The difference of the tenets of Dengyō Daishi and Nichiren is seen in the treatment of the substance of the Lotus text. The Lotus doctrine assumes ten regions, ten thus-aspects and three realms. Dengyō Daishi lays importance on the principle of the realm of trace. The realm of trace treats only the nine regions, teaching the causal states of culture and therefore considering mind and thought as important factors of training, and finally attributing all the phenomenal worlds to the mere-ideation theory. The threefold view of one mind and the 3,000 worlds immanent in one thought-instant are taught minutely. According to the Nichiren School, the Tendai is too much inclined to the theoretical side of the Truth, thereby forgetting the practical side of it. Nichiren holds that the realm of origin teaches the effective state of enlightenment and the Buddha’s person is the center of Truth; the reality of the phenomenal worlds centers in the personality of the Buddha; and all aspirants should be guided to realize the Ideal-body of the Buddha.

The Lotus text reveals the original Buddha whose principle and practice are fully explained in the original portions of the text. What [Nichiren] holds important is the Buddha’s practice, not his principle. One who understands and practices the practical aspects of that Buddha is a devotee or realizer of the Lotus, just as the bodhisattva of supreme action (Viśiṣṭacāritra) is placed in the highest position in the text. The Buddhahood (perfect enlightenment) of such an adept will be immediate in this very body. The original Buddha was like the moon in the sky and all other Buddhas of the Wreath, of the Agama, of the Vaipulya (‘developed’), the Prajna (‘wisdom’), the Gold Light (Suvarnaprabhasa), the Sukhāvatī (Pure Land) and the Great Sun (Mahāvairocana) were all moons in various waters, and mere reflections of the one central moon. It is only a fool who would try to catch a reflected moon.