ABSTRACT
Founded, as its name indicates, by Nichiren (1222-1282), who was a great saint as well as a great Japanese patriot, this sect claims only one text: The Lotus of the Good Law (Japanese: Myôhorenge-Kyō; Sanskrit: Sadharmapundarika-sutra). The Nichiren sect counts 3650 temples or monasteries, the most celebrated of which are those of Ikegami and Minobu, more than 9000 priests, 1,400,000 perpetual members and 38,000 occasional or Shinto members. It has also created 73 social works. After the death of its founder, differences of interpretation in matters of doctrine led to the creation of nine branches whose perpetual members number more than 500,000.
