Nobody has ever propagated this honzon in the world (Jambudvīpa) in more than 2,230 years since Śākyamuni Buddha expounded on it. Grand Masters T’ien-t’ai in China and Dengyō in Japan roughly knew about it, but did not at all propagate it. Today, in the Latter Age of Degeneration, it should be widespread. The Lotus Sūtra, states that Bodhisattvas Superior Practice (Viśiṣṭacaritra) and Limitless Practice (Anantacāritra) will appear in the world to spread it, but they have not yet done that. I, Nichiren, am not as great a man as those bodhisattvas, yet I have roughly understood it. So, as a forerunner, until those bodhisattvas appearing from underground emerge, I more or less propagated this sūtra and became the spear point of the passage that prophecies about the “time after My extinction” in the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra. It is my hope to transfer my merits to my parents, my teacher and all the people in the world.

Honzon Mondō Shō, Questions and Answers on the Honzon, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 272