The Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 7 (the “Never-Despising Bodhisattva” chapter) preaches: “Among the four kinds of devotees, there were some who had impurity in mind and gave way to anger. They spoke ill of the bodhisattva, called him an ignorant priest, … struck him with a stick or a piece of wood or a piece of tile or a stone. … Upon death, they underwent great torment in the Avīci Hell for 1,000 kalpa.” This scriptural statement means that those who abused the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra or struck him with a stick, unable to atone for their sins, had to suffer in the Avīci Hell for as long as 1,000 kalpa.

Ken Hōbō-shō, A Clarificaton of Slandering the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 114.