Thus promises are kept even with worldly matters, how much more so the way of the Buddha! A female dragon became a Buddha with her present body in a lecture meeting on Mt. Sacred Eagle although females were despised in Hinayāna sūtras for having the five hindrances and the three obediences (parents, husband and children) and abandoned in pre-Lotus sūtras for being unable to endure many aeons of practice. Although the Flower Garland Sūtra preaches, “They can attain enlightenment upon awakening aspiration for Buddhahood,” it asserts in name only, permitting no woman to become a Buddha. Thus, even females in the human and heavenly realms could not hope to become Buddhas, not to speak of a female born in the realm of beasts and birds and merely at the tender age of eight. Nevertheless, taught by Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, she listened to the preaching of the Lotus Sūtra in the ocean, attaining Buddhahood at the time when the Buddha preached the “Appearance of a Stupa of Treasures” chapter between the “Teacher of the Dharma” and “Devadatta” chapters. This is the rarest thing to ever have happened. Without the power of the Lotus Sūtra superior to all the sūtras preached by the Buddha during His lifetime, how could it have transpired?

Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 63