Nichiren Shounin

Saint Nichiren was born on February 16, 1222 (Jōkyū 4 of the Kamakura period) in the fishing village of Kominato, located on today’s Bōsō Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture. According to legend, on the day of his birth, lotus flowers bloomed in the sea, pure spring water gushed forth from the garden, and various other wondrous signs appeared.

At the time, common people widely practiced the Nembutsu and other forms of faith, yet these beliefs were doing nothing to resolve the nation’s conflicts or epidemics. Questioning this, Nichiren Shounin entered Seichō-ji Temple near his home at the age of twelve. Seeking to discover what the Buddha’s true teaching really was, he traveled to Kyoto and Nara to study, engaging in about twenty years of Buddhist research. In the end, he became convinced that among all the sutras, the Lotus Sutra was the supreme teaching.

Within the Lotus Sutra, he found in particular that the Odaimoku — NAMUMYOUHOURENGUEKYOU— as revealed in the Honmon Happon (the “Eight Chapters of the Primordial Teaching”) was the true teaching of the Buddha for the people living in the Latter Day of the Law (Mappō). Having discovered this answer, he vowed to spread the Odaimoku to the world. This was on April 28, 1253, when Nichiren Shounin was 32 years old.

In the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, “The Life Span of the Thus Come One” (Nyorai Juryō-hon), the Buddha reveals, “My true identity is in fact the Eternal Original Buddha (Kuon Honbutsu), possessing an everlasting life.” From this noble position, the Buddha explains the nature of true faith. Then, in the 21st chapter, “The Supernatural Powers of the Thus Come One” (Nyorai Jinriki-hon), he instructs his disciple Bodhisattva Vishistacaritra (Jōgyō Bosatsu): “Soon I will only temporarily disappear from this world. After my passing, you must take my place in transmitting and spreading the teachings of the Lotus Sutra.”

About twenty years after making his vow to spread the Odaimoku, Nichiren Shounin came to the conviction that he himself had been given the mission by the Eternal Original Buddha to propagate the Law, and that he was none other than the reincarnation of Jyougyou Bodhisattva The Lotus Sutra states that in the Latter Day of the Law, the one who spreads the Sutra in the Buddha’s stead will inevitably face persecutions such as exile, being attacked with swords, and other trials. At the same time, it promises that the heavenly deities who protect the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra will safeguard this person and aid in fulfilling their mission.

Nichiren Shounin, reflecting on the many persecutions he endured — both great and small — while spreading the Odaimoku, recognized in them the exact trials described in the Lotus Sutra. He thus became fully certain that no one but himself could be the rebirth of Jyougyou Bodhisattva, the messenger of the Eternal Original Buddha.

From then until his passing at the age of 61, Nichiren Shounin lived with the awareness of his identity as the embodiment of Jyougyou Bodhisattva and devoted himself completely to propagating the Odaimoku throughout Japan. Had Nichiren Shounin not appeared in this world, we would never have been taught the Buddha’s true teaching — faith in the Odaimoku of the Lotus Sutra — by anyone.