It is preached in the 21st chapter on the “Divine Powers of the Buddha” in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 7: “In short, all the teachings of the Buddha, all the unhindered, divine powers of the Buddha, all the stores of the secret lore of the Buddha, and all the profundities of the Buddha are revealed and explained in this sūtra.” Grand Master T’ien-t’ai explains this in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra saying, “These four are the gist of the Lotus Sūtra.”

QUESTION: What are the indispensable dharmas summed up by the four phrases?

ANSWER: They are the honzon (most venerable one), kaidan (precept dais) and the five-character daimoku, which Śākyamuni Buddha had practiced in the eternal past upon attaining enlightenment with the true aspect of all phenomena, and which is now preached in the 16th chapter on “The Life Span of the Buddha” in the Lotus Sūtra. They had been kept in secrecy during the years Śākyamuni preached the pre-Lotus sūtras ever since He attained Buddhahood for the first time in this world under the bodhi tree, through the preaching of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra, until He began revealing the eternal life of the Buddha in the 15th chapter, “Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground,” in the essential section of the sūtra.

Lord Śākyamuni Buddha did not teach these great secret dharmas to such great bodhisattvas as Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī, attendants of the Buddha throughout the past, present and future, not to speak of other disciples below them. Therefore, the formality of preaching these secret dharmas was quite different from that of preaching the pre-Lotus sūtras and the 14 chapters in the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra. It took place in the land of eternal, tranquil light, with the Eternal Buddha as the lord preacher completely equipped with the three bodies (Dharma, Reward and Accommodative Bodies) of a Buddha, and the listeners were of one body with the Buddha.

Appropriate for such an occasion, in order to enhance the attainment of Buddhahood in the eternal past the Buddha especially called out from the bottom of the land of eternal tranquil light the four bodhisattvas such as Superior Practice Bodhisattva who had been disciples of the Original Śākyamuni Buddha since the eternal past, and He entrusted them with these three great secret dharmas. Precept Master Tao-hsien stated, “As the doctrines to be transmitted were those which had been attained in the eternal past, they were entrusted to the disciples of the Eternal Buddha ever since the eternal past.”

Sandai Hiho Honjo-ji, The Transmission of the Three Great Secret Dharmas, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 286-287