It should also be noted that Nitchō’s* strong doctrinal emphasis on the original enlightenment of ordinary worldlings was modified by the presence of other elements in the context of practice. For example:

[Question]: By upholding the truth and not abandoning it, one eventually arrives at the fruit of Buddhahood–if this is the case, then whether or not Buddhahood is realized depends solely on the mind. The power of the sūtra, it would appear, is not involved. How should this be understood?

Answer: This is an essential matter. When it is said that one who maintains one’s resolve without abandoning it will achieve great merit, in reliance upon what do we understand that great merit to be achieved? By relying for one’s good roots upon the Lotus Sūtra and not losing one’s resolve, any merit can be achieved. Thus, even the slightest good roots can result in the fruit of Buddhahood. But should one not rely upon the Lotus Sūtra, no matter how vast one’s good roots may be, one will not arrive at the fruit of Buddhahood.

Or again:

All persons, by receiving the Wonderful Dharma transmitted by Bodhisattva Superior Conduct and having faith in it, will eradicate within this lifetime the delusions of the three poisons of greed, hatred, and folly [accumulated] since beginningless vast kalpas and, when this life is ended, with their final breath, shall at once realize the cherished desire of going to [the Pure Land of] Eagle Peak.

Side by side with his discussion of realizing enlightenment in the moment of chanting the daimoku are notions of realizing Buddhahood at the moment of death or going at death to the Pure Land of Eagle Peak. Nitchō’s case thus supports the suggestion, offered earlier in the context of medieval Tendai, that original enlightenment discourse was a rhetorical strategy rooted in commitment to a philosophical position of nonduality; in actual practice, it often existed side by side and was constrained by ideas that did not necessarily cohere with it logically, including the need to rely on superior powers (such as Buddhas or sūtras), the importance of cultivating lifelong faith, and birth after death in a pure land. (Page 324-325)

*Gyōgakuin Nitchō (1422-1500), eleventh kanju of Minobu and the leading scholar among the itchi faction of the Hokkeshūand studied under the ninth kanju of Minobu, Nichigaku.