Nichiren believed, that directly revealing one ’ s Buddha nature is possible through the practice of the Bodhisattvas who: “ do not carry out the practice of gradual progress.

The Dai-Gohonzon is a mandala believed by Nichiren Shoshu to have been inscribed by Nichiren Daishonin in Chinese and Sanskrit characters on October 12, 1279.

Its existence is believed to have been “ hidden in the depths of the text ” ( 文底秘沈: montei hichin ) of Shakyamuni's Lotus Sutra, remaining secret until Nichiren Daishonin revealed it.

In Nichiren Shoshu, it is believed that the Dai-Gohonzon ( and its constituent facets ) is the ultimate Buddhist teaching revealed by the True Buddha, Nichiren Daishonin.

Nichiren ( 日蓮 ) ( 1222 – 1282 ) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who, having studied Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings and the commentaries of the leading Buddhist scholars, believed that the Lotus Sutra was the ultimate teaching of Shakyamuni and that it was the one true teaching.

This is because in Nichiren Shōshū, only the high priest has the authority to inscribe Gohonzons, which are transcriptions of the Dai-Gohonzon, a specific Gohonzon that Nichiren is believed to have inscribed on the 12th day of the tenth month of 1279.

Though Nichiren Shoshu still considered individual Soka Gakkai members as lay followers until a rule change in 1997, most mistakenly believed that they had been excommunicated along with the Soka Gakkai organization and its executive leaders.

Nichiren declared that the Japanese title of the Lotus Sutra, Myōhō-Renge-Kyō, was the essence of the sutra and that therefore the invocation Nam-Myōhō-Renge-kyō enabled a practitioner to embrace the entirety of the teaching, in conjunction with the Lotus Sutra's injunctions to embrace the text.

In 1257, Nichiren visited Jisso-ji Temple, which was closely affiliated with Shijuku-in Temple, to study at the sutra library for His ' Rissho Ankoku Ron ' ( Eng.

Offering the sutra entails reciting the Expedient Means ( second ) and the Life Span of the Tathagata ( sixteenth ) chapters of the Lotus Sutra ; the silent prayers are five formal meditations expressing gratitude for the Three Treasures as defined in Nichiren Shoshu, and the merit accrued through Buddhist practices.

This is because chanting as much daimoku as possible is the main practice of the Nichiren Shoshu faithful, whereas the sutra recitations are an auxiliary practice.

Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra ( entitled Myōhō-Renge-Kyō in Japanese )— which contained Gautama Buddha's teachings towards the end of his life — as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment.

* 1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.

The essence of the Lotus Sutra, as Nichiren Daishonin taught, was that all men and women, regardless of social class or place are inherently endowed with this Buddha nature and could therefore attain Buddhahood.

Nichiren viewed that the essence of the Lotus Sutra as expression of humanism: “ the Lotus Sutra that leads all people to Buddhahood, and we ordinary human beings are in no way different or separate from one another.

According to modern Buddhist movement of Nichiren Buddhism, the essence of Buddhist humanism lies in treasuring diversity: “ The humanism of the Lotus Sutra comes down to the tenet of treasuring the individual ”

Nichiren Buddhism includes various schools with their own interpretations of Nichiren's teachings, the most prominent being Nichiren Shu, Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai ; however, despite the differences between schools, all Nichiren sects share the fundamental practice of chanting daimoku.

While virtually all Nichiren Buddhist schools regard him as a reincarnation of the Lotus Sutra's Bodhisattva Superior Practices, Jōgyō Bosatsu ( 上行菩薩 ), some schools of Nichiren Buddhism's Nikkō lineages regard him as the actual Buddha of this age, or the Buddha of the Latter day of the Law.

After making his declaration, which all schools of Nichiren Buddhism regard as marking their foundation ( 立宗: risshū ), Nichiren began propagating his teachings in Kamakura, then Japan's de facto capital since it was where the shikken ( regent for the shogun ) and shogun lived and the government was established.

While some schools regard this as features attributed to Shakyamuni Buddha others underline that he identifies himself as a votary of the Lotos Sutra :" Shakyamuni Buddha is the father and mother, teacher and sovereign to all living being ...” and similarly mentioning in his letter ' The Opening of the Eyes ':“ I, Nichiren, am sovereign, teacher, and father and mother to all the people ...”..

Preference for these titles generally depends on the school to which a person belongs, with " Shōnin " being commonly used within Nichiren Shū, which regards Nichiren as a Buddhist reformer and embodiment of Bodhisattva Superior Practices, while " Daishōnin " is the title used by followers of most, but not all, of the schools and temples derived from the Nikkō lineage, most notably the Sōka Gakkai, who regard Nichiren as ' The Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law ' and also Nichiren Shōshū, who regard Nichiren as ' The True Buddha ', or ' Buddha of True Cause '.

