The Buddha Himself had His finger injured by Devadatta, and He met serious crises like this nine times during His lifetime. Wasn’t He a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra? Can’t we call Bodhisattva Fukyō (Never Despising) a practicer of the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra because he was despised and beaten? Venerable Maudgalyāyana was murdered by Brahmans armed with bamboo sticks. This occurred after he was assured that he would be a future Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra. Bodhisattva Kāṇadeva and Venerable Simha (Shishi Sonja), fourteenth and twenty-fifth patriarchs of Buddhism who transmitted the Buddha’s teaching, were both murdered. Were they not practicers of the Lotus? In China, Chu tao-sheng insisted that even an icchantika could attain Buddhahood and was banished to a temple in Su-chou; and Fa-tao was exiled to the south of the Yangtze River with his face branded with a hot iron rod when he remonstrated with the emperor against persecuting Buddhists. Were these monks not practicers of the Lotus Sūtra? Both Sugawara Michizane of Japan and Po Chü-i of China were banished because of their remonstration. Were they not worthy of being practicers of the Lotus Sūtra?

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 103-104