The word namu expresses feelings of reverence and a sense of compliance. Therefore, the Venerable Ananda placed namu above the two characters meaning "this" [of "This is what I heard"], which he wrote at the beginning of all the sutras.

White Horses and White Swans, WND, 1062

Written to the lady of Utsubusa on August 14, 1280 from Minobu

Even if your fiefs should be confiscated or you yourself driven out, you must think that it is due to the workings of the ten demon daughters, and wholeheartedly entrust yourself to them. Had I not been exiled, but remained in Kamakura, I would certainly have been killed in the battle. In like manner, since remaining in your lord's service will likely be to your detriment, this may well be the design of Shakyamuni Buddha.

A Warning against Begrudging One's Fief, WND, 824

Written to Shijo Kingo in July of 1277 from Minobu

The way of the lion is the way of mentor and disciple - of dedicating one's life to truth and justice. It is the way of the courageous, who stand alone, afraid of nothing. It is the path of victory, in which all evil and injustice are defeated. And it is the way of compassion, in which one gives oneself completely to championing the cause of the people.

World Tribune, October 20, 2000, pg. 9

Ikeda: As we discussed previously [in connection with the "Introduction" (first) chapter], profound significance attaches to the three assemblies in two places. Through the overall framework of the Lotus Sutra, the move from the real world to the realm of eternal life (i.e., from Eagle Peak to the Ceremony in the Air), and then back to the real world (from the Ceremony in the Air to Eagle Peak) indicates the rhythm of human revolution.

Suda: We have a rhythm that alternates between two actions: that of "seeking the Way" and that of "guiding living beings."

Endo: This is analogous to the rhythm of our daily lives in which we go from the reality of life to the practice of gongyo, and then back to the reality of life and society with renewed vigor.

Saito: The concept of dedicating one's life (as expressed by the Sanskrit term namas) to Myoho-renge-kyo includes the sense of both "returning to" and taking action "based on" the Mystic Law.

Ikeda: Both of these are indeed essential, for only when our practice incorporates these two aspects are we truly devoting ourselves to Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. To "return to" means to practice for oneself, while basing one's action on the Mystic Law means to practice for others.

It is when we fully integrate both the practice for oneself and the practice for others that we get in sync with the rhythm of the universe. These two ways of practice are like the two planetary motions of rotation and revolution. The more we advance in the "practice for oneself," the more our "practice for others" develops. And as our "practice for others" advances, our "practice for oneself" deepens.

President Toda often said with regard to propagation: "The key is to earnestly pray to the Gohonzon. There is no other way to spread this Buddhism!" We need to pray that the other person will be able to sense our sincere desire for them to become happy. We have to pray: "Please enable me to fulfill my mission in this life as an emissary of the Buddha!"

Buddhism is a battle. President Toda was very strict when it came to winning or losing. During athletic events, Mr. Toda would go to the losing team and give them some words of advice. Somehow, that team would often end up winning. But regarding shakubuku, he once said: "There may be some people who have a hard time doing shakubuku, perhaps because they are awkward with words or simply too good-natured.

And that's just fine but practice joyfully nevertheless. "There are those who will nevertheless tell them, 'You absolutely have to do shakubuku!' But if someone just can't do it, scolding them will not help in the least. If the person is appreciative to be able to practice to the Gohonzon, that is enough. "The important thing is that the person be encouraged so that they can truly understand faith. When they really grasp the greatness of the Gohonzon, they will naturally tell others about the practice. And that itself is shakubuku."

Living Buddhism, 01/00, pg. 40-41

Mr. Toda said: "Why was a person of such exalted virtue made to die in prison? If he had not been a votary of the Lotus Sutra, he could never have had such a destiny.

"He gave his life for the sake of the Lotus Sutra; he is a model of dedicating one's life to the Lotus Sutra by facing persecution. His death was the offering of Bodhisattva Medicine King. President Makiguchi is qualified to be praised by the words (used in the sutra to describe Medicine King's offering of self-immolation) "Among all donations, this is the most highly prized" (LS23, 282).

Living Buddhism, 02/00, pg. 36

Religious revolution is itself human revolution.

Likewise, it is educational revolution and economic revolution,

and will also become true political revolution.

The world is confused and polluted.

Who will purify society and the people?

The Soka Gakkai has a profound and great mission.

Its advance alone will decide everything.

Revolution means dedicating one's life.

We devote our lives to the Mystic Law.

Faithful commitment to a noble cause -

this will be the great cornerstone for the salvation of the country and the world.

Living Buddhism, 10/00, pg. 44

In other words, it is to devote one's life, in the sense of the term namu; it is to have faith.

