Nichiren Buddhism: schools, teachings and lay movements

The title and its chanting

Daimoku practice is the chanting of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, an invocation of the Lotus Sutra’s title. Nichiren Shu explains namu as wholehearted faith and teaches that chanting brings forth the Buddha-nature present in everyone. The title carries the meaning of the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion, rather than functioning simply as a phrase to repeat.

Different understandings of Nichiren

The shared invocation does not settle every doctrinal question. Nichiren Shu honours Nichiren as a teacher guiding followers to Śākyamuni’s teaching; Nichiren Shoshu regards him as the Buddha who saves beings in the Latter Day of the Law. His status, the object of devotion and claims to transmission distinguish particular traditions.

Traditional biographies mark Nichiren’s chanting at Seichoji in 1253 as the start of his public teaching. In 1260 he presented the Rissho ankoku ron, written as a dialogue between a traveller and a host. The host criticises exclusive reliance on nenbutsu, the invocation of Amida, and argues that establishing what Nichiren regarded as correct Buddhist teaching would bring security to the country. The work presents his religious response to disasters and disorder. He later endured exile to Izu and Sado, and settled at Minobu in 1274.

After Nichiren’s death, his disciples’ lineages developed regional communities and differing interpretations. Kyoto became a centre of propagation supported by townspeople, later disrupted by the Tenbun Hokke conflict. In 1595, refusal by Nichio and his supporters to attend Hideyoshi’s offering ceremony sharpened a dispute about accepting offerings from nonbelievers. Further restrictions under Edo rule affected the groups known as fuju-fuse, who rejected both receiving such offerings and giving religious offerings to them.

State policy also reshaped temple organisations. A study published by Nichiren Shu’s Institute for Contemporary Religious Studies describes an agreement among five head temples in 1872 under the government’s policy of one superintendent per school. In 1941, Nichiren Shu, Kenpon Hokke Shu and Honmon Shu merged under the wartime Religious Organizations Law. This is a history of particular temple institutions, not a merger of every Nichiren-derived organisation.

Temple schools and lay organisations

Nichiren Shoshu regards Nichiren as the original Buddha, one of the doctrinal distinctions within the wider tradition. Soka Gakkai began as an educational organisation in 1930. It experienced wartime repression, rebuilt after the war and expanded internationally. Formerly associated with Nichiren Shoshu, it became independent after their separation in 1991. Temple schools and independent lay movements now form different parts of Nichiren Buddhism.

Chanting with a temple from home

Nichiren Shu describes online shodaigyo led by clergy, combining meditation with repeated chanting and connecting temple practice with participants at home.

The calligraphic object of devotion

Soka Gakkai’s object of devotion, or gohonzon, is a calligraphic mandala with Namu Myoho Renge Kyo and Nichiren’s name at the centre, surrounded by names of Buddhas and other beings. The organisation interprets this arrangement as expressing the world of the Lotus Sutra.

Daily recitation and discussion meetings

It describes morning and evening recitation of passages from the Lotus Sutra’s second and sixteenth chapters before the object of devotion, followed by daimoku, and local discussion meetings where members share experiences and study teachings. These are examples given by the organisations themselves; they do not imply that temple followers lack home practice or that lay movements lack religious gathering places.