This study focuses on tales about the merit produced by chanting the title of a sūtra in the Fahua zhuanji compiled by Sengxiang 僧祥, which is said to precede Nichiren’s （1222-1282） doctrine about chanting the title of the Lotus sūtra, and examines its relationship to Nichiren’s doctrine. It concludes that chanting the title of a sūtra found in the tales in the Fahua zhuanji is a practice performed by ill-qualified persons and that it benefits others, and that these perspectives have great affinity with Nichiren’s doctrine.
Nevertheless, Nichiren cited from the Fahua zhuanji the story of Wulong 烏龍 and Yilong 遺龍, which is the tale about the merit produced by writing the title of a sūtra, not about the merit produced by chanting the title of a sūtra. The reason for this is presumably that the issues of “Family Ties” and “Slander of the Law,” which the story of Wulong and Yilong treats as its subject matter, are themes not found in the tales about the merit produced by chanting the title of a sūtra in the Fahua zhuanji, and Nichiren focused on these themes.
