Nichiren

Nichiren (日蓮; February 16, 1222 – November 21, 1282) was a Buddhist monk who lived during the Kamakura period (1185–1333) in Japan. Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra, which claims to contain Gautama Buddha's teachings towards the end of his life, as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment. Nichiren believed that this sutra contained the essence of all of Gautama Buddha's teachings related to the laws of causality, karma, and leading all people without distinction to enlightenment. This devotion to the sutra entails the chanting of Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō "homage to the Lotus Sutra", a phrase referred to as the daimoku, as the essential practice of the teaching.