Question: Is the doctrine of the Lotus School based on the explanations of Grand Masters T’ien-t’ai, Miao-lê and Dengyō?
Answer: It is based on the clear mirror of Śākyamuni Buddha (the Lotus Sūtra) supplemented by their explanations.
Shoshū Mondō-shō, Questions and Answers Regarding Other Schools, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 161-162
The secret dharma (five characters of the Wonderful Dharma), the essence of the Lotus Sūtra, that such great sages as Kāśyapa, Ananda, Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu of the Age of the True Dharma and Grand Masters T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō of the Age of the Semblance Dharma knew in mind but did not yet propagate outwardly, is clearly stated in the Lotus Sūtra. It is also clear, however, that this secret dharma is not explained at all in any commentary or annotation. Sages with an inborn capacity of perception should know the dharma by looking at the sūtra themselves. Wise persons should meet virtuous teachers, receive the dharma and believe it. Those with serious sins will distrust and hold in contempt such teachers and will not believe the dharma, but if they wish to listen to it even for a moment, I am willing to tell you about it.
Soya Nyūdō-dono-gari Gosho, A Letter to Lay Priest Lord Soya, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 155
Now it is the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration. Those who should be saved by Hinayana and provisional Mahayana teachings have disappeared, leaving only those who should be saved by the True Mahayana teaching. You cannot load a big rock on a small boat. Evil and ignorant people are like huge rocks. Such teachings as Hinayana and provisional Mahayana sūtras and the nembutsu are like a small boat. A large malignant scab cannot be cured easily because it is a severe sickness. For us in the Latter Age of Degeneration, nembutsu is like cultivating a rice field in winter. The time is not at all right.
Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō-dono Gosho, A Letter to Lord Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 130-131
Question (12): If the Buddha preached the Lotus Sūtra not at the beginning but after four decades of preaching lest the people might slander the sūtra, why do you suddenly expound the Lotus Sūtra without preaching the provisional sūtras first, causing the people to slander the True Dharma and fall into the evil realms?
Answer (12): While in this world the Buddha sat under the bodhi tree contemplating the capacity of the people. He foresaw that preaching the Lotus Sūtra then would cause the people to slander it and fall into the evil realms, but preaching it 40 years or so later would not cause them to slander it; instead, it would cause them to enter the way of bodhisattvas attaining the rank of shojū (state of non-regression) or even the highest rank of myōkaku (wonderful enlightenment).
In the Latter Age of Degeneration, however, it seems that there is no person equipped with the capacity to be saved by the Buddha’s dharma, not even one out of 10,000, who would be able to enter the rank of shojū. Also Buddhist masters who guide the people are no longer Buddhas, who can make judgment about the capability of the people to understand and accept the Buddha’s teaching. Therefore, the Buddha has permitted us to guide the people, both believers (who will attain Buddhahood by following the Buddha’s teaching) and non-believers (who will eventually attain Buddhahood through the merit of reverse relationship), with the Lotus Sūtra from the beginning. Even after the death of the Buddha, however, the provisional sūtras may be preached first for those whose capacity is not for the Lotus Sūtra. Also, those who place emphasis on giving joy to the people should preach provisional sūtras first just as Śākyamuni Buddha did, while those who emphasize relieving the people of their sufferings first should preach the true Lotus Sūtra just as Never-Despising Bodhisattva did.
Ken Hōbō-shō, A Clarificaton of Slandering the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 110
The book A Phrase A Day includes this short quote from Nichiren’s Tsuchi-ro Gosho:
Tomorrow, I (Nichiren) will be exiled to Sado Island. In this cold evening, I am thinking of you in the cold dungeon.
My thought is that you have read and practiced the Lotus Sutra with your heart and action, which would save your parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, ancestors, and everyone around you. Other people read the sutra vocally without feeling in their hearts. Even though they might read it with their heart, they do not experience it as the sutra teaches. Compared with them, you are very precious since you are practicing the sutra in your actions, voices, and spirit.
That letter was written by Nichiren in 1271. Today, at the beginning of 2026, what does it mean to practice the Lotus Sutra “in your actions, voices, and spirit”?
During a group discussion following a Sunday service with Rev. Ryuei McCormick’s Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area I expressed my unease with today’s focus of personal practice in Nichiren Buddhism. I didn’t express myself well. I couldn’t put into words what was bothering me.
