Lotus Sutra devotion had a long history in China and Japan (especially in the
Tiantai school), but it was generally associated with chanting whole chapters of the sutra, or the whole sutra itself, not simply the title. A homage similar to the daimoku is found in Chinese ritual texts belonging to the Tiantai school, such as in the Lotus Repentance of
Zhiyi, the founder of the tradition. However, these homage phrases are only recited once as part of the entire ritual, not as a repetitive chant. The ''Fahua ch'uan-chi
, a Tang dynasty Chinese Lotus Sutra'' devotional text, contains at least two stories of individuals being saved from hell by reciting "Námó miàofǎ liánhuá jīng", but this is just a single recitation, and the text does not discuss its use as a chant used in continuous religious practice.
In Heian period Japan The actual practice of chanting the Daimoku, or the title of the
Lotus Sutra (in Japanese: ), was popularized by the
Kamakura-period Buddhist reformer
Nichiren (1222–1282). While often assumed to be his original innovation, historical evidence suggests that the practice existed in Japan way before his time. Early references to Daimoku chanting appear in
Heian period (794–1185) texts, such as
Shui ōjōden and
Hokke hyakuza kikigakisho, where it was associated with devotion to the
Lotus Sutra. Nichiren, however, transformed this practice by giving it a comprehensive doctrinal foundation and advocating it as the sole means of salvation in the degenerate age of the Final Dharma (
mappō). The earliest authenticated use of the Japanese daimoku dates back to 881, in a prayer composed by
Sugawara no Michizane for his deceased parents. In this prayer, the daimoku was actually paired with an homage to
Kannon bodhisattva (as
Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu, Namu myōhō renge kyō). Similar passages which contain the daimoku as a devotional chant is found in the works of Genshin's disciples, like Kakuun (953–1007), and Kakuchō (952/960–1034).
The Shuzenji-ketsu One medieval Tendai oral teachings text (
kuden homon), the ''Shuzenji-ketsu (Doctrinal Decisions of Hsiu-ch'an-ssu),
contains an example of daimoku chanting. The Shuzenji-ketsu
recommends the chanting of daimoku as a deathbed practice, stating that this practice is a "Dharma container" which can include within it the threefold contemplation of Tiantai. The text mentions that "through the workings of the three powers of the Wondrous Dharma [Dharma, Buddha, Faith], one shall at once attain enlightened wisdom and will not receive a body bound by birth and death." The dating of the Shuzenji-ketsu
is uncertain and it has provoked much scholarly controversy in Japan. Scholars disagree on whether the work influenced or is influenced by Nichiren, as well as whether it predates him, post-dates Nichiren, or whether it emerged independently at around the same time. Nichiren writes in his Kanjinhonzonshō
:The bodhisattva practices cause the virtues of the Buddha. The practices and virtues of Sakyamuni, the World-honored One, are contained in the Five Characters: Myōhō Renge Kyō''. When we keep these Five Characters, we shall automatically receive the merits that the Buddha obtained by his practices.Nichiren also writes that the daimoku has the following meanings:1) the name of the combination of the Dharma and its simile, 2) the name of the reality of all things, 3) the name of the teaching of the One Vehicle, 4) the name of faith in the Original Buddha, and 5) the name of the supremacy of the teaching.According to Stone, who draws on Takagi Yutaka's work, Nichiren's daimoku practice was influenced by three key elements: earlier Heian-period daimoku practices, medieval Tendai doctrine (as seen in texts like the
Shuzenji-ketsu), and the nembutsu tradition popularized by
Hōnen. Nichiren synthesized these influences to create a unique and exclusive practice centered on the daimoku, which became the core of his new school of Buddhism. Nichiren's emphasis on daimoku as an exclusive practice paralleled (and may have been influenced by) the development of
Hōnen's exclusive
nembutsu. Although Tendai and other Buddhist traditions included recitation-based practices (usually based on nembutsu,
mantras or whole sutras, like the
Heart Sutra or
Amitabha Sutra), Nichiren elevated the chanting of the daimoku to an exclusive and universal method of attaining enlightenment. Nichiren claimed that the daimoku was the
only method to happiness and salvation suited for the
age of Dharma decline, while other practices were useless. As such, mixing the daimoku with other practices (as the Buddhists of the Heian period had done) was seen by Nichiren as being “like mixing rice with excrement.” Within the early Nichiren community, interpretations of the daimoku practice varied, with some followers viewing it as an expression of faith, while others understood it as a meditative discipline or a means of achieving worldly benefits. His doctrine integrated elements of Tendai philosophy, esoteric Buddhism, and contemporary concerns about the age of mappō, which contributed to its wide appeal. ==Analysis of the phrase==