Dōgen refers to the Lotus Sutra as “the great king and the great master of all the various sutras that the Buddha Śākyamuni taught.” But Dōgen’s central practice was zazen, and he also amply references other sutras, and, even more than the sutras, the recorded sayings or kōans from the Chinese Zen “buddha ancestors.” For Nichiren (1222-1282), on the other hand, the Lotus Sutra is the single sacred object around which his whole theology revolves. The main practice of the various Nichiren schools and their offshoots involves chanting the name of the Lotus Sutra and venerating a scroll of the sutra’s name. And in the more elaborated theology and sutra study also prevalent in Nichiren Buddhism, chapter 16 is especially central. Nichiren focuses on this story of the enduring Śākyamuni as the fulcrum for his teaching. Given this focus, it is fitting that the discussion of Nichiren in this chapter dwarfs most of the other sections in length. For Nichiren, Śākyamuni Buddha’s remaining ever-present and his teaching sustained by the underground bodhisattvas is the central spiritual fact.