Gongyo Style (독경 스타일)

THE DAIMOKU (NAM-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO) 

“Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is only one phrase or verse, but it is no ordinary phrase, for it is the essence of the entire sutra. ... Included within the title, or daimoku, of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the entire sutra … Truly, if you chant this in the morning and evening, you are correctly reading the entire Lotus Sutra.  Chanting daimoku twice is the same as reading the entire sutra twice, one hundred daimoku equal one hundred readings of the sutra, and one thousand daimoku, one thousand readings of the sutra.  Thus, if you ceaselessly chant daimoku, you will be continually reading the Lotus Sutra.”   (“The One Essential Phrase”, WND-1, p922-923)

“So, even though the beginners in Buddhist practice may not understand their significance, by practicing these five characters, they will naturally conform to the sutra’s intent.”   (“On The Four Stages of Faith”, WND-1, p788)

“The Lotus Sutra of the Correct Law says that, if one hears this sutra and proclaims and embraces its title, one will enjoy merit beyond measure.”    (“Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra”, WND-1, p143)

“Only the ship of Myoho-renge-kyo enables one to cross the sea of the sufferings of birth and death.”                                                               (“A Ship to Cross the Sea of Suffering”, WND-1, p 33)

  

DAILY RECITATION OF CHAPTERS 2 AND 16 OF THE LOTUS SUTRA

In 1264, Nichiren Daishonin replied to a question from the wife of Daigaku Saburō concerning how to perform gongyo. 

“You say that you used to recite one chapter of the Lotus Sutra every day, completing the entire sutra in the space of twenty-eight days, but that now you read the “Medicine King” chapter once a day. You ask if you should simply read each chapter in turn, as you were originally doing.” (WND-1, p68)

“Though no chapter of the Lotus Sutra is negligible, among the entire twenty-eight chapters, the “Expedient Means” chapter and the “Life Span” chapter are particularly outstanding. The remaining chapters are all in a sense the branches and leaves of these two chapters. Therefore, for your regular recitation, I recommend that you practice reading the prose sections of the “Expedient Means” and “Life Span” chapters.  … As for the remaining chapters, you may turn to them from time to time when you have a moment of leisure.”  (WND-1, p71)

It’s clear from this letter that the Daishonin had already established the daily practice of reciting extracts from these two chapters of the Lotus Sutra…

 COMPREHENSIVE, ABBREVIATED AND ESSENTIAL PRACTICE

“To accept, uphold, read, recite, take delight in, and protect all ... twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra is called the comprehensive practice. 

To accept, uphold, and protect the “Expedient Means” chapter and the “Life Span” chapter is called the abbreviated practice.

And simply to chant one four-phrase verse or the daimoku, and to protect those who do so, is called the essential practice.

Hence, among these three kinds of practice, comprehensive, abbreviated, and essential, the daimoku is defined as the essential practice.   (WND-1, p143)