The late twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Japan were periods of almost constant natural disaster. From about 1225 until 1261 Japan was hit with a series of earthquakes, followed by floods and storms, shortages of food, and plagues. During this period not only were there natural calamities taking place, but the new government of the Kamakura Bakufu, which deprived the old regime in Kyoto of real political power, began toward the end of the twelfth century to rule the nation.

Nichiren, conscious that he was living in the Age of the Last Law, came to the conclusion that the Lotus Sutra should be the foundation for secular as well as religious life. Because he saw religion as the foundation of secular life, he felt the people of Japan had been deceived by the other schools of Buddhism as well as by a corrupt and illegal government. The other schools of Buddhism had abandoned the Buddha, and the government had destroyed the Emperor. Thus, in 1260 he wrote the Risshō Ankoku Ron and presented it to Hōjō Tokiyori, the regent in Kamakura. In this essay Nichiren described the sad state of affairs in Japan. …

Nichiren opposed the other schools because he thought they were dividing Buddhism and were destroying the teachings of the Buddha. He believed this would lead to the destruction of both Japan and of Buddhism. In the Risshō Ankoku Ron, Nichiren suggested that the way to stop the calamities and to attain the Pure Land on this earth was for the people to “refrain from making donations to fallen priests and confine their gifts to the good.” And the peace and security of the country would come about only when “the mind of man changes with time and the nature of things according to circumstances. If you wish for the security of the country and desire peace in the present and future, think deeply and stamp out erroneous doctrines.” According to Nichiren, Japan had entered the Age of the Last Law because the gods had abandoned the nation which no longer had faith in the Lotus Sūtra.

Nichiren said that the people had forgotten the Lotus Sūtra or had slandered the Lotus Sutra, so in order for the gods to return to the country and to protect it, the people must turn to the Lotus Sūtra with absolute trust and faith.

He regarded the Age of the Last Law not as the worst and darkest of the three periods but as the best of the three periods since it was the time when the Lotus Sūtra would spread among the people of the world. Nichiren believed that whenever mankind returned to the faith and followed the Buddha’s teaching according to the Lotus Sūtra, the Age of the Last Law would come to an end.