QUESTION: Is not it in accordance with the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra that preaches the “opening the provisional and merging with the true teaching” that we have faith in various provisional sūtras and Buddhas? And what about putting our faith exclusively in the Lotus Sūtra, performing the five ways of practicing it – upholding, reading, reciting, expounding, and copying – in an inoffensive way as preached in the “Peaceful Practice,” fourteenth chapter of the Lotus Sūtra? Can we call such a person a true practicer of Buddhism?
ANSWER: All those who want to practice Buddhism should know that there are two ways of propagation, the persuasive (shōju) and aggressive (shakubuku). All Buddhist scriptures, sūtras and commentaries, must be propagated through these two ways. However, scholars in Japan today, though they seem to have learned Buddhism in general, do not know how to meet the needs of the time. The four seasons differ from one another. It is warm in summer and cold in winter; flowers bloom in spring and trees bear fruits and nuts in autumn. We sow seeds in spring and harvest crops in autumn. How can we harvest crops in spring by planting seeds in the fall? Heavy clothes are for the cold winter, not the hot summer. A cool breeze is needed in the summer not in the winter.
The same could be said of Buddhism. There are times when Hinayāna teachings can be spread effectively, and times when provisional Mahāyāna teachings might be more effective. Still other times might call for the True Dharma to be disseminated for the attainment of Buddhahood. The 2,000-year period following the death of Śākyamuni Buddha, namely the Ages of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma, is the time for the Hinayāna and provisional Mahāyāna teachings to be spread. The 500-year period at the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration is the time exclusively for the pure, perfect, only real teaching of the Lotus Sūtra to be disseminated.
Nyosetsu Shugyō-shō, True Way of Practicing the Teaching of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 85