Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

南無妙法蓮華経 (Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō): devotion to the Lotus Sutra. 南無 (namu) is the Sanskrit namas, homage, and the dictionaries' word for it is 帰依, taking refuge in; 妙法蓮華経 (Myōhō Renge Kyō) is the title of the Lotus Sutra, the Sutra of the Lotus of the Wonderful Law. Together the seven characters are the 題目 (daimoku), the title with homage before it, chanted by every Nichiren school as the whole of the ordinary practice: Nichiren called it the heart of the Lotus Sutra, and the tradition holds that even the unlearned are saved by chanting these words alone. Soka Gakkai writes it Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the second vowel swallowed in chant, and Nichiren Shu writes Namu Myoho Renge Kyo; the two spellings are one chant, and the English the lineage itself uses for 南無 is devotion and adoration. A calligrapher's daimoku is a devotional hanging; the Gohonzon of the schools, the inscribed mandala, is a different object and comes from within the tradition. On a wall it is a practitioner's text. As a tattoo it declares faith in a living religion, and the person choosing it should know that is what they are choosing.