Response to Monsuhirbi87

Minobu: Where or in what kind of thing we should focus our mind during daimoku recitation ?

Mark: Nichiren states we should focus on the words and attaining the Way:

"Simply chant Namu Myoho renge kyo and strive to attain the way"; and "Thus he states: 'Chant the Lotus Sutra with your ordinary distracted mind. You do not have to enter into a state of mental concentration. Whether sitting, standing, or walking, just fix your whole mind on the words of the Lotus Sutra.'-- Nichiren

Monsuhirbi87: Mark. but could we say that when he says "words of lotus Sutra" , it could be the daimoku ? Because he's not speaking explicitly about daimoku.

Mark: To place this quote in context, keeping in mind that this is an early writing (1259), Nichiren writes in On the Protection of the Nation :

"The reason is that the Great Teacher Miao-lo declared that if people of dull capacities or those lacking in wisdom in this latter age carry out the practice of the Lotus Sutra, they will find it easy to practice, for Bodhisattva Universal Worthy and Many Treasures and the Buddhas of the ten directions will appear before them. Thus he states: “Chant the Lotus Sutra with your ordinary distracted mind. You do not have to enter into a state of mental concentration. Whether sitting, standing, or walking, just fix your whole mind on the words of the Lotus Sutra.”61

The purpose of this passage of commentary is to assure foolish persons of this latter age that they are included among those who can carry out the practice. The term “the ordinary distracted mind” is used in contrast to the term “the mind fixed in concentration.” Chanting the Lotus Sutra means chanting all eight volumes, one volume, one word, one phrase, one verse, or the daimoku, or title, and includes responding to the sutra with joy for a single moment and continual propagation to the fiftieth person. The words “whether sitting, standing, or walking” mean that there is no objection to [fixing your whole mind on the words of the Lotus Sutra while] carrying out the four activities of daily life. The term “whole mind” does not mean the mind that is concentrated in meditation, nor does it mean the mind that observes the truth. It is the mind that is found within the ordinary distracted mind of daily life.

The practice of fixing the mind on the words of the Lotus Sutra is not like fixing the mind on the words of the other sutras. Though one may chant only one word of the Lotus Sutra, within this one word are contained all the words of the eighty thousand precious doctrines of Shakyamuni, and it holds within it the blessings or benefits of all the Buddhas.

The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai states in volume eight of The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: “Though you do not hold in your hand a scroll of the sutra, yet you are constantly reading the sutra; though your mouth utters no words, you are chanting all the many sacred texts; though no Buddha is preaching the Law, at all times you can hear his pure sounds; though you do not ponder in your mind, everywhere you illumine the entire realm of phenomena.”

The meaning of this passage is that, although you may not hold in your hand the eight scrolls that make up the Lotus Sutra, if you are a person who has faith in the sutra, then all twenty-four hours of the day you are one who “upholds the sutra.” Though your mouth may not utter the sounds of one who is reciting the sutra, if you have faith in the Lotus Sutra, then every day, every hour, every instant you are one who reads all the sutras.

Though over two thousand years have already gone by since the Buddha passed into extinction, where there is a person who has faith in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha’s voice still lingers there, and hour by hour, minute by minute, instant by instant that person hears the Buddha assuring him that he, the Buddha, has never died. Even though that person may not in his mind be meditating upon the principle of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, he will everywhere illumine the entire realm of phenomena in ten directions. All these virtues pertain solely to the persons who practice the Lotus Sutra.

For this reason, when one who has faith in the Lotus Sutra approaches one’s final hour, one will enjoy these benefits. Though one’s mind is not fixed in concentration on the Buddha, though one’s mouth does not recite the sutras, and though one may not be in a place of religious practice, without employing one’s mind one will illumine the entire realm of phenomena, without uttering a sound one will recite all the sutras, and without taking a single scroll in hand one will grip all eight scrolls of the Lotus Sutra."

To answer your question, since faith is first and foremost, at this time in the evolution of Nichiren's teachings, he taught that merely having faith in the Lotus Sutra and chanting but one word, one will attain Buddhahood. However, later on, it seems that chanting Namu Myoho renge kyo at the last moment is most beneficial.

