Nichiren saw the Lotus Sūtra as all-encompassing, containing the whole of Buddhist truth within itself. All other sūtras reveal but partial aspects of that truth. Or, in Tendai terminology, the Lotus Sūtra is “true,” while all other sūtras are “provisional.” What this meant for Nichiren in practical terms was that the Lotus Sūtra alone enables all persons without exception to become buddhas. Nichiren grounded this claim in the “three thousand realms in a single thought-moment” (ichinen sanzen) a principle first articulated by Zhiyi. … In essence, this principle means that at each moment the smallest phenomenon (“a single thought-moment”) and the entire cosmos (“three thousand realms”) mutually pervade and encompass one another. Where Zhiyi had introduced this idea only briefly, Nichiren developed it as the very foundation of his thought.