In his Izu writings, Nichiren began to refer to himself as the gyōja— practitioner or votary—of the Lotus Sūtra. In contrast to the more conventional term jikyōsha, one who “holds” the sūtra and recites it as his or her personal practice, gyōja for Nichiren meant one who lived the sūtra through one’s actions, experiencing in one’s own person the great trials that it predicts. His later writings would call this “reading with the body” (shikidoku). Having been exiled, as he saw it, for the sūtra’s sake, Nichiren rejoiced that even when not specifically reciting it, he was in effect now practicing the sūtra continuously, walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, throughout all the hours of the day and night. (Page 252)