ten major writings.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/T/58 |title=ten major writings &#124; Dictionary of Buddhism &#124; Nichiren Buddhism Library |publisher=Nichirenlibrary.org |date= |access-date=29 April 2022 |archive-date=14 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214190827/http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/T/58 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Anesaki1916" />{{rp|98}}

Nichiren's main ideas include an affirmation of the supremacy of the ''Lotus Sutra'' and the eternal Buddha of the ''Lotus Sutra'', the fact that all beings could achieve Buddhahood in this life, the centrality of the [[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|daimoku]] as the best practice for [[Decline of the Dharma|mappō]], and the importance of spreading the teachings of the ''Lotus Sutra''.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Anesaki1916" />{{rp|98–100}} Nichiren's vision of widely and extensively spreading the ''Lotus Sutra'' [[Kosen-rufu|(''Kosen-rufu'']]) looks towards a time when the teachings would be widely spread throughout the world.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Waking the Buddha: how the most dynamic and empowering Buddhist movement in history is changing our concept of religion|last=Strand |first=Clark|page=182 |isbn=978-1-938252-51-8|location=Santa Monica, CA|oclc=875894919}}</ref> Nichiren also set a precedent for Buddhist [[activism]] centuries before its emergence in other Buddhist schools. He held adamantly that his teachings would permit a nation to right itself and ultimately lead to world peace.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Buddhism and peace:Theory and practice|date=2006|publisher=Blue Pine|others=Mun, Chanju., International Seminar on Buddhism and Leadership for Peace (7th : 1995 : Honolulu, Hawaii)| first=Sallie B. |last=King |chapter=Toward a Buddhist theory of social ethics|page=105 |isbn=978-0-9777553-1-8|location=Honolulu|oclc=65404566}}</ref><ref name="Tanabe2002" />{{rp|251}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CurSh3Sh_KMC&q=nichiren+uniqueness&pg=PA667|title=Dictionary of World Biography: The Middle Ages|last1=Magill|first1=Frank Northen|last2=Aves|first2=Alison|date=1998|page=667|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-57958-041-4|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601090722/https://books.google.com/books?id=CurSh3Sh_KMC&q=nichiren+uniqueness&pg=PA667|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gacis2000">{{cite book |last1=Gacis |first1=Achilles S. C. |title=Nichiren's Nationalism: A Buddhist Rhetoric of a Shinto Teaching |date=2000 |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=978-1-58112-110-0 |edition=Dissertation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30gTanIydYgC&pg=GBS.PA54.w.0.0.0 |access-date=5 January 2022 |archive-date=5 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105204636/https://books.google.com/books?id=30gTanIydYgC&pg=GBS.PA54.w.0.0.0 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|54}}

Some of his religious thinking was derived from the [[Tendai]] tradition and the works of Chinese [[Tiantai]] masters [[Zhiyi]] and [[Zhanran]], as well as from new perspectives that were products of [[Buddhism in Japan|Kamakura Buddhism]].<ref name="Gacis2000" />{{rp|vii-ix}} Other ideas were completely original and unique to Nichiren.

=== The Final Age and the state of Japan ===
The [[Kamakura period]] (1185-1333) was characterized by a sense of decline and foreboding. Nichiren, as well as the others of this time, believed that they had entered the [[Latter Day of the Law|Age of Dharma Decline]] or the "Final Dharma age" (Mappō). The Kamakura period, a time of natural disasters, internal strife, wars, and political conflict, gave many Japanese the impression that the era of decline had begun.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSI2AAAAQBAJ&q=japan+%22latter+day+of+the+law%22&pg=PA131 |title=Record of Miraculous Events in Japan: The Nihon ryoiki |date=2013 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-53516-8 |volume=3 |page=131 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602160709/https://books.google.com/books?id=NSI2AAAAQBAJ&q=japan+%22latter+day+of+the+law%22&pg=PA131 |archive-date=2 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> According to various [[Mahayana sutras]], during the age of decline, most of the Buddha's teachings would be lost or lose their efficacy. Nichiren held that since Japan had entered Mappō, teachings like [[Nianfo|nembutsu]], Zen and esoteric practices were no longer effective - only ''Lotus Sutra'' practices were effective.<ref name=":0" />

Nichiren also believed that the world had entered the final age of degeneration. Like many Buddhists of his time, he held that this was a reflection of the degenerate state of the minds of the people. This is based on the classic Mahayana theory that says that the world is a reflection of the collective karmic traces of the minds of all beings living in the world.<ref name=":3">Montgomery (1991), pp. 101-102</ref> For Nichiren, the activities of the Japanese elite had caused the current state of chaos.<ref name=":3" /> Furthermore, Nichiren held that due to their lack of virtue, Japan was being abandoned by the gods, leading to the natural disasters which were occurring and to the threat of Mongol invasion. Japan had a long-established system of folk beliefs (now called [[Shinto]]) based on local [[Kami]] (indigenous deities). These had been adopted by Buddhist traditions, who often argued that [[Honji suijaku|''kami'' were 'traces' of the Buddha]]. Buddhists institutions often engaged in rites calling on Kami as well as on [[Buddhist deities]], to protect the nation (''chingo kokka'').<ref name="Stone2003" />{{rp|40–42,166}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grapard |first=Allan G. |title=Re-visioning "Kamakura" Buddhism |date=1998 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |others=Payne, Richard Karl. |isbn=0-8248-2024-X |location=Honolulu |pages=57–58 |chapter=Keiranshuyoshu: A Different Perspective on Mt. Hiei in the Medieval Period |oclc=38249103}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bocking |first=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y0TIfrZuq_YC&q=nichiren+kami&pg=PA44 |title=A popular dictionary of Shintō |date=1997 |publisher=Curzon Press |isbn=0-7007-1051-5 |edition=Rev. |location=Richmond, Surrey [U.K.] |page=44 |oclc=264474222 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602194106/https://books.google.com/books?id=y0TIfrZuq_YC&q=nichiren+kami&pg=PA44 |archive-date=2 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Nichiren argued that the various protective deities had abandoned Japan because the court and the people had turned away from the true Dharma of the ''Lotus Sutra'' to false teachings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nichiren- Great Teacher Series – Theosophy Trust |url=https://theosophytrust.mobi/310-nichiren#.W9bFCbxKhD8 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031133053/https://theosophytrust.mobi/310-nichiren#.W9bFCbxKhD8 |archive-date=31 October 2018 |access-date=29 October 2018 |website=theosophytrust.mobi}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Metraux |first=Daniel A. |date=1986 |title=THE SOKA GAKKA'S SEARCH FOR THE REALIZATION OF THE WORLD OF RISSHO ANKOKURON |url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2324 |url-status=live |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=13/1 |pages=38–39 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321013550/https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2324 |archive-date=21 March 2016 |access-date=20 November 2018}}</ref> Thus, if the government and the people turned to the true Dharma, society would transform into an ideal world in which peace and wisdom prevail and "the wind will not thrash the branches nor the rain fall hard enough to break clods."<ref name="Stone2003" />{{rp|291–292}}

