[I]n the first fascicle of the Lotus Sūtra proper, it is preached: “The Buddha will expound the truth after preaching for a long time” and “He will solely expound the supreme way, honestly discarding the expedient teaching.” This means that it is only the Lotus Sūtra that is true. It is like a full moon appearing in the dark night, or the disassembling of a scaffold after the construction of a huge tower. Later, Śākyamuni Buddha expounded the truth saying:

“This Sahā World is My domain and the living beings in it are all My children. This world, however, is full of suffering and pain. It is only I, the Buddha, who can save all living beings suffering in this world. Having wandered out of the right way and losing rationality, they refuse to accept My guidance and persuasion. Instead, they slight, or show contempt for, hate, are envious of and bear grudges against those who recite and uphold the Lotus Sūtra. Such people will surely fall into the Avīci Hell.”

The way in which this sūtra is preached differs from the teachings in ordinary sūtras. Usually those who commit the five rebellious or seven rebellious sins are said to fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering, but this sūtra does not say so. It preaches that of all the people in the Buddha’s lifetime and after His extinction, those who do not believe in the Lotus Sūtra and adhere to such provisional teachings as the Amitābha Sūtra preached during the forty years or so before the Lotus Sūtra was preached, or those who believe in the Lotus Sūtra but cannot relinquish faith in the provisional teachings, and practice the Lotus Sūtra and the provisional teachings at the same time, or those who claim that the provisional teachings they believe in are superior to the Lotus Sūtra, or those who despise and abuse the people who practice the Lotus Sūtra by saying they are not practicers of the Lotus Sūtra—all these people “will surely fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering upon death.”

Shimoyama Goshōsoku, The Shimoyama Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 88

T’ien-t’ai has this to say in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra: “Looking at heavy rainfall, one can tell the size of the dragon which causes it; looking at the abundance of lotus flowers, one can tell the depth of the pond.” Miao-lê explains it in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra: “Only wise men can foretell what is going to happen; only snakes know the way of snakes.” When the sky is blue, the land is bright, so those who know the Lotus Sūtra can see the reasons for occurrences in the world.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 164

When the weather turns cold, water becomes ice. The snow piled on the ground will become crystallized with the passing of years. A human falls into hell when he heaps up evil deeds, while he becomes a Buddha when he accumulates the meritorious acts. Consumed with jealousy a woman becomes a poisonous snake. However, if she accumulates the merit of donating for the cause of the Lotus Sūtra, how can she not follow the same road of a dragon girl and attain Buddhahood as described in the “Devadatta” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra?

Nanjō-dono Nyōbō Gohenji, Reply to the Wife of Lord Nanjō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 89

When a stream gets muddy at its origin, the whole stream becomes muddy. When a body is crooked, its shadow cannot be straight.

Ichinosawa Nyūdō Gosho, A Letter to Lay Priest Ichinosawa, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 162

As for myself, who has committed no sin whatsoever, I, Nichiren, was blamed of committing the grave sin of chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō at the discretion of the ruler of Japan and was exiled to Izu Province in the first year of Kōchō (1261). Again, on the 12th of the ninth month in the eighth year of Bun’ei (1271), I was paraded around on horseback as a prisoner in front of the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman and was made a laughing stock by all the slanderers of the True Dharma in Japan. Was this not a mistake of the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, who did not stop it from happening? It was not that Hachiman did not remonstrate at all with slanderers of the True Dharma, but the only remonstrance of Hachiman seems to have caused domestic quarrel among members of the Hōjō clan.

The Great Bodhisattva Hachiman was once the wise emperor of Japan, Emperor Ōjin. In addition, he is one of the greatest gods in Japan, competing with Goddess Amaterasu of the Ise Shine for supremacy. I do not believe that there is any god superior to Hachiman and that he can ever be unfair. Nevertheless, according to the rules of all the Buddhist scriptures and the Lotus Sūtra, Hachiman committed a great sin by protecting the slanderers of the True Dharma and refusing to help the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra.

Kangyō Hachiman-shō, Remonstration with Bodhisattva Hachiman, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 268

To begin with, what virtuous acts did you commit in the past existences to cause you to visit me, Nichiren, in this life? Contemplate your past lives, when you accumulated merits to encounter the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. By all means you should endeavor to get rid of the delusion of life and death in this existence. Cūḍapanthaka, who was unable to memorize even 14 characters in three years, was able to attain Buddhahood. Devadatta, who was able to memorize as many as 60,000 Buddhist teachings, fell into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. This solely represents the world today in the Latter Age of Degeneration. Do not think that it is not a matter of your concern.

San Sanzō Kiu no Koto, Concerning the Prayer Services for Rain by Three Tripiṭaka Masters, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 209.

[In the sixth month of the 3rd year of the Kenji era (1277), Nichiren Shōnin wrote a letter of explanation in place of Inaba-bō Nichiei, a disciple of Nichiren, and submitted it to Nichiei’s father, Shimoyama Hyōgo Gorō Mitsumoto.]

Nichiren Shōnin had long been thinking that in order to repay the favors given by his country he should remonstrate with its rulers three times, and if they would still not heed his advice, he would seclude himself in the woods of a mountain. Following an old saying that it’s best to retreat if one’s remonstrations with a master is rejected three times, Nichiren Shōnin entered Mt. Minobu. Besides, when the rulers of a country will not listen to him, what is the use of preaching to the people below? It does not seem likely that the country will be saved or the people will be helped to attain Buddhahood.

Shimoyama Goshōsoku, The Shimoyama Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 87

Lord Śākyamuni Buddha repeatedly states that of the sūtras preached by the Buddha in His lifetime, those preached during the first forty years or so do not reveal the truth. He denigrates such sūtras as the Nirvana Sūtra as sūtras to be preached later and defines the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning as the one being preached at present. The Buddha preaches in this Lotus Sūtra that it is the supreme teaching of all the teachings preached in the past, being preached at present, and those to be preached in the future: “Honestly discarding the expedient teachings, He preached only the supreme way;” and “After preaching the provisional teaching for many years, He will inevitably preach the true teaching.”

Then the Buddha of Many Treasures of the Treasure Purity World emerged from the great earth, attesting to the truth of the Lotus Sūtra. Numerous Buddhas in manifestation from all the worlds throughout the universe all stretched their long and wide tongues touching the Brahma Heaven to prove the truthfulness of the words of the Buddha. The tongues of those manifestation Buddhas as numerous as the number of dust-particles produced by all the worlds throughout the universe were reborn on the red lotus flowers with eight petals due to the merit of observing the precept of not telling a lie. Thus, the doctrine of attainment of Buddhahood by women is proved to be true by Buddhas, not one, two, three, ten or one hundred Buddhas but one thousand, tens of thousands, millions of Buddhas, or numerous Buddhas filling the four hundred, tens of thousands, million, nayuta worlds.

Zemmui-shō, Treatise on Śubhākarasiṃha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 55

Toward the end of the Age of the Semblance Dharma, Bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara (Kannon) and the Medicine King (Yakuō) appeared in this world as Nan-yüeh and T’ien-t’ai respectively, and they thoroughly explained the doctrines of “1,000 aspects contained in 100 realms” and “3,000 existences contained in one thought,” stressing the theoretical section as the central theme and the essential section as its supporting idea. They, however, merely reasoned in the abstract that 3,000 modes of existence are contained in the minds of the unenlightened; they did not practice and have others practice the actual way of realizing it—reciting and upholding the five characters of myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō, and revering the Most Venerable One as revealed in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra (hommon no honzon). A few people with the capacity to comprehend the True Dharma did exist, but after all, the time was not ripe for the perfect teaching.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 161