Śākyamuni Buddha is our parent and all the holy teachings taught by Him in His lifetime is the teaching taught by our parents in order to lead us. There are numerous sūtras of His lifetime teachings in the realm of heaven, in the Palace of the Dragon King, and in India. But only 5,000 or 7,000 fascicles of them have been transmitted to China and Japan. It is difficult for us to say on our own which of these numerous sūtras was expounded first or last and which is superior or inferior. Because no person of wisdom in the Latter Age of Degeneration amounts to the commentators, grand masters or noble priests of earlier times, it is wise to follow the judgments of the great predecessors. There are many of them such as the Five Teachings and the Four Teachings of the Kegon (Hua-yen) School, the Three Periods, the Two Storehouses and the Three Preachings by Śākyamuni Buddha established by the Hossō ( Fa-hsiang) and Sanron (San-lun) Schools. However, Śākyamuni Buddha already showed the order and comparative superiority of each of His holy teachings. That is, he states in chapter 2 “Expedients” of the Lotus Sūtra, “The World-Honored One will expound the true teaching after a long period of expounding expedient teachings.” According to this statement, the teachings of the Buddha can be roughly divided into provisional sūtras preached before the Lotus Sūtra and the True Teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. This is like the Joei Code which stipulates that when parents revoke an earlier decision to bestow their property to their children the later verdict takes precedence over the earlier. Or rather, I wonder if the way of the ordinance may be taken from the teachings by the Buddha. Whether we are pious or impious to our parent, Śākyamuni Buddha, depends on whether we believe in the provisional pre-Lotus sūtras, which is the earlier verdict, or the True Dharma, the Lotus Sūtra, which is the later verdict.

Hōmon Mōsaru-beki-yō no Koto, The Way to Refute the Evil Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Page 146

The Pure Land Buddhists today … [say] it is impossible to practice the Lotus Sūtra unless one possesses a high capacity to understand and it bewilders the evil ordinary people in the Latter Age of Degeneration. Are they not contradicting themselves? Grand Master Miao-lê in his Annotations to the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra asserts, “Most people make mistakes, without knowing how great the merits of the inexperienced practicers can be. They imagine that only the experienced practicers can have merits and slander the inexperienced. Therefore, in the ‘Merits of Rejoicing at Hearing This Sūtra’ chapter it is shown that the merits of the inexperienced practicer can be great and how great the merits of the Lotus Sūtra are.” This passage means that the merit of the 50th person rejoicing at hearing the Lotus Sūtra transmitted one after another was preached to show that the merit of an ignorant person with little capacity in the Latter Age rejoicing even for a moment at hearing the sūtra preached is superior to the merit of sages who practice the pre-Lotus sūtras preached during the 40 or so years before the Lotus Sūtra. This is preached so that the Lotus Sūtra is not mistaken as the teaching attained by only persons of superior capacity and devotion.

Therefore, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra compares the 50th person rejoicing at hearing the Lotus Sūtra transmitted one after another, the lowest rank in the practice of the Lotus Sūtra, against the practicers of non-Buddhist teachings, Hinayana Buddhism, and provisional Mahayana Buddhism. He states that the merits of the lowest rank in the practice of the Lotus Sūtra are superior to those of any other practice.

Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treastise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 8

The doctrine of the Tendai School clearly shows the true intent of various Buddhas through its theoretical study of Buddhist teaching. Therefore it is stated by Grand Master Dengyō in his Outstanding Principles of the Lotus Sūtra, “The Lotus Sūtra appears to be admired but in fact the heart of the sūtra is being destroyed.” Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, furthermore, explains this in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, “In spreading various sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra, it does not matter in their doctrines whether the theoretical study is clarified or not. To spread the Lotus Sūtra, however, it will be difficult to understand its scriptural statements and to discuss the doctrine unless the theoretical study is clearly explained.” This shows that the doctrine of the Tendai School is based especially on theoretical study.

