Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō (Kanji: ) is a Japanese sacred phrase chanted within all forms of Nichiren Buddhism. In English, it means "Devotion to the Mystic Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra" or "Homage to the Sublime Dharma of the Lotus Sutra"., Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law. .
The words refer to the Japanese title of the Lotus Sūtra (). The phrase is referred to as the () , meaning title, and was publicly taught by the Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren on 28 April 1253 atop Mount Kiyosumi, now memorialized by Seichō-ji temple in Kamogawa, Chiba prefecture, Japan., Nichiren. .
In Nichiren Buddhism, the practice of prolonged Daimoku chanting is referred to as (). Nichiren Buddhist believers claim that the purpose of chanting is to reduce suffering by eradicating negative karma and all karmic retribution, while also advancing the practitioner on the path to perfect and complete awakening.
History Lotus Sutra devotion had a long history in China and Japan (especially in the Tiantai school), but it was generally associated with chanting whole chapters of the sutra, or the whole sutra itself, not simply the title. A homage similar to the daimoku is found in Chinese ritual texts belonging to the Tiantai school, such as in the Lotus Repentance of Zhiyi, the founder of the tradition. However, these homage phrases are only recited once as part of the entire ritual, not as a repetitive chant.
The Fahua ch'uan-chi, a Tang dynasty Chinese Lotus Sutra devotional text, contains at least two stories of individuals being saved from hell by reciting "Námó miàofǎ liánhuá jīng", but this is just a single recitation, and the text does not discuss its use as a chant used in continuous religious practice.
In Heian period Japan The actual practice of chanting the Daimoku, or the title of the Lotus Sutra (in Japanese: ), was popularized by the Kamakura-period Buddhist reformer Nichiren (1222–1282). While often assumed to be his original innovation, historical evidence suggests that the practice existed in Japan long before his time. Early references to Daimoku chanting appear in Heian period (794–1185) texts, such as Shui ōjōden and Hokke hyakuza kikigakisho, where it was associated with devotion to the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren, however, transformed this practice by giving it a comprehensive doctrinal foundation and advocating it as the sole means of salvation in the degenerate age of the Final Dharma (mappō).
The idea that the title of the sutra held the power of the entire sutra could have been influenced by the fact that Zhiyi, the Chinese founder of the Tiantai school, had explained in his commentary to the Lotus Sutra (Fahua Xuan Yi) that the title of the sutra contained within it the entire meaning of the whole sutra, and that it signified the sublime (miao 妙) nature of ultimate reality itself.Rhodes, Robert F. (2016). Tiantai Hermeneutics: Zhiyi's Interpretation of the Lotus Sutra Presented in the Miaofa lianhua jing xuanyi. In The Buddha's Words and Their Interpretations, ed. Takami Inoue and Imre Hamar, 139–153. Kyoto: The Shin Buddhist Comprehensive Research Institute, Otani University.
The earliest authenticated use of the Japanese daimoku dates back to 881, in a prayer composed by Sugawara no Michizane for his deceased parents. In this prayer, the daimoku was actually paired with an homage to Kannon bodhisattva (as Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu, Namu myōhō renge kyō). Similarly, the Kachio engi (possibly dated to the 9th century) states that the monk Shōnyo taught the chanting of Namu-myōhō-renge-kyō and Namu Amida Nyorai.
By the late 10th and early 11th centuries, the daimoku was being chanted on the Tendai school stronghold of Mt. Hiei as an expression of devotion to the Dharma. There is evidence of the Daimoku's use in sutra burials, inscriptions on statues, and other religious practices, indicating its growing significance in both monastic and aristocratic circles. These examples are often associated with Amida Buddha or Kannon. For example, a Kannon statue installed in 1012 at Koryuji temple included inscriptions of the daimoku along with the nembutsu (Namu Amida Butsu).
The Kūkan (Contemplation of Emptiness), a text (questionably) attributed to the Tendai monk Genshin (942–1017), states that those who "abhor the impure Saha world and aspires to the Pure Land of Utmost Bliss should chant ", which can be interpreted as honoring correspondingly the three jewels of Buddhism. in Payne, Richard K.. Re-Visioning 'Kamakura' Buddhism, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824843939. Similar passages which contain the daimoku as a devotional chant is found in the works of Genshin's disciples, like Kakuun (953–1007), and Kakuchō (952/960–1034).
