In considering that Nichiren revealed that we do not need to walk the long, eon-spanning path of gradual self-cultivation because the Buddha has already completed that arduous journey for us, is Nichiren Buddhism a “faith-based” rather then a “works-based” practice?
Chanting the Odaimoku is not a simple, passive recitation, but rather a profound gateway to realizing your own inherent Buddha-nature.
1. Adopting the Buddha’s Stance Toward the World
In traditional paths, a vast gulf is presumed to exist between the ordinary, deluded person and the fully awakened Buddha. However, Nichiren’s teachings radically collapse this subject-object barrier. In the act of chanting the Odaimoku, your mind (a single thought-moment) becomes one with the entire phenomenal world (the three thousand realms). Rather than seeking an external savior, you are directly eliciting the Buddha of original enlightenment that is already present within your own mind.As the writing Myōhō-ama Gozen Gohenji beautifully states: “The person who chants Namu-myōhō-renge-kyō is a Buddha. His body is the dharma-body of the Buddha; his mind, the reward-body of the Buddha; and his behavior, the manifestation-body of the Buddha.” This nonduality of the self and the environment (eshō funi) means that when you chant, the natural world and your inner state of life act in perfect harmony. In Nichiren’s nondual hermeneutic, “the moon is the mind, the flower is the mind.” Consequently, you are empowered to face the world with the Buddha’s own unshakable stance.
This is not a state of world-denial or escape, but rather a total, fearless affirmation of reality. In your daily life, you are encouraged to embrace Nichiren’s famous instruction to Shijō Kingo:
“Take suffering as suffering, enjoy pleasures for what they are, and whether in suffering or joy, continue chanting Namu-myōhō-renge-kyō.”
This is the ultimate stance of the Buddha. It provides you with an inner ground that transcends the world’s fluctuations while allowing you to remain deeply active within it—participating in all of life’s pleasures and sorrows, involved but completely unfettered.
2. A “Faith-Based” vs. “Works-Based” Practice
There is indeed a sense in which this is a profoundly “faith-based” practice rather than a “works-based” one. In traditional “works-based” Buddhism, the path is viewed as a linear journey of gradual self-cultivation over countless eons. To attain enlightenment, a practitioner was expected to strictly observe hundreds of monastic precepts, engage in highly advanced silent meditations, and slowly eradicate all defilements. But for practitioners in the Latter Day of the Law (mappō), who lack the capacity for such arduous undertakings, this linear ladder is completely collapsed.Nichiren formulated the landmark doctrine of juji soku jikai—the realization that the single act of accepting and holding the Daimoku inherently encompasses the keeping of all Buddhist precepts and the performance of all Buddhist paths. The theological foundation for this is the concept of “natural transfer.” Because Śākyamuni Buddha completed the arduous journey of causal practices over countless lifetimes, all of his causes and effects are perfectly encompassed within the five characters myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō. When you embrace and chant this phrase with faith, the Buddha spontaneously transfers to you the entirety of his merits and virtues.
Thus, the entire path of awakening is accessed through the single key of faith. As the Nirvana Sutra declares, “There are many causes of attaining Buddhahood; faith, however, is all-inclusive.” By taking faith in the Odaimoku, you enter the stage of “verbal identity” (myōji-soku), where the initial step of believing is recognized as fully containing the ultimate fruit of Buddhahood.
Tomorrow: The Shift to Immediate Enlightenment in Nichiren Buddhism
