Nichiren’s idea of the transmission of the Lotus Sūtra is also twofold in another sense. On the one hand, the transmission unfolds through a line of teachers in historical time. Nichiren saw himself as heir to a lineage that passed from Śākyamuni Buddha, to Zhiyi, to Saichō, and then to himself — the “four teachers in three countries,” as he put it. The Nichiren tradition terms this the “outer transmission,” passing over the centuries from Śākyamuni Buddha down to Nichiren and his followers. At the same time, however, it speaks of an “inner transmission” received directly from the primordial buddha, namely, the daimoku itself. Nichiren said that teachers such as Zhiyi and Saichō had known inwardly of Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō but had not spoken of it openly because the time for its dissemination had not yet come.

[I]n Nichiren’s reading, in the “Transcendent Powers” chapter, the Buddha first transmitted the daimoku, Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō, to the bodhisattvas who had emerged from the earth, for them to propagate in the Final Dharma age. To presage this momentous event, the Buddha displayed his ten transcendent powers and, extracting the essence of the Lotus Sūtra, entrusted it to the four bodhisattvas. Then, in the “Entrustment” chapter, he made a more general transmission of the Lotus and all his other teachings to the bodhisattvas from other worlds, the bodhisattvas of the trace teaching who had been his followers in his provisional guise as the buddha who first attained awakening in this lifetime, and persons of the two vehicles. This general transmission was intended for the more limited period of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma ages.

Let us review the process of the Buddha’s entrustment of the Lotus Sūtra from this twofold perspective. In the “Jeweled Stūpa” chapter, Śākyamuni Buddha calls for persons willing to spread the sūtra in an evil age after his nirvāṇa. Right before the concluding verse section, Śākyamuni announces: “The Tathāgata will enter parinirvāṇa before long and the Buddha wants to transmit this Lotus Sūtra to you.” Zhiyi says that this implies both a “near” transmission, to those bodhisattvas who have already assembled, and a “distant” transmission, to the bodhisattvas who will emerge from the earth several chapters later and to whom the Buddha will transfer the essence of the sūtra. In the “Perseverance” chapter, a great throng of bodhisattvas from other worlds vow to spread the Lotus Sūtra throughout the ten directions. But in the “Bodhisattvas Emerging from the Earth” chapter, Śākyamuni rejects their offer and instead summons his original disciples, the bodhisattvas from beneath the earth led by Viśiṣṭacaritra. Their appearance at the assembly in open space provides the occasion for Śākyamuni, in the “Lifespan” chapter, to cast off his provisional guise as someone who first realized enlightenment in the present lifetime and reveal his true identity as the primordially awakened buddha who “constantly resides” here in this world. Now in the “Transcendent Powers” chapter, he formally transfers the Lotus Sūtra to the bodhisattvas of the earth, who in the next chapter solemnly vow to uphold and disseminate it as the Buddha directs.

But what was transferred to the bodhisattvas of the earth? Śākyamuni declares that in the Lotus Sūtra he has “clearly revealed and taught all the teachings of the Tathāgata, all the transcendent powers of the Tathāgata, all the treasure houses of the hidden essence of the Tathāgata, and all the profound aspects of the Tathāgata.” Based on this passage, Zhiyi formulated five major principles of the Lotus Sūtra — its name, essence, purport, function, and position among all teachings — principles that he also understood as inherent in the five characters that comprise the sūtra’s title. Nichiren too spoke of “Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō endowed with the five profound principles,” drawing on the Tiantai commentarial tradition to assert that what Śākyamuni Buddha transferred to the bodhisattvas of the earth was none other than the daimoku, the heart or intent, of the Lotus Sūtra:

As for the five characters Myōhō-renge-kyō: Śākyamuni Buddha not only kept them secret during his first forty-some years of teaching, but also refrained from speaking of them even in the trace teaching, the first fourteen chapters of the Lotus Sūtra. Not until the “Lifespan” chapter did he reveal the two characters renge, which [represent the five characters and] indicate the original effect and original cause [of the Buddha’s enlightenment]. The Buddha did not entrust these five characters to Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Maitreya, Bhaiṣajyarāja, or any other such bodhisattvas. Instead he summoned forth from the great earth of Tranquil Light the bodhisattvas Viśiṣṭacāritra, Anantacāritra, Vlśuddhacāritra, and Supratiṣṭhitacāritra along with their followers and transmitted the five characters to them.

Among Chinese exegetes, Zhiyi was the first to identify both Chapters 21 and 22 as describing Śākyamuni’s transmission to the future. Nichiren built upon Zhiyi’s reading to claim that there had been two transmissions: a specific transmission to Viśiṣṭacaritra and the other bodhisattvas who had emerged from beneath the earth, which occurs in the “Transcendent Powers” chapter, beginning from “Thereupon the Buddha addressed the great assembly of bodhisattvas, beginning with Viśiṣṭacaritra …”), and a general transmission, which occurs in the “Entrustment” chapter, to all the bodhisattvas, including those from other worlds and those instructed by Śākyamuni when he was still in his provisional guise as the historical Buddha, as he is represented in the trace teaching, as well as to persons of the two vehicles and others in the Lotus assembly.

Nichiren’s name derives in part from his understanding of the “Transcendent Powers” chapter as foretelling that the bodhisattvas of the earth would appear at the beginning of the Final Dharma age. In premodern Japan, as in other cultures, it was common to change one’s name on entering a new stage of life or undergoing some transformative experience. Nichiren’s childhood name is said to have been Yakuō-maro. When he was first ordained, he assumed the monastic name Renchō. After reaching the insight that the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra is the sole path of liberation in the Final Dharma age, he changed his name to Nichiren (“Sun Lotus”). The concluding verse section of [The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas] chapter reads in part, “As the light of the sun and moon eliminates the darkness, these people practicing in the world will extinguish the blindness of sentient beings.” In the Chinese text, “these people,” the subject of this sentence, can be read either in the plural, as Kubo and Yuyama translate it, or in the singular, as Nichiren took it, that is, as referring to anyone – particularly himself, but also his followers – who took upon themselves the task of the Buddha’s original disciples to propagate the Lotus Sūtra in the Final Dharma age. As he comments:

Calling myself Nichiren (Sun Lotus) means that I awakened by myself to the buddha vehicle. That may sound as though I am boasting of my wisdom, but I say so for a reason. The sūtra reads, “As the light of the sun and moon eliminates the darkness. …” Think well about what this passage means. “These people practicing in the world” means that in the first five hundred years of the Final Dharma age, the bodhisattva Viśiṣṭacaritra will appear and illuminate the darkness of ignorance and defilements with the light of the five characters of Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō. As the bodhisattva Viśiṣṭacaritra’s envoy, I have urged all people of Japan to accept and uphold the Lotus Sūtra; that is what this passage refers to. The sūtra then goes on to say, “The wise … should preserve this sūtra after my nirvāṇa. Those people will be resolute and will unwaveringly follow the buddha path.” Those who become my disciples and lay followers should understand that we share a profound karmic relationship and spread the Lotus Sūtra as I do.