I WRITE THIS ARTICLE overshadowed by the death of my stillborn daughter, Avery. As an ordained minister of the Nichiren Shu, I am used to others asking how to cope with life’s suffering and tragedies. Now I must ask myself: Where do I find the power to get through this?
It is not enough, even an insult, to people’s intelligence and basic human feelings to simply say, “chant about it.” However, in our lineage, it is true that chanting the Odaimoku mantra in joyful confidence is the vessel we use to gather, realize, and express the three powers that come together to overcome suffering and anguish. These three powers are the awe-inspiring power of the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha, the power of the foundational merit of the practitioner, and the power of samadhi in which the other two powers are united. It is to these powers that I look for solace.
The primary practice of Nichiren Buddhism is chanting the “August Title” or Odaimoku of the . Though Nichiren (1222–1282) did not invent the Odaimoku, he established it in 1253 as an accessible and direct way for anyone to practice the . In Sino-Japanese, the Odaimoku is pronounced: “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,” which means “Devotion to the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.” To support and elaborate on this practice, Nichiren, who was ordained in the Japanese Tendai school, often cited the teachings of Tiantai Zhiyi (537–598). Throughout his life, Nichiren lectured on. In that work, Zhiyi exhorted practitioners to rely upon the “three powers,” the powers of the Buddha, samadhi, and the practitioner’s own foundational merit in order to accomplish the practice of “constant walking samadhi,” wherein a practitioner circumambulates a statue of Amitabha Buddha while chanting that buddha’s name for ninety days in an effort to have a visionary encounter with the buddhas of the ten directions. Zhiyi derived this practice, as well as the three powers, from the (Skt. ). While this particular practice is not used in Nichiren Shu, the principle of the three powers that Zhiyi expounded does apply to the practice of chanting Odaimoku.