The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, Vol. 3, pg. 98 [Living Buddhism, 07/97, pg. 36]

The attitude of prayer in Buddhism is expressed as namu or nam, which derives from Sanskrit. Namu is translated into Japanese as kimyo and means 'to devote one's life'. This act of devotion might be described as a ceremony in which one fuses one's own being with the fundamental Law of the universe itself. ... In one's prayer to that mandala, the act through which devotion takes place, the external cosmos and the inner real of mind are perfectly fused, enabling one to establish a correct rhythm in the course of life and daily existence.

Buddhism and the Cosmos, Pg. 26

The Sanskrit namas is interpreted in Buddhism as 'devotion of one's life'. Other translations are to honor, to revere, to return to, to respect, to seek salvation, to attain the Way, and so forth. Be that as it may, our ichinen in the moment of prayer permeates all our human activities constituting the three categories of action: our mental, verbal and physical actions. That is why the object toward which prayer is directed becomes crucial. The mandala or Gohonzon inscribed by Nichiren Daishonin is the 'cluster of blessings'.

Buddhism and the Cosmos, Pg. 28

"All people are devoted to something. ... The crucial thing to remember is that what you decide to devote yourself to or give your life to is what determines whether your life will be happy or unhappy. ... the state of mind underlying the devotion I am talking about is ... a state of complete, self-assured calm and peace, a state utterly without fear. ... a state of being ultimately free and true to yourself. Devotion to the Mystic Law means breaking through your lesser self, the small you that has been driven and hounded by all kinds of petty, selfish wants and desires. It means returning to your greater self, the self that is one with the universe, that is as vast as the cosmos itself."

The New Human Revolution Vol. 6, pg. 283-84 [World Tribune, 01/09/98, pg. 5-6]

How can one live as a worthy human being? It is important to live based on one's values, that is, with a strong and noble spirit. However, people tend to attach more importance to cleverness, beauty, wealth or worldly fame. This obstructs the path to generosity, and unknowingly fosters shamefully arrogant people.

I am certain that each one of you will grow into capable people who will be essential to the cause of kosen-rufu. Therefore, I hope you will bear the following thoughts in mind.

Descartes writes that a generous person is firmly resolved to exercise his will in a positive manner, that is, to always set out to undertake and accomplish what he believes is best. In this sense, generosity can be interpreted to mean the frame of mind in which one lives up to one's own belief. Descartes also writes that it is characteristic of a generous person not to be affected by such emotions as desire, attachment, envy, hatred, fear or anger. Generous people who live with conviction are not influenced by the baser emotions of desire, jealousy and hatred. However, there are likely to be instances when a person of conviction is cruelly blamed or criticized. You must never be swayed by such occurrences. Rather, precisely as the Daishonin states, "Worthies and sages are tested by abuse," (WND, 303 [MW-1, 38]) please employ any adversity and hardship as a springboard to deepen your humanity.

A person who becomes arrogant, in contrast, easily despises others. Descartes says that such persons become slaves to their desires and are stirred by hatred, jealousy, anger and attachment. This is a keen insight into human tendencies. What Descartes pointed out is a tendency people often develop in the course of their lives, a tendency evident in those who have abandoned their faith and betrayed their fellow members. You, practitioners of faith in Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism, must not allow yourselves to become trapped in such an arrogant attitude. I hope that you will make every possible effort to build a generous character, while polishing yourselves and elevating your life-condition. That is the way we should live, based on Buddhism.

In the Gosho it is written, "To discard the shallow and seek the profound requires courage." A courageous mind enables one to discard the shallow, lesser teachings, and adhere to the profound, great teachings.

In terms of our practice, this passage refers to the way the courageous comrades of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth advance in the cause of kosen-rufu. There is no more profound way to live than to embrace the Mystic Law and maintain faith in it until the end.

Buddhism in Action, Vol. 5, pp. 252-3

The mentor-disciple relationship, in fact, forms the crucial foundation in Buddhism. We might say that everything is determined by whom a person chooses as a mentor in life. The future is also determined by the kind of disciples the mentor has.

Dedicating his life to kosen-rufu, Toda realized his great dream of 750-thousand member households during his lifetime. Both he and his mentor, Makiguchi, lived the teachings of the Gosho, exerting themselves in their Buddhist practice with the selfless spirit of not begrudging their lives. The true heritage of faith from Nichiren Daishonin and the spirit of mentor and disciple that pulsates through the Soka Gakkai are to be found within their actions.

Shin'ichi Yamamoto in turn served Josei Toda, his mentor in life. He fought as his right hand, going wherever Toda sent him, mentor and disciple enduring hardships together for kosen-rufu.

Shin'ichi had perceived keenly that Toda was the only leader in the present age who embodied the Buddhist teachings in his life, and whose very way of living served as a model of faith. But Toda died, and now the entire responsibility for the kosen-rufu movement fell squarely on the shoulders of the youthful 32-year-old president, Shin'ichi Yamamoto.

