Even though people of Japan all pay lip service to the sūtra saying that, “The Lotus Sūtra is supreme,” in their minds they hold that “The Lotus Sūtra is second” or even “The Lotus Sūtra is in third place.” They do so not only in their minds but also in their words and deeds. After Grand Master Dengyō, there has been no practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in more than four hundred years who reads, “The Lotus Sūtra is supreme” in body, mouth and mind. Furthermore, I doubt that the practicer who “properly keeps the Lotus Sūtra” will ever appear. As Śākyamuni Buddha predicts in the “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “Many people hate it with jealousy even in My lifetime. Needless to say, more people will do so after My extinction.” All the people in the Latter Age of Degeneration, from the Emperor down to the common people, are all archenemies of the Lotus Sūtra.

Honzon Mondō Shō, Questions and Answers on the Honzon, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 267