The goal of Buddhism is attaining the stage of “selflessness.” This is an awakening by conquering one’s egotism manifesting as an aggregation of desires. However, one needs first to experience their ego and overcome it to reach “selflessness.” This also means there is no selflessness without ego. Knowing oneself and thereby all of humanity, one finally reaches the answer after a multitude of questions. The Buddha’s teachings show how to find the answer. They explain the practices we need to recognize the true nature of humanity and to how to live in the right way. Thus, Buddhism started by showing what we are.

Nichiren Shōnin had a different goal. His focus was society. His first question was, “How can we make this world better?” To reach his answer required two additional questions: “How should we act?” and “What is our existence?” The former has an ethical aspect where the latter has a philosophical aspect. He used various sūtras, the teachings of Śākyamuni Buddha, the lord of the Dharma, to answer these questions. For him, all sūtras were the true teachings of the Buddha. In other words, Nichiren Shōnin’s teachings were the true teachings of the Buddha.

In 1260 (the first year of the Bun’o era), Nichiren Shōnin presented his Treatise on Spreading Peace Throughout the Country by Establishing the True Dharma, in Japanese Risshō Ankoku-ron, to the former regent of Kamakura Shogunate, Lord Tokiyori Hōjō.

“You should promptly discard your false faith and take up the true and sole teaching of the Lotus Sūtra at once. Then this triple world of the unenlightened will all become Buddha lands. Will Buddha lands ever decay? All the worlds in the universe will become Pure Lands. Will Pure Lands ever be destroyed? When our country does not decay and the world is not destroyed, our bodies will be safe and our hearts tranquil. Believe these words and revere them!”

We can summarize the passage above with a series of four questions:

• Question 1: How can we find security for our bodies and peace of mind? Answer: We need first to improve our society.
• Question 2: How can we improve our society?
  Answer: We need to change the focus of our devotion.
• Question 3: How can we change the focus of our devotion? Answer: We need to know the transgressions we commit.
• Question 4: How can we know our transgressions?
  Answer: We need to know our true lord and his right teachings.

The answer to the last question realizes the doctrine of Establishing the correct teaching for the peace of the land, in Japanese Risshō Ankoku. This doctrine guides us to know ourselves, recognize our transgressions, convert our religion, and as a result, contribute to a better society. Thus, we establish the Buddha’s Land where the safety of our bodies and the peacefulness of our minds are guaranteed.

In the Hōon-jō, he wrote, “If a sage makes three attempts to warn the rulers of the nation and they still refuse to heed his advice, then he should retire to a mountain forest. This is the custom from ages past.” This moved him to action. However, it seems that at the start there was no specific plan for his place of retirement.

A month after his meeting with Yoritsuna, Nichiren Shōnin left Kamakura on May 12, heading towards Hakii Village in the Province of Kai. Since the believer Hakii (Nambu) Sanenaga was the steward of Hakii Village, it seems that Nichiren Shōnin accepted an invitation from him. Traveling west on the Tōkaidō Road, on that day he went as far as Sakawa, present day Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, traversing the Ashigara Pass until reaching Takenoshita, present day
Koyama-chō, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the 13th, and stopping at Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture on the 14th. From here he headed towards Kai, reaching Ōmiya, present day Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the 15th, Nambu, present day Nambu-chō, Yamanashi Prefecture, on the 16th. Then on the 17th, he arrived at Sanenaga’s villa in Hakii Village present day Minobu-chō. Along the way resided the lay believers Takahashi Nyūdō and Nishiyama Nyūdō, but Nichiren Shōnin did not stop to see them, so as not to draw the attention of the Hōjō clan.

Nichiren Shōnin had not planned from the beginning to live at Minobu, but after remaining there for a while, life in the mountains appealed to him. He moved into a lodging prepared by Lord Hakii on June 16, 1274, where he remained living until September of 1282, when he was forced to come down from the mountain due to illness.

On April 25, 1273, Nichiren wrote what he noted in his Covering Letter of the Kanjin Honzon-shō, Kanjin Honzon-shō Soejō, to be his most important work, The Object of Worship to View One’s Heart, or Kanjin Honzon-shō. The main writing’s full name is A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable One for the First Time in the Fifth 500-year Period after the Death of Śākyamuni Buddha, Nyorai metsugo Go-gohyaku-sai shi kanjin Honzon-shō. The title shows it as clearly illustrating the Odaimoku and Focus of Devotion of the Original Gate of the Lotus Sūtra, and a “Letter that opens and reveals the Dharma.” It first lays out the Odaimoku of Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō as possessing the two laws of “the cause of practice and the effect of virtue” of Śākyamuni Buddha, the WorldHonored One, making it the correct Dharma for the Latter Age of the Dharma. Embracing and preserving faith and practice in the Odaimoku leads us to the salvation of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Master of the Teachings of Buddhism. Secondly, it illustrates that this world of Sahā [in which we live] is the Pure Land where the Original Buddha resides and shows the subject and features of the focus of devotion. Finally, it indicates clearly the correct teacher who propagates the Lotus Sūtra during the Latter Age of the Dharma as one of the bodhisattvas of the original teaching, honge no bosatsu, [specifically sent by the Tathāgata to lead all living beings to Buddhahood] who appear from underground in Chapter 15 of the Lotus Sūtra.

