QUESTION: What is most essential of the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sūtra?

ANSWER: Some people may say that each of its twenty-eight chapters is essential, while others say that chapters 2 and 16 are essential. Some say that chapter 2, “Expedients,” is essential, but others say that chapter 16, “The Life Span of the Buddha,” is. Still others say that the “open, show, perceive and enter” passage in chapter 2 explaining why the Buddhas appeared in this world, or the passage in the same chapter saying that all phenomena are ultimate reality is essential.

QUESTION: What do you think, then?

ANSWER: The essence of the Lotus Sūtra is “Namu Myōhōrengekyō. ”

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 51.