Now if a child is given moxa treatment by his mother, he inevitably resents his mother. Given precious medicine, a seriously sick person may grumble at its bitter taste. So, it was with the Lotus Sūtra even during the lifetime of the Buddha. How much more so after the death of the Buddha and in a remote corner of the land! Just like mountains placed on tops of mountains and waves on tops of waves, difficulties on top of difficulties and abuses on top of abuses will occur.

It was T’ien-t’ai alone who correctly read the Lotus Sūtra and all the Buddhist scriptures during the Age of the Semblance Dharma. Various masters in Northern and Southern China hated him. However, as sagacious rulers of the Chen and Sui dynasties in China clarified who was right through debates in front of their own eyes, his enemies eventually disappeared. Toward the end of the Age of the Semblance Dharma, Dengyō alone in Japan correctly read the Lotus Sūtra and all the Buddhist scriptures. Although seven great temples of Nara, the Southern Capital, rose against him, nothing happened to him because Emperors Kammu and Saga themselves clarified who was right.

But now, it has been over 200 years since the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration. I have not been allowed to meet opponents in debate; instead I have been banished with my life in jeopardy. It proves that the warning in the Lotus Sūtra about much hatred and jealousy after the death of the Buddha is not an empty threat. It also proves that we are in the beginning of endless warfare and in a decadent world of corruption where unreasonableness takes precedence over reason.

Therefore, although my comprehension of the Lotus Sūtra is not worthy even one ten millionth of that of T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō, I dare say that my endurance on its behalf and compassion for the people are beyond these masters. I am sure that I deserve to receive heavenly protection, but there is not even a shred of it. Instead I have been condemned to heavier and heavier penalties. Looking back in this light, I wonder whether or not I am a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra and whether or not various gods and deities have left this land.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 56

The five Chinese characters of myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō, the gist of the Lotus Sūtra and the eyes of Buddhas, have never been propagated even by such disciples of the Buddha as Kāśyapa and Ānanda, such great commentators in India as Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna, or such great teachers as Nan-yüeh, T’ien-t’ai, and Miao-lê in China, and Dengyō of Japan in some 2,220 years after the death of the Buddha. They have only just begun to spread in this world at this very moment in the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration with I, Nichiren, heading the van. All those in our group, follow me in the second and third battle lines, performing greater exploits than those of Kāśyapa and Ānanda as well as T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō. What can you do with the punishment of “King Yama,” the lord in the realm of the dead, when you, threatened by the Hōjōs who are mere rulers of a small island kingdom, abandon the Lotus Sūtra and are condemned to fall into hell? Such a person who claims to be a messenger of the Buddha but is scared of a minor persecution such as this is nothing but a coward. Thus I told them.

Shuju Onfurumai Gosho, Reminiscences: from Tatsunokuchi to Minobu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 24-25

The line of Japanese sovereigns, beginning with the seven generations of heavenly deities and five generations of terrestrial deities, is supposed to be followed by one hundred generations of human emperors (hyakuō). During the reign of the thirtieth human emperor, Emperor Kimmei, Buddhism was introduced for the first time from the country of Paekche on the Korean Peninsula to Japan. It has been over 260 years since then to the reign of Emperor Kammu, a reign of more than fifty sovereigns. During this period all the scriptures of Buddhism, as well as the six schools of Buddhism in Nara (Kusha, Jōjitsu, Ritsu, Sanron, Hossō and Kegon Schools) were introduced to Japan. Tendai and Shingon schools, however, were not.

“During the reign of Emperor Kammu, a poor monk, Saichō, a disciple of Venerable Gyōhyō of the Yamashinadera (Kōfukuji) Temple in Nara, lived. He was later called Grand Master Dengyō. Saichō studied thoroughly the doctrines of the six schools of Nara, which had been transmitted to Japan earlier, and Zen Buddhism without finding them satisfactory. Later he read the T’ien-t’ai school’s writings transmitted to Japan by Venerable Chien-chên (Ganjin) of T’ang China forty years or so earlier during the reign of Emperor Shōmu, and was awakened to the profound meaning of Buddhism.

Thereupon Saichō founded the Enryakuji Temple on Mt. Hiei in the fourth year of the Enryaku Period (785) in order to pray for peace and tranquility of the country. Taking refuge in the temple, Emperor Kammu named it the “Temple of the Imperial Guardian Star.” He gave up faith in the six schools of Nara, putting sole faith in the “perfect” Tendai School.

In the thirteenth year of the same Enryaku Period (794), the imperial capital was moved from Nagaoka to the newly founded city of Heian (Kyoto). On the nineteenth of the first month in the twenty-first year of the same period (802), the Emperor ordered fourteen scholars of the six schools of Nara, such as Gonsō and Chōyō, from seven great temples in the southern capital (Nara), to meet with Saichō in the Takao-dera Temple for debate. The brilliant scholars of the six schools could not answer even one question, keeping their mouths shut tightly.

The doctrine of five teachings of the Flower Garland (Kegon) Sect, the three-period teaching of the Dharma Characteristics (Hossō) Sect and the doctrines of two storehouses and three periods of the Three Discourses (Sanron) Sect were all refuted by Saichō. Not only were their doctrines destroyed but it also became clear that they were all slanderers of the True Dharma. Ten days later, on the twenty-ninth of the same month, an imperial edict was issued censuring the fourteen scholars of the six schools of Nara, who respectfully submitted a letter of apology to the emperor.

Successive emperors since then have devoted themselves to the Enryakuji Temple on Mt. Hiei in a way more filial than filial children serve their parents or more respectfully than the people respect their king. On behalf of the temple some emperors issued imperial rescripts, while others went so far as to bend the law.

