Sometime in the third century B.C. Gautama Siddhartha left a life of privilege to lead a spartan, monastic existence, teaching that it was attachment to impermanent objects that causes much of the suffering. For the final eight years of his life, he changed his focus somewhat, and taught rather than withdrawal from the impermanent, one should engage with the eternal Buddha nature of things. That “Lotus Sutra” of Siddharta would be picked up and formalized by some twelve centuries later by a Japanese monk named Nichiren Daishonin.

On this day, April 28, in 1253, Daishonin is said to have first chanted the Lotus Sutra, founding a new religious movement — much to the dislike of the Japanese monarchy and rival schools.

Daishonin rarely missed a a chance to criticize the other Buddhist schools, attributing all natural disasters to their teachings. The stance did not endear him to his peers. One September a group of rivals gathered to capture Daishnonin and behead him; only, according to the writings of Nichiren Buddhism, a bright orb appeared over his head in the sky in the garden where he was confronted, and the would-be attackers fled in terror.