It is stated [in “Medicine King Bodhisattva” chapter] that this sūtra will spread widely in Jambudvīpa after 2,000 years. In this statement the Lotus Sūtra is likened to the third parable of the Moon. Grand Master Dengyō interprets this, “The Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma have already passed, and the Latter Age of Degeneration is around the corner. Now is the time for the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra to spread.” The divine help of the Lotus Sūtra is superior to other sūtras in both the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma. However, as the moonlight is brighter in the fall and winter than in the spring and summer, the Lotus Sūtra’s power of divine help grows more powerful in the Latter Age than in the 2,000-year period of the Ages of the True and Semblance Dharmas.

Yakuō-bon Tokui-shō, The Essence of the “Medicine King Bodhisattva” Chapter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 31