The New Human Revolution, Vol. 2, Pg. 223

It is an inescapable fact that we have been born into this evil world of the Latter Day with the mission to advance toward kosen-rufu at the present time. Whether or not we can awaken to the significance of this reality is what is important. This is one point which Mr. Toda used to emphasize time and again.

"All of you may wonder what I am talking about," he continued, "but this is the truth; it contains not the slightest falsehood. We are common mortals, to be sure; and yet it is we who must carry out the work of the Buddha. Why is this so? If each of you carefully ponders the matter, believing that we, from the standpoint of our true identity, are the Buddhas who received the seed of enlightenment in the time of kuon ganjo, I think you will come to understand it. This is not a fairy tale, nor is it a mere hypothetical explanation."

He encouraged us, saying, "The difference between understanding this theoretically and understanding this through one's practice is as great as that between heaven and earth or clouds and mud. I hope that through your practice of faith, each of you will awaken to this mission of yours."

Theory and practice, to be sure, are fundamentally different. For example, knowledge of the amounts of rice, water, and heat needed to prepare cooked rice is completely different from actually boiling rice and tasting its deliciousness. Similarly, though people may study the Gosho and the sutras in an attempt to theoretically comprehend the teachings of Buddhism, this is fundamentally different from understanding Buddhism through practice. Having no foundation of practice, such people flaunt their incomplete knowledge and behave with arrogance. This in itself is proof that they have no understanding of the essence of Buddhism.

In contrast, all of you busily exert yourselves day and night for the sake of others, for the sake of the Law, and for the sake of kosen-rufu. In the course of your praiseworthy efforts, whether you are aware of it or not, you are accumulating boundless good fortune and happiness as well as courage and wisdom in the depths of your lives. It is within a life of such fulfillment that we can profoundly awaken to the great mission which we have.

One of the virtues of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth is to be "untainted by the things of the world." The cover letter of the Gosho, "The Entity of the Mystic Law," states: "The sutra says, '[They are] unsoiled by worldly things like the lotus flower in the water. Emerging from the earth . . .' (WND, 431) Here we see that the Bodhisattvas of the Earth are the lotus of the entity of the Mystic Law."

In the "Recorded Lectures" there is a passage which interprets the sentence of the Yujutsu chapter cited in the above quotation, which reads, "They are untainted by the things of the world, like the lotus blossom in water, and they spring up out of the earth." That passage states: "'[Untainted by] the things of the world' means completely free of being polluted by such things as greed, just as a lotus blossom, which emerges from water, is not dirtied by mud.... 'Earth' here means the 'great land' of the essential nature of the Law; in other words, the votary of the Lotus Sutra is untainted, just as the lotus blossom is not muddied. His fundamental mission is to propagate Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the one great reason for the Buddha's appearance in this world. '[Untainted by] the things of the world' indicates not being swayed even though one may receive lands or an appointment from a sovereign or minister."

Because the basic mission of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth is to propagate Nam-myoho-renge-kyo it cannot be that they will become tainted by greed and other earthly desires and forget their mission, the purpose for which they were born into this world.

Buddhism in Action, Vol. IV, pp. 182-3

Shin'ichi returned to the "Orally Transmitted Teachings" to examine each passage in detail. He started again from the beginning:

The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings state:

Namu derives from Sanskrit and here [in Japan] it is called kimyo, which means devoting one's life. There is devotion to the Person and devotion to the Law. Devotion to the Person means devoting one's life to Shakyamuni, and devotion to the Law means devoting one's life to the Lotus Sutra. (GZ, 708)

"The reason the 'Orally Transmitted Teachings' begins with a discussion of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo," Shin'ichi explained, "is that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the basis of all sutras and the heart of the Lotus Sutra. Concerning Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the Daishonin tells us that namu derives from Sanskrit, the literary language of ancient India, and that it translates as kimyo in Japanese. Kimyo means totally dedicating one's life.

"There are two objects of that dedication: the Person and the Law. The Person is Shakyamuni as interpreted from the perspective of the Daishonin's Buddhism. In other words, Nichiren Daishonin, the original Buddha, who is the object of fundamental respect in terms of the Person. The Law is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which is the Lotus Sutra of the Latter Day of the Law and the object of fundamental respect in terms of the Law. Therefore, true devotion is devotion to the object of fundamental respect - the Gohonzon - of the oneness of the Person and the Law as revealed by Nichiren Daishonin.

"Everyone is devoted to something. The samurai retainers of old were devoted to their lords, and during World War II, the Japanese people were called on to give themselves utterly to their nation. Today, we see people devoted to their work or to their company, as well as those who give up everything for the ones they love.

