The Chinese character “myō” is “sad” in Sanskrit, and “miao” in Chinese. It means to be equipped with everything. To be equipped means satisfactory, lacking nothing. Each character of the Lotus Sūtra contains every one of 69,384 characters. It is like a drop of water in the ocean consisting of the water of all the rivers, or a single crystal ball as small as a poppy seed, pouring out all the treasures.

It is as the plants that died with ice and snow in autumn and winter, sprout, put out leaves, blossom and bear fruits in spring and summer. This is a parable in which the people in nine realms before the Lotus Sūtra are compared to the plants of autumn through winter. The character myō of the Lotus Sūtra is likened to the sunshine of spring through summer, and blossoming and bearing fruits mean aspiration for and attainment of Buddhahood by those people. Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna says in his Great Wisdom Discourse that it is “like a great medicine master turning poison into medicine.” This is his explanation of how virtuous “myō” of the Lotus Sūtra was. Grand Master Miao-lê says also that the Lotus Sūtra is named “myō” because it was able to heal all the sick people with obstinate diseases that had not been cured by any other sūtras.

Hokke Daimoku Shō, Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 42