I do not have a reference but I have heard that Nichiren was reciting the Jiga-ge (verse section of the Lotus Sutra) at the last moment of his death. Nichiren, of course, was the Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra, so whatever he was reciting from the Lotus Sutra at his last moment, he was a Buddha.

Nichiren also wrote in The Recitation of the Expedient Means and Life Span Chapters:

"On the other hand, if suddenly you should feel, for example, the approach of death, then even if you are eating fish or fowl, if you are able to read the sutra, you should do so, and likewise chant Namu-myoho-renge-kyo..." (1264).

and in The Teaching for the Latter Day, we read:

"Perhaps because of karma from past lives, or some other reason, this woman chanted Namu-myoho-renge-kyo at the moment of her death..." -written on Minobu regarding a recently deceased faithful "young lady". - at Minobu date?

"Life flashes by in but a moment. No matter how many terrible enemies you may encounter, banish all fears and never think of backsliding. Even if someone were to cut off our heads with a saw, impale our bodies with lances, or shackle our feet and bore them through with a gimlet, as long as we are alive, we must keep chanting Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. Then, if we chant until the very moment of death, Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions will come to us instantly, exactly as they promised during the ceremony at Eagle Peak. Taking our hands and bearing us on their shoulders, they will carry us to Eagle Peak. The two sages,19 the two heavenly kings,20 and the ten demon daughters will guard us, while all the heavenly gods and benevolent deities will raise a canopy over our heads and unfurl p.396banners on high. They will escort us under their protection to the treasure land of Tranquil Light. How can such joy possibly be described!" On Practicing the Buddha's Teachings (1273)

In The Importance of the Moment of Death (1278), he wrote:

"And when your deceased husband chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo at the end on his deathbed, the evil deeds of a lifetime, and from the beginningless past, changed into the seeds of Buddhahood. This is what is meant by the teachings called “earthly desires are enlightenment,” “the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana,” and “attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form.”

Then again, in 1275 in Regarding an Unlined Robe, he seems to be saying any or all of the 69,384 characters of the Lotus Sutra will take one to the other shore:

"And being such a person, like Su Wu, I eat snow in order to sustain my life, or like Li Ling, wear a coat of straw to get through the days. In my mountain forest, when the trees bear no fruit, I spend two or three days without eating; when my deerskin garment is worn out, I go naked for three or four months. Yet for such a person, whom you have never even met, out of pity you send this robe to clothe my body—what profound kindness! When I don this robe, take my place before the Buddha, and recite the Lotus Sutra, then all the 69,384 characters that make up the sacred text, each individual character one by one, becomes a golden Buddha. Though the robe is only one, it clothes each and every one of the 69,384 Buddhas. And because that is so, the husband and wife who presented me with this robe will be visited by these Buddhas, who　will regard the couple as their supporters and watch over and protect them. For this husband and wife in their present existence they will be a prayer, a treasure; and when the husband and wife are on the point of death, they will be a moon, a sun, a path, a bridge, a father, a mother, an ox or a horse, a palanquin, a carriage, a lotus, a mountain, coming to greet and convey them to the pure land of Eagle Peak. Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, Namu-myoho-renge-kyo!"

For us, it would probably be safest to Chant Namu Myoho renge kyo at the last moment. Nichiren writes in the Selection of the Time:

"Those vicious and arrogant monks described in the Lotus Sutra in the beginning armed themselves with sticks and staves and used them to belabor Bodhisattva Never Disparaging. But later they pressed their palms together and repented of their error. Devadatta inflicted an injury on Shakyamuni Buddha that drew blood, but when he was on his deathbed, he cried out, “Namu (Devotion)!” If only he had been able to cry, “Namu Buddha (Devotion to the Buddha)!” he would have been spared the fate of falling into hell. But so grave were the deeds he had committed that he could only utter the word “Namu” and could not pronounce the word “Buddha” before he died.

"And soon the eminent priests of Japan will no doubt be trying to cry out, “Namu Nichiren Shōnin (Devotion to the Sage Nichiren)!” But most likely they will only have time enough to utter the one word, “Namu!” How pitiful, how pitiful!"