To put it strongly, the T’ien-t’ai doctrine of “concentration and insight” is like the pre-Lotus sūtras, and the provisional Mahāyāna sūtras preaching the distinct teaching, one of the four doctrinal teachings. It is what he attained while meditating at the Universal Wisdom Hall of Practice on Mt. Ta-su, and when T’ien-t’ai told it to his teacher-master, Grand Master Nan-yüeh, he was told that what he attained was nothing but mystic words and phrases of the pre-Lotus expedient sūtras. Also, it is stated in the Pictorial Biography of T’ien-t’ai, part 4: “When T’ien-t’ai lectured on the Great Wisdom Sūtra, written in golden ink, replacing his master Nan-yüeh, a doubt arose upon encountering the passage, ‘a mind is equipped with 10,000 practices.’ Grand Master Nan-yüeh explained it for T’ien-t’ai, saying that his question was concerned with a sequential doctrine of the Great Wisdom Sūtra, which has not yet reached the level of the perfect and sudden wonderful doctrine of the Lotus Sūtra.”

Thus what T’ien-t’ai preached was the Wisdom Sūtra, a pre-Lotus, quasi-Mahāyāna sūtra. As it is said that what he preached was a sequential doctrine, it was a distinct teaching. And, as it is said that the mystic words and phrases he was able to attain were pre-Lotus expedients, we know that T’ien-t’ai’s Great Concentration and Insight is similar to a pre-Lotus, expedient sūtra, belonging to the category of the distinct teaching.

Since what T’ien-t’ai attained in mind, as stated above, is mystic words and phrases of the pre-Lotus sūtras, which he explained in his Great Concentration and Insight, it is needless to say that it cannot be compared with the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra, not to speak of the essential section. … Armed with these points, you should argue against the evil contention that the Great Concentration and Insight is superior to the Lotus Sūtra.

Risshō Kanjō, A Treatise on Establishing the Right Way of Meditation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 237