Unlike previous Buddhist forms of contemplation, which depended upon one’s own ability to perceive the true nature of reality, Nichiren Shonin taught that the true nature of reality makes itself known to us as the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha in the form of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. In other words, Buddhahood is not some thing that we cultivate through our own self-conscious efforts. Rather, the true nature of reality is conveyed to us by the spiritual presence of the Eternal Buddha within our lives, which we awaken to through our faith in Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. All of this unfolds naturally when we focus our whole being upon the Gohonzon and chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo.

Ultimately, the Three Truths – Emptiness, Provisional Reality, and the Middle Way – are united in one vision of the true nature of reality. All three are different ways of explaining the insight of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha as taught in the Lotus Sutra. It is a vision of the dynamic and interdependent nature of all things. Living in harmony with the vision of the Three Truths means freedom from clinging, freedom to act compassionately in the world, and freedom from extremes. In past ages, this vision was only available to those with the ability to comprehend the many complex teachings of the sutras, or those with the ability to meditate for long hours – even for many lifetimes – in order to see for themselves the truth of the teachings. Nichiren Shonin, however, taught the simple practice of chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo as the correct way to focus our minds upon the ultimate truth of the Buddha’s teachings with faith and joy. By following Nichiren Shonin’s instructions, our hearts and minds will receive an intuitive understanding of the Three Truths, and we will be able to live in harmony with them ourselves.

The practice of chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo expresses our deep faith and joy in the inexpressible true nature of reality, which embraces all things without exception. Ultimately, Namu Myoho Renge Kyo expresses the realization that we ourselves are the embodiments of the Wonderful Dharma, and thus capable of transforming every aspect of our lives into the life of a Buddha.

Before Nichiren Shonin, Ichinen Sanzen was a theory that Buddhist practitioners attempted to understand through meditation. Nichiren Shonin, however, taught that Ichinen Sanzen could be realized through faith in the Odaimoku. At the very end of the Kanjin Honzon-sho, he wrote:

For those who are incapable of understanding the truth of the “3,000 worlds contained in one thought,” Lord Shakyamuni Buddha, with his great compassion, wraps this jewel with the five characters of Myo, Ho, Ren, Ge, and Kyo and hangs it around the necks of the ignorant in the decadent Latter age of the dharma.

The third of the Three Great Secret Dharmas is the Odaimoku, Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. In Sino-Japanese, the title of the Lotus Sutra is “Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo.” These five characters are themselves an expression of the essential core of the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha taught in the Lotus Sutra. Because the Odaimoku embodies the essence of the Lotus Sutra, the five characters “Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo” are the key to unlocking the Buddha-nature that resides within all life. When the word Namu, meaning “devotion,” is added to the title, it becomes Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, or “Devotion to the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.” According to Nichiren, by chanting “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo” we are expressing our faith in the Eternal Buddha and opening our lives to all the qualities and merits of Buddhahood.

Just as Myoho Renge Kyo expresses the actual awakening of the Buddha, the addition of Namu expresses our faith in the Wonderful Dharma and our determination to achieve Buddhahood ourselves. Namu Myoho Renge Kyo is the unification of our practice to attain awakening and the actual awakening of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha.

By faithfully following this teaching and practice, Nichiren Buddhists make the cause that enables them to manifest the perfect wisdom and great compassion of the Buddha in all circumstances. This allows them to transform not only their own lives but also the lives of others so this world can cease to be the world of suffering and become a pure land of peace and tranquility.

Other schools of Buddhism often focus on the parables and other teachings of the theoretical section in the hope that, through their own practice, they will see for themselves the truth expressed in the Original Gate. In Nichiren Buddhism, the Original Gate is held to be primary because our practice is based on our faith in the active presence of the Buddha in the form of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. Through upholding the Lotus Sutra by chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, we become one with the Eternal Buddha. The difference lies in whether we rely upon the future possibility of attaining Buddhahood taught in the theoretical section, or upon our present ability to actually attain Buddhahood through faith in the Eternal Buddha, as taught in the essential section.

“Rejoicing” is the joy which one experiences when the significance of the Sutra first sinks in like a ray of light. When this ray of light first illuminates our soul, we have not yet undertaken any profound studies or done any difficult practices. But the merits of that first moment of joy are greater than those of any other practices we may undertake later. It is the hinge upon which everything else turns. This is the essential and most important point of [Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra]. Faith is simple; it is also decisive.