The Significance of Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo—Achieving a Life of Supreme Victory Through Correct Buddhist Practice

Through this passage as a whole, it becomes clear that the practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo established by Nichiren is the correct and supreme Buddhist practice. Indeed, the short opening passage succinctly articulates the profound insights of Buddhism distilled over more than two millennia, and the compassion and wisdom for leading all people to enlightenment found in Nichiren Buddhism.

The purpose of this installment is to confirm that Nichiren’s practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo represents the ultimate form of correct Buddhist practice, and that its establishment marks the start of a genuinely people-centered Buddhism that makes it possible for all humankind to achieve the same enlightened state as the Buddha.

Attaining a State of Eternal Happiness

If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured since time without beginning and to attain without fail unsurpassed enlightenment in this lifetime, you must perceive the mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings. This truth is Myoho-renge-kyo. Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth innate in all life. (“On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 3)

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Let us start by considering the profound meaning of the opening phrase, “If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured since time without beginning … ”

Nichiren Daishonin’s reference to “the sufferings of birth and death endured since time without beginning” is premised on the concept of transmigration, according to which living beings undergo an unceasing, suffering-filled cycle of birth and death that continues from the infinite past into the infinite future. Buddhism holds that this never-ending round of suffering ultimately arises from earthly desires, and that a negative cycle of earthly desires, karma and suffering is part and parcel of transmigration. In this sense, “the sufferings of birth and death endured since time without beginning” also represents an interminable succession of illusion and suffering. 

Because the thought of such endless transmigration is ultimately unbearable, people naturally came to wish for a way to put an end to this painful cycle and free themselves from the chains of delusion and suffering.

In Buddhism, there are two basic approaches to liberation from the suffering of this cycle. One view holds that people can free themselves from the endless karmic cycle of birth and death by eradicating earthly desires believed to cause it. The other is the Mahayana approach, in which the essence of life that undergoes transmigration is not viewed as a transient, impermanent phenomenon.

The Mahayana teachings, for example, espouse the concept of undergoing the cycle of birth and death in accordance with the bodhisattva vow to guide living beings to enlightenment; or they view the oscillation between birth and death as a cycle of emerging from and returning to the fundamental, all-embracing life of the universe. The latter view can be easily understood using the metaphor of waves on the ocean: birth is like a wave appearing on the surface of the ocean—the life of the universe—while death is the wave submerging back into that ocean. Gaining such an understanding of the essence of our own lives, which repeat the cycle of birth and death, is to attain “unsurpassed enlightenment,” the highest awakening of the Buddha.

The Mystic Truth Embraces and Is Inherent in All Things

In this passage, to “perceive the mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings” means to “attain unsurpassed enlightenment.” The wisdom to apprehend this universally inherent truth represents the supreme enlightenment of the Buddha.

The point where Buddhism radically departs from many other philosophies and religions is that it uncovered within the individual’s own life the Law, or limitless inner power, for resolving all suffering on the most essential level. A Buddha is one who, based on this Law, has attained the ultimate wisdom to fundamentally put an end to suffering and construct indestructible happiness.

Buddhism is a teaching of unparalleled humanism that stresses the boundless potential within human beings. That’s why it is called the “internal way.”

To “perceive the mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings” is to “attain unsurpassed enlightenment”; it is the sole means for freeing oneself from “the sufferings of birth and death endured since time without beginning.” This is Shakyamuni’s starting point, and the entirety of Buddhist thought. The scripture that proclaims this philosophy of the “internal way” is the Lotus Sutra, which teaches that all people can attain enlightenment. The Lotus Sutra could be said to embody the ultimate principle of respect for human dignity.

In this writing, Nichiren Daishonin says that the “mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings” is the “principle of the mutually inclusive relationship of a single moment of life and all phenomena.” This latter principle refers to the inscrutable relationship that exists between ourselves—our minds or each life-moment—and the universe; its meaning is that all phenomena are contained in one’s life and that one’s life pervades all phenomena. This principle no doubt corresponds in meaning to the “principle of inherence and pervasion”^[1] articulated by Nichikan, an early 18th-century restorer of Nichiren Buddhism, in describing the doctrine of “three thousand realms in a single moment of life.”