Although Nichiren attributed the turmoils and disasters in society to the widespread practice of what he deemed inferior Buddhist teachings sponsored by the government, he was also enthusiastically upbeat about the portent of the age. He asserted, in contrast to other schools, Mappō was the best possible time to be alive, since now the [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]] would appear teach and spread the ''Lotus Sutra.<ref name="Stone2003" />{{rp|56,254}}<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last=Endō |first=Asai |year=1968 |orig-date=translated 1999 |title=Nichiren's View of Humanity: The Final Dharma Age and the Three Thousand Realms in One Thought-Moment |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2683 |url-status=live |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26 |issue=3–4 |pages=239–240 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213161833/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2683 |archive-date=13 December 2014}} See also {{cite web |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 437 Rebuking Slander of the Law |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=437&m=3&q=The%20Buddha%20did%20not%20entrust%20these%20five%20characters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318101637/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=437&m=3&q=The%20Buddha%20did%20not%20entrust%20these%20five%20characters |archive-date=18 March 2012 |access-date=6 September 2013 |via=Sgilibrary.org}}, {{cite web |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 736: On Repaying Depts of Gratitude |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=736&m=3&q=compassion%20is%20truly%20great%20and%20encompassing |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054219/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=736&m=3&q=compassion |archive-date=21 September 2013 |access-date=6 September 2013 |via=Sgilibrary.org}} and {{cite web |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 903: The Teaching for the Latter Day |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=903&m=3&q=neither%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20nor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053719/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=903&m=3&q=neither |archive-date=21 September 2013 |access-date=6 September 2013 |via=Sgilibrary.org}}</ref>''

=== Five Principles ===
Nichiren also taught Five Principles (''gogi'') or five criteria for evaluating Buddhist teachings and establishing the supremacy of the ''Lotus Sutra'' as the highest and best teaching for Japan at his time. The five are:<ref name="Stone2003" />{{rp|252–255}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nakamura |first=Hajime |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sePiBcehtYcC&q=nichiren&pg=PA434 |title=The Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India-China-Tibet-Japan |date=1964 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-0078-9 |page=396 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601192137/https://books.google.com/books?id=sePiBcehtYcC&q=nichiren&pg=PA434 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, p. 77: Encouragement of a Sick Person |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=77&m=3&q=the%20five%20guides%20for%20propagation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053339/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=77&m=3&q=the%20five%20guides%20for%20propagation |archive-date=21 September 2013 |access-date=6 September 2013 |publisher=Sgilibrary.org}}</ref>

* The teaching (''kyō'') - Following the [[Tiantai]] classification system, Nichiren sees the Lotus as part of the last teaching period of the Buddha and as the real true (jitsu) teaching, while all other teachings are provisional (gon). He cites Tiantai masters like [[Zhiyi]], and the ''Lotus sutra'' itself and points to its teachings on the one vehicle and the eternal immanent nature of the Buddha to prove this.
* The innate capacity (''ki'') of the people - Nichiren held that people of the Final Dharma age lack good roots (honmi uzen). Thus, they first need to encounter the ''Lotus Sutra'' to plant these good roots. Nichiren rejects the view of [[Hōnen]] that the Lotus is too profound for beings of the Final Age. Nichiren cites [[Zhanran]] who writes "the more true the teaching, the lower the stage [of the practitioners it can bring to enlightenment]." Thus, Nichiren argues that faith in the ''Lotus'' can save all types of people, even the most ignorant or lowly.
* The time (''ji''), which refers to the Final Dharma age ([[Decline of the Dharma|mappo]]). Nichiren believed that the ''Lotus Sutra'' was the right sutra for the Final Age, and that the [[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|daimoku]] was the right teaching for this time, being easy and accessible to all. 
* The land or country (''koku'') - As Stone writes "following earlier Tendai thinkers such as [[Saichō|Saicho]], [[Annen (monk)|Annen]], and [[Genshin]], Nichiren argued that the country of Japan is related exclusively to the ''Lotus Sutra''."
* The sequence of dharma propagation (''kyōhō rufu no zengo''), which means that one should not teach an inferior or provisional teaching in a place where a superior teaching has already been taught.

=== Buddhahood and the mutual inclusion of all realms ===
[[File:Tainai_jikkai_no_zu_by_Kuniteru_III.jpg|thumb|Japanese illustration depicting the mutual inclusion of the [[ten realms]] within the mind ([[Xin (heart-mind)|xin, 心]]) of a fetus.]]
Nichiren stressed the idea that the Buddha's pure land is [[Immanence|immanent]] in this present Saha world (''shaba soku jakkōdo'') and that all beings have the innate potential to attain [[Buddhahood]] in this very body (''sokushin jōbutsu''), though this can only be achieved by relying on the ''Lotus Sutra''. Nichiren was influenced by earlier ideas taught by [[Kūkai]] and [[Saicho]], who had taught the possibility of becoming a Buddha in this life and the belief all beings are "originally enlightened" (''[[Original enlightenment|hongaku]]'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shaner |first=David Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=haVhiTONzOYC&q=sokushin+jobutsu&pg=PA75 |title=The Bodymind Experience in Japanese Buddhism: A Phenomenological Study of Kukai and Dogen |date=1985 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-88706-061-8 |pages=75–79 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602012407/https://books.google.com/books?id=haVhiTONzOYC&q=sokushin+jobutsu&pg=PA75 |archive-date=2 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Groner |first=Paul |title=The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture |date=1989 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1198-3 |editor-last1=Tanabe |editor-first1=George J. |pages=56–57 |chapter=The Lotus Sutra and Saicho's Interpretation of the Realization of Buddhahood with This Very Body |access-date=31 October 2018 |editor-last2=Tanabe |editor-first2=Willa J. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&pg=PA53 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704214116/https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&pg=PA53 |archive-date=4 July 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

In the [[Tendai]] school, these theories were also closely related to [[Chih-i|Zhiyi's]] theory of the "mutual inclusion of the ten Dharma-realms" (''jikkai gogu'' 十界互具), also called [[Zhiyi#The Sublime mutual inclusion|Three Thousand Realms in a Single Thought]] (''ichinen sanzen'' 一念三千), as well as on [[Zhanran]]'s view of the all-pervasive character of [[buddha-nature]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fowler |first=Merv |title=The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Humanism |date=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |others=Andrew Copson and A.C. Grayling |isbn=978-1-119-97717-9 |chapter=Ancient China |access-date=3 October 2020 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8BotCgAAQBAJ&q=ichinen+sanzen&pg=PA95 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601165034/https://books.google.com/books?id=8BotCgAAQBAJ&q=ichinen+sanzen&pg=PA95 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> As [[Jacqueline Stone]] writes "ichinen sanzen means that the smallest phenomenon (a single thought-moment) and the entire cosmos (three thousand realms) are mutually encompassing: the one and the many; good and evil; delusion and awakening; subject and object; self and other; and all sentient beings from hell dwellers, hungry ghosts, and animals up through bodhisattvas and buddhas, as well as their respective environments, simultaneously interpenetrate and encompass one another without losing their individual identity."<ref name=":0" /> This realization is itself the wisdom of the Buddha, and the "Wonderful Dharma" (myōhō 妙法) taught by the ''Lotus Sutra''.<ref name=":0" />

Nichiren saw ''ichinen sanzen'' as pointing to the potential for Buddhahood in all beings (ri no ichinen sanzen 理の一念三千) and to the actualization of Buddhahood itself (ji no ichinen sanzen 事の一念三千), which encompasses and illuminates all other realms. He associated these with the "trace" teaching of the first half of the ''Lotus Sutra'' and with the "origin" teaching of the latter half of the sutra respectively.<ref name=":0" /> He also saw ichinen sanzen as the ultimate truth and the heart of the ''Lotus Sutra'', writing that "only the [[Tiantai]] ichinen sanzen is the path of attaining Buddhahood".<ref>Stone 2003, p. 263.</ref> However, he also saw his own teaching of ichinen sanzen as different and as going beyond that which was taught by Zhiyi. This is because Nichiren held that his teaching of the "true ichinen sanzen" was based on the latter half of the ''Lotus Sutra'' (the origin teaching), instead of on chapter 2. For Nichiren this is "the doctrine of original cause (hon’in) and original effect (honga). The nine realms are inherent in the beginningless Buddha realm; the Buddha realm inheres in the beginningless nine realms." This teaching "demolishes" all views of gradual training.<ref>Stone 2003, pp. 264-263</ref>