On July 8, based on the explanation provided in the Kanjin Honzon-sho, Nichiren Shōnin inscribed and revealed the first Mandala Gohonzon.

Within the disciples and believers who had been forced to endure pressure from the government, doubt and agitation began to arise, with such thoughts such as “Why must Our teacher, who propagates the Lotus Sūtra, undergo such persecution and why don’t the heavenly gods lend him protection?” In February, Nichiren Shōnin addressed this doubt when he wrote his treatise Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Kaimoku-shō:

This person called Nichiren was beheaded on the twelfth day of the ninth month of last year, between the hours of the rat and ox (11 p.m. to 3 a.m.). It is his soul that has come to this country of Sado and, in this snowy second month of the following year, is writing this to send to his close disciples. It is horrible [here], but there is nothing to be frightened about. Others reading it will be terrified. This [Lotus Sūtra] is the bright mirror that Śākyamuni, Tahō and all the Buddhas of the Ten Directions left for the future of Japan, and in which the present state of the country is reflected. It may also be regarded as a keepsake from me.

This passage clearly demonstrates that the Lotus Sūtra is the correct Dharma for the Latter Age of Degeneration and that Nichiren Shōnin is the practitioner of the Lotus Sūtra, the guiding master of the Latter Age. It is here that he indicates that the Lotus Sūtra is a writing which opens and reveals buddhahood within all humanity. First, it clearly indicates the doctrine of 3,000 Existences in a Single Thought, ichinen sanzen, the heart of the Original Gate of the Lotus Sūtra into which all living beings of the Latter Age should place their faith. The Lotus Sūtra is the Dharma which is hard to believe and difficult to understand.

It also explains that the persecutions which befall the person who propagates the Lotus Sūtra become proof that the words of the Buddha are true and that he is a practitioner of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren Shōnin also declared he is the leader of the Dharma during the Latter Age when he stated, “I will become the pillar of Japan, I will become the eyes of Japan, and I will become the great vessel of Japan” and expressed his three great vows.

[A] huge incident, known as the February Disturbance, occurred in Kamakura and then in Kyoto. This was an attack on the Hōjō clan and their retainers. On the 11th in Kamakura, Hōjō Tokiakira, also called Nagoe Tokiakira, and Hōjō Noritoki were put to death. Continuing on the 15th of the same month in Kyoto, Hōjō Tokisuke of the southern quarter of Rokuhara Tandai killed Hōjō Yoshimune of the northern sector of the same area. Hōjō Tokimune, the tokusā, considered his illegitimate elder brother, Tokisuke, as a threat to the his established authority. This incident, therefore, was a purge intended both to solve disunity within the Shogunate and to consolidate the authority of the tokusō.

The February Disturbance was the realization of the internal rebellion predicted by the Risshō Ankoku-ron. When Nichiren Shōnin was arrested on September 12 of the previous year, he warned Taira Yoritsuna. He described this warning in the Senji-shō: “You will immediately face the calamities of revolt within your own domain and invasion by a foreign nation. Not only will the people of this country be beaten to death by foreign invaders, but many will also be taken prisoner.” This also came true just as predicted. As a result, the activities of Nichiren Shōnin and his disciples who accompanied him to Sado, were invigorated. Even on Sado Island, new believers and followers appeared.

From the standpoint of the political circumstances of the time, the Tatsunokuchi Persecution had to happen. Nichiren Shōnin’s criticism of the Zen and Ritsu schools was religious criticism of Hōjō Tokiyori and Hōjō Shigetoki, who were faithful believers, as well as supporters and protectors of those schools. The tokusō, Hōjō Tokimune, was responsible for strengthening the Shogunate’s structure for defense against the Mongols. Nichiren Shōnin’s criticism of the tokusō within that structure was considered as opposing that defense system. This defense structure’s fundamental theme was to maintain discipline nationwide by suppressing malicious parties. Nichiren Shōnin’s criticism, especially in the vicinity of Kamakura where the seat of the government was located, could not be permitted.

The six degrees of identity consist of six degrees of practice, ranging from shallow to deep. However, in terms of the substance of reality that is manifested, there is no difference from one stage to another. Therefore, we call it “Identity.”
The stages of the six degrees of identity are:

1. Identity in principle

All beings have buddha-nature. The presence of buddha-nature always remains. Every single form, every single fragrance, is nothing but the middle way.

2. Verbal identity

Understanding the above teachings by listening to good friends and reading the sutras.

3. Identity in contemplative practice

Cultivating practices according to the teachings.

4. Identity in outer appearances

Manifesting harmony in outer appearances.

5. Identity of partial realization

Partially destroying fundamental Ignorance and partially seeing reality.

6. Ultimate identity

The complete fulfillment of wisdom, the elimination of all ignorance, and manifesting an original Dharma-body