A person who accurately knows the three periods of past, present, and future is called a sage. The three kings, five emperors, and three sages of Confucianism know only the present time but do not know the past and future. An unworldly man of faith other than Buddhism is said to have known eighty thousand years of the past and eighty thousand years of the future, thus he is considered to be a kind of sage. And yet because even the Two Vehicles of śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha of Hinayāna Buddhism know the logic of cause and effect of the past and the future, they are the sages superior to unworldly non-Buddhists. Bodhisattvas of Hinayāna Buddhism have passed a myriad of kalpa (aeons) of the past and Bodhisattvas of Common teaching of Mahāyāna Buddhism have passed Dōyujin kalpa (innumerable aeons). Bodhisattvas of Distinct teaching of Mahāyāna Buddhism know the past of Tagutei kalpa (countless aeons) on each stage. In the “Parable of a Magic City” chapter in the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra, Śākyamuni Buddha revealed the past of three thousand dust particle kalpa. This is the reason why the Lotus Sūtra is the unsurpassed teaching of all the teachings of the Buddha.

Shōnin Chi-sanze-ji, The Sage Knows the Three Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 19

The Sūtra of Infinite Meaning is the introduction to the Lotus Sūtra. It is stated in this sūtra that counting the years of preaching by the Buddha one by one beginning with the Flower Garland Sūtra at the seat of enlightenment under the Bodhi tree to this Sūtra of Infinite Meaning on Mt. Sacred Eagle, 40 years or so has passed. During those years, the Buddha preached the Flower Garland Sūtra, the Āgama sūtras, the Hōdō sūtras, and the Wisdom Sūtra. What were preached in them are teachings for the Three Vehicles (śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattvas) and Five Vehicles (Three Vehicles plus human beings and heavenly beings). The practices preached in these sūtras, according to the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning, requires many kalpa (aeons) of bodhisattva practice. The sūtra divides the Buddha’s preaching into two categories of zui-jii (preaching according to His own mind) and zui-tai (according to the mind of others—listeners), stating that the Buddha’s preaching during the 40 years or so is of zui-tai (preached according to the capacity of the people who listened to Him). Therefore, there is a difference in meaning between the preaching of the pre-Lotus period and that of the Lotus period even though He may have used the same language, says the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning. Accordingly, the Lotus Sūtra ensures one will attain immediate Buddhahood while other sūtras require many kalpa (aeons) of practice. Regarding rebirth in the Pure Land, too, there is a difference between the Lotus Sūtra and other sūtras.

Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treastise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 16

The teachings expounded for forty-two years in the pre-Lotus sūtras were all expedients designed to lead people to the Lotus Sūtra. We know this because the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning says: “I sat under the bodhi tree for six years to attain enlightenment! Though I expounded various expedient teachings to guide people, I did not reveal the True Dharma for forty years or so. The expedient teachings expounded for forty years or so are the Agama sūtras, which I expounded first to teach the doctrine of the Four Noble Truths of suffering, and the way to Nirvana. I then expounded the twelve types of scriptures of the Hōdō period, the Great Wisdom Sūtra, and the Flower Garland Sūtra while in the ocean-imprint meditation.”

Personally, I think that the order in which the Buddha preached was the Flower Garland Sūtra followed by the Agama sūtras, the Hōdō sūtras, the Wisdom Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra, and finally the Nirvana Sūtra. To rank them in the order of profundity in doctrine from superficial to profound, it should be the Agama sūtras, the Hōdō sūtras, the Wisdom Sūtra, the Flower Garland Sūtra, and the Lotus-Nirvana Sūtras. So it is stated in the Lotus Sūtra and the Nirvana Sūtra.

Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin,
Doctrine 3, Page 74

Grand Master Dengyō, the primogenitor of exoteric and esoteric Buddhism in Japan, has said in his Hokke Shūku (Outstanding Principles of the Lotus Sūtra): “The canons of other sects, too, preach some ultimate reality, which is the mother of Buddhahood. However, those scriptures have motherly love but no strictness of the father. Only the Tendai Lotus Sect, with both its strictness and love, is the parent of all sages, wise men, those who have much to learn and nothing to learn, as well as of those who aspire for enlightenment.”

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 76

Two boys named Tokushō and Mushō donated “rice cakes” made of sand to Śākyamuni Buddha, who was practicing “begging for alms.” Upon their death they were reborn as Emperor who governed one-third of the Jambudvīpa according to the Buddha Dharma. Bodhisattva Māṇava attained Buddhahood as merit for offering five stems of lotus flowers to Burning Light Buddha. He is none other than Śākyamuni Buddha.

It is preached in the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 4, “If a person who seeks the Buddha Dharma presses his palms together in My presence and extols Me with numerous verses of praise for as long as a kalpa (aeon), he will gain innumerable merits because of these praises of the Buddha. If he praises the upholder of this sūtra, his good fortune will be even greater.” This means that the merit of helping the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, who is given the cold shoulder by the people in the Latter Age of Degeneration, is greater than giving offerings to the Buddha for aeons.

If you are wondering who would have said such an outrageous thing, it was stated by our Lord Preacher Śākyamuni Buddha Himself. It is up to you whether or not to believe this.

Ueno-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 3-4