Ankoku-ron Gokanyurai, The Reason for Submitting the “Risshō Ankoku-ron,” Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Pages 147-148

It has already been more than twenty years since I began speaking for this sūtra, and my troubles have been increasing day by day, month by month, and year by year. Small troubles are incalculable while severe ones are four in number. Not speaking of two of them, I have already been twice the target of royal persecution, and my life now is in jeopardy. Moreover, my disciples and lay supporters, including those laymen who had just come to hear me speak, were punished severely as though they had been rebels.

It is said in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle four (chapter 10, “The Teacher of the Dharma”): “This sūtra was the target of much hatred and jealousy even during the lifetime of the Buddha, not to speak of after His death.” It says in the second fascicle (chapter 3, “A Parable”): “Seeing a person who reads, recites, copies, or keeps this sūtra, some will despise and hate him, look at him with jealousy, and harbor enmity against him.” And in the fifth fascicle (chapter 14, “Peaceful Practices”): “Many people in the world will hate it and very few believe in it.” In the thirteenth chapter, “The Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra”: “Ignorant people will speak ill of him and abuse him;” “In order to speak ill of him and to slander him, they will say to kings, ministers, Brahmans, and influential householders that he has heretical views;” and “He will sometimes be driven out of his monastery.” It is also said in the seventh fascicle (chapter 20, “The Never-Despising Bodhisattva”): “They will strike him with sticks, pieces of wood and tile or stones.” The Nirvana Sūtra states:

“Thereupon numerous non-Buddhists gathered together and went to see King Ajātaśatru of the Magadha kingdom saying, ‘Now, there is a most wicked man, a wanderer, who is Gautama. For the purpose of making a profit, all wicked men in the world are gathering around him and becoming his followers, doing nothing good. With his occult power Gautama converted such men as Kāśyapa, Śāripūtra, and
Maudgalyāyana.’ ”

Explaining the hatred and jealousy against the Lotus Sūtra during the Buddha’s lifetime referred to in the fourth fascicle, T’ien-t’ai said in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 8: “Even during the lifetime of the Buddha it was difficult to spread the Lotus Sūtra. How much more so after His death? It is because people do not listen to the True Dharma that it is difficult to teach and guide them.”

Commenting on this, Miao-lê said in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 8: “Hatred means slavery to delusions, and evil passions and jealousy mean unwillingness to listen to the Lotus.”

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 53-54

When King Ajātaśatru was 50 years old he suffered from malignant boils appearing all over his body on the 15th day of the 2nd month. Even a great physician, could not control them. On the seventh day of the third month, he was on the verge of death and falling into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. It was as though the pleasures of a luxurious life of more than 50 years were extinguished at once and the sufferings of a lifetime were all concentrated in the 21-day period since contracting the disease.

Although the immutable karma of Ajātaśatru had reached its limit, when the Buddha again expounded the Lotus Sūtra, naming it the Nirvana Sūtra and gave it to the great king, the king’s illness was cured instantly, and the major sins in his mind also vanished at once like dew drops.

Kaen Jōgō Gosho, Writing About Lengthening the Life Span, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 113

A conflagration is mentioned in the Sūtra of the Benevolent King as the third of the seven disasters, and the Lotus Sūtra places it first in its list of seven disasters. As the sky cannot be cut by a sword and water cannot be burned by fire, sages, wise people, people of good fortune, and accomplished scholars cannot be burned by fire.

For instance, there was a large town called Rājagṛha in ancient India. It had as many as 900 million private homes [sic]. However, the town was reduced to ashes by a great fire seven times. Grief stricken, the people were ready to abandon the town. This devastating turn of events caused the great king grief that knew no bounds.

At that time a wise man told the great king, “A conflagration is among the seven disasters and occurs when a sage leaves the land and the good fortune of the king is spent. Nevertheless, these conflagrations that destroyed the homes of the people did not come close to the royal palace. Based on this we know that the king was not to blame for the destruction but the people. Therefore, if we call the houses of the people ‘Royal Palaces,’ the god of fire will fear the name and avoid destroying them.” Thinking that he may be right, the king renamed the town Ōshajō (the Town of the Royal Palaces). As a result, the town never again suffered from a fire. Based on this, we can say that fire will never destroy a man of good fortune.

In stark contrast, the palace at Kamakura was burned, which, we know, is a sign that Japan has exhausted its good fortune. What is more, priests who slander the True Dharma continue to insist on praying for the subjugation of Nichiren. Are they not simply inviting more disasters to occur?

Ōshajō-ji, Town of Rājagṛha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 127

Compared to the pre-Lotus perfect teachings, the Lotus Sūtra is the most appropriate. Compared to the theoretical teachings (of the Lotus Sūtra), the essential teaching (of the Lotus Sūtra) is the most appropriate for all people. Keep the phrase “The truer the teaching the lower the stage” in mind and examine its meaning.

Shishin Gohon-shō, The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page102-103

When Śākyamuni Buddha denied his earlier teachings and revealed the truth, He stated positively, “The World Honored One expounds the true teaching after a long period [of expounding expedient teachings]; and I have been reticent on this truth [that is, the reality of all things,] for a long time.” The Buddha of Many Treasures then sprang up from the underground and declared that it was the truth, and the Buddhas of the ten directions gathered together and approved the truth by reaching their broad, long tongues to the palace of the Great King of the Brahma Heaven. All the audience at the three meetings at two places where the Buddha expounded the Lotus Sūtra witnessed them.

Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō-dono Gosho, A Letter to Lord Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 139.