We tend to believe that the Buddha’s pure lands and hells do not exist in this world, but actually they exist only in our minds. Those who are awakened to this truth are called Buddhas, and those ignorant of it and still confused are called the unenlightened.

It is possible to be awakened to this truth only by upholding the teachings of the Lotus Sutra; practicers of the Lotus Sūtra perceive that hells and the pure land of tranquil light are identical. Even if a person practices provisional teaching for innumerable myriads of aeons against the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, he will be stuck in hell. This is not my (Nichiren’s) arbitrary opinion, but it is the doctrine of Śākyamuni Buddha, Tahō Buddha and all Buddhas in manifestation throughout the universe.

Ueno-dono Goke-ama Go-henji, A Response to the Nun, Widow of Lord Ueno, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 46

Such chapters of the Lotus Sūtra as the “Expedients” say this sūtra should be expounded according to the capacity of people who listen while the “Never-Despising Bodhisattva” chapter insists that the sūtra should forcibly be spread among people who slander it. What is preached earlier and later in the same sūtra are as different as water and fire. However, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai interprets this in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra:

“People during the lifetime of the Buddha were virtuous in mind who had listened to the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra in a past existence. Therefore, the Buddha expounded the Hinayāna doctrines first in order to prepare them for enlightenment. Those at the time of Never-Despising Bodhisattva, however, had had no chance of listening to the Lotus Sūtra and were not virtuous in mind. Therefore, Never-Despising Bodhisattva preached the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra to them immediately in order to forcibly plant the seed of Buddhahood in them.”

This interpretation of T’ien-t’ai means that the Lotus Sūtra should be preached immediately to those who had a chance to hear the Lotus Sūtra in the past and are able to attain Buddhahood in this life. Of those in this category, people who slander the Lotus Sūtra upon listening to it again in this life should be prepared before-hand with provisional sūtras before being taught with the Lotus Sūtra. Those who had neither a chance to hear the Lotus teaching in the past nor the intention of putting faith in the Lotus Sūtra in this life will fall into evil realms anyway. Therefore, they should be forced to hear the Lotus Sūtra, causing them to slander the sūtra, which eventually enables them to attain Buddhahood in the future through the merit of reverse relationship.

Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treastise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 22

Grand Master Miao-lê further interprets this in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “Those who misunderstand the Lotus Sūtra are convinced that the practicer of the sūtra in the advanced stages gains more merit and looks down on the practicing novice of the Lotus Sūtra, without knowing the great merit of beginning practicers of the Lotus Sūtra. Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, therefore, showed that even though the beginners have not practiced the Lotus Sūtra long enough, their merit is so deep that it can reveal the strength of the sūtra.” This statement of Grand Master Miao-lê describes the ignorant people in the Latter Age of Degeneration who praise the Lotus Sūtra but consider their own capacity inadequate to understand it saying, “It is true that the Lotus Sūtra expounds so profound a doctrine that it is not suitable for us ignorant people.”

Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 83

Nobody believes in me, Nichiren, who is saying that it was Grand Master Dengyō alone who read the Lotus Sūtra correctly some 700 years after the introduction of Buddhism to Japan. It is stated, however, in the Lotus Sūtra: “It is not difficult to grab Mt. Sumeru, the highest peak in the world, and throw it over to any of those numerous Buddha lands, but is difficult to preach this Lotus Sūtra in this decadent world after the death of the Buddha.” My stubborn insistence is matched by the sūtra.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 45

Although the Buddhas and gods protect women who uphold the Lotus Sūtra, when their faith is weak, it seems likely they will be forsaken. For instance, when the commander-in-chief is a coward, his men are in low spirits. When a bow is weak, a bowstring becomes loose. When the wind is light, the wave is small. This is only natural.

However, Lord Shijō is a firm believer in the Lotus Sūtra, and no one among the lay people in Japan is equal to him. You, who are married to such a man, are the foremost woman in Japan. The Buddha must think of you as the dragon girl who attained Buddhahood owing to the Lotus Sūtra. The Chinese character for “wife” is read as “lean on.” Just as a wisteria plant hangs on a pine tree, a woman depends on her husband. You should rely on Lord Shijō as your teacher and have him guide you in your faith in the Lotus Sūtra.

Shijō Kingo-dono Nyōbō Gohenji, A Reply to the Wife of Lord Shijō Kingo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 122

QUESTION: Why are the omens after the passing of the Buddha superior to those that occurred during His lifetime?

