Whenever I lead Daimoku chanting (shodai), I preface it with an instruction to chant with great joy and confidence. We should make great effort to avoid chanting in a lazy, gloomy, or distracted manner. The cultivation of one’s inner spirit of joy and confidence enhances our Odaimoku and the Odaimoku enhances our inner spirit. Remember the way we chant and the state of our mind are all causes that have a significant impact on our lives and the benefit of the Odaimoku.

The pace of the chanting should be moderate, not too fast nor too slow. It should be comfortable and allow for easy pronunciation of all the seven characters of Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo. Namu takes one single beat and the remaining characters one beat each. The Raiju-giki suggests a minimum of 300 Odaimoku, though personally I am not a fan of the distraction of counting. Even counting one’s beads and doing three complete sets of 108 beads is a distraction. My advice is to know yourself and chant until you are full. Over time you will learn to discern when you’ve chanted enough. Sometimes the number will be very long and other times it may be as short as 300 repetitions.