Shoshū Mondō-shō, Questions and Answers Regarding Other Schools, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 163

Among the many disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha there are ten representative ones known as the “ten great disciples.” Venerable Maudgalyāyana among them was foremost in his supernatural power. He traveled around the entire world preaching without losing even a single strand of his hair. How could he accomplish such a feat? It is said that it was due to his merit in his previous life of listening to Śākyamuni Buddha preaching despite the distance of 1,000 ri (about 5,000 km). Also Chang-an, a disciple of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, traveled a distance of more than 10,000 ri (about 50,000 km) in order to hear the Grand Master preach the Lotus Sūtra. Grand Master Dengyō traveled to China, more than 3,000 ri (about 15,000 km) away, to study the Great Concentration and Insight. Tripiṭaka Master Hsüan-tsung of China had to overcome a distance of 200,000 ri (about 1,000,000 km) to introduce the Wisdom Sūtra from India.

Doesn’t the distance they traveled show the depth of their aspiration? However, they were all males and incarnations of the Buddha or bodhisattvas. In contrast, you are a woman with five hindrances. As such it is almost impossible for you to be an incarnation of a Buddha or bodhisattva. Yet it is certain that you will attain Buddhahood. I can only imagine the kind of meritorious acts you performed in your previous life.

Oto-gozen no Haha Gosho, A Letter to the Mother of Lady Oto, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II,
Volume 7, Page 142-143

Prince Shōtoku of Japan was a son of Emperor Yōmei, the thirty-second sovereign of Japan. When he was six years old, elderly men coming from Paekche, Koguryō, and T’ang China paid homage to the Emperor. The six-year old crown prince declared that they were his disciples, and these elderly men holding hands in reverence said that the crown prince was their teacher. It was indeed a wonder. It is also said in a non-Buddhist work that a certain man, while walking on a street, came across a young man about thirty years old beating an old man of about eighty years old on the street. Asked what was the matter, the story says, the young man answered that this elderly man he was beating was his son. The relationship between Śākyamuni and great bodhisattvas from underground is similar to these stories.

Therefore, Bodhisattva Maitreya and others asked a question, “World Honored One! When You were the crown prince, You left the palace of the Śākya clan and sat in meditation under the bodhi tree not far from the town of Gayā until You attained perfect enlightenment. It has only been forty years or so. How could You, World Honored One, achieve so much in so short a time?”

For forty years or so starting with the Flower Garland Sūtra, bodhisattvas have asked questions in every assembly to dispel the doubts all beings might have had. This, however, is the most serious question of all. In the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning, for instance, 80,000 bodhisattvas such as Great Adornment put forth a serious question concerning the apparent discrepancy in time required for attaining Buddhahood. While it has been said in the sūtras preached in the first forty years or so that it would take many kalpa, now it was preached that one could obtain Buddhahood quickly through the teaching of the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning. However serious the question of Great Adornment Bodhisattva was, that of Maitreya was more crucial. …

The thirty-six questions asked by Kāśyapa in the Nirvana Sūtra were also not as serious as the one asked by Maitreya. If the Buddha had not squarely answered the question to dispel this doubt, all the holy teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime would have appeared to be as worthless as bubbles, and the questions of everyone would have remained unanswered. Here lies the importance of the sixteenth chapter, “The Life Span of the Buddha,” of the Lotus Sūtra.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 71-72

When a wise man who mastered the Lotus Sūtra conducts a service for the remains of the dead, the dead man’s human body becomes the Dharma Body. This is what is meant by “with one’s present body.” It is possible for a wise man of the Lotus Sūtra to recover the spirit that left the dead person, put it back into the remains and convert it into the Buddha mind. This is the so-called attainment of Buddhahood.

The term “with one’s present body” is the physical aspect while the “attainment of Buddhahood” is the spiritual aspect. Therefore, it is possible to convert the dead person’s physical and spiritual aspects into the state of enlightenment that lasts forever from the eternal past. This is called the attainment of Buddhahood with one’s present body. Therefore, it is stated in the “Expedients” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “The reality of all things consists of appearance (body of the dead), nature (his mind), substance (his body and mind), etc.”

Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto, Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 98

The bodhisattvas described in the fifteenth chapter, “Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground,” who have sprung out of the great earth, as numerous as the number of dust-particles of 1,000 worlds, are followers of the Original Buddha Śākyamuni who resides within our minds.

They are like T’ai-kung-wang and Duke of Chou, retainers of King Wu of the Chou dynasty in ancient China, who at the same time served the King’s young son, King Ch’eng; or Takeuchi no Sukune of ancient Japan, a leading minister to Empress Jingu, who concurrently served her son, Prince Nintoku. Just like them Bodhisattvas Superior Practice (Jōgyō), Limitless Practice (Muhengyō), Pure Practice (Jōgyō), and Steadily Established Practice (Anryūgyō), the four leaders of these bodhisattvas sprung from the earth, are simultaneously followers of the Original Buddha and bodhisattvas who reside in the minds of us, ordinary people.

Therefore, Grand Master Miao-lê has declared in his Annotations on the Mo-ho chih-kuan (Mo-ho chih-kuan fu-hsing-chiian hungchiieh): “You should know that both our bodies and the land on which we live are a part of the 3,000 modes of existence which exist in our minds. Consequently, upon our attainment of Buddhahood, we are in complete agreement with the truth of ‘3,000 existences contained in one thought,’ and our single body and single thought permeate through all the worlds in the universe.”

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 145

Those who intend to spread Buddhism must correctly understand the five principles for propagation in order to disseminate the True Dharma. They are: (1) the teaching, (2) the capacity of the people, (3) the time, (4) the country, and (5) the sequence of spreading the Buddha’s teachings.

Ken Hōbō-shō, A Clarification of Slandering the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 113.

Śākyamuni Buddha is quoted to have declared in the third chapter on “A Parable” of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 2, “This triple world is My domain.” It means that the Buddha Śākyamuni has the virtue of being our master, the king and the most respectable in the world. His words, “All living beings therein are My children,” means that the Buddha has the virtue of our parent; and “There are many sufferings in this world; only I can save all living beings” points out His virtue of being our teacher. In the sixteenth chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha” of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha is quoted to have declared, “I am the father of the world.” …

Grand Master Miao-lê declares in his Five Hundred Questions and Answers (Wu-pai wén-lun): “A man who does not know the long life of his father is like a man who wanders around the country governed by his father. Such a man cannot be a son of a man no matter how talented he is;” and “Even though his talent is as great as that of all the people in the country put together, he is nothing but a fool if he does not know how old his parents are.” Precept Master Tao-hsüan (Dōsen) of the Fen-te-ssu Temple at Chung-nan-shan in T’ang China mentions in his Ancient and Modern Disputes between Buddhism and Taoism (Ku-chin fu-tao lun-hêng), “Before the time of the Three Emperors (Fu Hsi, Shen Nung and Yellow Emperor) in ancient China, they had no characters for writing; they knew who their mother was but did not know their father. They acted as if they were birds and beasts.” These are words that Priest Hui-yüan (Eon) of Sui China uttered when he admonished the Emperor Wu of Northern Chou against his persecuting Buddhists.

Hasshū Imoku-shō, A Treatise on the Differences of the Lotus Sect from Eight Other Sects, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 16

It is predicted in the Lotus Sūtra, in the 13th chapter “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra,” that 2000 years after the Buddha’s extinction, in the Latter Age of Degeneration, three kinds of enemies will appear against those who spread the Lotus Sūtra. The time at hand matches exactly the Latter Age of Degeneration preached in the Lotus Sūtra as the “fifth 500-year period” after the death of the Buddha. As I, Nichiren, contemplate whether or not the Buddha’s words have proved to be true, three kinds of enemies surely exist today. If I deny the existence of the three enemies and spread the Lotus Sūtra in a manner so as to avoid persecution, I cannot claim to be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. On the other hand, if I spread the sūtra in such a way that I am persecuted by enemies, I certainly will lose my life.

Kyōki Jikoku-shō, Treatise on the Teaching, Capacity, Time and Country, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 95-96