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Nichiren’s Life and Teaching

Nichiren was born on February 16, 1222, in a small fishing village named Kominato. His parents sent him at the age of 12 to a local temple to begin his formal education. There he perfected his skills in reading and writing in both Japanese and Chinese, the latter being the language of official and scholarly communication at the time. The temple where he studied, Seicho-ji, belonged to the Tendai school which nominally adhered to the teachings handed down from the T’ien-t’ai school in China. In fact, the T’ien-t’ai teachings had become mixed with rituals from other religious schools—a syncretism typical of Japanese Buddhism in the thirteenth century. Nichiren was disturbed by this confusion of doctrines and decided at age 16 to continue his religious studies rather than return to secular life.

Nichiren later recounted that he had prayed to the Bodhisattva Space Treasury to become the wisest person in Japan and had been presented with “a great jewel as brilliant as the morning star.” [8] He set out in 1239 to find documentary confirmation of his understanding at the centers of Buddhist learning elsewhere in Japan. During the succeeding fourteen years that he spent studying Buddhist texts and doctrine, he became increasingly critical of the various Buddhist schools, finally becoming convinced that the Lotus Sutra (Hokekyo in Japanese) was the only teaching that fully expressed the truth to which he had been awakened. He returned to Seicho-ji in 1253 and, shortly afterward, very early in the morning of the twenty-eighth day of the fourth month, chanted the daimoku—the invocation of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo—for the first time, proclaiming that this phrase embodied the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra, that is, the ultimate truth of all phenomena. [9]

Preaching this doctrine at the temple where he had been educated precipitated the first of many persecutions and attempts on his life. Persevering with equanimity despite such hardships, he continued to teach that chanting the phrase Nam-myoho-renge-kyo would lead practitioners to perceive their essential, enlightened nature and thereby attain Buddhahood. In order to enable people to sustain their practice after his death, he inscribed a mandala called the Gohonzon as the focus for the religious practice of his followers. [10] He taught that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to the Gohonzon would enable people to discover their own essential unity with the ultimate reality of the universe. According to Nichiren, this practice, when rooted in faith and sustained by study and compassion for others, is the way of enlightenment.

Nichiren spent his life teaching this doctrine, always supporting the spiritual growth of his lay followers as well as training young priests. In his final years Nichiren appointed six senior disciples to carry on his teaching. On his deathbed, he named one of them, Nikko, as his successor. [11] He died on October 13, 1282.