Toward the end of the Age of the Semblance Dharma, Bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara (Kannon) and the Medicine King (Yakuō) appeared in this world as Nan-yüeh and T’ien-t’ai respectively, and they thoroughly explained the doctrines of “1,000 aspects contained in 100 realms” and “3,000 existences contained in one thought,” stressing the theoretical section as the central theme and the essential section as its supporting idea. They, however, merely reasoned in the abstract that 3,000 modes of existence are contained in the minds of the unenlightened; they did not practice and have others practice the actual way of realizing it—reciting and upholding the five characters of myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō, and revering the Most Venerable One as revealed in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra (hommon no honzon). A few people with the capacity to comprehend the True Dharma did exist, but after all, the time was not ripe for the perfect teaching.

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 161