The cosmic life enfolds and pervades everything, and because it does so, it is also inherent in all things. The oneness of the cosmic life and our individual lives lies at the heart of the “principle of the mutually inclusive relationship of a single moment of life and all phenomena.” To awaken to this mystic truth is to attain the Buddha’s “unsurpassed enlightenment.”

Naming the Mystic Truth  

The question is how to enable all people to perceive this “mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings.” A widely accessible Buddhism will not be possible if only a very limited number of people can follow the way set forth for apprehending the mystic truth. Before Nichiren Daishonin, the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai of China tried to establish the means for perceiving this mystic truth through the practice of observing the mind, also known as the practice of concentration and insight. But it was not a means readily accessible to the people of the Latter Day of the Law. 

The initial step Nichiren took in opening the great path to universal enlightenment was to name the mystic truth. The universally inherent mystic truth originally had no name, but as Nichiren explains in “The Entity of the Mystic Law,” a sage awakened to this truth in his own life could give it the most appropriate name (see WND-1, 421).^[2] Naming something is a creative process. Giving a name that accurately grasps the essence of a thing has the important effect of making that essence available to all people; it enables all people to share in its value.

In “On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime,” as indicated by the passage “the mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings is Myoho-renge-kyo,” Nichiren states that this mystic truth that constitutes the fundamental Law of the universe is none other than Myoho-renge-kyo. Strictly speaking, the term Myoho-renge-kyo existed prior to this as the title of the Lotus Sutra, but Nichiren was the first to identify Myoho-renge-kyo as being the name of the principle of the “true aspect of all phenomena,”^[3] which the Lotus Sutra teaches is the profound wisdom of all Buddhas. Also, although the “Life Span of the Thus Come One” chapter of the Lotus Sutra expounds the life of the eternal Buddha from the standpoint of Shakyamuni, it was Nichiren who first revealed that the essence of the Buddha’s eternal life—the “heart of the ‘Life Span’ chapter”—is Myoho-renge-kyo (see “The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind,” WND-1, 371).

The eternal Buddha, since attaining enlightenment in the remote past, repeatedly undergoes the cycle of birth and death as a Buddha while appearing in various forms within the Ten Worlds^[4] for the salvation of all living beings. The “Life Span” chapter reveals that living beings of the Ten Worlds (including Buddhas), and the phenomena of birth and death as well, are all manifestations of the great eternal life of the universe. Because Nichiren says that the “heart of the ‘Life Span’ chapter” is Myoho-renge-kyo, we can infer that Myoho-renge-kyo is the name of the great, eternal, universal life that is revealed in the “Life Span” chapter.

Living beings in the nine worlds, repeatedly undergoing birth and death, also follow the rhythm of birth and death of emerging from and submerging back into the great eternal life that is Myoho-renge-kyo. They are embraced by Myoho-renge-kyo, and at the same time possess Myoho-renge-kyo within them. This is why Myoho-renge-kyo is the name of the “mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings.”

It was Nichiren who first declared that Myoho-renge-kyo is to be chanted and spread in the Latter Day of the Law.

Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to Perceive the Mystic Truth and Establish the Buddhism of the People

The Lotus Sutra is the king of sutras, true and correct in both word and principle. Its words are the ultimate reality, and this reality is the Mystic Law (myoho). It is called the Mystic Law because it reveals the principle of the mutually inclusive relationship of a single moment of life and all phenomena. That is why this sutra is the wisdom of all Buddhas.

Life at each moment encompasses the body and mind and the self and environment of all sentient beings in the Ten Worlds as well as all insentient beings in the three thousand realms, including plants, sky, earth, and even the minutest particles of dust. Life at each moment permeates the entire realm of phenomena and is revealed in all phenomena. To be awakened to this principle is itself the mutually inclusive relationship of life at each moment and all phenomena. (WND-1, 3)

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Nichiren Daishonin’s next step in opening this great path was to establish the practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. He appended the word nam—a transliteration of the Sanskrit word namas, meaning “devotion”—to the universal truth of Myoho-renge-kyo, and established the practice of invoking this truth. Nam means “to dedicate one’s life.” Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo aloud represents a determination and vow to dedicate one’s life to the realm of truth of Myoho-renge-kyo in thought, word and deed.

At the same time, chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo enables each person to actualize a way of life based on the universal truth of Myoho-renge-kyo. The crucial point in chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in Nichiren Buddhism is not simply intoning the name of an external truth. It constitutes a practice to actually summon forth the inner truth that pervades the universe and our own selves and live our lives in accord with that truth. This practice could be described as a process of establishing a self capable of activating and tapping from within the “mystic truth originally inherent in all living beings.”

