After a pardon and his return from exile, Nichiren moved to Mt. Some Nichiren schools see the incident of the attempted beheading as marking a turning point in Nichiren's teaching, since Nichiren began inscribing the Gohonzon and wrote a number of major doctrinal treatises during his subsequent three-year exile on Sado Island in the Japan Sea. In doing so, he provoked the ire of the country's rulers and of the priests of the sects he criticized he was subjected to persecution which included an attempted beheading and at least two exiles. 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. The mantra he expounded on 28 April 1253, Nam-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō, expresses his devotion to that body of teachings. He eventually concluded that the highest teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha (563–483 BC) were to be found in the Lotus Sutra. Kōya, in his day the major centers of Buddhist study, in the Kyoto– Nara area. 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.įrom the age of 16 until 32, Nichiren studied in numerous temples in Japan, especially Mt. Nichiren Buddhism is a comprehensive term covering several major schools and many sub-schools, as well as several of Japan's new religions.

It is also noted for positioning itself in opposition to other forms of Japanese Buddhism-in particular the Zen, Pure Land, esoteric, and Ritsu schools, which Nichiren saw as deviating from the orthodoxy of Mahayana Buddhism. Nichiren Buddhism is generally noted for its focus on the Lotus Sutra and an attendant belief that all people have an innate Buddha nature and are therefore inherently capable of attaining enlightenment in their current form and present lifetime. Various forms of Nichiren Buddhism have had great influence among certain sections of Japanese society at different times in the country's history, such as among the merchants of Kyoto in Japan's Middle Ages and among some ultranationalists during the pre- World War II era.

Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren (1222–1282).

Merchants of kaidan monastery