It is said in the Nirvana Sūtra: “Arm yourself with swords, sticks, and bow and arrow when there are enemies of the True Dharma; it is no use having them when there are no enemies.” Provisional teachings today are enemies of the True Dharma. If provisional teachings stand in your way as you try to spread the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra, you should thoroughly refute them. Of the two ways of propagation, this is the aggressive way of the Lotus Sūtra. Grand Master T’ien-t’ai declares in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 9: “The Lotus Sūtra is the teaching that aggressively denounces the evil of provisional teachings.” How true this is!

In spite of this, suppose we perform the four peaceful practices today with the body, mouth, mind, and vows as preached in the “Peaceful Practices” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra. Is it not like trying to harvest crops in spring by planting seeds in winter? Roosters crow at dawn; if they crow in the evening, they are ghosts. At the time when true and provisional teachings are confused, are not those who seclude themselves in mountain forests and practice the persuasive way, without attacking the enemies of the Lotus Sūtra, ghosts who have missed the time for practicing the Lotus Sūtra? Then is there anyone today, in the Latter Age of Degeneration, who is practicing the aggressive way as it is preached in the Lotus Sūtra? Suppose someone cried out loudly without regard to his voice: “No sūtras except the Lotus is the way leading to Buddhahood; others are the way to hell; the Lotus Sūtra alone is the way leading to Buddhahood.” Anyone who proclaims these words and challenges the schools of Buddhism, both their teachings and people, will without fail encounter the three kinds of powerful enemies.

Nyosetsu Shugyō-shō, True Way of Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 86