Reading The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra pointed in the general direction of what I feel is the missing component of Nichiren Buddhism. As Rev. Heng Sure and Professor Martin Verhoeven explain in their Translators’ Introduction:
The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra, pxx-xxiAccording to the Sixth Patriarch, the Dharma teachings are something to be used (yong用), applied and tested. Indeed, for the Master, the Way must be walked, or it is not the Way. The dao/Way elucidated by the Sixth Patriarch is not a religious doctrine, nor an ontological or metaphysical Truth, nor even a faith to espouse. The Chinese character for the Way (dao 道) denotes movement, literally ‘walking’ (是,辶), suggesting the Way is existentially real, found underfoot. As the word implies, a ‘path’ is for walking, and reveals itself only in and through the traversing of it, in vivo not a priori. Confucius may have been hinting at something similar in saying, “It is the person that can make the Way great, and not the Way that can make the person great.” (Analects 15:28)
Thus the Way is discovered concretely, not surmised abstractly. Stationary, there appears to be no Way, but as soon as one walks, the road appears. Hence the saying, “From afar, the mountain appears unscalable, but when you get to the bottom of the mountain, there is always a way.” This point cannot be overemphasized: without ‘walking’ there is no Way. Without serious and sincere engagement, the true path falls away and disappears from sight; or perhaps worse, descends into a dead end of clever debate, (ko tou chan口頭禪; lit. ‘head-mouth zen’).
How do we use the Lotus Sutra in our daily lives? How do we avoid the clever debate outside and realize concretely the way to Buddhahood in our lives?
Again Rev. Sure and Professor Verhoeven explain:
The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra, pxxxv-xxxviThe Dharma comes alive only in the actual taking up of the practice of “going back to the root; returning to the source” (yong 用). Practice activates meaning; cultivation and understanding mutually respond. Without serious practice, insight recedes and dims. The texts can then seem meaningless and obscure, or become ritualized cant and doctrinal abstraction (ti體). The philosophical purpose of a sutra is to stimulate and guide a journey. The sutra is a map to be opened up and referenced again and again while traversing what otherwise might be terra incognita – the unfamiliar land of one’s own mind. As The Dhammapada points out:
No one frees you but yourself.
No one can, and no one may.
You yourself must walk the Path:
Buddhas only show the way.Time and again, the Master urges his followers not to seek outside their own nature for bodhi. Any external grasping, even at that teaching itself, is pointless because “basically there’s not one thing” (ben lai wu yi wu 本來無一物). Hence, all teachings can only serve as upaya (fang bian方便) or liberative techniques.
In Nichiren’s letter, Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treatise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, he writes:
QUESTION: What should a believer of the Lotus Sūtra regard as the Honzon (the Most Venerable One)? How should one perform the Buddhist rites and practice daily training?
ANSWER: First of all, the Honzon could be eight fascicles, one fascicle, one chapter or the title alone of the Lotus Sūtra. This is preached in the “Teacher of the Dharma” and “Divine Powers of the Buddhas” chapters. Those who can afford to may have the portraits or wooden statues of Śākyamuni Buddha and the Buddha of Many Treasures made and placed on both sides of the Lotus Sutra. Those who can further afford to may make the portraits or wooden statues of various Buddhas all over the universe or Universal Sage Bodhisattva. As for the manner of performing the rites, standing or sitting practices must be observed in front of the Honzon. Outside the hall of practice, however, one is free to choose any of the four modes of acts: walking, standing, sitting and lying down. Next, regarding the daily practices, the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra should be chanted, “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.” If possible, a verse or phrase of the Lotus Sūtra should respectfully be read. As an auxiliary practice one may say a prayer to Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, the numerous Buddhas throughout the universe, various bodhisattvas, Two Vehicles, Heavenly Kings, dragon gods, the eight kinds of gods and demigods who protect Buddhism as one wishes. Since we have many ignorant people today, the “3,000 existences contained in one thought” doctrine may be difficult to contemplate from the beginning. Nevertheless, those who wish to study it are encouraged to do so from the start.
Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice,
Volume 4, Page 20
The Sixth Patriarch, in discussing the practice of chanting maha-prajña-paramita, points out the trouble with mindlessly chanting.
The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra, p23-24Good and Wise Friends, people chant “prajña” all day long without realizing the prajña of their own essential nature. Just as talking about food will not satisfy hunger, so too only talking about emptiness, even for myriad eons, will give you no insight into your own nature – ultimately it is of no benefit.
Good and Wise Friends, Maha-prajña-paramita is a Sanskrit phrase which means “great wisdom that goes to the other shore.” This must be practiced with the mind; not merely recited by the mouth.
Verbal repetition without mental cultivation is like a fantasy, a hallucination, like dew drops and a lightning flash. If, however, while the mouth recites, the mind practices, then both mind and mouth are in accord. One’s own essential nature is Buddha; apart from this nature there is no other Buddha.
