In Buddhism, people worship not only Sakyamuni Buddha but also other Buddhas, such as Amitayus (in the west) and Aksobhya (in the east). Such Buddhas have different names and attributes, and different life spans, long or short. The longest existing one is thought to have lived for several tens of kalpas. At any rate, they are all limited entities, because all of them eventually entered into Nirvana. The main point of the Lotus Sutra is that all Buddhas, by whatever names they may use, are temporary manifestations of the eternal, infinite, and immortal Sakyamuni Buddha. He transforms himself into other Buddhas when necessary to redeem and guide people, who understand him in various ways according to their particular times, places, and levels of culture.

[We learn in Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, that] the teacher should expound the Dharma in accordance with the three guidelines: (1) the room of the Buddha (which is having great compassion), (2) the robe of the Buddha (which is being gentle and patient), and (3) the seat of the Buddha (which is the voidness of all things). The void in the third rule refers to a mind free from all attachments. This set of three principles, with its clear-cut presentation of the Great Vehicle, is said to be the greatest doctrine of the Buddha.

[We learn in Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, that] if a teacher of the Dharma expounds the Sutra here in this evil world, where the Dharma will be little appreciated after the Buddha’s extinction, he might well be persecuted with swords, sticks, tile-pieces, or stones. However, Sakyamuni will create laymen and monks by his supernatural powers, and send them to protect him, although the Buddha himself will not appear.

The teacher of the Dharma will be protected because he is inspired by the power of the Buddha, and his renewed strength can be seen as a manifestation of the Buddha himself. In this respect, the Sutra says, “He (the teacher of the Dharma) will be covered by my robe;” he will be “borne on the Buddha’s shoulders,” or “reside with the Buddha, who will pat him on his head.”

On May 12, 1261, the Japanese military government arrested Nichiren, who was forty years old at the time. His arrest was followed by exile to Ito on the Izu Peninsula. During his exile, he wrote his essay, “Four Debts of Gratitude,” in which he says:

In the Age of Degeneration of the Buddha’s teachings, anyone who believes so much as a word or a phrase of the Lotus Sutra is destined to be envied and hated. That is why the Lotus Sutra says, “Many people begrudge [the sutra] even in my lifetime. Needless to say, more people will do so after my extinction.” When I [Nichiren] first read this phrase, I doubted it. But now my experience has convinced me that the Buddha’s words are true. … Although I do not eat meat or fish, and have never harmed a living thing, and although I do not go about with a wife and child, I am treated as a criminal monk, just because I am propagating the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. … But when I realize that I am suffering persecutions by demons who have entered the bodies of my tormentors, just because I believe in the Lotus Sutra and follow its teachings, exactly as the Sutra expounds [in Chapter Thirteen, “Encouragement for Keeping the Sutra”], then I feel joy beyond words. I rejoice because I have found that even a man of low birth [such as Il, one who is ignorant and uneducated, was forecast in the Lotus Sutra some two thousand years ago. The Buddha predicted that such a person [as I] “will suffer religious persecutions.”

Here Nichiren expresses his pleasure at seeing his own experience vindicating the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. For example, Chapter Ten predicts, “If you expound the Sutra after the Buddha’s extinction, many people will begrudge it,” and Chapter Thirteen foretells, “Three kinds of devils will enter the bodies of monks and cause them to persecute the teachers of the Dharma.” Such adversities actually befell Nichiren, as the words of the Sutra had foretold. So Nichiren accepted his misfortunes as living proofs of the words of the Sutra.

The studies conducted over so many centuries made possible a deeper understanding of the Lotus Sutra, and methodological standards for its interpretation were established. One example is called Kamon. It is a classification of the twenty-eight chapters into several sets for a systematic explanation of their meaning.

The major Kamon is the “Three Parts of Each of the Two Divisions of the Lotus Sutra” which was established by Great Master Chih-i. Most commentators since his time have accepted his guidelines. …

[T]he “Three Parts of Each of the Two Divisions of the Lotus Sutra” refers to the division of the Sutra into two main sections: the first half, consisting of Chapters One through Fourteen, and the second half, consisting of Chapters Fifteen through Twenty-eight. Kamon gives a detailed explanation of the reason for this division. The first half is named Shakumon, literally “imprinted gate.” Its main purpose is to teach how “hearers” and Pratyekabuddhas can attain Buddhahood in the One Vehicle. The second half is called Hommon, which means “Primal Gate” or “Primal Mystery.” This part reveals Sakyamuni to be the infinite, absolute Buddha, the Buddha who attained enlightenment in the remotest past but still leads living beings in the present. These two points are considered the fundamental ideas of the Lotus Sutra.

[Chapter 15] opens with a miraculous phenomenon taking place while Sakyamuni is preaching. The ground suddenly splits open, and a huge Stupa (a round dome-shaped shrine), five hundred yojanas high and two hundred and fifty yojanas wide, springs up from underground and hangs in space before the Buddha. Some say that a yojana is about forty miles, and others argue that it is about seventy-five miles (the distance of a one-day trip by bullock cart). At any rate, an enormous stupa—huge beyond our imagination—suddenly appears. It is magnificent in appearance, adorned with jewels and ornaments.

At the sight of this stupa, the assembled congregation bursts into song, offers jewels and flowers before it, venerates it, honors it, and worships it. Then a loud voice of praise is heard from within the stupa:

Excellent, excellent! You, Sakyamuni, the World-Honored
One, have expounded to this great multitude the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, the Teaching of Equality, the Great Wisdom, the Law for Bodhisattvas, the Law Upheld by the Buddhas. What you, Sakyamuni, the World-Honored One, have expounded is all true! (p. 181)

The speaker is a Buddha called Many-Treasures Tathagata (“Thus Come”), who resides within the stupa. Because he proves the authenticity of the Lotus Sutra, which is expounded by Sakyamuni, the World-Honored One, he is called the Validating Buddha. His Stupa is named the Stupa of Treasures.

[T]he Sutra says that innumerable Buddhas or duplicates of Śākyamuni in the worlds of the ten directions were assembled in one place. Each of the duplicates can be seen as a manifestation of Śākyamuni himself, who took the forms of other Buddhas in order to expound the Dharma in other worlds. Now they were all assembled in one place, meaning that all the Buddhas throughout space were unified at that moment by the one Buddha Śākyamuni.

Let us go back for a moment to the Stupa of Treasures. Ordinarily a Stupa is a mausoleum where the relics (ashes) of Sakyamuni are enshrined. Once Sakyamuni is extinct, living beings can worship him only in his relics. The Sutra says that Many-Treasures Buddha will appear whenever and wherever the Lotus Sutra is expounded. This means that the living Sakyamuni, represented by his relics, and the Lotus Sutra are united as one single entity.