Nichiren

Nichiren (born February 16, 1222, Kominato, Japan—died November 14, 1282, Ikegami) was a militant Japanese Buddhist prophet who contributed significantly to the adaptation of Buddhism to the Japanese mentality and who remains one of the most controversial and influential figures in Japanese Buddhist history. After an exhaustive study of the various forms of Buddhism, he concluded (in 1253) that the Lotus Sutra teaching was the only true doctrine suitable for his age and predicted calamity for Japan if all other sects were not banished. He wrote his systematic work, Kaimokushō (1272), while in exile for his radical teachings.

Early years and spiritual quest

Nichiren, the son of a fisherman, was born in a village on the Pacific coast of the present Bōsō Peninsula in eastern Japan. When he was 11 years old, he entered the Buddhist monastery of Kiyosumi-dera, near Kominato, and after four years of novitiate received the Buddhist orders. Buddhism in Japan had become more and more doctrinally confused, and the identity of the various sects was based more on institutional aspects than on doctrinal tenets. Though the monastery of Kiyosumi-dera officially belonged to the Tendai sect (which was centred on the Lotus Sutra text and realization of the universal Buddha-nature), the doctrine practiced there was a mixture of different Buddhist schools; it had a strong emphasis on Shingon, an esoteric school that emphasized an elaborate symbolic ritual as a means of arousing an immediate sense of the all-pervading presence of the Buddha.

The young monk was too intense and too sincere in his quest for the true doctrine of the Buddha to be satisfied with such prevailing confusion of doctrine. Soon his central spiritual problem was to find, through the maze of scriptures and doctrines, the authentic teaching that the historical Buddha, Gautama, had preached for the salvation of humankind. So he undertook a thorough study of all the major Buddhist schools existing in Japan.

In 1233 he went to Kamakura, where he studied Amidism—a pietistic school that stressed salvation through the invocation of Amitabha (Amida), the Buddha of infinite compassion—under the guidance of a renowned master. After having persuaded himself that Amidism was not the true Buddhist doctrine, he passed to the study of Zen Buddhism, which had become popular in Kamakura and Kyōto. He then went to Mount Hiei, the cradle of Japanese Tendai Buddhism, where he found the original purity of the Tendai doctrine corrupted by the introduction and acceptance of other doctrines, especially Amidism and esoteric Buddhism. To eliminate any possible doubts, Nichiren decided to spend some time at Mount Kōya, the centre of esoteric Buddhism, and also in Nara, Japan’s ancient capital, where he studied the Ritsu sect, which emphasized strict monastic discipline and ordination.

By 1253, 20 years after his quest had begun, Nichiren had reached his final conclusion: the true Buddhism was to be found in the Lotus Sutra, and all other Buddhist doctrines were only temporary and provisional steps used by the historical Buddha as a pedagogical method to lead people to the full and final doctrine contained in the Lotus Sutra. Moreover, the Buddha himself had decreed that this doctrine was to be preached during the age of mappō (the “latter law”)—the last, degenerate period after his death, the present age—and that a teacher would then appear to preach this true and final doctrine.

Nichiren’s doctrine

In the spring of 1253, Nichiren returned to Kiyosumi-dera, where he proclaimed his faith before his old master and his fellow monks, adding that all other forms of Buddhism should be banished, for they were false and were misleading the people. Neither the monks of Kiyosumi-dera nor the feudal lord of the region accepted his doctrine, and their angry reaction was such that he had to escape to save his life.

Expelled from his monastery, Nichiren lived in a little hut in Kamakura and spent his days preaching his doctrine at the busiest crossroads of the city. His constant attacks against all other sects of Buddhism attracted an ever-increasing hostility and finally open persecution from Buddhist institutions and from the authorities. The country was at the time afflicted by epidemics, earthquakes, and internal strife. Reflecting on this sad situation, Nichiren is said to have read once again all the Buddhist scriptures and in 1260 published a short tract, Risshō ankoku ron (“The Establishment of Righteousness and the Pacification of the Country”), in which he stated that the deplorable state of the country was due to the people’s refusal to follow true Buddhism and their support of false sects. The only salvation was for the authorities and the people of Japan to accept Nichiren’s doctrine as the national faith and banish all the other sects. If this was not done, Nichiren claimed, the state of the country would become even worse, and Japan would be invaded by a foreign power. The military government in Kamakura reacted to this prophetic admonition by exiling the monk to a deserted place in the Izu-hantō, in the present Shizuoka prefecture, in June 1261. He was pardoned in 1263, but upon his return to Kamakura Nichiren renewed his attacks.

Are you a student?

Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Subscribe

In 1268 an embassy from the Mongols—who had conquered China—arrived in Japan with the demand that the Japanese become a tributary nation to the new Mongol dynasty. Nichiren saw in this event the fulfillment of his prophecy of 1260. Once again he sent copies of his Risshō ankoku ron to the authorities and the heads of the major Buddhist institutions, insisting again that if his doctrine was not accepted as the true Buddhism and if the other sects were not banished, Japan would be visited with all manner of calamities.

Exile

Again the authorities and the older Buddhist sects were enraged by the extraordinary audacity of this troublesome monk, and in 1271 Nichiren was arrested and condemned to death. The death penalty was commuted at the last moment, and, instead of being executed, Nichiren was exiled to the island of Sado, in the Sea of Japan, where in 1272 he wrote his systematic work Kaimokushō (“The Opening of the Eyes”).

According to Nichiren’s account and the belief of his adherents, he was saved from execution by a miraculous intervention that struck the sword from the executioner’s hand. While the fiery monk was in exile, a second and a third Mongol embassy arrived, threatening an invasion if Japan persisted in its refusal to become a vassal nation. Nichiren’s prophecy and the pressure of his influential friends in Kamakura moved the government, and an edict of pardon was issued in the spring of 1274. In May Nichiren arrived in Kamakura, where he met with high government officials and reiterated his stern requests. Though this time the authorities treated him with deference and respect, they still refused to comply with his demands.

Full of indignation, Nichiren left Kamakura in June and with a small number of disciples retired to a solitary place on Mount Minobu, in the present Yamanashi prefecture. There he spent his last years instructing his followers and writing. Among the main works of this period are the “Selection of the Time,” a synthetic exposition of his philosophy of history, and “In Recompense of Indebtedness,” in which a good life is seen as one of practical gratitude toward one’s parents, all creatures, one’s sovereign, and the Buddha.

The hardships and persecutions endured for so many years began to take their toll, and Nichiren’s state of health grew worse and worse. His final illness was probably a cancer of the intestinal tract. In the fall of 1282 he left his hermitage at Minobu and took residence in the mansion of one of his disciples in the district of Ikegami (in what is now Tokyo), where he died.

Legacy

Nichiren is perhaps the most controversial figure in the history of Japanese Buddhism. Incapable of accepting any compromise, he described himself as a most intractable character. Yet letters he wrote to his disciples and friends reveal how loving, understanding, and even delicate he could be. He dearly loved Japan and wanted it to fulfill its mission of being the chosen country of Buddhism, from which Buddha’s salvation was to spread to the entire world. His Buddhism was typically Japanese in the sense that it could not be confined to mere speculation or even to individual salvation but had to be concerned with the salvation of society and temporal institutions—hence the importance he gave to the right understanding of history and human affairs. The continuing vitality of the religious system he founded in the 13th century is attested by the fact that many of the modern Buddhist sects now flourishing in Japan are, in various degrees, based on Nichiren’s doctrines. See also Nichiren Buddhism.