It is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, Chapter 11 that it is not so difficult to shoulder a load of hay and stay unburned in the fire of the kalpa of destruction at the end of the world as it is difficult to uphold this sūtra and expound it for even one person after the Buddha’s extinction. What I, Nichiren, have done and consequent persecutions of me fit perfectly in this scriptural statement. It is stated also in the sūtra, Chapter 13, that ignorant people will speak ill of us, abuse us, and threaten us with swords or sticks. The Buddha predicts in the 13th and 23rd chapters of the sūtra that a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra will appear in the fifth 500-year period after the Buddha’s extinction, and he will be spoken ill of, abused, threatened with swords and sticks, exiled or executed by ignorant people. If I were not here, the prediction made by Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures and other Buddhas in all the worlds throughout the universe would be groundless.

Shingon Shoshū Imoku, Differences between the Lotus Sect and Other Sects Such as the True Word Sect, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 123