=== Single-minded devotion to the ''Lotus Sutra'' ===

Nichiren held that this teaching of the interfusion of all reality, the ultimate meaning of the ''Lotus Sutra,'' could now be realized solely through devotion to the sutra, especially by the practice of faithfully chanting the title of the sutra (daimoku). This allowed one to contemplate one's mind (''kanjin'') and to attain the fruit of Buddhahood in this life.<ref name=":0" /> This was possible because the ''Lotus Sutra'' and the daimoku contains the entirety of the Buddha's teachings within it, as well as all of [[The Buddha|Shakyamuni]] Buddha's power and merits.<ref name=":0" />  This is Nichiren's teaching of ichinen sanzen as "actuality" (ji), meaning a practice that relies on an actual form (jisō), which he contrasted with the teaching of Zhiyi's ''[[Mohe Zhiguan|Mohe zhiguan]]'' which taught ichinen sanzen of "principle" (ri).<ref>Stone 2003, pp. 266</ref>

According to Nichiren, Buddhahood would manifest when a person faithfully chants the sutra's title and shares it with others, at whatever the cost.<ref name="Stone2003" />{{rp|68,265–266}} Indeed, for Nichiren, ''Lotus Sutra'' focused practice was the only efficacious practice in the Final Dharma Age.<ref name=":0" /> This is because Nichiren held that the ''Lotus Sutra'' contains the true intent of the Buddha:<blockquote>the ''Lotus Sutra'' is the written expression of Śākyamuni Tathāgata’s intent; it is his pure voice transformed into written words. Thus its written words are endowed with the Buddha’s mind. It is like the case of seeds, sprouts, shoots, and grain; though they differ in form, their essence is the same. Śākyamuni Buddha and the words of the ''Lotus Sutra'' are different, but their spirit is one. Thus when you look upon the words of the Lotus Sutra, you should think that you are encountering the living Śākyamuni Tathāgata.<ref>Kitagawa Zenchō 北川前肇, [https://jstone.mycpanel2.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Kitagawa-Zench%C5%8D.Words-of-the-Lotus-Sutra-in-Nichirens-Thought-2014.pdf The Words of the Lotus Sutra in Nichiren’s Thought], ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies'' 41/1: 25–43 © 2014 Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.</ref></blockquote>Nichiren emphasized the importance of faith, practice, and study. Faith meant embracing the ''Lotus Sutra,'' something that needed to be continually deepened. "To accept (''ju'') [faith in the sutra] is easy," he explained to a follower, "to uphold it (''ji'') is difficult. But the realization of Buddhahood lies in upholding [faith]." This could only be manifested by the practice of chanting the ''daimoku'' as well as teaching others to do the same, and study.<ref name="Stone2003" />{{rp|270,295}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=George David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DGQjmAO6yP4C&q=nichiren+faith+%22practice+and+study%22&pg=PA13 |title=Peace, Value, and Wisdom: The Educational Philosophy of Daisaku Ikeda |date=2002 |publisher=Rodopi |isbn=90-420-1359-1 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602194053/https://books.google.com/books?id=DGQjmAO6yP4C&q=nichiren+faith+%22practice+and+study%22&pg=PA13 |archive-date=2 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|12–13}}

Consequently, Nichiren consistently and vehemently objected to the perspective of the Pure Land school that stressed an other-worldly aspiration to some [[Pure Land|pure land]] outside of this world. Behind his assertion is the concept of the [[Nondualism|nonduality]] of the subjective realm (the individual) and the objective realm (the land that the individual inhabits) which indicates that when the individual taps into buddhahood, his or her present world becomes peaceful and harmonious. For Nichiren the widespread propagation of the ''Lotus Sutra'' and consequent world peace ("''[[kosen-rufu]]''") was achievable and inevitable. He thus tasked his future followers with a mandate to accomplish it.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stone |first=Jackie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zaC4CgAAQBAJ&q=nichiren |title=Buddhism in practice |date=2015 |isbn=978-1-4008-8007-2 |editor-last=Lopez |editor-first=Donald S. Jr. |edition=Abridged |location=Princeton |page=169 |chapter=Original Enlightenment Thought in the Nichiren Tradition |oclc=926048981 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601090722/https://books.google.com/books?id=zaC4CgAAQBAJ&q=nichiren |archive-date=1 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Stone2003a">{{Cite book |last=Stone |first=Jacqueline I. |title=Action dharma: new studies in engaged Buddhism |date=2003 |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |others=Queen, Christopher S., Prebish, Charles S., Keown, Damien |isbn=0-7007-1593-2 |location=London |pages=63–94 |chapter=Nichiren's activist heirs: Soka Gakkai, Rissho Koseikai, Nipponzan Myohoji |oclc=50809145 |quote=When all people throughout the land enter the one Buddha vehicle, and the Wonderful Dharma [of the Lotus] alone flourishes, because the people all chant Namu-Myoho-renge-kyo, the wind will not thrash the branches, nor the rain fall hard enough to break clods. The age will become like the reigns of [the Chinese sage kings] Yao and Shun. In the present life, inauspicious calamities will be banished, and people will obtain the art of longevity. When the principle becomes manifest that both persons and dharmas 'neither age nor die,' then each of you, behold! There can be no doubt of the sutra's promise of 'peace and security in the present world.'}}</ref>{{rp|68}}

While Nichiren critiqued [[Hōnen]]'s Pure Land tradition for sidelining the ''Lotus Sutra'', he was also influenced by it. [[Hōnen]] had introduced the concept of focusing on a single practice over all others (which was to be [[Nianfo|nembutsu]]). This practice was revolutionary because it was simple and accessible to all. It also minimalized the [[Elitism|elitist]] and monopolistic role of the Buddhist establishment.<ref>Bowring, Richard.  Religious Traditions of Japan: 500–1600. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.  247.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Shaheen |first=James |title=Finding Common Ground |url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/finding-common-ground/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031173825/https://tricycle.org/magazine/finding-common-ground/ |archive-date=31 October 2018 |access-date=28 October 2018 |work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Strand |first=Clark |title=Faith in Revolution |url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/faith-revolution/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903215258/https://tricycle.org/magazine/faith-revolution/ |archive-date=3 September 2018 |access-date=28 October 2018 |work=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review}}</ref> Nichiren appropriated the structure of a universally accessible single practice but substituted the nembutsu with the recitation of the daimoku (''[[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|Namu-myōhō-renge-kyō]]''), while also affirming that this practice could lead to Buddhahood in this life, instead of just leading to birth in a pure land.<ref name="Stone2012" />{{rp|124}}

=== The Three Great Secret Dharmas ===
Since Nichiren deemed the world to be in a degenerate age where most teachings were ineffective, he held that people required a simple and effective method to attain Buddhahood. According to Nichiren, the way to Buddhahood was through the [[Three Great Secret Laws|Three Great Secret Dharmas]] (sandai hihō 三大秘法): the invocation of the ''Lotus Sutra''{{'}}s title (''daimoku''), the object of worship (''honzon''), and the ordination platform or place of worship (''kaidan'').<ref name="Collinson2000">{{Cite book |last=Collinson |first=Diané |title=Fifty Eastern thinkers |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |others=Plant, Kathryn., Wilkinson, Robert |isbn=0-203-00540-6 |location=London |oclc=50493529}}</ref>{{rp|353}} Nichiren held that these three Dharmas are the concrete manifestations of "the actualization of ichinen sanzen" (ji no ichinen sanzen) specific to the age of Dharma Decline.<ref name=":0" />

