The Dharma, more than anything else, can give life to beings, raise them and make them grow and prosper. Therefore, in terms of spiritual weight, a person is light while the Dharma is heavy. Grand Master Miao-lê explains this in his Annotation on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 10: “Parents bring up children and protect them through four stages: birth, rearing, growth and prosperity. Likewise, in Buddhism, the aspiration for Buddhahood is awakened by the Dharma (birth). This aspiration grows when one follows the Dharma from birth through the nurturing stage (rearing) until one attains Buddhahood (growth). As a Buddha, one can appear in the Dharma worlds throughout the universe to spread the teaching of the Buddha (prosperity). These four stages differ from one another, but they are all based on the Dharma.”

Hōkyō Hōjū Ji, The Dharma Is More Precious Than Treasures, Wooden Statues or Portraits, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 95