Editing Nichiren Buddhism (section)

===Nichiren and his time===

Nichiren Buddhism originated in 13th-century [[feudal]] Japan. It is one of six new forms of ''Shin Bukkyo'' (English: "New Buddhism") of [[Kamakura period#Flourishing of Buddhism|"Kamakura Buddhism."]]<ref name="Payne 1998">{{cite book|last1=Payne|first1=Richard K.|title=Re-visioning "Kamakura" Buddhism|date=1998|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0824820787|pages=1–2|chapter=Introduction}}</ref> The arrival of these new schools was a response to the social and political upheaval in Japan during this time as power passed from the nobility to a [[Shōgun|shogunate]] military dictatorship led by the [[Minamoto clan]] and later to the [[Hōjō clan]]. A prevailing pessimism existed associated with the perceived arrival of the [[Latter Age of the Dharma|Age of the Latter Day of the Law]]. The era was marked by an intertwining relationship between Buddhist schools and the state which included clerical corruption.<ref name=Anesaki1916 />{{rp|1–5}}

By Nichiren's time the Lotus Sūtra was firmly established in Japan. From the ninth century, Japanese rulers decreed that the Lotus Sūtra be recited in temples for its "nation-saving" qualities. It was the most frequently read and recited sutra by the literate lay class and its message was disseminated widely through art, folk tales, music, and theater. It was commonly held that it had powers to bestow spiritual and worldly benefits to individuals.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Readings of the Lotus Sūtra|date=2009|publisher=Columbia University Press|author1-link=Stephen F. Teiser|author2-link=Jacqueline Stone |first1=Stephen F. |last1=Teiser |first2=Jacqueline I. |last2=Stone |pages=3–4|chapter=Interpreting the Lotus Sutra|isbn=9780231142892|location=New York|oclc=255015350}}</ref><ref name=Habito1999 /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Readings of the Lotus Sūtra, Kindle Edition|date=2009|publisher=Columbia University Press|others=Teiser, Stephen F., Stone, Jacqueline Ilyse. |first=Ruben L. F. |last=Habito |chapter=Bodily Reading of the Lotus Sutra |at=4727 (Kindle locations) |isbn=9780231520430|location=New York|oclc=255015350}}</ref> However, even [[Mount Hiei]], the seat of [[Tiantai]] Lotus Sutra devotion, had come to adopt an [[Vajrayana|eclectic]] assortment of esoteric rituals and Pure Land practices as "[[Upaya|expedient means]]" to understand the sutra itself.<ref name=Lopez2016>{{Cite book|title=The Lotus Sūtra : a biograph|first=Donald S. Jr.|last=Lopez|isbn=9781400883349|location=Princeton|date=2016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTL9CwAAQBAJ&q=lopez+biography+of+the+lotus+sutra|oclc=959534116|access-date=1 November 2020|archive-date=20 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220220181006/https://books.google.com/books?id=FTL9CwAAQBAJ&q=lopez+biography+of+the+lotus+sutra|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|79}}<ref name=Stone1999d>{{Cite book|first=Jacqueline I. |last=Stone |chapter=Priest Nisshin's Ordeals |title=Religions of Japan in practice|date=1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|others=Tanabe, George J., Jr., 1943–|isbn=9780691057897|location=Princeton, NJ|oclc=39930710}}</ref>{{rp|385}}