Treatise on Establishing the Right Teaching for the Peace of the Land (Risshō ankoku ron)

A treatise by the Japanese monk Nichiren, submitted in 1260 to Hōjō Tokiyori, the retired regent who still led the Kamakura government. It is written as a dialogue between a visiting guest and a host. The guest laments the earthquakes, famines and epidemics that have struck Japan in recent years. The host replies, citing many sutras, that these disasters come because the country has turned against the true teaching of the Lotus Sutra, so that the protective deities have abandoned the land. He blames above all Hōnen's teaching of exclusive recitation of Amida's name (the nembutsu), and urges the authorities to stop supporting it. Quoting scriptural warnings, he predicts that unless this is done two further disasters will follow: internal revolt and foreign invasion. The guest is persuaded at the end. The work led to attacks on Nichiren and his exile; his followers later linked its prediction to the Mongol invasions, while critics see in it an intolerance towards other Buddhist schools.

It is the founding statement of Nichiren's view that a nation's welfare depends on right religion, and a clear example of a religious argument addressed directly to political power.