Although the twenty-four characters of Never-Despising Bodhisattva differ in wording from the five characters that I, Nichiren, spread, they are the same in meaning. We both appeared in the world under the same conditions: he toward the end of the Age of the Semblance Dharma after the death of Powerful Voice King Buddha, and I at the beginning of the Latter Age after the death of Śākyamuni Buddha. Also, Never-Despising Bodhisattva and I, Nichiren, are at the same stage of progress in the practice of the Lotus Sūtra: he is in the initial “rejoicing upon hearing the Lotus Sūtra (sho-zuiki-hon)” rank in the five-stage practice (gohon), while I am an ordinary man in the second stage of the “notional understanding (myōji-soku)” in the six-stage practice (roku-soku).

Kembutsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 174-175