Nichiren

Nichiren (日蓮) (February 16, 1222 – October 13, 1282) was a Buddhist monk who lived during the Kamakura period (1185–1333) in Japan. Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra (entitled Myōhō-Renge-Kyō in Japanese)— which contained Gautama Buddha's teachings towards the end of his life — as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment. Nichiren believed that the sutra contained the essence of all of Gautama Buddha's teachings, of which related to the law of cause and effect and karma. This devotion to the sutra entails the chanting of Nam(u)-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō (referred to as "daimoku") as the essential practice of the teaching.