QUESTION: What should a believer of the Lotus Sūtra regard as the Honzon (the Most Venerable One)? How should one perform the Buddhist rites and practice daily training?

ANSWER: First of all, the Honzon could be eight fascicles, one fascicle, one chapter or the title alone of the Lotus Sūtra. This is preached in the “Teacher of the Dharma” and “Divine Powers of the Buddhas” chapters. Those who can afford to may have the portraits or wooden statues of Śākyamuni Buddha and the Buddha of Many Treasures made and placed on both sides of the Lotus Sutra. Those who can further afford to may make the portraits or wooden statues of various Buddhas all over the universe or Universal Sage Bodhisattva. As for the manner of performing the rites, standing or sitting practices must be observed in front of the Honzon. Outside the hall of practice, however, one is free to choose any of the four modes of acts: walking, standing, sitting and lying down. Next, regarding the daily practices, the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra should be chanted, “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.” If possible, a verse or phrase of the Lotus Sūtra should respectfully be read. As an auxiliary practice one may say a prayer to Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, the numerous Buddhas throughout the universe, various bodhisattvas, Two Vehicles, Heavenly Kings, dragon gods, the eight kinds of gods and demi-gods who protect Buddhism as one wishes. Since we have many ignorant people today, the “3,000 existences contained in one thought” doctrine may be difficult to contemplate from the beginning. Nevertheless, those who wish to study it are encouraged to do so from the start.

Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treatise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin,
Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 20

Question: Various sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra adapt their doctrines and merits to the caliber of particular types of beings such as bodhisattvas, gods, and śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha. For whom is the Lotus Sūtra preached?

Answer: The Lotus Sūtra is difficult to understand for anyone except those to whom the dharma is transmitted. This Lotus Sūtra was expounded for all living beings in the Ten Realms including both wicked and virtuous men, the wise and the unwise, those who keep precepts and those who do not, male and female, four kinds of Buddhist devotees (monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen), and the eight kinds of supernatural beings (gods, dragons, yakṣa: devils, gandharava: heavenly musicians, asura, garuda: golden-winged bird, kimnara: heavenly musician, and mahoraga: boas).

The so-called wicked people refer to such people as Devadatta, Wonderful Adornment King and Ajātaśatru King; virtuous people refer to such gods and men as Queen Vaidehi. A wise man is Śāriputra while an unwise man is Cūdapanthaka. Those who keep the precepts refer to śrāvaka and bodhisattvas while those who do not are dragons and other animals. The female means a dragon girl. In general, living beings of the Ten Realms all perceive the teaching of the One Buddha Vehicle expounded in the Perfect teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. Scholars who do not understand this say, “The Lotus Sūtra is not the teaching for us ordinary people.” This is indeed awful and against the true intent of the Buddha.

Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin,
Doctrine 3, Page 75-76

Śākyamuni Buddha is the supreme leader and excellent eyes for all the people. He is the bridge that enables them to cross the river of evil passions; He is the skipper who guides them over the sea of life and death; and He is the fertile field in which they plant the seed of merits. The so-called Four Sages of Confucianism and Three Hermits of Brahmanism, despite their worthy names, are actually unenlightened ordinary men unable to rid themselves of the Three Delusions (all delusions and evil passions). Although their names suggest that they are wise men, in reality they are as ignorant as infants, who know nothing of the principle of cause and effect. How can we cross the sea of life and death aboard a ship steered by such men? How can we pass through the winding street in the Six Realms over to the world of Nirvana by means of a bridge constructed by such men? Our Śākyamuni has already crossed the sea of life and death for arhats, not to speak of that for the unenlightened. He has already extinguished fundamental ignorance, not to speak of delusions in view and thought arising from it.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 32

According to the scriptural statement and its interpretations by T’ien-t’ai and Miao-lê, the merit of upholding or protecting even one verse of the Lotus Sūtra is superior to that of giving offerings to all living beings, arhats, or all Buddhas with the seven treasures that spill over all the worlds in the universe. The “Medicine King Bodhisattva” chapter states, “The merit of upholding a stanza or a verse of the Lotus Sūtra is the greatest, to which none can compare.” T’ien-t’ai declares, “A man is light while the Dharma is heavy,” and Miao-lê, “The four stages of birth, rearing, growth and prosperity are different from one another, but they are all based on the Dharma.” Comparing all the living beings in the nine realms against Buddhas (in the realm of Buddhas), the merit of all the living beings is as light as a strand of hair while that of Buddhas is as heavy as a great mountain. Comparing Buddhas against the Lotus Sūtra, on the other hand, the merit of Buddhas is as light as the Brahma King’s robe while one character of the Lotus Sūtra is as heavy as the great earth. When T’ien-t’ai said that a man was light and the Dharma was heavy, he called a Buddha a man and the Lotus Sūtra the Dharma. The sūtras preached before the Lotus Sūtra and commentaries on them all praise the merit of Buddhas. These writings are like Buddhas. The Lotus Sūtra, on the contrary, extols the merit of the sūtra; it is like the parents of the Buddha, the parents who gave birth to those Buddhas.

Hōkyō Hōjū Ji, The Dharma Is More Precious Than Treasures, Wooden Statues or Portraits, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 100

As no Mahāyāna sūtras except one  preach on the basis of the doctrine of “revealing the truth and merging all the provisional,” neither the doctrine of obtaining Buddhahood for the Two Vehicles nor that of attainment of Buddhahood by Śākyamuni Buddha in the eternal past is preached in them. The Lotus Sūtra on the other hand, is expounded on the basis of the “revealing the truth and merging all the provisional” doctrine, thus both doctrines of attaining Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles and the attainment of Buddhahood by Śākyamuni Buddha in the eternal past are revealed in it. Accordingly, it would be the sin of slandering the dharma for followers of those Mahāyāna sūtras to criticize the Lotus Sūtra, but criticism of those Mahāyāna sūtras by believers of the Lotus Sūtra does not constitute slander of the dharma.

Ken Hōbō-shō, A Clarification of Slandering the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 122-123