Our devotion and the devotional phrase are a two-part deal. One part is Myoho Renge Kyo, which we all know is the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra. Picture this as a book. The book, Myoho Renge Kyo, is sitting on the coffee table or perhaps on a bookshelf. You are on the sofa, all nice and comfy. You are Namu.

At this point you can see there is a separation between you, the subject, and the book, the object. But if you go over to the bookshelf and pick up the book and hold it and begin to read it, you and the book are connecting. Now Namu is appended to Myoho Renge Kyo. Mind you, this is only an illustration.

At this point you are more connected holding the book or holding it and reading than when you were in one place and it was in another. Suppose as you read it you become emotionally involved in some part of the sutra. Say you’re reading about this huge assembly of people watching the Buddha sit in meditation, and you are curious about this scene you’re reading. Now you are even more connected. You, Namu, have come closer to the Myoho Renge Kyo. You are nearing an experience of oneness of subject and object.

Now let’s say you’re reading the sutra and you come to the guy whose children are playing inside a dilapidated house that has burst into flame. You might be a parent yourself, and you imagine what you might feel if they were your children. At this point, you have entered the Lotus Sutra even more deeply and your Namu is even more at one with the Myoho Renge Kyo. You are closer to the unification of subject and object. You are not simply becoming the Lotus Sutra, you are beginning to feel the Lotus Sutra that is fundamentally at the core of your life.

Further along you read about some folks who pop up out of the ground and have wondrous bodies. Out of the ground they come, and they keep coming in what appears to be an impossible number. And you may realize that you too came from the earth, and you too have a desire to go to and praise the Buddha just as they did. You also realize that you have been trying to tell people about the Lotus Sutra just as they promised they would. And you begin to think you are acting as they did and fulfilling the promise they made.

You, the Namu, are now even more deeply connected to the Myoho Renge Kyo, but now it is not the book you’re holding but something deeper inside you. Perhaps it makes you feel warm, or even giddy at times. Or perhaps you simply feel at home. You may feel it’s just right; it fits. Now you begin to experience the connection of you and your Myoho Renge Kyo, which has been activated by your Namu.

Namu is you. It is your action. Namu is from the word Namaste. Namaste means devotion, reverence, respect. Namu and Namaste are action words. Being passive is not Namu. The more your devotion, your honoring, your behaviors, your thoughts, your every sense is directed to Myoho Renge Kyo, the more the Myoho Renge Kyo of your life is activated and the more of your environment becomes Myoho Renge Kyo. But you are the key. Myoho Renge Kyo is there, it always has been, it takes you to activate it. Buddhism is not a passive religion.