When I sit in front of my altar and recite Hoben Pon and Jiga Ge before my Mandala Gohonzon, I fight to maintain my attention. As my mind wanders, I slip into rote recitation. I struggle to make reciting the sutra and chanting the Daimoku meaningful in my life. How do I apply this?
The Translators’ Introduction offers this reply:
The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra, pxxiii-xxivIn the mind-ground approach of the Sixth Patriarch, the scriptures of sutras, shastras, and vinaya (the ‘three baskets, or Tripitaka) are to be used, not simply worshipped. Translating Dharma (fa法) as “Law” completely misses this key point: the Dharma teachings are tools for self-discovery, not canonical writ. They are intended as mirrors of and for the human mind, as catalysts for change, not merely as icons of devotion or incantatory prayer.
The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra
The Practice
NEXT: Practice Beyond Reciting
Seeking the Pure Land in the Wrong Place
Our Inherent Buddha Nature
Hell of Regeneration
The life span of these sinners in this hell is as follows. Suppose 50 years in the human world is equal to one day in the Four-king Heavens, the first heaven in the realm of desire, where heavenly beings’ life span is 500 years. Suppose 500 years in the Four-king Heavens correspond to one day in the Hell of Regeneration. Sinners in the Hell of Regeneration live as long as 500 years. …
Hell of Black Ropes
One hundred years in the human world correspond to one day in the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods, the second heaven in the realm of desire, where the life span of heavenly beings is 1,000 years. If 1,000 years in this Thirty-three Heaven are equal to one day in the Hell of Black Ropes, the life span of those sinners who fell into the Hell of Black Ropes is 1,000 years. …
Hell of Crushing
Suppose 200 years in the human world correspond to a day in the Heaven of Yama, the third heaven in the realm of desire, where heavenly beings live for 2,000 years. If 2,000 years in this Heaven of Yama are equal to one day in the Hell of Crushing, the life span of sinners in this hell is 2,000 years. …
Hell of Wailing
Regarding the life span of the sinners in this Hell of Wailing, one day in the human world corresponds to 400 years in the Tuṣita Heaven, the fourth heaven in the realm of desire, where dwellers live as long as 4,000 years. Suppose 4,000 years in this Tuṣita Heaven are equal to one day in the Hell of Wailing, sinners in this hell have to suffer as long as 4,000 years. …
Hell of Great Wailing
Suppose 800 years in the human world equals to one day in the Creating Enjoyment Heaven, the fifth heaven in the realm of desire, where inhabitants live for 8,000 years. Suppose one day in this hell corresponds to 8,000 years in the Creating Enjoyment Heaven, those sinners who fall to the Hell of Great Wailing have to suffer for as long as 8,000 years. …
Hell of Burning Heat
Suppose 1,600 years in the human world correspond to one day and night in the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven, the sixth heaven in the realm of desire, where the life span of heavenly beings is 1,600 years. Suppose 1,600 years in the Paranirmitavaśavartin Heaven are equal to one day and night in the Hell of Burning Heat, the sinners in this hell live as long as 1,600 years. …
Hell of Great Burning Heat
The Hell of Great Burning Heat, the seventh of the eight major hells, is located beneath the Hell of Burning Heat, and its length and breadth are the same as the Hell of Burning Heat. However, the torment in this hell is ten times more severe than all the torments of the six hells mentioned above combined. The life span of sinners in this hell is half the length of a medium kalpa. …
Hell of Incessant Suffering (Avīci Hell)
The life span of sinners in this hell is one medium kalpa. Suppose the length of time equivalent to the period during which a man’s life span decreases by one in 100 years from infinite to ten years, and then increases from 10 to 80,000 at the same rate. The time required for this decrease and increase is called a small kalpa, twenty of which constitute a medium kalpa. Those who fall into this Hell of Incessant Suffering are subjected to the great torment of this worst hell for this long period of time.
Ken Hōbō-shō, A Clarification of Slandering the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 98-103
Question: Various sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra also state that an evil person can become a Buddha. It is preached in the Flower Garland Sūtra that five hundred evil people such as Devadatta will become Buddhas in the future. The Fuchō Zammai Sūtra states that an evil king, Ajātaśatru, will become a Buddha in the future and in the Sūtra of Mahayana Dhārani is the story of Vāsudeva, who had gone to hell because of his evil deeds but was guaranteed future Buddhahood. As for the enlightenment of women, the Bosatsu Shotai Sūtra says that any woman can become a Buddha. As for the enlightenment of beasts and birds, the Agama sūtras say that a pigeon will be a Buddha in the future. The enlightenment of the Two Vehicles is mentioned in the Sūtra of Mahayana Dhārani and the Heroic Valor Sūtra. The enlightenment of bodhisattvas is mentioned in such sutras as the Flower Garland Sūtra. As for rebirth in the Pure Land by ordinary people bound by evil passions, the Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life says that even “the lowest grade in the lowest class” will be reborn in the Pure Land of the Buddha of Infinite Life, no matter how serious one’s sin is. As for a woman turning into a man, the Sūtra of the Buddha of Infinite Life states in the thirty-fifth of its forty-eight vows that a woman can turn into a man by reciting the name of the Buddha of Infinite Life and be reborn in the Pure Land. How are these enlightenments thus revealed in these various provisional sutras different from the assurance of future Buddhahood of the Two Vehicles, a dragon girl, Devadatta, and bodhisattvas in the Lotus Sūtra? Also, there is no doubt that they all attain Buddhahood in these various sutras even though there are some differences between them and the Lotus Sūtra. What do you think of this?
