A Nichiren Buddhist is one who chants the mantra Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and follows the teachings of the 13th Century monk known as Nichiren.

Who was he? On what were his teachings based?
Nichiren was born in Japan in February of 1222. His parents made their living by fishing, so they didn't have much money. Yhey recognized that their son was quite special and wanted the best education for him. So they allowed him to enter a Buddhist monastery when he was around age 12.

Legend -- and Nichiren's own writings -- record that at age 17, while praying in front of a statue of Bodhisattva Kokuzo to become the wisest man in the universe, a jewel of infinite value was bestowed upon Nichiren.

What I take this to mean is that, as a direct result of his fervent prayer and as a manifestation of his karma to become a great teacher, Nichiren gained a profound, probably non-verbal insight into the ultimate nature of things.

From that time until the year 1253 -- a period of at least fifteen years -- Nichiren devoted himself to mastering not only all of the Buddhist sutras available to him, but the languages of Sanskrit and Chinese in which they were originally written.

April 28, 1253 was the big day. Giving a sermon at his home temple, Nichiren proclaimed that the Lotus Sutra was supreme among all of Sakyamuni's teachings and that the present-day way to practice that sutra in its entirety was the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

He also took the occasion of this sermon to give himself the name Nichiren, meaning Sun Lotus. His listeners' response to his sermon was a blending of "this guy must be nuts" and "this sounds way too easy" -- not much different than the response that many people today have. But the Japanese response was also accompanied by outrage.

One element that played a part in the Japanese response to Nichiren, and which is probably not a factor to most Westerners, was that he was speaking to an audience already quite rooted in Buddhist culture and beliefs. As such, his views were seen as both revolutionary and heretical.

For those "blank slates" who are reading this now, the proposal that the mantra Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the essential Buddhist practice may seem a bit simpler than you would have expected, but it probably does not seem threatening to your way of life or your beliefs.

Without going into great detail, at least for now, about the rest of his life, suffice it to say that his April 28th pronouncements set Nichiren on a whole new course. He was literally chased from the temple grounds following this first sermon and was dogged by both rival priests and the secular authorities for the rest of his life. His homes were burned. He was officially sent into exile twice, and at one point the government actually attempted to execute him.

In the fall of 1271, the authorities took him down to the Kamakura beach, near present-day Tokyo, and tried to chop off his head. Historical documents and Nichiren's own writings tell of a meteor flashing across the sky just as the executioner raised his sword. Both the executioner and the soldiers on horseback who had brought Nichiren down for the execution fled the scene, and the government was forced to arrange his second exile.

Do I think some Buddha in the sky or "God" sent the meteor to protect Nichiren? No, I suspect the meteor would have been there anyway. That Nichiren was on the beach about to get his head chopped off was simply superb timing on his part.

That's a lot of what the practice of Buddhism is about: good timing. One minute you're driving down the road, the next you get creamed by a drunk driver. How come you were there, or weren't? One minute you're at the convenience store picking up a pack of smokes, the next moment some moron comes in to hold the place up. How come you were there, or weren't?

What Nichiren demonstrated during the course of his life, not only at Kamakura beach but at other times as well, was how good timing can really make a difference, and how the Buddhist practice excels in putting time on our side.

What I really love about Nichiren was that he wrote a lot of this stuff down; I don't have to take anything on "hearsay." Many of his writings, known as Gosho, are still extant and have been translated into English. Many of them contain a sense of power, passion and poetry that cannot help but move the reader.

Benedict Baruch de Spinoza, a Jewish philosopher of the 17th Century, made the following point: He said that whereas men of reason attempt to move men's minds, men of religion attempt to move their hearts. As a result, Spinoza pointed out, religious writings tend toward hyperbole and exaggeration. Great myths are presented in order to bypass the brain and touch the soul.

A successful religious teaching is one that does this and, in so doing, moves people to faith.

Spinoza dared claim that this was the source and inspiration of the Bible. Incidentally, because of his "heretical" views, Spinoza was issued the harshest writ of excommunication ever pronounced by the orthodox Jewish community in his home of Amsterdam.

I have no difficulty in seeing that what was true for the framers of the Bible was also true for the collectors of the Buddhist sutras and for Nichiren himself. I have no doubt whatsoever that, through his writings, Nichiren intended to touch people's hearts.

He was not the sort of man who was either intractable or prone to nit picking. Over and over and over again, he talks only about the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra and the efficacy of the mantra, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. He is not interested in laying down codes of conduct and commandments.

The Lotus Sutra, along with all other sutras, is the product of some council convened in the centuries following Sakayamuni's death. There are several different versions of it in several different languages, including, Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese and English.

Nichiren felt that the Chinese version translated by a man named Kumarajiva was most correct. This version was also used by a Chinese priest named T'ien-t'ai (in Chinese, Chih-I) to develop many of the theoretical doctrines that Nichiren used in supporting his claims regarding Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

The Lotus Sutra is said to be the sutra that most closely mirrors Sakyamuni's teachings during the last eight years of his life. What the 28 chapters of the Lotus Sutra reveal is Sakyamuni's determination that Buddhism evolve in the millennia after his death. He postulated that both technological achievement and spiritual development would lead all the people of the planet to a place where they could each seek their enlightenment on their own.

This was most certainly not the case when he commenced preaching. Sakyamuni's first teachings were heavily codified and he was explicit in his insistence that the Buddhist way was only open to a very elite few.

In the Lotus Sutra, Sakyamuni revealed two great teachings. In the second chapter, he revealed that enlightenment or Buddhahood is the potential of each and every human being. This was revolutionary. Sakyamuni, for the first time, guaranteed the enlightenment of women. He even prophesied the enlightenment of a man name Devadatta, who had spent his life trying to assassinate the Buddha. Two thousand years ago, Sakyamuni Buddha taught that all human beings were equal by dint of their capacity to be Buddhas, to attain enlightenment.

In the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Sakyamuni went a bit further. Up until this point he had always talked about enlightenment as a process, a gradual developing of the sense and awareness that each of us possesses the Buddha nature, that we are one with Dharma.

In the 16th chapter, using an analogy, he indicated that a Buddha even greater and more profoundly versed than he had enabled him to attain enlightenment. Sakyamuni declared that enlightenment is something that eternally resides within. Buddhahood is part of our being; it is something to be recalled rather than something to be attained.

Think about what this means. As long as enlightenment is viewed as a process or a journey, there is always the chance that some of us don't have it or won't make it. The Lotus Sutra makes clear that not only do all of us eternally possess the potential for enlightenment, we cannot fail.

All we have to do is recall our enlightenment and actualize it in the course of our daily existence.

All we have to do sounds so easy and facile and like every other self-help book ever written, doesn't it?

But this is a revolutionary teaching that requires a revolutionary practice -- and that is precisely what Nichiren came up with.

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Chapter 1: Looking for a Bridge

Chapter 2: Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra

Chapter 3: Defining Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

Chapter 4: The Benefits of Buddhist Practice

Chapter 5: A Focal Point for One's Faith

Chapter 6: The Gohonzon and Bodhisattva Practice

Chapter 7: A Personal Relationship with the Gohonzon