I, Nichiren, started the propagation of the Lotus Sūtra on the 28th day of the 4th month in the 5th year of Kenchō (1253) in the district of Tōjō, Nagasa County of Awa Province. Tōjō District is now the county of Tōjō. This is where the shrine domain of the Goddess Amaterasu is located. This domain established by Mina moto Yoritomo was the second in importance among the domains of the Ise Shrine in Japan, but now it is the most important one. In the compound of the Seichōji Temple located also in the Tōjō District, there existed the Hall of the Buddha known as the Shobutsu-bō. On the south side of the Hall of the Buddha, I started preaching the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra at twelve noon. Since then till today in the second year of Kōan (1279), it has been 27 years. The Buddha revealed His true intent in the Lotus Sūtra after preaching expedient teachings for 40 years or so while Grand Masters T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō took more than 30 years and twenty years or so respectively to fulfill their wishes. As I have told you, the difficulties they encountered during those years were indescribable. In my case, it took twenty-seven years, and you all know about the great persecutions I encountered during this period.

Shōnin Gonan Ji, Persecution Befalling Nichiren Shōnin, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 117-118

As I observe Japan today, it is just like this. Those who support this practicer receive the merit of supporting the Lotus Sūtra. Grand Master Dengyō annotated, “Those who praise the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra accumulate merit as high as Mt. Sumeru, and those who slander the practicer commit a sin as serious as falling into the Hell of Incessant Suffering.” It is said that the person who served a meal of millet to a pratyekabuddha became the Treasure Light Buddha, and the child who offered a rice cake made of mud to a Buddha became the king of this world in the past.

If a person of meritorious deeds makes an offering against the truth, his commitment would become a great evil, not a virtue. On the contrary, even if a person is foolish in mind, if he serves even a little to a true person, his merit is great. Needless to say, if a person who has a strong will serves the True Dharma, the merit gained is immeasurable. Although the world today is corrupt, and people are powerless and without leisure, because of your good will, you sent bamboo shoots to the altar of the Lotus Sūtra on Mt. Minobu. Doesn’t it seem that you planted good seeds in a fertile field? I cannot hold back my tears.

Zui-jii Gosho, The Sūtra Preached in Accordance to [the Buddha’s] Own Mind, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 161

Only I, Nichiren, remained in this country to declare these facts. The ruler of this country was reproachful of me and had hundreds of people slander me, speak ill of me, attack me with sticks and swords, and chase me out of my house. As I did not stop my protest to the government, the ruler personally exiled me two times.

On the 12th of the 9th month in the 8th year of the Bun’ei Era (1271) he even tried to have me beheaded at Tatsunokuchi. In the Sūtra of the Golden Splendor it is said: “If the evil-minded people are respected while the good are punished, the country will be attacked and destroyed by foreign enemies.”

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 32.

Since the Great Concentration and Insight preaches the way of practicing the spiritual contemplation according to the doctrine of “3,000 existences in one thought” in the Lotus Sūtra, the way to practice the “threefold contemplation in a single thought” is nothing but recognizing the Wonderful Dharma to be beyond conceptual understanding. Therefore, the priests who belittle the Lotus Sūtra and make too much of the spiritual contemplation commit the grave sin of slandering the True Dharma, are men of false view, or are as devilish as a heavenly devil. This is because according to Grand Master T’ien-t’ai’s “threefold contemplation in a single thought, concentration and insight” means the unique state of mind in which one is enlightened with the truth of One Buddha teaching through steadily maintaining the mind in tranquility by the Lotus Sūtra.

Risshō Kanjō, A Treatise on Establishing the Right Way of Meditation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 219

[I]t is less difficult to pass a thread from the Heavenly Palace of the Great Brahma down through the hole of a needle that is standing upright on the great earth below than it is for us to be born as human beings. Even if an endless period of a trillion inconceivably long kalpa should pass, it is difficult to encounter the sacred teachings of the Tathāgata. However, we have received a human birth and encountered the sacred teachings. Then if one should encounter an “evil friend,” one will without a doubt fall into the three evil realms. According to a commentary, if the teacher falls, then the disciples will fall, and if the disciples fall then their followers will also fall.

Happily, you have encountered the practicer of the One Vehicle. Without having to cut off your skin and flesh, or serve for a thousand years, you are able to learn about the “three thousand existences contained in one thought,” the “ten realms,” the “ten aspects,” the “one truth of Middle Way,” and “Wonderful Dharma of the Supreme Buddha Way.” Although we have not cultivated virtue in the past, if we had not been born in the Latter Age of Degeneration, the age when the Wonderful Dharma is transmitted, it would have been difficult to attain the Way of liberation even though eternities passed by.