A work attributed to Nichiren named the ''Sandai hi hō honjōji'' (三大秘法稟承事, ''Transmission of the three great secret Dharmas'') states that Nichiren discovered the three Dharmas in the 16th chapter of the ''Lotus Sutra,'' and that as the leader of the [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth]], he secretly received them from the original Buddha (honbutsu) who resides in the originally existing Land of Tranquil Light.<ref name="Sueki1999">{{Cite journal |last=Sueki |first=Fumihiko |date=1999 |title=Nichiren's Problematic Works |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2684 |url-status=live |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26/3-4 |pages=261–280 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701053345/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2684 |archive-date=1 July 2018 |access-date=31 October 2018}}</ref>{{rp|266}}<ref name="Stone2003" />{{rp|264}}<ref name="Collinson2000" />{{rp|353}} Several modern scholars have questioned the authenticity of this text however.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Sueki1999" />{{rp|266,268}}<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Sato |first=Hiroo |date=1999 |title=Nichiren's View of Nation and Religion |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687 |url-status=live |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26/3-4 |pages=320–321 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701053350/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687 |archive-date=1 July 2018 |access-date=31 October 2018}}</ref>

According to Nichiren, practicing the Three Secret Dharmas results in the "Three Proofs" which verify their validity. The first proof is "documentary," whether the religion's fundamental texts, here the writings of Nichiren, make a lucid case for the eminence of the religion. "Theoretical proof" is an intellectual standard of whether a religion's teachings reasonably clarify the mysteries of life and death. "Actual proof," deemed the most important by Nichiren, demonstrates the validity of the teaching through the actual improvements and experiences which manifest in the daily life of practitioners.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bluck |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k8R9AgAAQBAJ&q=actual+proof&pg=PA93 |title=British Buddhism: Teachings, Practice and Development |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-15817-1 |page=93 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601192132/https://books.google.com/books?id=k8R9AgAAQBAJ&q=actual+proof&pg=PA93 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Murata |first=Koichi |title=Encyclopedia of Educational Theory and Philosophy |date=2014 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-1-4833-6475-9 |editor-last=Phillips |editor-first=D. C. |page=506 |chapter=Makiguchi |access-date=12 November 2018 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84StBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA506 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602160709/https://books.google.com/books?id=84StBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA506 |archive-date=2 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>The Essence of Nichiren Shu Buddhism, SanJose Temple, page 84. {{ISBN|0-9705920-0-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism 2002: Three proofs |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/search_dict.php?id=2363 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214113855/http://www.sgilibrary.org/search_dict.php?id=2363 |archive-date=14 December 2013 |access-date=6 September 2013 |publisher=Sgilibrary.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ingram |first=Paul O. |date=1977 |title=Nichirin's Three Secrets |journal=Numen |volume=24 |issue=3 |page=215 |doi=10.2307/3269599 |jstor=3269599}}</ref>

==== Daimoku ====
[[file:Nichiren calms a storm in Kakuda.jpg|thumb|Nichiren depicted calming a storm by chanting the daimoku]]
[[Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō|''Namu myōhō-renge-kyō'']], the ''daimoku'' ("the title" of the ''Lotus Sutra'' preceded by "Namo", meaning "homage to"), is both the essence of the ''Lotus Sutra''{{'s}} Dharma and the means to discover that truth, i.e. the interconnected unity of self, others and environment with Buddhahood itself. Nichiren sees this as the only truly effective practice, the superior Buddhist practice for this time. Thus, according to Nichiren, "it is better to be a leper who chants Nam(u)-myōhō-renge-kyō than be a chief abbot of the Tendai school."<ref name="Stone2003" />{{rp|56,254}}<ref name=":1" /> For Nichiren, the daimoku is "the heart of the eighty thousand sacred teachings and the eye of all buddhas," and contains the entire [[Buddhism|Buddhadharma]].<ref name=":0" />

Nichiren was influenced by [[Zhiyi]], who argued in his ''Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra'' (Fahua xuanyi 法華玄義) that the title of the sutra contains the meaning of the entire sutra (which itself contains the whole of Buddhism). Stone writes, "for Nichiren, the daimoku, as the embodiment of ichinen sanzen, encompasses all phenomena, including all beings and their environments in the ten realms of existence."<ref name=":0" /> This non-dual reality is contained in the term ''Myōhō'' (Miao in Chinese).<ref name=":5">Montgomery 1991, p. 132.</ref>

Furthermore, the daimoku is also said to contain the Buddha's enlightenment and all his spiritual powers.<ref name=":0" /> As he writes in the ''Kanjin honzon shō'': "Śākyamuni’s causal practices and their resulting virtues are all contained within the five characters Myōhō-renge-kyō. When we embrace these five characters, he will naturally transfer to us the merit of his causes and effects."<ref name=":0" /> He also writes:<blockquote>For those who are incapable of understanding the truth of ichinen sanzen, Lord Śākyamuni Buddha, with His great compassion, wraps this jewel in the five characters of myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō and hangs it around the neck of the ignorant in the Latter Age of Degeneration.<ref>Kyōkō, FUJII. The Meaning of the Practice of Chanting in Nichiren Buddhism. Journal of East Asian Cultures 2023/2: VII–XIV <nowiki>http://doi.org/10.38144/TKT.2023.2.1</nowiki> <nowiki>https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2613-7519</nowiki></ref></blockquote>Like other Tendai figures of his time, Nichiren held that the ''Lotus Sutra'' taught the unity of the cause (skillful means) and the effect (Buddhahood). Nichiren held that the term ''Renge'' (Dharma Flower) represents how the cause and the effect (practice and Buddhahood) are one. This is symbolized by the lotus flower because its blossoms and seed pods grow at the same time.<ref name=":5" />

Thus, the chanting of the daimoku allowed one to access all the merit of the Buddha's practices. It links a practitioner to the Buddha's wisdom which sees all of reality as a single whole and thus allows one to attain the "realization of buddhahood with this very body."<ref name=":0" />

Furthermore, Nichiren saw this practice as going beyong the self-power [[Other power|other-power]] dichotomy used by Pure Land Buddhism:<blockquote>The Lotus Sutra establishes self-power but is not self-power. Since the "self" encompasses all beings of the ten realms, one’s own person from the outset contains the Buddha realm of both oneself and of all be- ings. Thus one does not now become a Buddha for the first time. [The sutra] also establishes Other-power but is not Other-power. Since the Buddha who is "other" is contained within us ordinary worldlings, this Buddha naturally manifests himself as identical to ourselves.<ref name="Stone 2003, p. 247">Stone 2003, p. 247.</ref></blockquote>For Nichiren, Buddhahood is immanently accessible through the daimoku. Nichiren also saw the daimoku as granting worldly benefits, such as healing and protection from harm.<ref name=":0" /> He taught that by relying on the daimoku, one would achieve a state of inner fredom, writing: "Recognize suffering as suffering, enjoy pleasures for what they are, and whether in suffering or joy, keep chanting Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō...Then you will know the joy of the Dharma for yourself."<ref name=":0" />

