Buddhism draws its historical origins from the teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha, who lived some 2,500 year ago. Known as Gautama Siddhartha in his youth, at the age of nineteen, he is said to have shunned the life that removed him from the human suffering outside his gated existence. He journeyed far and wide in his quest to understand the inescapable sufferings of human existence and the means by which they could be overcome.

For the fifty years following his awakening at age thirty, he imparted to others the essence of his own enlightenment. In the Lotus Sutra, widely considered his final and most definitive stage of teaching, he revealed the existence of an innate and universal truth, known as the Buddha nature, underlying and inherent in all forms of beings. The Lotus Sutra is a teaching that profoundly affirms the realities of daily life as providing impetus and opportunity for positive self-transformation, and, thus encourages, an active engagement with others and with the whole of human society.

The Lotus Sutra is also unique among the teachings of Sakyamuni in that it affirms that the attainment of enlightenment is a possibility open to all people without distinction of race, gender, social standing, or education. It is therefore, a powerful life-affirming and humanistic teaching.

Nichiren Daishonin, in particular, emphasised the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra because it offered a practice for the self-reliant awakening to the enlightened condition affirmed as a universal potentiality inherent in all individuals. Nichiren Daishonin lived in Japan from 1222 to 1282 during tumultuous times of social unrest and natural catastrophe. The son of a fishermen, he become a religious acolyte and after a period of intensive study, he came to realise that the Lotus Sutra constitutes the heart of Buddhist teachings. He subsequently dedicated his life to sharing with people his realisation, despite the numerous persecutions he faced for preaching what was considered a subversive doctrine.

Nichiren Daishonin begins with the assumption that all individuals have the potential to achieve enlightenment through their own effort. According to his teachings, the workings of the universe are all subject to a single principle or law. By understanding that law, individuals can unlock the hidden potential within their own lives and achieve creative harmony with the environment.

Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism shines philosophically because it represents a vehicle of individual empowerment - that is, each individual has within oneself, the power to overcome the inevitable sufferings of life and, to be a positive influence in one community, society and the world. Its scope is revolutionary in that it enables us to develop the wisdom to understand and act upon the profound connection between our own happiness and that of others. The greatest personal satisfaction and fulfilment in life is realised by working for the happiness of others.