Śākyamuni Buddha gave the Original Gate discourse to his disciples two thousand five hundred years ago in India at a time when their understanding was ripe and they could awaken to the fullest implications of what they were being told. The ‘three thousand realms in a single thought-moment’ is the Tiantai way of expressing the contemplative insight that is implied by the Original Gate of the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, it is called the seed of buddhahood. In other writings, particularly Treatise on Spiritual Contemplation and the Focus of Devotion (Kanjin Honzon-shō), Nichiren identifies this seed with the Odaimoku (Sacred Title) of the five characters of the Lotus Sūtra: myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō. Nichiren sees the present age as the time in which to sow this seed of buddhahood. Because of this seed, buddhahood is something that is not only found in the past or the future but is a reality that can be sown in our lives in the present moment.