==== Gohonzon ====
[[file:Great Mandala by Nichiren (Honmanji).jpg|thumb|Great Mandala by Nichiren, Honmanji, [[Kyoto]]]]
The chanting of the daimoku is to be done while contemplating the daimandara 大曼荼羅 ("great [[mandala]]") or gohonzon 御本尊 ("revered object of worship").<ref name=":0" /> Japanese Buddhists often had a personal shrine with an object of worship (honzon), which could be a painting, mandala or statue. These objects were often held to embody the powers of the Buddhas. Nichiren created a unique honzon style in the form of a calligraphic mandala (in Chinese characters and two Siddham glyphs) representing the entire cosmos, specifically centered around the ''Lotus Sutra''{{'}}s ceremony in the air above [[Vulture Peak]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |title=The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon |url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/101 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222001014/http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/101 |archive-date=22 December 2017 |access-date=20 July 2018 |work=Nichiren Buddhism Library |publisher=Soka Gakkai}}</ref><ref name="Collinson2000" />{{rp|354}}

Nichiren inscribed many of these mandalas as personal honzon for his followers. More than 120 of them survive in Nichiren's own hand with his signature.<ref name=":0" /> Nichiren drew on earlier visual representations of the ''Lotus Sutra'' and was also influenced by contemporary figures like [[Myōe]] and [[Shinran]] who also created calligraphic honzon for their disciples. Since these did not require expert painters or expensive materials to make, they could be made in larger numbers for wide dissemination.<ref name=":0" />

Nichiren's gohonzons contain the daimoku written vertically in the center. It is flanked by the names of Śākyamuni and [[Prabhutaratna|Prabhūtaratna]] Buddha, as well as the names of various bodhisattvas (especially prominent being the [[Bodhisattvas of the Earth|four bodhisattvas of the earth]]), deities, and other beings. These figures also represent ''ichinen sanzen'', the mutual inclusion of the ten realms. Thus, the great mandala embodies the entire cosmos and its interfusion with Buddhahood.<ref name=":0" /> In other words, the gohonzon symbolizes the non-duality between our world and the sacred realm of the original Buddha of the ''Lotus Sutra'', where the Sutra is being taught eternally.<ref>Montgomery 1991, pp. 132-33.</ref>

According to Stone, the logic of this mandala is influenced by [[Vajrayana|Esoteric Buddhist]] [[Deity yoga|yogas]], in which the yogi visualizes their unity with the Buddha realm.<ref name=":0" /> However, for Nichiren, the unity of oneself and the Buddha is not achieved through yogic means, but mainly through faith. As Stone explains, "by chanting the daimoku, the devotee "enters" the mandala, the realm of the original buddha’s awakening, and participates in the enlightened reality that it depicts."<ref name=":0" />

==== Kaidan ====
Nichiren discusses the ordination platform (kaidan 戒壇) or place of worship'','' less frequently than the other great secret Dharmas for the mappō era. Teachings on it can be found in the ''Sandai hi hō honjōji'', a work of questionable authenticity.<ref name=":0" /> Traditionally, a kaidan is a place where the [[Buddhist ethics|Buddhist precepts]] are transmitted to [[Samanera|novices]]. However, Nichiren held that the merit of the precepts was already contained within the daimoku, and that embracing the ''Lotus Sutra'' was the only true precept in the final Dharma age. Nichiren's intentions for the establishment of an "ordination platform of the origin teaching" (honmon no kaidan 本門の戒壇) is thus far from clear, though he seems to have held that it would supercede the Tendai ordination platform on [[Mount Hiei]]. The ''Sandai hi hō honjōji'' teaches that it will be built as great Dharma center for all the people of the world once the emperor and his government all embraced the ''Lotus Sutra''.<ref name=":0" />

Nichiren left the fulfillment of the ''kaidan'' to his successors and its interpretation has been a matter of heated debate. Some state that it refers to the construction of a physical ordination platform sanctioned by the emperor; others contend that the ordination platform is the community of believers (''[[sangha]]'') or, simply, the place where practitioners of the ''Lotus Sutra'' live and make collective efforts to realize the ideal of establishing the true Dharma in order to establish peace to the land (''rissho ankoku''). The latter metaphorical interpretation is based on the ''Lotus Sūtra'' itself which states that "the place of enlightenment" is any place where one upholds the sutra. The latter conception reflects Nichiren's understanding that Buddhist practice must be grounded in a concrete place and must be engaged with the real world outside of temples and hermitages.<ref name=":0" /> It has also been interpreted as promoting engagement with the secular world as well as working to improve society.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Sueki1999" />{{rp|266,268}}<ref name=":2" />

=== Propagating the ''Lotus sutra'' far and wide ===
Nichiren's teachings are replete with practical aspirations for self-transformation. He urged his followers to "quickly reform the tenets you hold in your heart" (''Rissho Ankoku Ron''), and to reflect on their behavior as human beings.<ref name="Urbain2010" />{{rp|76,79–80,86,89}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tong |first=Chee-Kiong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cN6vCQAAQBAJ&q=nichiren |title=Rationalizing Religion: Religious Conversion, Revivalism and Competition in Singapore Society |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-474-1969-3 |pages=138–140 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601210843/https://books.google.com/books?id=cN6vCQAAQBAJ&q=nichiren |archive-date=1 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Nichiren also made a "great vow" that he and all his followers would create the conditions for a peaceful [[Dharma|Dharmic]] nation. This is described in the ''Lotus Sutra'' as ''[[Kosen-rufu]]'' (lit. "to extensively declare and spread [the ''Lotus sutra''] far and wide"). In earlier Japanese Buddhism the concept of "nation" was equated with [[Emperor of Japan|imperial]] rule and peace with political stability. Nichiren's teachings embraced a new view which held that "nation" referred to the land and the people. Nichiren was unique among his contemporaries in charging the actual government in power (the ''[[Shogun|bakufu]]''), as responsible for peace and for the thriving of Dharma. For Nichiren, all human beings were equal in the eyes of the Buddha and all were responsible for the state of their nation. Furthermore, enlightenment is not restricted one's inner life, but is actualized by making efforts toward the transformation of nation and society.<ref name="Sato1999">{{Cite journal |last=Sato |first=Hiroo |date=1999 |others=Habito, Ruben |title=Nichiren's View of Nation and Religion |url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687 |url-status=live |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |volume=26/3-4 |pages=307–323 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701053350/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2687 |archive-date=1 July 2018 |access-date=4 December 2018}}</ref>{{rp|313–320}}

Because of this, Nichiren saw himself as responsible for saving the Japanese nation, which he believed could only be accomplished by spreading the teaching of the ''Lotus Sutra.<ref name=":0" />'' Nichiren saw his struggles to spread the ''Lotus'' as reflecting and re-enacting the efforts of the [[bodhisattva]]s which appear in the Lotus Sutra, mainly [[Sadāparibhūta]] and [[Visistacaritra|Viśiṣṭacāritra]]. He constantly enjoined his followers to continue to spread the teaching of the Lotus and to keep working to create a [[Pure Land|buddha-land]] in this world in the future.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Anesaki1916" />{{rp|66–69}}<ref name="Sato1999" />{{rp|320–321}}

