Grand Master T’ien-t’ai … wrote in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 10, “The eighteenth chapter of the Lotus Sūtra is entitled ‘The Merits of Rejoicing upon Hearing This Sūtra’ because the sūtra’s merit is superior to all other sūtras in every respect.” The Lotus Sūtra, more than any other sūtra, enlightens those whose capacity to understand is limited. Unaware of this, teachers of other sects maintain that only those with superior capacity in understanding can have faith in the Lotus Sūtra. Rebutting this, Grand Master Miao-lê stated in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 10, “Those erroneous teachers probably did not realize that even beginning practicers can have great merit; they insisted that the Lotus Sūtra can be practiced only by those with advanced training, slighting those with little training. Thus, the 18th chapter shows the great merit of beginning practicers, revealing the excellent merit of this sūtra. ”

Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Pages 40-41