In Nichiren’s thought, aspiration for the Pure Land of Eagle Peak assumes a particular orientation, informed by his exclusive commitment to the Lotus Sūtra. Most Lotus practitioners of the Heian and Kamakura periods recited the sūtra in hopes of achieving Amida’s western Pure Land. Nichiren, however, had so thoroughly rejected any aspect of faith in Amida that he would not have been able to represent the next life in such terms. The “Pure Land of Sacred Eagle Peak” provided him with a needed alternative image, consistent with his Lotus exclusivism, for conceptualizing what happens to believers after death. As others have suggested, Nichiren may also have begun to preach to his followers about this pure land in response to the sense of imminent danger accompanying the Mongol threat, and the concept was no doubt further stimulated by the suppressions experienced by Nichiren and his community. The “Pure Land of Eagle Peak” was thus posited in contrast to, and as recompense for enduring, the hardships occasioned by upholding exclusive faith in the Lotus in this present world. Moreover, during his reclusion on Mt. Minobu, as Nichiren himself grew older, he was also faced increasingly with the need to console followers who had lost parents, spouses, and children; the promise of reunion in the Pure Land of Eagle Peak occurs frequently in his letters on such occasions. (Page 293-294)