=== Polemics and shakubuku ===
The tradition of Buddhist debate has deep-seated roots in the Buddhist tradition, going all the way back to Indian works on debate and [[Siddhanta]] texts.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1UW2XBv6_kkC&q=debate|title=Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery|last=Lempert|first=Michael|date=30 April 2012|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-26946-0|page=47|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602012409/https://books.google.com/books?id=1UW2XBv6_kkC&q=debate|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VF4R8rfZ9QkC&q=debate|title=Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face: Scripture, Ritual, and Iconographic Exchange in Medieval China|last=Mollier|first=Christine|date=2008|page=15|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3169-1|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=6 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706112030/https://books.google.com/books?id=VF4R8rfZ9QkC&q=debate|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zF5dDwAAQBAJ&q=religious+debate+korea&pg=PA177|title=Religions of Korea in Practice|last=Muller|first=Charles|chapter=The Great Confucian-Buddhist Debate|editor-first=Robert E.|editor-last=Buswell|date=5 June 2018|page=177|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-18815-7|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601165027/https://books.google.com/books?id=zF5dDwAAQBAJ&q=religious+debate+korea&pg=PA177|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xhbv9sQpTgIC&q=india&pg=PR5|title=Saicho: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School: with a New Preface|last=Groner|first=Paul|date=2000|page=88|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2371-9|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602194053/https://books.google.com/books?id=xhbv9sQpTgIC&q=india&pg=PR5|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition to formalized religious debates, the [[Kamakura period]] was marked by flourishing and competitive oral religious discourse. Temples competed for the patronage of elites through oratorical sermonizing and temple lecturers (''kōshi'') faced pressure to attract crowds. Sermonizing spread from within the confines of temples to homes and the streets as wandering mendicants (''shidōso'', ''hijiri'', or ''inja'') preached to both the educated and illiterate in exchange for alms. In order to teach principles of faith preachers incorporated colorful storytelling, music, vaudeville, and drama—which later evolved into [[Noh]].<ref name="Rodd1980">{{Cite book|title=Nichiren, selected writings|last=Rodd|first=Laurel Rasplica|date=1980|publisher=University Press of Hawaii|isbn=0-8248-0682-4|location=[Honolulu]|oclc=5170843|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/nichirenselected0000nich}}</ref>{{rp|48–49}}

A predominant topic of debate in Kamakura Buddhism was the concept of rebuking "slander of the Dharma", a topic found in the ''Lotus Sutra''.<ref name="Stone2012" />{{rp|114–115}} Polemical critiques of other sects could be found in the works of numerous Kamakura period authors.<ref name="Stone2012" />{{rp|116,120}} [[Hōnen]] had taught people to {{nihongo|"discard"|捨|sha}}, {{nihongo|"close"|閉|hei}}, {{nihongo|"put aside"|閣|kaku}}, and {{nihongo|"abandon"|抛|hō}} all non-[[Pure Land Buddhism|Pure Land]] teachings and his followers often took this to radical extremes. His ideas were vociferously attacked by many authors including [[Myōe]] and [[Jōkei (monk)|Jōkei]].<ref>Williams, Paul (2008). ''Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations 2nd Ed.,'' pp. 257–258. Routledge.</ref> Thus, Nichiren's critiques of other sects must be understood in the context of a time in which religious [[polemic]]s were common.<ref name="Stone2012" />{{rp|116,120}} Nichiren himself saw countering slander of the Dharma as a key pillar of Buddhist practice.<ref name="Stone2012" />{{rp|114,145–146}}

At age 32, Nichiren began a career of denouncing several [[Mahayana]] schools of his time and declaring what he asserted was the correct teaching.<ref>The Essence of Nichiren Shu Buddhism, SanJose Temple, page 81. {{ISBN|0-9705920-0-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=3 |title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006, pp. 3–5: On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime |publisher=Sgilibrary.org |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404085537/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=3 |archive-date=4 April 2013 }}</ref> The first target of his polemics was [[Hōnen]]'s Pure Land teaching which had by now become very popular. Nichiren's detailed rationale is most famously articulated in his first major work, the {{nihongo|''Treatise On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land''|立正安国論| ''[[Risshō Ankokuron|Risshō Ankoku Ron]]''<ref name="sgilibrary.org"/>}}.<ref group="note" name="note1" /><ref>Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine I, page 105-155</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nichirenscoffeehouse.net/Ryuei/RAR.html |title=Living Rissho Ankoku Ron Commentary by Rev. Ryuei |publisher=Nichirenscoffeehouse.net |access-date=6 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041216195843/http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/Ryuei/RAR.html |archive-date=16 December 2004 }}</ref> While Nichiren's polemics were often harsh, he always chose personal or written debate and did not resort to [[religious violence]]. Nichiren remained non-violent even while experiencing persecution and living in a world in which established sects like the [[Tendai]] school wielded armies of warrior monks ([[Sōhei]]) to attack their critics. Nichiren is said to have stated: "Whatever obstacles I may encounter, as long as men [persons] of wisdom do not prove my teachings to be false, I will never yield."<ref name="Urbain2010">{{Cite book|title=Daisaku Ikeda's philosophy of peace: dialogue, transformation and global citizenship|last=Urbain|first=Olivier |date=2010|publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-4416-9789-9|location=London|oclc=742349088}}</ref>{{rp|86–87}}

For Nichiren, [[Buddhist texts]] discuss to main approaches to spreading the Buddhadharma: the gradual method of shōju (摂 受) in which one leads others without confronting or challenging them, and shakubuku (折伏), an assertive method of critiquing others' views. Nichiren held that depending on the time and place, one could use either of these.<ref name=":0" /> Nichiren believed that since Japan was a Buddhist country that had entered the Final Dharma age in which people were discarding the ''Lotus Sutra'', it was necessary to make use of confrontational shakubuku when encountering certain people.<ref name=":0" /> Nichiren saw his critiques as a compassionate act, since he was convinced only the ''Lotus'' could lead to liberation in this age. Even if people rejected his teachings, Nichiren held that hearing about the Lotus Sutra would plant a seed in their minds which would sprout in the future.<ref name=":0" /> However, he also acknowledged that in some cases, one should also rely on shōju, even during this time. One example was when teaching in a non-buddhist country.<ref name=":0" /> This flexibility opened the way for later controversy in the Nichiren tradition, which has often been divided over which approach to employ.<ref name=":0" />