"The crucial thing to remember is that what you decide to devote yourselves to or give your lives to is what determines whether your lives will be happy or unhappy. The Daishonin teaches us that the highest, most fundamental kind of devotion is to the Gohonzon of the oneness of the Person and the Law - that is, to Nam-myoho-renge-kyo."

Shin'ichi spoke with increasing force: "More specifically, we might say that this devotion is dedicating ourselves to the realization of kosen-rufu with the resolve to propagate Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and the Gohonzon of the oneness of the Person and the Law widely as our lives' purpose and lifelong goal. This is the path that leads to absolute happiness.

"I'm sure some of you regard expressions such as 'not begrudging one's life' and 'dedicating one's life to Buddhism' as encouraging a sort of self-sacrifice, some kind of tragic self-immolation. But the state of mind underlying the devotion I am talking about is entirely different. It is a state of complete, self-assured calm and peace, a state utterly without fear. It is a feeling as expansive and serene as the clear blue sky, a fullness of hope, joy and total satisfaction - a state of being ultimately free and true to oneself.

"Devotion to the Mystic Law means breaking through your lesser self, the small you that has been driven and hounded by all kinds of petty, selfish wants and desires. It means returning to your greater self, the self that is one with the universe, that is as vast as the cosmos.

"When you accomplish that, you will shine with your highest human potential. The process by which this comes about is called human revolution."

Shin'ichi moved on to the next passage:

Ki [of kimyo] means returning to the unchanging entity of truth revealed in the theoretical teaching. Myo [of kimyo] means conforming to the responsive wisdom of truth revealed in the essential teaching. Devotion is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo itself. A commentary says, "Both the unchanging and the responsive are encompassed in a life-moment; one tranquil and the other illuminating." (GZ, 708)

This passage had given virtually every member of the group trouble. No matter how hard they tried to study it in preparation for the lecture, they had all eventually thrown in the towel. At the time, there were no good commentaries to assist anyone who wanted to study the "Orally Transmitted Teachings." ...

"Here," Shin'ichi continued, "the Daishonin discusses the meaning of kimyo, devoting one's life, in terms of its two elements, ki and myo. I'm sure you must have struggled with this passage.

"The Daishonin starts by saying that ki means returning to the unchanging entity of truth revealed in the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra. He then says that myo means conforming to the responsive wisdom of truth revealed in the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

"The unchanging entity of truth is the ultimate truth that remains eternal throughout time and space. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the absolute, fundamental truth of the universe. By chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we align ourselves with this basic universal law. This is what it means to return to the unchanging entity of truth."

Shin'ichi lectured with all his concentration and energy. Sweat gathered on his brow, but he didn't stop to wipe it.

He continued: "The responsive wisdom of truth, meanwhile, is the true Buddha wisdom, which responds to circumstances that are changing constantly in accord with various causes and conditions. It describes the function of Buddhahood, the highest state of life manifested through faith.

"The unchanging entity of truth is the ultimate truth of the Mystic Law. Manifesting the power and function of the Mystic Law in our daily lives is the key to achieving happiness. Faith in the Mystic Law enables us to tap from within the infinite life force and Buddha wisdom to surmount our problems and sufferings, to achieve our human revolution and to transform our lives. All activities directed toward value-creation correspond to conforming to the responsive wisdom of truth.

"To use another allegory, the Gosho, which teaches the eternal, unchanging, absolute truth, might be described as an expression of the unchanging entity of truth. Our earnest study of the Gosho right now corresponds to returning to the unchanging entity of truth. Later, when we understand the teachings of the Gosho through faith and wisdom, make them the basis of our philosophy toward life and society, and proceed to apply that philosophy to our activities in society and around the world, we are conforming to the responsive wisdom of truth.

"This formula can be applied to anything. For example, a microphone picks up voices and sounds, transforms them into electronic signals and communicates those voices and sounds to many other people. Understanding the operation of the microphone corresponds to returning to the unchanging entity of truth. Now imagine turning on the switch of the microphone, allowing electricity to run through the system and actually using the microphone for some purpose. You can think of this as conforming to the responsive wisdom of truth.

The New Human Revolution, Vol. 6, pg. 282-286

"In 'The Object of Devotion for Observing One's Mind,' the Daishonin writes: 'Shakyamuni's practices and the virtues he consequently attained are all contained within the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo. If we believe in these five characters, we will naturally be granted the same benefits as he was' (WND, 365). The practice that led to Shakyamuni's attainment of Buddhahood and the virtues he accrued as a Buddha are all contained in the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo. That is, in the Gohonzon. Accordingly, if we chant daimoku with faith in the Gohonzon, we will receive all the virtues that the Buddha received. That is why, when the Daishonin says, 'Devotion is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo itself' (GZ, 708), he is proclaiming that to attain true, absolute happiness, we must devote our lives to the Gohonzon.

The New Human Revolution, Vol. 6, pg. 288-89