In Nichiren’s teaching, the entire process of sowing, maturing and harvesting concludes in the moment of chanting the daimoku, the act by which one “simultaneously makes the cause and receives the effect of Buddhahood.” Or, if enlightenment is viewed as a process, one reaps the harvest of emancipation within this single lifetime. Those born in the True and Counterfeit Dharma ages, Nichiren taught, could attain Buddhahood through traditional disciplines, but these in general demanded practice spanning many cycles of birth and death. On the other hand, those born in the time of mappo cannot attain Buddhahood through such disciplines, but by chanting Namu-myōhōrengekyō-kyō, they can become Buddhas in this very lifetime.

Thus for Nichiren, birth in the Final Dharma age is ultimately a matter for rejoicing. “What joy to have been born in mappō, and to have shared in the propagation [of the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra)!” he exclaims. “To be a common mortal seeking the Way in this Final Dharma age is better than being a mighty ruler during the two thousand years of the True and Counterfeit Dharma ages. Rather than be abbot of the Tendai sect, it is better to be a leper who chants Namu- myōhō-rengekyō-kyō.” And, “I rejoice at whatever good fortune enabled me to be born in the fifth five-hundred years. When one compares the rewards of living in the three different periods, it is clear that mine surpass not only those of Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu but those of T’ien-t’ai (Chih-i) and Dengyō.” Similar expressions of joy and gratitude abound in his writings, contrasting sharply with the gloom of conventional mappō thought. For Nichiren, mappō was defined not in terms of its depravity, but in terms of the relationship between the people and the Dharma. From one perspective, he taught that the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra is the correct practice for people in the Final Dharma age, but more fundamentally, he held the Final Dharma age to be significant because that is the time when the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra—the seed for the direct attainment of Buddhahood—shall spread.