In his Treatise on Spiritual Insight and the Most Venerable One, Nichiren Shonin explained how the Buddha extends his salvation to us:
Awakening to the LotusFor those who are incapable of understanding the truth of ichinen sanzen, Lord Sakyamumi Buddha, with his great compassion, wraps this jewel with the five characters of myo, ho, ren, ge, and kyo and hangs it around the neck of the ignorant in the Declining Age of the Dharma. [Writings of Nichiren Shonin: Doctrine 2, p. 164]
Today, as in Shakyamuni’s time, being a Buddhist means having religious faith in the Three Treasures. The formula “I take refuge in Gautama, the World-honored One, in the Law, and in the Order of Monks. World-honored One, from this day to the end of my life, recognize me as a believer who has taken refuge” occurs time and again in the earliest Buddhist scriptures and means that even without theoretical understanding, a person who has faith in the Three Treasures is a true Buddhist.
Basic Buddhist ConceptsThe practice of Buddhism isn’t so much about becoming someone different, as it is about becoming who we really are. We do not take on enlightenment from outside ourselves, but develop what we already have. We have the gem, we just need to take it out and use it, there is no need for us to continue our sufferings.
Practice Guide
The True Buddha is that Sakyamuni who has been from immemorial times sufficiently enlightened to know the underlying sameness of all things, and the identity of his own person with the external world; he is that Buddha who identifies a pure act of thought with all existences in time and space; he is that state of mind in which the Truth and the Intellect, the perceived and the perceiver, cease to be two, and are recognized as radically and in essence One. And if this is the case with Sakyamuni, it cannot be otherwise with the people generally. Just as all things in time and space are no more than subjective 
in the consciousness of Sakyamuni, so are they in the consciousness of each individual man.
I think one of the neat things about Buddhism is that while it can be confusing at times, there are usually many ways of understanding or explaining the teachings. But ultimately it is through our practice and faith that we can most deeply understand the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Just as it is possible to travel to a strange country not speaking the language and have a good time, see a variety of things, and have wonderful experiences, it isn’t necessary to have a scholar’s understanding of the Lotus Sutra. We do not need to master theory, though we should try to understand the basics, where we need to excel is in our practice and faith.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1Reducing suffering and avoiding suffering are not the same. Buddhism is not about avoiding. It is a teaching that enables us to manage better our responses to suffering.
Physician's Good MedicineSo long as the Buddhists regard their master as a man who achieved Buddhahood at a certain time, they fail to recognize the true person of Buddha, who in reality from eternity has been Buddha, the lord of the world. So long as the vision of Buddhists is thus limited, they are unaware of their own true being, which is as eternal as Buddha’s own primeval nature and attainment. The Truth is eternal, therefore the person who reveals it is also eternal, and the relation between master and disciples is nothing but an original and primeval kinship. This is the fundamental conception, which is further elucidated by showing visions reaching to the eternally past as well as to the everlasting future.
Nichiren, The Buddhist ProphetThis ideal world, or “Buddha world” does not refer only to a world we enter after death. It is possible to enter it during our lifetime. Therefore we use the words “Becoming a Buddha” for someone who is still alive. Nichiren Shonin said, “The true way of a Bodhisattva or Buddha is to strive to achieve the Buddha world.”
Spring WritingsIn the Simile of the Herbs, the one teaching – the single Buddha vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sutra – is applicable to all regardless of the many things we tend to hold up as measures of difference and inequality. When it comes to the teachings of the Buddha there can be no mistaking the divisions of class, education, economic standing, race, gender, sexual orientation, and on the list could go, these things do not matter when it comes to who is able to benefit from practicing the Lotus Sutra.
Lecture on the Lotus SutraAwareness of Emptiness is awareness of the constantly changing nature of life. To understand Emptiness is to understand that there is nothing that we can hold on to forever, and to see that we must not cling to things like money, power, sexual pleasure, fame, the company of loved ones, or even our own lives. All of these things are temporary and do not possess a fixed or eternal nature. On the other hand, through Emptiness we can learn to appreciate things and people as the dynamic and changing things that they are. When we do not cling to the good things in life, we are finally free to appreciate them for what they are for as long as they do grace our lives, but without being burdened by the fear of their eventual dissolution.
Lotus Seeds