Japanese Buddhist, and leader of one of the sects of that religion. He was born about 1222. He so aroused the strict Buddhists that in a number of instances they drove him out of the country. He taught that Buddha was not the superior being the old-school Buddhists believed him to be, but that every man, or living plant, can attain the greatness and divinity of Buddha by following the teachings of that saint. He also aroused anger by his assertion that man’s salvation does not depend upon Buddha, but upon the conduct and life of the man himself. His teachings gradually obtained wide acceptance, and in modern times the Nichirens are the prevailing Buddhist sect in Japan. He died in 1282.
