WONS

For Whom Was the “The Life Span of the Buddha” Expounded?

QUESTION: For whom was the chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha” expounded, revealing the Buddha’s enlightenment in the remotest past broadly and in detail?

ANSWER: “The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter together with a half chapter each preceding and following it were expounded specially for the people living after the Buddha’s extinction from beginning to end. It was expounded especially for those in this Latter Age of Degeneration such as Nichiren.

Hokke Shuyō Shō, Treatise on the Essence of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 211-212