According to these sūtras, it is due to the great merit of his virtuous acts in past lives that anyone listens to the Lotus Sūtra without slandering it, though unable to understand it. The chances of our being born in the three evil realms are more numerous than particles of dust on earth, while chances of our being born in the human realm are as scarce as the specks of dirt on a fingernail. (…) The chances of our encountering expedient sūtras preached in the forty-odd years before the Lotus Sūtra are more numerous than the particles of dust on earth, while encountering the Lotus-Nirvana Sūtras is as scarce as specks of dirt on a fingernail. It is just as the passage … from the Nirvana Sūtra, fascicle 33 stated. To be able to believe in this Lotus Sūtra, even one character or one phrase, is due to the profound association with it from previous lives, which is a great blessing.

Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 66