Answer: It is easy to answer your question based on the teachings passed down to me which I hold dear. After hearing my answer, you will clearly see that the Lotus Sūtra is superior to the various other sutras and determine whether or not it is indeed possible to become Buddhas in those sutras. However, I cannot write this down on paper because it is the secretly treasured doctrine of the Buddha.
Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-i, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 82
The Lotus Sūtra of the fifth period consists of one fascicle of the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning as an introduction, eight fascicles of the Lotus Sūtra, and one fascicle of the Sūtra of Meditation on the Universal Sage Bodhisattva as the conclusion, bringing the total number of fascicles to ten.
The reason for my commentaries on the Four Teachings (Tripitaka, Common, Distinct, and Perfect) and the Four Periods (Flower Garland, Agama, Expanded, and Wisdom) is to help others learn what the Lotus Sūtra is. For one cannot correctly understand the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra without learning the pre-Lotus Sūtras, although one may study the pre-Lotus Sūtras without learning about other Sūtras.
In support of this, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai stated in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, “When attempting to spread various sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra, the essential part of the teaching will not be lost even if a doctrinal analysis of all the teachings of the Buddha is not rendered. When attempting to spread the Lotus Sūtra, however, the essence of the teaching may be lost if a doctrinal analysis is not made.” It is preached in the Lotus Sūtra (chapter 2, “Expedients”), “Although the Buddhas expound various teachings, it is for the purpose of leading the people into the world of the One Buddha Vehicle.” “Various teachings” here refer to all the pre-Lotus Sūtras. “For the purpose of leading the people into the world of the One Buddha Vehicle” means to expound all the scriptures of Buddhism to reveal the Lotus Sūtra.
Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-i, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 75
The purpose of the Tripitaka teaching is to emancipate people from the Six Realms of the triple world. As a result, because the teaching reveals no place but the triple world to attain emancipation, śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha are unaware of the existence of the Pure Land where bodhisattvas are born. They also do not know that they still possess other evil passions and attachments besides the delusions in view and thought. Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas believe they will eliminate the cause of being reborn in the triple world if they do away with the delusions in view and thought and that they will exist in a void where there is no body or mind, since they will have transformed the body to ashes and annihilated consciousness. Thus it is said that men of the two Vehicles cannot be saved by the Tripitaka teaching, and that they will never be able to become Buddhas without the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra.
Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-i, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 72.
This daimoku chanting has not yet been spread in the world. For 2,225 years after the extinction of the Buddha no one has chanted this yet. I, Nichiren, alone have been chanting “Namu Myōhōrengekyō, Namu Myōhōrengekyō” without saving my voice.
As you know, the size of waves depends on the strength of the winds, the height of a fire depends on firewood, the size of lotus flowers depends on the size of the ponds, the quantity of rain depends upon dragons; the deeper the roots of a tree are, the wider its branches grow; and the farther away a river begins, the longer it flows. The Chou dynasty lasted seven hundred years because King Wen paid much attention to propriety and filial piety. Early destruction of the Ch’in dynasty was due to the tyranny of its First Emperor.
With Nichiren’s boundless compassion, “Namu Myōhōrengekyō” will be heard forever even beyond the ten thousand year-period. It has the merit of curing the “blindness” of all the people in Japan, blocking the way to hell. This merit is superior to those of Dengyō, T’ien-t’ai, Nāgārjuna, and Kāśyapa. Practice for a hundred years in the Pure Land is not worth the merit of chanting the daimoku for one day in this defiled world. Propagation of the daimoku in a two thousand year-period following the death of the Buddha is not worth as much as spreading the daimoku for even a short while in the Latter Age of Degeneration. This is not from my wisdom; it is solely due to the time in which I live. In spring, flowers bloom; in autumn, fruits ripen; in summer, it is warm; and in winter, it is cold; they all go along with the laws of nature.
Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 52-53