Nichiren’s conviction is that the highest form of meditation is not found in a special transmission confined to an elite lineage of Zen masters or any other select group of people. Rather, it is to be found expressed by Śākyamuni Buddha himself in the Lotus Sūtra, but the sutra’s teaching must come alive for us in and through actual contemplation of the Wonderful Dharma, here expressed in terms of the “threefold contemplation in a single thought” and the “three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.” This goes beyond any conceptual teaching or otherworldly piety. This points to actual contemplation of the true nature of mind … .

The connection between this kind of contemplation based on the Lotus Sūtra and the practice of Odaimoku is stated in the Treatise on the Ten Chapters (Jisshō-shō):

What we should chant all the time as the practice of the perfect teaching is ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,’ and what we should keep in mind is the way of meditation based on the truth of ‘three thousand realms in a single thought-moment.’ Only wise men practice both chanting ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō’ and meditating on the truth of ‘three thousand realms in a single thought moment.’ Lay followers of Japan today should recite only ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.’ As the name has the virtue of reaching the body that it represents, when one chants ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,’ one will not fail to receive all the merit of the Lotus Sütra.

Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō fulfills the same function as calming and contemplation practice in Nichiren’s view, as it allows anyone to contemplate the Wonderful Dharma and receive the merit of the Buddha’s highest teaching. In Nichiren’s time, very few lay people would have had the opportunity to study the Tiantai teachings or had the time to engage in meditation practice. It was very important that a way of practice suitable to ordinary working people be provided if Buddhism was truly to be a Great Vehicle for all beings. Though Nichiren encouraged those who could to practice the Tiantai method of meditation, he clearly saw it as practically superfluous compared to the great merit of chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, which Nichiren and his disciples and followers found could itself calm the mind and open it to the great insight of the Buddha.