Contemplating the state of affairs today through the examples of Venerables Aniruddha and Mahā-Kāśyapa, isn’t it unreasonable to say that a bowl or rice cooked with barley offered by Venerable Mahā-Kāśyapa was so precious that the donor with its merit became the Light Buddha, but a bale of polished barley donated today does not have the same value and will not lead you to become a Buddha? This is impossible. The moon during the lifetime of the Buddha is the same as the moon today. The flower at the time of the Buddha is the same flower today. The merit of offering in the past remains the same today. Even more so, I am today a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, despised by all the people in Japan, the ruler on top to his subjects below, and about to die of starvation. Feeling sorry for me, you kindly sent me articles of your goodwill all the way over the mountains and across rivers. They are not just barley and wheat but pieces of gold. They are not pieces of gold. They are the characters of the Lotus Sūtra. They look like barley and wheat to our human eyes, but the ten female rākṣasa demons will see the seed of Buddhahood in them.

Nanjō-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Nanjō , Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 13