==== The Four Denunciations ====
Throughout his career Nichiren harshly denounced various Buddhist traditions, as well as the existing social and political system that supported them.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hall |first=Elton H. |date=1988 |title=Nichiren- Great Teacher Series – Theosophy Trust |url=https://theosophytrust.mobi/310-nichiren#.W7nf0OgbND8 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031133053/https://theosophytrust.mobi/310-nichiren#.W7nf0OgbND8 |archive-date=31 October 2018 |access-date=7 October 2018 |website=theosophytrust.mobi |publisher=Hermes Magazine}}</ref> Modern detractors criticize his exclusivist perspective as [[Religious intolerance|intolerant]]. Apologists argue his arguments should be understood in the context of his times and not through a modern lens that rejects religious confrontation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stone |first=Jacqueline I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gRoyAQAAQBAJ&q=nichiren |title=Sins and Sinners: Perspectives from Asian Religions |date=17 August 2012 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-23200-6 |pages=149–150 |chapter=The Sin of "Slandering the True Dharma" in Nichiren's Thought |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601175100/https://books.google.com/books?id=gRoyAQAAQBAJ&q=nichiren |archive-date=1 June 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Nichiren's polemics included sharp criticisms of the Pure Land, [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]] (meaning [[Chinese Esoteric Buddhism|Esoteric Buddhism]] in general), [[Zen]], and [[Risshū (Buddhism)|Ritsu]] schools. The core of Nichiren's critique was that these schools had turned people away from the ''Lotus Sutra,'' making them focus on other thing like a postmortem destination (Pure Land), secret and elitist master disciple transmissions (Zen, and Esotericism) and [[Vinaya|monastic rules]] (Ritsu). His criticisms have become known as "the Four Denunciations". He also critiqued the Japanese Tendai school for its appropriation of esoteric elements (Taimitsu). Reliance on esoteric rituals, he claimed, was useless magic and would lead to national decay. He held that Zen was devilish in its belief that attaining enlightenment was possible through a "secret transmission outside the scriptures", and that Ritsu was thievery because it hid behind token deeds such as public works. In modern parlance, the Four Denunciations rebuked thinking that demoralized and disengaged people by encouraging [[occult]] esotericism, [[clericalism]], [[Legalism (theology)|legalism]], and [[escapism]].<ref name="Anesaki1916" />{{rp|8–11}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Bloom |first=Alfred |title=Understanding the Social and Religious Meaning of Nichiren |url=http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/studies/nichiren/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911152204/http://bschawaii.org/shindharmanet/studies/nichiren/ |archive-date=11 September 2018 |access-date=24 October 2018 |website=Shin Dharma Net |quote=Because of his concern for the welfare of the country and exaltation of the truth of the Lotus Sutra as interpreted by Tendai, he appears to be intolerant, denouncing all other sects as false. He is famous for Four Denunciations in which he outlined the errors. Shingon is false because it destroys the nations. For Nichiren it was false magic. The nation would be protected by the Lotus. Historically the Japanese government employed Shingon rites whenever there was a disaster affecting the country. According to him, Zen is a teaching of devils because it held that one could become enlightened apart from scriptures. In Zen truth is beyond words and therefore it rejects the ultimacy of the words of Buddha. Pure Land nembutsu is a false way of salvation. Salvation comes only through the Lotus Sutra, particularly for Nichiren, reciting its title: Namu myoho renge kyo. The Ritsu or Precept sect is wrong because it is a thief. Here Nichiren apparently objected to the funds given this sect for social welfare activity. In any case, none of these prominent sects advocated the centrality of the Lotus Sutra. Eventually he came to include Tendai itelf because it was combined with Shingon teachings and rites. For him any compromise on the Lotus made them all false. Nichiren was a good scholar of history and knew the basic tenets of these groups, but he faulted them in their relation to the Lotus. His erudition is embodied in voluminous writings, especially five major texts which set forth the essence of his faith, Also he wrote numerous letters, sharing his ideas and sentiments with followers.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=A forum for peace: Daisaku Ikeda's proposals to the UN |date=6 December 2013 |isbn=978-1-78076-839-7 |editor-last=Urbain |editor-first=Olivier |location=London |pages=484–485 |oclc=861319983}}</ref>

In spite of his critiques, Nichiren did not reject all other Buddhist traditions or practices in full. His focus remained on those whom he saw as "slandering the Dharma", i.e. those who turned people away from the ''Lotus Sutra'' or argued that it was a sutra of a lower class. Thus, he writes in ''The'' ''Opening of the Eyes'': <blockquote>I believe that the devotees and followers of the ''[[Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra|Flower Garland]]'', ''[[Amitāyus Contemplation Sūtra|Meditation]]'', ''[[Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra|Mahāvairochana]]'', and other sutras will undoubtedly be protected by the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and heavenly beings of the respective sutras that they uphold. But if the votaries of the ''Mahāvairochana, Meditation'', and other sutras should set themselves up as the enemies of the votary of the Lotus Sutra, then the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and heavenly beings will abandon them and will protect the votary of the ''Lotus Sutra''. It is like the case of a filial son whose father opposes the ruler of the kingdom. The son will abandon his father and support the ruler, for to do so is the height of filial piety.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nichiren |title=The Opening of the Eyes {{!}} WND I {{!}} Nichiren Buddhism Library |url=https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/30 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241013225726/https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/30 |archive-date=2024-10-13 |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=www.nichirenlibrary.org |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Bodily reading the ''Lotus Sutra'' ===
[[file:The Buddhist Priest Nichiren in Exile on Sado Island , from the series Yoshitoshi ryakuga (Sketches by Yoshitoshi) - Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery - 1992.090.jpg|thumb|Nichiren in exile on Sado. Nichiren believed that the sufferings of exile allowed him to live and practice the ''Lotus Sutra'' every moment of every day with his very body.<ref name=":7" />]]
Nichiren's combative preaching led to many attacks and persecutions against him and his followers. Nichiren saw these attacks as signifying his role as a {{nihongo|"votary of the Lotus Sutra"|法華経の行者|Hokekyō no gyōja}}, one who bears witness to the truth of the sutra through their own life and is thus assured of enlightenment. The ''Lotus Sutra'' states that those who base themselves on its teachings and attempt to spread it will experience many trials and personal attacks. By persevering in this, they will eventually reach Buddhahood. Nichiren claimed to be "reading [the ''Lotus Sutra''] with his body" (shikidoku 色読), that is directly and physically experiencing the words of the sutra instead of just reciting or thinking about it.<ref name="Stone2014b" />{{rp|35–36}} Stone writes that this process entails a circular hermeneutic in which "the sūtra’s predictions that its devotees will encounter hardships legitimated Nichiren’s actions, and Nichiren’s experience of persecution, in fulfilling scriptural prophecy, legitimated the ''Lotus Sūtra''".<ref name=":0" />

Nichiren saw it as his personal mission to actively face these trials, and claimed he found great meaning and joy in them. He even expressed appreciation to his tormentors for giving him the opportunity to serve as an envoy of the Buddha.<ref name="Stone2014c">{{Cite journal |last=Stone |first=Jacqueline I. |date=April–June 2014 |title=A votary of the Lotus Sutra will meet ordeals: The role of suffering in Nichiren's thought |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/A%20Votary%20of%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Will%20Meet%20Ordeals%20--The%20Role%20of%20Suffering%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20(2014).pdf |url-status=live |journal=Dharma World |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803202351/http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/A%20Votary%20of%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Will%20Meet%20Ordeals%20--The%20Role%20of%20Suffering%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20%282014%29.pdf |archive-date=3 August 2021 |access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref>{{rp|34,36}} Furthermore, for Nichiren, experiencing trials and even death in service to the ''Lotus Sutra'' was also a way to attain Buddhahood.<ref>Stone 2003, p. 242.</ref> This practice of "bodily reading" the sutra and "not begrudging bodily life" is one of the most central elements of Nichiren's soteriology. Nichiren found this teaching in the ''Lotus Sutra''{{'}}s statement "we do not value bodily life, but cherish only the unexcelled way."<ref name=":7">Stone 2003, p. 252.</ref>

Nichiren also saw his sufferings as redemptive opportunities to quickly transform his [[Karma in Buddhism|karma]] and repay his debts to the triple gem, to one's parents, nation, and to all of beings.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Stone2014b" />{{rp|37}} He further held that encountering great trials for the sake of the ''Lotus'' guaranteed one's future Buddhahood, and he compared this to the radical acts of self-sacrifice found in the Mahayana sutras. His personal example has provided enduring encouragement to Nichiren Buddhists as well as to other individuals who have risked their lives to uphold their convictions.<ref name=":0" />