ANSWER: As stated earlier, an earth’s tremor is caused by the shaking of the six sense organs of human beings. Moreover, the degree of the earth’s tremor in six different ways is determined by how the six sense organs of human beings shake. In the pre-Lotus sūtras, although it appears that the evil passions of all living beings were eliminated, in actuality they were not entirely. In the Lotus Sūtra, however, they are all completely eliminated, including the fundamental darkness of mind. As a result, there was severe trembling of the earth in the Lotus Sūtra. In the Latter Age of Degeneration there exist far more evil persons than in the lifetime of the Buddha, and the Lotus Sūtra destroys the fundamental ignorance of the people in the Latter Age of Degeneration. This is the reason why the omens superior to those in the lifetime of the Buddha are manifested in the Lotus Sūtra.

Zuisō Gosho, Writing on Omens, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 123-124

The string of blue-duck coins that you sent to me has arrived. Scholars today unanimously agree that, whether during the Buddha’s lifetime or after his nirvana, the cultivation of the Dharma Flower always involves the threefold learning (of precepts, meditation, and wisdom.) Attaining Buddhahood is not possible if one is lacking in any of these areas.

Until recently I also held this view, but now I have decided to set aside this widely-held position regarding the holy teachings in order to read the Lotus Sūtra and see and hear its own interpretation. In addition, I have set aside the preface and main discourse which are the first two sections (of the Lotus Sūtra) in order to focus on the transmission section which is a clear mirror for the Latter Age of Degeneration on which we can still depend. And yet, the transmission section itself has two parts. The first part consists of the last five chapters of the theoretical section beginning with “The Teacher of the Dharma” chapter. The second part consists of the eleven and a half chapters of the essential section beginning with the latter half of “The Variety of Merits” chapter and continues to the last chapter of the sūtra. These eleven and a half chapters together with the previous five chapters combine to form sixteen and a half chapters that clearly show us how to put the Lotus Sūtra into practice in the Latter Age of Degeneration. And if this is not convincing enough, one can also look to the Sūtra of Meditation on the Universal Sage Bodhisattva and the Nirvana Sūtra to illuminate this matter and leave nothing in doubt.

Shishin Gohon-shō, The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page100-101

QUESTION: Do you have scriptural proof that even those who believe without comprehension can attain Buddhahood?

ANSWER: The Nirvana Sūtra, fascicle 32, states, “There are many causes of attaining Buddhahood; faith, however, is all-inclusive.” Fascicle 9 in the same sūtra also preaches, “Upon hearing this sūtra, everything becomes the cause and by-cause of attaining enlightenment. The Buddha’s voice of preaching and rays of light emitted by the Buddha all enter through pores necessarily enabling listeners to attain enlightenment.” And the Lotus Sūtra, chapter 3 on the “Parable,” preaches that one can “gain entrance to Buddhahood through faith alone.”

Ken Hōbō-shō, A Clarificaton of Slandering the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 136.

It is said in the Nirvana Sūtra, an amplification (rutsū) of the Lotus Sūtra: “The slanderers of the True Dharma in the latter age of decay are countless in number just as the soil of the entire worlds in the universe is immeasurable. Those who keep the True Dharma are few in number just like a bit of soil on a fingernail.” What should we think of this? Please think hard whether or not the people in Japan represent a bit of soil on a fingernail, and Nichiren represents the soil in the entire universe.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 45

The Buddha preaches in such sūtras as the Lotus and the Nirvana sūtras that after the 2,000-year period of the True Dharma and Semblance Dharma since the death of the Buddha, in the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration, a dharma-master will appear to spread the five-character sacred title (daimoku) of the Lotus Sūtra while evil kings and monks who do not believe in the Lotus Sūtra will be more numerous than dust-particles on the earth, contending against one another in claiming Hinayāna or Mahāyāna teachings to be supreme. Refuted by the practicer of the daimoku, however, they will talk lay devotees into abusing, beating and jailing him, deprive him of fiefs, exile or behead him. When the practicer does not shirk from spreading the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra despite such persecutions, the Buddha declares, evil kings will begin fighting among themselves, engage in cannibalism like hungry spirits, and in the end be attacked by foreign troops. The Buddha asserts that this is solely because such guardian deities as the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, the sun and moon, and the Four Heavenly Kings will have a foreign power attack the country that has become an enemy of the Lotus Sūtra.

Shuju Onfurumai Gosho, Reminiscences: from Tatsunokuchi to Minobu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 23-24