Devadatta’s Example

Among the figures inscribed upon the Mandala there is that of Devadatta, of whom we have already spoken as the bitterest enemy of Sakyamuni. Now Devadatta is included in the Mandala as the representative of infernal beings. He fell into the infernal regions through having given rein to anger and fury. But even he was enabled to discard illusions and confusions, and attain to the reality which lay behind his anger and his fury – that is, the Truth. He now became Tenno Buddha without losing his infernal form. Anger and fury, in the first instance, produced the infernal world; but afterwards, as manifestations of the hidden reality behind, they produced the state of Buddhahood. And this resulted simply from the control exercised over them by Devadatta. And if it was thus with Devadatta, why should it be different with us?

Doctrines of Nichiren (1893)