Looking back on the history of Buddhism, even though the Lotus Sutra has taught the awakening to this mystic truth, over time people lost sight of its existence within their own lives. It was in that context that T’ien-t’ai established the meditative practice for observing the mind based on the principles of “three thousand realms in a single moment of life” and the “mutually inclusive relationship of a single moment of life and all phenomena.” He thereby sought to enable people to summon forth the world of Buddhahood. T’ien-t’ai’s meditation of observing the mind could be viewed as an appropriate practice that restored the correct path of the Lotus Sutra.

Further, in order to enable all people to perceive and actualize the “mystic truth originally inherent in all living beings,” Nichiren gave it the name Myoho-renge-kyo and established the practice of invoking that name—the practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. By doing so, he opened the way for all people to dedicate their lives to and live based on the mystic truth.

Thus Nichiren established the means by which all people can awaken to the truth of life and the universe within their own lives and actively manifest that truth. Moreover, this truth is the enlightened wisdom of all Buddhas and is revealed in the Lotus Sutra, which is the highest teaching of Buddhism. By basing ourselves on that truth, we can lead lives of supreme value. Nichiren Buddhism made this realm of truth accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime, no matter what his or her background. It would be no exaggeration to say that the practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in Nichiren Buddhism gave rise to a Buddhism of the people. This practice of chanting is indeed the supreme Buddhist practice, making it possible for us to fundamentally transform our lives.

In other words, to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is to summon forth our own innate Buddhahood.^[5] It is the direct path to manifesting that highest state of life. The wisdom and compassion of a Buddha that emerges through chanting enriches our life condition, and brings happiness to ourselves and others. Further, as more and more people come to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for the happiness of themselves and others, it will be possible to forge an alliance of people filled with the compassion of a Buddha and to ultimately transform even the destiny of humankind.

Salute to the Rise of the Buddhism of the Sun

Another point we should bear in mind regarding the true meaning of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is that it is also the name of the life of the Buddha of the Latter Day, Nichiren Daishonin. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and the life of the original Buddha are indivisibly connected. We could say that the fundamental truth of Myoho-renge-kyo that pervades life and the universe was only identified and established for the first time through Nichiren himself practicing it and manifesting it in his behavior. He gave concrete expression to the Law that people had not been able to perceive up to that point. 

Nichiren’s life as the Buddha of the Latter Day is a life dedicated to battling evil and vanquishing ignorance. The struggle to free people from all misfortune and misery in the world—from all negative karma and the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness and death—ultimately entails battling the fundamental darkness or ignorance that gives rise to all evil and suffering.

As Nichiren indicates when he says that the Nam-myoho-renge-kyo he chants for the happiness of self and others toward the realization of kosen-rufu clears “the clouds of ignorance” (see “The Doctrine of Three Thousand Realms,” WND-2, 85), Nam-myoho-renge-kyo truly has the power to dispel life’s darkness. When we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the sun of Buddhahood rises in our hearts. The ignorance and delusion, like heavy clouds shrouding the sun, are swept away. When the sun of Buddhahood comes to shine within us, the darkness of ignorance vanishes.

But Nichiren Buddhism is not a teaching in which Nichiren alone shines like the sun. It is a teaching in which all of us can bring the sun of Buddhahood to rise in our lives just as he did. We are truly fortunate in that we can manifest the same brilliant life state of Buddhahood as Nichiren.

In this regard, Nichikan writes: “When one embraces and has faith in this Gohonzon and chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, one’s life immediately becomes the object of devotion of three thousand realms in a single life-moment. It becomes the life of Nichiren Daishonin.”^[6] The practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the supreme path to attaining Buddhahood through which each person can become a shining sun in his or her own right. 

The great 19th-century Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin sings: “Before the bright dawn, even so / Shall flicker and die every sophistry jaded / At reason’s unperishing spark. / Salute to the sunrise, and vanish the dark!”^[7]

Nichiren Buddhism is the Buddhism of the Sun that opens the path of life’s supreme victory for all humankind. With “Salute to the sunrise!” as our rallying cry, let us dynamically advance in the struggle to dispel the darkness of ignorance in people’s hearts.

From the July 2026 Living Buddhism