However, (if I may quote passages from the Lotus Sūtra as proof), it is stated in the “Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground” chapter that Maitreya Bodhisattva having wondered what the Buddha stated, said to Him, “If beginning bodhisattvas hear these words of Yours after Your extinction they may not believe in them and commit the sin of slandering the dharma.” It means that if the Buddha had not expounded the chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha” to reveal His eternity, ordinary people in the Latter Age would fall into evil realms such as hell by having doubts and slandering the dharma. In the same chapter, the Buddha says, “I’m leaving this excellent medicine here.” Although this chapter seems to have been intended to benefit people in the past when the Buddha was alive, it is clear from this statement that the Buddha’s true intention is to give benefit to people after His extinction. Benefiting those in the past is intended to show an example of the past for the people after His extinction.

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