Nichiren Buddhism teaches that the essential way to change karma is to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with confidence in all people's potential for Buddhahood. In The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings, Nichiren states: "This word 'belief ' is a sharp sword that cuts off fundamental darkness or ignorance.... It is through the one word 'belief ' that we are able to purchase the wisdom of the Buddhas of the three existences. That wisdom is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" (p. 54).

When we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with the resolve to challenge our fundamental darkness, with confidence in the existence of the sun, we can quickly remove the clouds and reveal the sun. Once the sun of Buddhahood rises in our lives, all of our karmic suffering is reduced to seeming nonexistence. With Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nichiren teaches, delusion is transformed into wisdom, unwholesome actions into wholesome actions, and suffering into a source of growth and genuine fulfillment. This transformation of life's causation from delusion to suffering into wisdom to joy is the meaning of changing karma in Nichiren Buddhism. The key to this fundamental change in the chain of cause and effect within our lives is chanting Nammyoho- renge-kyo with confidence, with a fighting spirit, creating powerful winds to blow away the dark clouds of delusion and reveal the sun of Buddhahood.

Shin Yatomi - excerpted from the September 2005 Living Buddhism