Life of Nichiren Daishonin Part 1
A Childhood Determined to Seek the Truth
Nichiren Daishonin was born on February 16, 1222 , into a commoner family whose livelihood came from fishing.
From a young age, he had a deep desire to lead everyone toward happiness and eradicate the fundamental sufferings of life and death .
With this determination, he vowed to become the wisest person in all of Japan and began to exert himself in Buddhist study.
At the age of 12 , he entered Seicho-ji , a nearby temple, to begin his study of Buddhism.
At 16 , he formally entered the priesthood at Seicho-ji under the senior priest Dozen-bo .
A Twenty-Year Quest for the Truth
Nichiren Daishonin continued his pursuit of Buddhist truth beyond Seicho-ji.
In pursuit of ultimate truth, he traveled to major Buddhist learning centers of the time, including Kyoto, Kamakura and Nara .
He visited and studied different Buddhist schools, including Pure Land and Zen , and read Buddhist scriptures extensively.
This led him to a fundamental question:
If the originator of Buddhism is only one person—the Shakyamuni Buddha—then why are there multiple schools?
He came to the conclusion that there must ultimately be a single sutra that teaches the absolute truth and serves as a single source of truth.
His quest therefore continued: to discover that one teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha that could be regarded as the ultimate truth.
Discovering the Lotus Sutra
After pursuing this quest for truth, Nichiren Daishonin read the Lotus Sutra and identified it as containing the absolute truth of Shakyamuni Buddha's teaching.
Having understood the ultimate working of the universe and gained the reasoning for the fundamental sufferings of life and death, he returned to the place from where his journey had begun:
Seicho-ji Temple.
There, he declared the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra over other Buddhist schools and chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for the first time.
April 28, 1253
This moment marked the culmination of his long pursuit of Buddhist truth and the beginning of his effort to lead people toward happiness.
Looking Back at the Journey
Before moving ahead, it is worth looking back at the journey of a boy who began his pursuit of Buddhist truth at the young age of 12 .
The key milestones are:
February 16, 1222 — Nichiren Daishonin was born.
Age 12 / 1233 — He entered Seicho-ji Temple.
Age 16 / 1237 — He entered the priesthood.
Age 32 / April 28, 1253 — He declared the Lotus Sutra as the supreme teaching and Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as the key to unlocking the benefits of the Lotus Sutra.
According to the age calculation explained in the source material, this represents a 20-year pursuit , from the age of 12 to 32.
The source material explains that Japanese age calculation at the time counted a person as one year old at birth. This is why the age calculation in the chronology differs from a simple modern calculation.
For twenty years, Nichiren Daishonin continued moving from one temple to another and from one city to another in search of that one teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha that could be considered the ultimate truth.
From Profound Study to a Simple Practice
Not only did Nichiren Daishonin seek to discover the profound teaching of the Lotus Sutra; one of the hallmarks of his finding and discovery, as presented in this material, was distilling that teaching into a simple and accessible way for people to benefit from it .
One way to appreciate this is through the example of scientific discovery.
Great scientists study, experiment, encounter failures and begin again, sometimes for many years, before they discover laws of nature such as the law of gravity or the law of relativity .
The beauty of these discoveries is not only in identifying a naturally occurring phenomenon. It is also in distilling years of research into a simple equation or formula .
Once that formula is understood and applied, people can harness the power of those laws of nature.
The source material presents Nichiren Daishonin's discovery in a similar light.
After years of studying Buddhist scriptures and seeking the ultimate truth, he distilled the teaching into the simple formula or mantra of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo , so that people could benefit from the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.
In this way, his discovery can also be understood as identifying what the source material refers to as the Law of the Universe , and providing a simple way for people to benefit from it.
A Deep Compassion for Humanity
Seen in this context, the long journey of Nichiren Daishonin reflects his deep compassion and burning desire to lead all people toward happiness .
His journey was not simply a search for knowledge.
It was a pursuit of a teaching that could address the fundamental sufferings of life and death and provide a way for people to benefit from the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.
From Zenichimaro to Nichiren
The original name of Nichiren Daishonin was Zenichimaro .
After finding the truth and declaring it, he changed his name to Nichiren , which means "Sun Lotus."
Key Points to Remember
Nichiren Daishonin was born on February 16, 1222 .
He belonged to a commoner family whose livelihood came from fishing.
From a young age, he had a deep desire to lead everyone toward happiness and eradicate the fundamental sufferings of life and death.
At 12 , he entered Seicho-ji to study Buddhism.
At 16 , he entered the priesthood under Dozen-bo .
He traveled to major Buddhist learning centers including Kyoto, Kamakura and Nara .
He studied different Buddhist schools and Buddhist scriptures in his search for the ultimate truth.
He identified the Lotus Sutra as containing the absolute truth of Shakyamuni Buddha's teaching.
He returned to Seicho-ji after pursuing his quest for truth.
He declared the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra and chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for the first time.
His pursuit from age 12 to 32 is presented as a 20-year quest for truth .
His original name was Zenichimaro , and he later took the name Nichiren , meaning "Sun Lotus."
A Journey of Twenty Years
From a 12-year-old boy entering Seicho-ji to the declaration of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo at age 32 , the early years of Nichiren Daishonin's life can be viewed as a sustained pursuit of truth, driven by a desire to lead people toward happiness.
Before there was a declaration, there was a twenty-year quest .