Nichiren (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 this sutra contained the essence of all of Gautama Buddha’s teachings relating to the laws 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. The purpose of chanting daimoku is to attain perfect and complete awakening.
Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō, (English: Devotion to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra, or Glory to the Sutra of the Lotus of the Supreme Law) is a mantra that is chanted as the central practice of all forms of Nichiren Buddhism—Myōhō Renge Kyō being the Japanese title of the Lotus Sūtra.