The promulgation of Buddhist doctrines has been divided from the earliest times into three periods, the last of which is called the Period of the Latter-day Law. Nichiren regarded his own time as falling under this designation, and considered it as the proper occasion for promulgating the doctrines of the [Lotus Sutra]. He therefore began his work in the year 1252 of the Christian era. At this epoch, the true original doctrines of the faith had become corrupted by the intermixture of much that was false and temporary, so that popular belief in the Buddha had lost its purity, and divisions had crept in. Deeply grieved at the error and confusion which reigned, Nichiren set himself very laboriously to work in promulgating the Good Law. He found, however, not only that its acceptance would be a matter of some time, but that his efforts to enforce it raised up many enemies and opponents, whose hostility gave him no small amount of trouble. The difficult position in which he now found himself coincided almost exactly with that predicted by Sakyamuni two thousand years before. “The Law,” he said in the [Lotus Sutra], has many opponents and enemies, even now while I am in the world. It will necessarily have many more after my departure.” Now, being determined to stake his very life in promulgating the Good Law, Nichiren thus addressed the Buddha: “To despise and reject the Holy Book of our Sect, be it good or bad, is an action proper only to the denizens of hell. Suppose an emperor were to offer me the sovereignty of the empire on condition that I cast away the Holy Book and took up, instead, the religious works used by other sects: and were to threaten me with the decapitation of my father and mother unless I contented myself with repeating the name of Buddha, as the “Pure Land” sectarians do, in order to be born in the Pure Land after death; neither the bribe on one hand, nor the menace on the other, would have the slightest effect upon me. Nothing could ever move me except being outreasoned by a wiser man than myself; and I do not believe that such a man will ever be discovered. Benefits and troubles are alike unable to make any impression on my mind. I want to be, as it were, the pillars for Japan; to be the eyes for Japan; to be the ship for Japan. Of this object I will never lose sight; the oath I have sworn I will never break.” Thus, attesting his professions with an oath, Nichiren founded his new sect; sometimes called by his own name, and sometimes Hokke, after the title of the [Lotus Sutra].

The inhabitants of the world are destined eventually to receive this blessing, in accordance with the Buddha’s words. But meanwhile they have contracted the fatal habits of illusion and confusion, which pursue them until they find themselves enmeshed in the inextricable tangles of absurd imaginations and false ideas. And they groan in the nets from which, alas, they cannot easily escape. If, on the other hand, a man unfolds his Buddha-intellect, the world displays itself before him in its true aspect; those, therefore, who wish to follow this wise course and experience true spiritual joy, should at once believe in the Good Law, discard the false and temporary theories taught by other sects, and embrace the true and eternal doctrines contained in the [Lotus Sutra]. Then both heaven and earth will be peaceful and prosperous forever; the order of things will be preserved in harmony; climate and temperature will accommodate themselves to the health of man and the fertility of the soil; the world will appear as the Paradise of Buddhas and of Glorious Light; nation will be at peace with nation as though they were brethren; and there will not be a single unhappy or dissatisfied person in the universe. Such is the result believing in the Good Law. Don’t doubt its merits; experience them to begin with, and inquire about them afterwards if you wish. Come one and all, and let us believe in the Good Law!

Sakyamuni, explaining the real state of this world, says, “This my region is Peace and Rest.” And indeed the world, rightly understood, is the region of peace, joy, and purity, and is free from sadness, trouble, and pain. It is the duty of its inhabitants to welcome those who are born and come, and to mourn for those who die and depart. Thus their life-work is finished, and they will be exempt from disappointment. The Buddha says: “Peaceful and happy in this life, we shall pass into the Good Regions hereafter.”

[T]he multitude, being still unenlightened, are unable to perceive the great truth that this present world is the world of Buddhas and of Glorious Light, and are unconscious of the Paradise into which they have already actually entered. Their minds being thus confused, they give rein to the four passions of avarice, anger, folly, and pride, and find themselves in the painful regions of birth, old age, disease, and death; so that they are obliged to pass through a series of transmigrations in the world of evils, which is ever a prey to Great Fire in times past, and present, and future. But all these pains and miseries are, in fact, voluntarily incurred by the people themselves; they are not proper and natural to the real state of the world, which is, in itself, free from them altogether.

[W]hen Nichiren began to promulgate his doctrines he composed an essay called the Rissho Ankoku Ron, or “Treatise on the Establishment of the Good Law and Pacification of the State,” which he offered to the Government of that day in hopes that the rulers would accept its precepts and put them into practice. The peace and prosperity of the individual necessarily depend on those of the family, and those of the family on those of the State: for when the State is unprosperous and disturbed the same condition will extend to both families and individuals.

[O]ur founder, in his work entitled Hanson Syo, or “The Object of Worship,” says: “The world of evils is now free from the three calamities of conflagration, wind, and deluge, and has got rid of the four epochs of creation, existence, destruction, and emptiness. Thus we find it transformed into Paradise. The Buddha did not die in past times, nor will he be born in the future. He is one and the same with those whom he enlightens. His mind contains all phenomena in time and space.”

The first and greatest mission of Sakyamuni in this world is to help the multitude to unfold and develop their Buddha-intellect, and cleanse and purify their nature. When they are once able to unfold this Buddha-intellect of theirs, they will perceive the real nature of this world of evils, that is, the glory of that eternal reality which underlies the world of outward sense. Hence, to proclaim the identity of the evil or phenomenal world with the glorious underlying reality, or noumenon; to point out the way to Buddhahood; to open the path of salvation; above all, to convince the people that one and all of them may become Buddhas, here and now. This is the mission of the sect of Nichiren.

This world, so full of evils as to appear like a fiery furnace in the eyes of the vulgar, is perceived by the Buddha to be a peaceful and happy realm inhabited by beings of high spiritual order. What is the truth of it? Is the world pure and full of pleasures, or foul and full of pains? The solution will be this or that according to the confusion or the enlightenment of each individual mind. The world seen by the Buddha and the world seen by the multitude are not two, but one. When enlightenment is attained, all worlds are found to be equally glorious and splendid.

Since all things are one in essence, even Buddha and the common people, the inhabited world is identical with the Paradise where all the Buddhas live. Therefore the Buddha says, “I am ever in this lower world of evils”; and again, “I am ever on the Vulture Peak.” These words signify that the world, which is apparently so full of evils, is in reality not different from the Paradise of all the Buddhas, which is illuminated with Glorious Light.

Just as Sakyamuni regards all living beings as his own children, so may each individual man do likewise. The Buddha and the people are, in fact, one and the same; there is neither difference nor distinction between them. In the Kegon Kyo it is said that the Mind, the Buddha, and the people are not different from each other, although they have different names and different appearances.