Nichiren was well aware of the struggles his followers faced in their lives. He taught them that facing these challenges would lead to a sense of inner freedom, peace of mind, and to an understanding of the Dharma. Nichiren accepted the classic Buddhist views on karma which taught that a person's current conditions were the cumulative effect of past thoughts, words, and actions. However, he preferred to focus on how all people, even the ignorant, poor and evil, could become Buddhas through devotion to the ''Lotus Sutra''.<ref name="Stone2014b">{{Cite journal |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/A%20Votary%20of%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Will%20Meet%20Ordeals%20--The%20Role%20of%20Suffering%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20(2014).pdf |first=Jacqueline I. |last=Stone |title=A votary of the Lotus Sutra will meet ordeals: The role of suffering in Nichiren's thought |journal=Dharma World |date=January–March 2014 |access-date=5 December 2018 |archive-date=3 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803202351/http://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/A%20Votary%20of%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Will%20Meet%20Ordeals%20--The%20Role%20of%20Suffering%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20%282014%29.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|30–32}} Nichiren thus taught that when confronting difficult karmic situations, chanting of the daimoku would open the wisdom of the Buddha and transform one's karma, awakening a universal concern for one's society.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Habito|first=Ruben L.F.|date=2005|title=Review of Nichiren, der Ausubende des Lotos-Sutra by Yukio Matsudo|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2868|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=32/1|pages=166–174|access-date=5 December 2018|archive-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180701060855/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2868|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|168}} In some of his letters, Nichiren extended his theory of facing persecution for the ''Lotus Sutra'' to personal problems like familial discord or illness. He encouraged his followers to take ownership of negative life events, and to view them as opportunities to repay karmic debts and to practice Dharma, which help could shorten the length of these events.<ref name="Stone2014c" />{{rp|37}}

For Nichiren, finding joy in experiencing the ''Lotus Sutra'' through one's personal life experience was of paramount in importance. Nichiren held that peace of mind in the face of life's challenges is precisely what the Lotus Sutra meant by its statement that those to uphold the sutra will have peace and security. According to Stone, Nichiren "demonstrated an attitude that wastes little energy in railing against it but unflinchingly embraces it, interpreting it in whatever way appears meaningful at the moment so as to use that suffering for one's own development and to offer it on behalf of others."<ref name="Stone2014c" />{{rp|39}}

=== The non-dual Lotus land ===
[[file:Kaikoku Ishiwa-gawa ukai bokonka do-su (BM 1948,0410,0.114).jpg|thumb|Nichiren chanting for fishermen at Ishiwa River, by [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi]] (歌川国芳)]]
Nichiren defends a profound [[Nondualism|nonduality]] between subjective existence and the surrounding world, the non-separation of subjective experience and environmental karmic effects (''eshō funi'', 依正不二). According to this doctrine, the environment reflects the inner life-condition of the sentient beings who inhabit it. Thus, the same world appears differently to individuals based on their state of mind: a person in a state of hellish suffering experiences a hell-like world, while an awakened being experiences a Buddha land. This teaching was not limited to internal realization; it implied that sincere Buddhist practice would directly affect the external world. Because each of the Ten Realms interpenetrates and includes both sentient beings and their environments, the act of actualizing Buddhahood within oneself simultaneously actualizes Buddhahood in one’s surroundings. As more individuals engage in the chanting practice, the transformation would extend outward, gradually turning this world into an ideal [[Pure Land|buddhafield]].<ref name=":0" />

Nichiren envisioned this transformed world as a tangible outcome of faith and practice, though he rarely detailed its specific characteristics. However, in one writing, he claims that if everyone chanted in unison, natural disasters would cease, social harmony would prevail, and people would gain long lives. This suggests that through faith in the ''Lotus Sūtra'', a society in alignment with nature and moral governance could be established. This vision imbues Nichiren’s doctrine with a clear social dimension: the realization of the Buddha's land is not solely an individual spiritual goal but a communal one. His followers across history have pursued this aim in various forms, inspired by the belief that practice can reform society. Nichiren's this-worldly orientation stands in contrast to the Pure Land ideal prevalent in his time, which encouraged rejection of this impure world in favor of rebirth in a transcendent land after death.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Sugawara_Mitsushige_Lotus_Sutra,_23.jpg|thumb|The Assembly in Space above Vulture Peak; from an illustrated ''Lotus Sutra'', c. 1257.]]
In his later years, Nichiren did address the question of the devotee’s destiny after death. He taught that anyone who embraced the ''Lotus Sutra'' and had faith in it would enter the "pure land of [[Vulture Peak]]" (''Ryōzen jōdō'', 霊山浄土), associated with the ''Lotus Sutra's'' assembly in the air. This provided a peaceful postmortem destination for Nichiren's followers, analogous to the pure land of [[Sukhavati]].<ref name=":6">Stone, Jacqueline. ''[https://www.princeton.edu/~jstone/Articles%20on%20the%20Lotus%20Sutra%20Tendai%20and%20Nichiren%20Buddhism/The%20Moment%20of%20Death%20in%20Nichiren%27s%20Thought%20(2003).pdf The Moment of Death in Nichiren's Thought].'' In Watanabe Hoyo Sensei koki kinen ronbunshu: Hokke bukkyo bunkashi ronso. Kyoto: Heirakuji shoten, 2003</ref> However, Nichiren did not regard this pure land as realm separate from this world. Even though it encompasses the faithful deceased, this land is ultimately the sacred space of enlightenment accessible here and now through devotion to the ''Lotus Sūtra''. It is thus the "land of tranquil light" (''jō jakkōdo''), the highest pure land in the Tendai system.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" /> For Nichiren, the boundary between the mundane and the sacred collapses in the moment of embracing the ''Lotus''. By chanting ''Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō'', "gains entrance by faith" into the Buddha's presence, participating in the "eternal assembly in open space" (''kokūe no gishiki'') of the ''Lotus Sutra,'' where Shakyamuni and [[Prabhutaratna|Many Jewels]] Buddha teach from the Jeweled Stupa.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6" />

Thus, Nichiren says in his ''Kanjin honzon shō'':<blockquote>The ''sahā'' world of the present moment (''ima''), which is the original time (''honji'') [of the Buddha’s enlightenment], is the constantly abiding pure land, liberated from the three disasters and beyond [the cycle of] the four kalpas [formation, stability, decline and extinction]. Its Buddha has not already entered nirvāṇa in the past, nor is he yet to be born in the future. And his disciples are of the same essence. This [world] is [implicit in] the three realms, which are inherent in the three thousand realms of one’s mind.<ref name=":6" />  </blockquote>Thus, through faith and the daimoku, one can enter the pure land in this life, which is equivalent to "attaining buddhahood in this body" (''sokushin jōbutsu'').<ref name=":6" /> Therefore, unlike with the pure land teaching of Sukhavati, Nichiren's idea of the pure land is not a world outside of [[Saṃsāra|samsara]] and does not require one to loathe this defiled world and seek to escape it.<ref name=":6" /> Nichiren writes:<blockquote>The originally enlightened Buddha of the perfect teaching abides in this world. If one abandons this land, toward what other land should one aspire? . . . The practitioner who believes in the ''Lotus'' and ''Nirvana'' sutras should not seek another place, for wherever one has faith in this sutra is precisely the pure land. . . . For people of our day, who have not yet formed a bond with the ''Lotus Sutra'', to aspire to the Western Pure Land is to aspire to a land of rubble.<ref name="Stone 2003, p. 247"/></blockquote>

=== Equality ===
Nichiren taught that all beings had the same capacity to attain Buddhahood. He held that the ''Lotus Sutra'' teaches the equality of all beings.<ref>Toshie Kurihara. ''[https://www.totetu.org/assets/media/paper/j020_038.pdf The Concept of Equality in the Lotus Sutra: The SGI’s Viewpoint]''

</ref> He also taught that neither social class nor gender were barriers to one's Buddhahood. This non-controversial view was rare in Japan, which was a society dominated by elite men. Women were not even allowed on [[Mount Hiei]] for example, and were traditionally considered to be impure during menstruation.<ref name=":4">Montgomery (1991), pp. 113-114</ref> Nichiren emphasized that women equal in their spiritual capacity: <blockquote>Many women in their prime became nuns during Shakyamuni's time and practiced the way of the Buddha, but they were never despised because of their menstrual periods. Menstruation is not a pollution that comes from without. It is simply a feminine characteristic...<ref name=":4" /> </blockquote>