Nichiren’s writings during the Izu exile show the emergence of several new elements in his thought. One is a deepened sense of personal connection between himself and the Lotus Sūtra. The sūtra speaks of trials and difficulties that will attend its practice and propagation in the evil age after the Buddha’s nirvāṇa. “Hatred and jealousy toward this sūtra abound even during the Buddha’s lifetime; how much more so after his nirvāṇa!” Such passages, cast in the form of predictions uttered by the Buddha or great bodhisattvas, probably served to give meaning to the opposition from established Buddhist schools encountered by the Mahāyāna community that had compiled the sūtra. In exile, Nichiren began to read them as speaking specifically to his own circumstances and expressed delight that he was able to live in his own person the persecutions predicted in the sūtra. “The devotees (jikyōsha) of the Lotus Sūtra in Japan have not yet experienced these scriptural passages. I alone have read them. This is the meaning [of the statement]: ‘We do not value bodily life but cherish only the unexcelled way.’ ” (Page 251-252)