which mirrored those which the monastic order should also be following, the White Lotus were led by married clergy men who “wrote their own scriptures and ritual texts in the vernacular” (Overmyer 47), and the group also allowed female disciples. Mao’s relationship with the state also changed throughout his life, as White Lotus was attacked by Buddhist monks soon after its founding due to its “rejection of celibacy” and by the government for its “popularity among the people” (Overmyer 47). Exiled in 1131 because of the growing popularity of his movement, Mao was quickly pardoned and in 1133 began to preach at the emperor’s court. He was, however, exiled again in 1157 because of his sect’s popularity and similarity to Manicheaens, another vegetarian sect (Overmyer 48). His sect nonetheless continued to spread until the 20th century. In Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren, a messianic Buddhist leader of Kamakura era Japan was born in 1222. During Nichiren’s time, Japan had many natural disasters such as floods, storms, earthquakes, famines, landslides, tidal waves, and comets. It was believed that the period of Declining Dharma was already unfolding (Kodera 42–43). Nichiren criticized the preachings of Amitabha and Pure Land Buddhist schools, and argued instead that the calamities were tied to human behaviour, and that only human righteousness could prevent natural disasters (Kodera 43). He described the situation as such: Nichiren instead preached that only a return to the teachings of the Lotus Sutra would save the country from destruction (Kodera 44). His preaching of the Lotus Sutra, as well as his disparagement of Honen Buddhist groups, were met with much resistance, and he was imprisoned or exiled several times during his life. During one such occasion, he was nearly executed, but was saved by miraculous circumstances in which the sky was “suddenly ablaze with lightning” and the executioner became dizzy and fell (Kodera 47). Because of the miraculous nature of his survival, Nichiren would come to believe that his body had died, only to begin his second spiritual life (Kodera 47). This only served to strengthen his self-image as a messianic saviour of Japan, and he would preach the Lotus Sutra until his death in 1282. Nichiren’s belief system was his explication of the Mongol invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281. Because of his belief that the apocalypse was coming due to the moral deprivation of the population of Japan, Nichiren saw the coming