Minobu-san Gosho, Mt. Minobu Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 128-129

[T]hose who wish to spread Buddhism should know the right time.

For example, if a farmer cultivates a rice field in the fall or winter, he will not have any harvest and may even end up losing what he already has although he sows the same seeds in the same field and works as hard as in the spring or summer. A farmer who cultivates 900 sq. yards loses a little while he who cultivates 9000 or 18,000 sq. yards loses a lot. But if he cultivates in the spring or summer, he can have a harvest proportionate to the size of his field. The same thing is true with Buddhism. If we spread the Dharma at the wrong time, it is not only ineffective, but also causes us to fall into evil realms.

Although the Buddha appeared in this world to expound the Lotus Sūtra, He did not preach it until after forty years or so because the time was not right even though there were some people with the capacity to understand and embrace the sūtra. Therefore, it is preached in the “Expedients” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “Because the time is not ripe for it (expounding the Lotus Sūtra) yet.”

Kyō Ki Ji Koku Shō, Treatise on the Teaching, Capacity, Time and Country, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 98

Grand Master Miao-lê states in his Summary of the Great Concentration and Insight:

“The theoretical study and the spiritual contemplation of the T’ien-t’ai School is founded on the thoughts of Nāgārjuna. Since Zen Master Hui-wen in the Northern Chi Dynasty merely presented the ‘three wisdoms and threefold contemplation,’ the correct wisdom has been attained by meditation of the Lotus Sūtra, both theoretical study and spiritual contemplation have been widely discussed, and the content of the spiritual contemplation has been well arranged since the time of Nan-yüeh and T’ien-t’ai. If a person wants to practice the spiritual contemplation according to the Lotus Sūtra, he should decide the content of practice after establishing the clear answer to the issues on the provisional and true teachings, and on the essential and theoretical sections. Since the Lotus Sūtra is the sole scripture worthy of being called ‘Wonderful,’ the way of the spiritual contemplation should be established according to this sūtra. ‘Five expedients’ as preparatory practice and the ten-stage, ten-objective way of observing mind are indeed the perfect and sudden (Tendai) meditation based entirely on the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, the perfect and sudden meditation is merely another name of meditation on the Lotus Sūtra (since it is the way of practicing the spiritual contemplation based on the truth of the Lotus Sūtra).”

Risshō Kanjō, A Treatise on Establishing the Right Way of Meditation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 221

In such sūtras as the Amitābha Sūtra — preached during the 40 years or so before the Lotus Sūtra — the Buddha said to Śāriputra, “When one chants the name of Amitābha Buddha a million times in seven days one will inevitably be reborn in the Pure Land of Utmost Bliss.” However, upon expounding the Lotus Sūtra later, the Buddha declared, “No truth has been revealed in those pre-Lotus sūtras.” Therefore, all the scriptures of Buddhism preached before the Lotus Sūtra became meaningless, like hot water boiled for seven days but then thrown into the ocean.

Sennichi-ama Gohenji, A Reply to Sennichi-ama, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 160

I myself may be able to endure attacks with sticks and pieces of wood, withstand rubbles and debris thrown at me, vilification, and persecution by the ruler of a country, but how can lay believers who have a wife and children and no knowledge of Buddhism bear these difficulties? Wouldn’t it have been better instead for such people not to have believed in the Lotus Sūtra? I have been feeling sorry for you thinking that if you couldn’t carry through your faith, which is for temporary comfort, you would be mocked and ridiculed. However, it was wonderful that you showed the steadfastness in your faith throughout numerous persecutions including two banishments. Though you were threatened by your lord, you wrote this written pledge swearing to carry though your faith in the Lotus Sūtra even at the cost of fiefs in two places. Words cannot describe your commendable aspiration.

Shijō Kingo-dono Gohenji, Response to Lord Shijō Kingo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 142

The scriptural passage declaring that the Lotus Sūtra is the supreme sūtra of all the Buddhist scriptures which had been preached, are being preached, and will be preached, can hardly be refuted even by the Buddha. Much less can any inferior commentator, teacher, or king refute it with his authority? The King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, sun and moon, and the Four Heavenly Kings all hear this statement in the Lotus Sūtra and wrote it down on their palaces.

Zui-jii Gosho, The Sūtra Preached in Accordance to [the Buddha’s] Own Mind, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 160