So who is our true lord? The answer for this question is also included in the Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings. In the first part, Nichiren Shōnin classified several figures of the Buddha appearing in various sūtras. The classification for Śākyamuni Buddha shows him to possess the three virtues of ruler, teacher, and parent.

In the ninth year of the Bunei era (1272) at the age of 51, Nichiren Shōnin wrote A Treatise on the Differences of the Lotus Sect from Eight Other Sects, Hasshū Imoku-shō. He interpreted the following passage in Chapter 3 of the Lotus Sūtra, “A Parable,” as expressing the three virtues: “Now, this threefold world is all my domain, and the living beings therein are all my children. Now this place is beset by many pains and trials. I am the only one who can rescue and protect others.” The virtue of ruler corresponds to the passage “Now, this threefold world is all my domain,” the virtue of parent to “the living beings therein are all my children”, and the virtue of teacher to “Now this place is beset by many pains and trials. I am the only one who can rescue and protect others.”

We know of many feudal lords in the long history of India, China and Japan. We also know of many teachers of Indian and Chinese philosophy such as the teachers of Brahmanism, in Japanese gedōshi, or teachers of Confucianism, in Japanese getenshi. Parents mean the normal family relationships of up to six or eight degrees of kinship. However, nobody other than Śākyamuni Buddha possessed all three virtues. Thus, Śākyamuni Buddha should be regarded as superior among all teachers in the three countries.