The Buddha is the master of the human and heavenly realms, the parents of all living beings, and the teacher who opens the way and leads us all to enlightenment. Lowly parents lack the virtue of a master, and the master without the virtue of parents is frightening. People with the virtue of parents or master do not necessarily possess the virtue of the teacher. Various Buddhas are also World Honored Ones with the virtue of a master, but they are not our teachers because they do not appear in this Sahā World to guide us. As they do not declare, “All living beings in it are my children,” they also lack the parental virtue. Śākyamuni Buddha alone is equipped with all three virtues of the master, teacher, and parent.

Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 66