Dōzen-bō ［道善房］ (d. 1276): A priest of Seichō-ji temple in Tōjō Village of Awa Province, Japan, where Nichiren entered the priesthood. Nichiren studied under Dōzen-bō from age twelve. When Nichiren first declared his teaching at Seichō-ji on the twenty-eighth day of the fourth month, 1253, his refutation of the Nembutsu enraged Tōjō Kagenobu, the steward of the village and an ardent believer in the Pure Land teachings, who ordered his arrest. At that time, Dōzen-bō quietly helped Nichiren escape. Nevertheless, Dōzen-bō was afraid to oppose Kagenobu and for this reason could never bring himself to convert to Nichiren’s teachings. Nichiren, however, never forgot his teacher. In the seventh month of 1276, learning of his death, he wrote On Repaying Debts of Gratitude as an expression of his gratitude to Dōzen-bō, and sent it to Gijō-bō and Jōken-bō who had been his seniors when they were disciples together at Seichō-ji.