Editing Nichiren (section)

=== First remonstration to the Kamakura government ===
[[File:Nichiren exiled.jpg|thumb|left|The banishment of Nichiren in 1261.  The disciple [[Nichirō]] wished to follow but was forbidden to do so. Tourist postcard artwork, circa 1920s.]]

Nichiren arrived in Kamakura in 1254. Between 1254 and 1260 half of the population had perished due to a tragic succession of calamities that included drought, earthquakes, epidemics, famine, fires, and storms.<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|432#49}}  Nichiren sought scriptural references to explain the unfolding of natural disasters and then wrote a series of works which, based on the Buddhist theory of the non-duality of the human mind and the environment, attributed the sufferings to the weakened spiritual condition of people, thereby causing the ''[[Kami]]'' (protective [[Honji suijaku|forces or traces]] of the Buddha) to abandon the nation. The root cause of this, he argued, was the widespread decline of the [[Dharma]] due to the mass adoption of the exclusive nembutsu teachings of [[Hōnen]].<ref name=Stone2003 />{{rp|249–250}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDH-CAAAQBAJ&q=nichiren&pg=PA275|title=A cultural history of Japanese Buddhism|last1=Deal|first1=William|last2=Ruppert|first2=Brian Douglas|isbn=978-1-118-60831-9|location=Chichester, West Sussex, UK|oclc=904194715|date=31 March 2015|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601175051/https://books.google.com/books?id=TDH-CAAAQBAJ&q=nichiren&pg=PA275|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|124–125}}

The most renowned of these works, considered his first major treatise, was the {{nihongo||立正安国論|Risshō Ankoku Ron}}, "On Securing the Peace of the Land through the Propagation of True Buddhism."<ref group=note name=note1/> Nichiren submitted it to [[Hōjō Tokiyori]], the ''[[de facto]]'' leader of the [[Kamakura shogunate]], as a political move to effectuate radical reform. In it he argued the necessity for "the Sovereign to recognize and accept the singly true and correct form of Buddhism (i.e., {{lang|ja|立正}} {{Transliteration|ja|risshō}}) as the only way to achieve peace and prosperity for the land and its people and end their suffering (i.e., {{lang|ja|安国}} {{Transliteration|ja|ankoku}})."<ref name="Two Nichiren Texts">{{cite book|last1=Murano|first1=Senchu|title=Two Nichiren Texts|date=2003|publisher=Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research|location=Berkeley, CA|isbn=1-886439-17-6|pages=9–52|url=http://www.bdk.or.jp/pdf/bdk/digitaldl/dBET_TwoNichirenTexts_2003.pdf|access-date=20 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322042446/http://www.bdk.or.jp/pdf/bdk/digitaldl/dBET_TwoNichirenTexts_2003.pdf|archive-date=22 March 2015}}</ref><ref name="sgilibrary.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=6&m=1&q|title=The Writings of Nichiren I, SGI 2006 pp, 6–32: On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land|publisher=Sgilibrary.org|access-date=6 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054536/http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=6&m=1&q|archive-date=21 September 2013}}</ref><ref>A tract revealing the gist of the "rissho angoku-ron", Kyotsu Hori (transl.); Sakashita, Jay (ed.): Writings of Nichiren, Doctrine 1, page 163  University of Hawai'i Press, 2003, {{ISBN|0-8248-2733-3}}</ref>

Using a dialectic form well-established in China and Japan, the treatise is a 10-segment fictional dialogue between a Buddhist wise man, presumably Nichiren, and a visitor who together lament the tragedies that have beleaguered the nation. The wise man answers the guest's questions and, after a heated exchange, gradually leads him to enthusiastically embrace the vision of a country grounded firmly on the ideals of the ''Lotus Sutra''. In this writing Nichiren displays a skill in using analogy, anecdote, and detail to persuasively appeal to an individual's unique psychology, experiences, and level of understanding.<ref name=Deal1999>{{Cite journal|last=Deal|first=William E.|date=1999|title=Nichiren's Risshō ankoku ron and Canon Formation|jstor=30233630|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=26|issue=3–4|pages=329–330}}</ref><ref name=Rodd1995 />{{rp|328}}<ref name=Rodd1980 />{{rp|10}}

