Another frequent interpretation regarding figures on the mandala takes the four leaders of the bodhisattvas who emerge from the earth–Superior Conduct, Boundless Conduct, Firm Conduct, and Pure Conduct–as representing the four universal elements of fire, wind, earth, and water, which form all things. Thus, the entire dharma realm is seen as the four bodhisattvas:

The four bodhisattvas who are the leaders of the Buddha’s original disciples manifest themselves as the four great elements. … Because [one constantly] receives and makes use of the four elements of earth, water, fire, and wind that comprise the dharma realm, they might evoke no particular feeling of respect, but when one enquires into their essence, then the benefits they confer are unexpectedly vast. Day and night, the land and its inhabitants (eshō), and the myriad things all dis play the benefits conferred by the four bodhisattvas.

This equation of the four leaders of the bodhisattvas who emerged out of the earth with the four universal elements appears in medieval Tendai commentaries on the Lotus Sūtra and also in some writings attributed to Nichiren. This identification is developed through the kanjin-style technique of association by isomorphic resemblance discovered between the behavior of the four elements and the names of the four bodhisattvas. Earth is stable and is associated with “Firm Conduct.” Water cleanses and is consequently identified with “Pure Conduct.” Fire rises and is therefore assimilated to “Superior Conduct. ” Wind is unrestrained and is thus equated with “Boundless Conduct.”

In the following transmission on the mandala, attributed to Nichizō, a disciple of Nichirō of the Hikigayatsu lineage, the identification of the four bodhisattvas with the four elements is invoked to suggest that the Wonderful Dharma shall, in the Lotus Sūtra’s words, be declared and spread” (kōsen-rufu):

The placement of Superior Conduct (together with Boundless Conduct] and Pure Conduct [together with Firm Conduct] opposite one other [on either side of the central inscription of the mandala] expresses the meaning that the fire of wisdom represented by Superior Conduct, in dependence on the wind represented by Boundless Conduct, shall be widely declared (kōsen), and that the water of wisdom represented by Pure Conduct, in conformity with the earth represented by Firm [Conduct], shall spread (rufu).

(Page 331-332)