Lay practice in Tendai centers on bringing the broad Mahāyāna vision into the texture of ordinary life. At home, many followers maintain a simple altar and engage in daily recitation, especially passages from the Lotus Sūtra, with particular reverence often given to the chapter on the bodhisattva of compassion. This recitation is not merely mechanical; it is understood as a way of aligning one’s mind with the Buddha’s teaching and cultivating faith in the universality of Buddha-nature. Alongside Lotus Sūtra devotion, nenbutsu recitation—calling the name of Amida Buddha—is also embraced as part of the single, comprehensive path, rather than as a separate sectarian identity. In this way, multiple strands of Mahāyāna devotion are woven together into a unified religious life.

Meditation likewise plays a role, though typically in forms that can fit within the constraints of lay schedules. Calm, seated practice and “just sitting” are encouraged, sometimes complemented by simple visualization methods, with the aim of stabilizing the mind and nurturing insight. These contemplative exercises are often brief and home-based, while more intensive sessions may be undertaken at temples or during short retreats. The point is less to escape daily life than to illuminate it, so that ordinary activities begin to reflect a more spacious awareness.

Ethical conduct provides the backbone of this path. Lay followers strive to embody the five basic precepts—refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, and intoxicants—as well as the broader bodhisattva virtues such as generosity, patience, and wisdom. Support for the saṅgha through offerings, service, and charitable activity is seen as an expression of these virtues. In this ethical framework, family responsibilities, work, and social obligations become fields of practice, places where compassion and insight are tested and refined.

Temple-centered ritual life deepens and sustains this everyday practice. Followers participate in services, festivals, and memorial rites for ancestors, offering incense, flowers, and prayers. Such gatherings often include sermons and study sessions on the Lotus Sūtra and other core teachings, making doctrinal study accessible in a living, communal context. Pilgrimage to sacred sites, including famous Kannon routes, and visits to important Tendai centers serve to renew faith and connect personal practice with a larger sacred landscape. Through this interplay of home devotion, ethical living, meditation, ritual, and study, Tendai lay practitioners seek to experience the many facets of Mahāyāna as facets of a single, integrated way.