Setting out to declare his own teachings of Buddhism, Nichiren started at the age of 32 by denouncing all Mahayana schools of his time and by declaring the correct teaching as the Universal Dharma ( Nam-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō ) and chanting as the only path for personal and social salvation.

There is a difference between Nichiren teachings and almost all schools of Mahayana Buddhism regarding the understanding of the Latter day of the Law, Mappō.

Nichiren, on the other hand, confirms that the teachings of the Lotus Sutra will flourish for all eternity, and that the Bodhisattvas of the Earth will propagate Buddhism in the future.

Nichiren Buddhism is based on the Lotus Sutra, which teaches that all people have an innate Buddha nature and are therefore inherently capable of attaining enlightenment in their current form and present lifetime.

The two outstanding doctrines of the Lotus Sutra, which were the focus of Nichiren ’ s teachings and practice are: the attainment of Buddhahood by all people in their lifetime, and the eternal life of the Buddha revealed in the Ceremony in the Air of the Lotus Sutra.

The chanting of the essential phrase Nam ( u ) Myoho Renge Kyo is a common practice between all followers of Nichiren Buddhism.

Form Nichiren ’ s point of view, however, his uncompromising stance was to save people from sufferings: “ Even in the case of the Nembutsu priests, the Zen priests, and the True Word teachers, and the ruler of the nation and other men of authority, all of whom bear me such hatred — I admonish them because I want to help them, and their hatred for me makes me pity them all the more ”.

After all attempts to silence or kill Nichiren failed, persecution turned towards his followers, the most famous of was the Atsuhara Persecution ( 1280 ), where three of Nichiren Buddhist were beheaded.

Nichiren Shōshū holds that in revealing and propagating his teachings, Nichiren Daishonin was fulfilling a prophecy made by the Buddha Shakyamuni ( Siddhartha Gautama ; 563 ?– 483?

This " true and correct form of Buddhism ", as Nichiren saw it, entailed regarding the Lotus Sutra as the fullest expression of the Buddha's teachings and putting those teachings into practice.

The mandala in Nichiren Buddhism is called a moji-mandala ( 文字曼陀羅 ) and is a paper hanging scroll or wooden tablet whose inscription consists of Chinese characters and medieval-Sanskrit script representing elements of the Buddha's enlightenment, protective Buddhist deities, and certain Buddhist concepts.

Nichiren Shōshū teaches that Nichiren Daishonin is the True Buddha and that his Dharma, or Mystic Law ( Myōhō: mystic in the sense of profound, sublime, or unfathomable ), is the True Buddha's ultimate teaching.

The Lotus Sutra is held by Nichiren Buddhists, as well as practitioners of the Chinese Tiantai ( T ' ien-t ' ai ) and corresponding Japanese Tendai sects, to be the culmination of Shakyamuni Buddha's 50 years of teaching.

It is considered by many Mahayana sects to be a continuation ( an epilogue ) of the Buddha's teachings found within the Lotus Sutra and is therefore included into the canon of some Nichiren Buddhist sects, and also Risshō Kōsei Kai.

In his letter " A Comparison between the Lotus and Other Sutras " Nichiren viewed the Four Noble Truths as a specific teaching expounded by the Buddha to the śrāvakas disciples, those who attain awakening by listening to the teachings of a Buddha.

Nichiren viewed his teachings as a method of efficaciously preventing this and other disasters: that the best countermeasure against the degeneracy of the times and its associated disasters was through the activation of Buddha-nature by chanting and the other practices which he advocated.

Based on prophecies made in several sutras, Nichiren attributed the occurrence of the famines, disease, and natural disasters ( especially drought, typhoons, and earthquakes ) of his day to teachings of Buddhism no longer appropriate for the time.

Nichiren attributed the turmoil in society to the invalid teachings of the Buddhist schools of his time, including the Tendai sect in which he was ordained: " It is better to be a leper who chants Nam-myōhō-renge-kyō than be a chief abbot of the Tendai school ".

Citing Buddhist sutras and commentaries, Nichiren argued that the Buddhist teachings were being distorted for their own gain.

As a result, Nichiren Buddhism encompasses several major branches and schools, each with its own doctrine and set of interpretations of Nichiren's teachings. See Nichiren Buddhism.

Nichiren Buddhism ( 日蓮系諸宗派: Nichiren-kei sho shūha ) is a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese Buddhist reformer Nichiren ( 1222 – 1282 ).

Nichiren Buddhists believe that the spread of Nichiren's teachings and their effect on practitioners ' lives will eventually bring about a peaceful, just, and prosperous society.

During his lifetime, Nichiren stridently maintained that the contemporary teachings of Buddhism taught by other sects, ( particularly Nembutsu, Zen, Shingon, and Ritsu ) were mistaken in their interpretations of the correct path to enlightenment, and therefore refuted them publicly and vociferously.