The teacher builds his argument by quoting extensively from a set of Buddhist sutras and commentaries. In his future writings Nichiren continued to draw from the same sutras and commentaries which he deemed supportive of the ''Lotus Sutra'', including the ''[[Golden Light Sutra|Konkomyo]], [[Mahasamnipata Sutra|Daijuku]], [[Humane King Sutra|Ninno]], [[Bhaisajyaguru|Yakushi]],'' and ''[[Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra|Nirvana]]'' sutras. They share in common themes like prophecies of [[Decline of the Dharma|Dharma decline]] and nation-protecting teachings.<ref name=Deal1999 />{{rp|330–334}} The ''Risshō Ankoku Ron'' concludes with an urgent appeal to the ruler to cease all financial support for Buddhist schools promoting inferior teachings.<ref name="Deal1999" />{{rp|334}} Otherwise, Nichiren warns, as predicted by the sutras, the continued influence of inferior teachings would invite even more natural disasters as well as the outbreak of civil strife and foreign invasion.<ref name="Rodd1995" />{{rp|328}}

Nichiren submitted his treatise on 16 July 1260 but it drew no official response. It did, however, prompt a severe backlash from the Buddhist priests of other schools. Nichiren was challenged to a religious debate with leading Kamakura prelates in which, by his account, they were swiftly dispatched. Their lay followers then formed a mob and attacked Nichiren at his dwelling, forcing him to flee Kamakura. His critics had influence with key governmental figures and spread slanderous rumors about him. One year after he submitted the ''Rissho Ankoku Ron'' the authorities had him arrested and exiled to the Izu peninsula.<ref name="Stone2003" />{{rp|251}}

Nichiren's Izu exile lasted two years. In his extant writings from this time period, Nichiren began to strongly draw from chapters 10–22 of the ''Lotus Sutra'', what Tanabe calls its "third realm" ''(daisan hōmon)''. Nichiren began to emphasize the purpose of human existence as being the practice of the [[bodhisattva]] ideal in the real world which entails undertaking struggle and manifesting endurance. He suggested that he is a model of this behavior, a "votary" (''gyōja'') of the Lotus Sutra.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&q=%22third+realm%22|title=The Lotus Sutra in Japanese culture|date=1989|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|last1=Tanabe|first1=George J.|last2=Tanabe|first2=Willa J.|isbn=0-8248-1198-4|location=Honolulu|pages=43, 49|quote=Nichiren called this third realm ''daisan hōmon'', meaning the third sphere of 8akyamuni's teaching. The teachings in this realm of the Lotus Sutra emphasize the need to endure the trials of life and to practice the true law. In short, they advocate human activity in the real world, or bodhisattva practices. The eternal Buddha is also considered anew in this context, and it is said that Sakyamuni himself endlessly undertook bodhisattva practices. This third realm emphasizing bodhisattva practices suggests the meaning and purpose of human existence in this world.|oclc=18960211|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602160315/https://books.google.com/books?id=O03rvTi0vwAC&q=%22third+realm%22|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Stone2003" />{{rp|252}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QV4ZAwAAQBAJ&q=nichiren|title=Introduction to the Lotus Sutra|last=Tamura|first=Yoshirō|others=Reeves, Gene; Shinozaki, Michio|isbn=978-1-61429-099-5|location=Boston|pages=8–9,124|oclc=892059024|date=15 July 2014|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=1 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601165027/https://books.google.com/books?id=QV4ZAwAAQBAJ&q=nichiren|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kanno|first=Hiroshi|date=2007|title=The Bodhisattva Way and Valuing the Real World in the Lotus Sutra|url=http://www.iop.or.jp/Documents/0717/kanno.pdf|journal=Journal of Oriental Studies|volume=17|page=182|access-date=8 November 2018|archive-date=7 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107192405/http://www.iop.or.jp/Documents/0717/kanno.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Rodd1980" />{{rp|11–12}}
[[file:Tojo no Saemon Attacks Nichiren at Komatsubara in 1264.jpg|thumb|Tojo no Saemon Attacks Nichiren at Komatsubara]]
Upon being pardoned in 1263 Nichiren returned to Kamakura. In November 1264 he was ambushed and nearly killed at Komatsubara in Awa Province by a force led by Lord Tōjō Kagenobu. He suffered a broken arm and a sword cut across his forehead, and one of his followers was killed.<ref name=":0" /> For the next few years he preached in provinces outside of Kamakura but returned in 1268. At this point the Mongols sent envoys to Japan demanding tribute and threatening invasion.  Nichiren sent 11 letters to influential leaders reminding them about his predictions in the ''Rissho Ankoku Ron''.<ref name="Yampolsky1990" />{{rp|7–8}}