QUESTION: Do you have proof to show that the bodhisattvas who have emerged from the earth are the leading teachers to save the people in this Sahā World in the Latter Age of Degeneration?

ANSWER: It is preached in the 15th chapter on “The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground” in the fifth fascicle of the Lotus Sūtra, “Then the Buddha said to the bodhisattvas more than eight times the number of the sand of the Ganges River, who had come from the other worlds, ‘No, good men! I do not want you to uphold this sūtra after My extinction.’ ” Grand Master T’ien-t’ai interprets this in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “As the bodhisattvas from the other worlds do not have close connections with this Sahā World, they will never have much success in propagating this sūtra.” Grand Master Miao-lê states in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “Even bodhisattvas from other worlds were not entrusted with the task. How can we say that it was not entrusted to Śāriputra, a śrāvaka, alone.” Grand Master T’ien-t’ai [sic] also states in the Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “Stopping the 80,000 great bodhisattvas that came from other worlds was for the purpose of later calling out the original disciples from underground. Clearly the task of spreading this sūtra was considered too heavy for other bodhisattvas to shoulder.”

The meaning of these citations from sūtras and commentaries on them is that all men of the śrāvaka such as Kāśyapa and Śāriputra; such bodhisattvas of theoretical teaching as Mañjuśrī, Medicine King, Avalokiteśvara and Maitreya (disciples of Buddhas in manifestation); and great bodhisattvas who had come from other worlds were all unable to bear the responsibility of spreading the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration.

Soya Nyūdō-dono-gari Gosho, A Letter to Lay Priest Lord Soya, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 161-162.