Only when the Lotus Sūtra is placed before the wooden or painted image of the Buddha with 31 marks of physical excellence, does the image become the Buddha of the pure Perfect Teaching. The Sūtra of Meditation on the Universal Sage Bodhisattva, therefore, speaks of the Buddha of the Lotus Sūtra, “The threefold body of the Buddha is produced from the Hōdō.” “Hōdō” in this sense does not mean the Hōdō period of preaching by the Buddha, but it means the Lotus Sūtra. The Sūtra of Meditation on the Universal Sage Bodhisattva also preaches, “This Mahāyāna sūtra is the eye of Buddhas; it enables them to obtain the five kinds of eyesight.”

Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto, Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 91