Setting aside for now the period when Śākyamuni Buddha lived in this world, there have been 24 messengers of the Buddha during the period of 2,200 years or so spanning the Age of the True Dharma, the Age of the Semblance Dharma, and the Latter Age of Degeneration since the passing of Śākyamuni Buddha. Namely 1. Mahākāśyapa; 2. Ānanda; 3. Madhyāntika; 4. Śaṇavāsa; 5. Upagupta; 6. Dhṛṭaka; 7. Mikkaka; 8. Buddha-nandi(ya); 9. Buddhamitra; 10. Pārśva; 11. Puṇyayaśas; 12. Aśvaghoṣa;13. Kapimāla; 14. Nāgārjuna; 15.
Āryadeva; 16. Rāhulata; 17. Saṃghanandi; 18. Saṃghayośas; 19. Kumārata; 20. Jayata; 21. Vasubandhu; 22. Manorhita; 23. Haklenayaśas; and 24. Ven. Siṃha. These twenty-four transmitters of the Buddhist Dharma are described in the Sūtra of Transmission of Buddhist Teaching by Śākyamuni Buddha Himself. These priests, however, are messengers of the Buddha spreading only the Hinayāna and the provisional Mahāyāna teachings. They are not the messengers of the Buddha spreading the true Mahāyāna teaching of the Lotus Sūtra.

Tayūsakan-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ikegami Munenaka, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 106