Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land

Introduction

Nichiren wrote the treatise in 1260 after a series of earthquakes, famines and epidemics and presented it to Hojo Tokiyori, the most powerful man in the Kamakura shogunate. It takes the form of a dialogue between a host and a guest. Its argument: the disasters occur because the country has abandoned the true teaching of the Lotus Sutra, above all through Honen’s Pure Land movement; unless false teachings are suppressed, internal strife and foreign invasion will follow. The authorities rejected the text, and Nichiren was exiled in 1261. When the Mongols attacked Japan in 1274 and 1281, his followers saw his warning confirmed. The treatise has remained a reference point for movements that link Buddhism and politics.