[I]t is the “outer” soteric modality of giving one’s life for the Lotus Sūtra that frames the story of Nichiren’s career. His refusal to compromise his exclusive devotion to the Lotus, his conviction in his unique mission, his intemperate attacks on influential clerics and deliberate provoking of authorities, and his fortitude in the face of danger and privation left for his followers a model of “not begrudging bodily life,” and the persisting charisma of his image as prophet, martyr, and emissary of the Buddha formed the pivot around which the later Nichiren tradition would define its identity. However, behind Nichiren’s mandate that one should be ready to give one’s life for the Lotus Sūtra lies the question of what exactly about the Lotus Sūtra he thought worth dying for. This brings us to Nichiren’s “inner” soteric modality, that of realizing Buddhahood in the moment of chanting the daimoku that lies at the heart of his mature teaching. (Page 264)