By the late 12th century, the daimoku began to be chanted repeatedly, similar to the nembutsu (chanting of Amida Buddha's name), as seen in records of rituals and ceremonies from this time. Stories from setsuwa (Buddhist tales) further illustrate the daimoku's role as a simple yet powerful practice, accessible even to those with limited knowledge of Buddhism. These tales emphasize the Lotus Sutra's salvific power, suggesting that even uttering its title could form a bond with the Dharma and lead to salvation. However, the practice was not yet as widespread among the common people, remaining more prominent among monks and the nobility. In a story found in the Hokke hyakuza kikigakisho, the daimoku (here: Namu ichijō myōhō renge kyō) is recited by an illiterate Chinese monk who could not learn to chant the Lotus Sutra itself, and the practice later saves him from hell.
Furthermore, during this period, a class of people known as "title chanters" (daimyōsō) emerged, who intoned the daimoku at public lectures and other ceremonies. These figures may have helped spread the practice before the rise of Nichiren Buddhism.
The 12th century practice of the daimoku was often paired with the nembutsu or associated with Pure Land Buddhism. One example from the early 12th century is in the Shui ōjōden (Gleanings of Biographies of People born in the Pure Land), which contains a description of the practice in the context of Pure Land devotion. The text describes how Tachibana no Morisuke (d. 1096) is said to have recited the name of Amida Buddha and the title of the Lotus Sutra every evening while facing West. In another example, the artist Unkei (1150–1223) describes how during a ritual copying of the Lotus Sutra, various devotees would perform three bows for each line of the sutra he copied. With each bow they would recite the daimoku and the nembutsu. Unkei also mentions how local lay supporters of the project also chanted the nembutsu and the daimoku several thousand times.
The title of the Lotus Sutra was also used by the Tendai school for esoteric yoga, especially in the Lotus Ritual (Hokke Hō), an esoteric Buddhist rite based on the Lotus Sutra and Chinese Esoteric Buddhism. This rite made use of mandalas, mantras and dhāraṇīs, including the dhāraṇīs taught in the Lotus Sutra, as well as the daimoku.Dolce, Lucia. “Hokekyô to mikkyô,” [The Lotus Sutra and Tantric Buddhism] in Hokekyô to Nichiren, vol. 1 of Shirizu Nichiren, 5 vols, Komatsu Hôshô and Hanano Jûdô, eds, Tokyo: Shunjûsha, 2014, pp. 268-293.
The Shuzenji-ketsu
One medieval Tendai oral teachings text (kuden homon), the Shuzenji-ketsu (Doctrinal Decisions of Hsiu-ch'an-ssu), contains an example of daimoku chanting. The Shuzenji-ketsu recommends the chanting of daimoku as a deathbed practice, stating that this practice is a "Dharma container" which can include within it the threefold contemplation of Tiantai. The text mentions that "through the workings of the three powers of the Wondrous Dharma [Dharma, Buddha, Faith], one shall at once attain enlightened wisdom and will not receive a body bound by birth and death." The text also teaches daimoku recitation as a method of contemplating the three thousand realms in one thought (ichinen sanzen), again at the time of death, and pairs it with recitation of the name of Kannon bodhisattva.
The text also teaches daimoku recitation as part of a contemplative rite described as follows:You should make pictures of images representing the ten realms and enshrine them in ten places. Facing each image, you should, one hundred times, bow with your body, chant Namu Myoho-renge-kyo with your mouth, and contemplate with your mind. When you face the image of hell, contemplate that its fierce flames are themselves precisely emptiness, precisely provisional existence, and precisely the middle, and so on for all the images. When you face the image of the Buddha, contemplate its essence being precisely the threefold truth. You should carry out this practice for one time period in the morning and one time period in the evening. The Great Teacher Zhiyi secretly conferred this Dharma essential for the beings of dull faculties in the last age. If one wishes to escape from birth and death and attain bodhi, then first he should employ this practice. – Shuzenji-ketsu, trans. Jacqueline Stone The dating of the Shuzenji-ketsu is uncertain and it has provoked much scholarly controversy in Japan. Scholars disagree on whether the work influenced or is influenced by Nichiren, as well as whether it predates him, post-dates Nichiren, or whether it emerged independently at around the same time. Shimaji Daito (1875–1927) for example, places it in the cloistered rule period (1086–1185). Tamura Yoshiro meanwhile dates the work to 1250–1300. Takagi Yutaka meanwhile agrees with the view that the text is from the late Heian period and that it demonstrate's the era's concern for a proper death. Many scholars have noted that devotion to Amitabha and the Lotus Sutra were key elements of the Buddhism of the Heian period, where they were seen as complementary. The Tendai school at mount Hiei was known for a schedule of practice which focused on Lotus Sutra rites in the morning and Pure Land practices in the evening. This custom was later described through the motto "daimoku in the morning and nembutsu in the evening."
Nichiren