When King Ajātaśatru was 50 years old he suffered from malignant boils appearing all over his body on the 15th day of the 2nd month. Even a great physician, could not control them. On the seventh day of the third month, he was on the verge of death and falling into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. It was as though the pleasures of a luxurious life of more than 50 years were extinguished at once and the sufferings of a lifetime were all concentrated in the 21-day period since contracting the disease.

Although the immutable karma of Ajātaśatru had reached its limit, when the Buddha again expounded the Lotus Sūtra, naming it the Nirvana Sūtra and gave it to the great king, the king’s illness was cured instantly, and the major sins in his mind also vanished at once like dew drops.

Kaen Jōgō Gosho, Writing About Lengthening the Life Span, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 113