Their petition also states that Nichiren insists that the sūtras preached before the Lotus Sūtra were all false. This also is not my personal opinion because it is preached in the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning, “I have not revealed the truth yet for forty years or so.” Not revealing the truth is tantamount to false words. In “A Parable” chapter in the second fascicle of the Lotus Sūtra, it is stated that when the Buddha asked the congregation whether or not they believe the Buddha preaches any lie, they all replied, “No.” The Buddha also asked the question in the “Life Span of the Buddha” chapter in the sixth fascicle of the Lotus Sūtra, “Do you think that anyone can accuse this excellent physician of falsehood?” Then the audience all replied, “No.” The Nirvana Sūtra states, “Although the Buddha has no false words, he will expound other sūtras if people rely on false teachings.” And Grand Master T’ien-t’ai stated that the Buddha’s guarantee of Buddhahood to Hinayana Buddhists is “the Buddha’s temporal expedient words.” It is not my personal opinion to say that sūtras expounded in the forty years or so before the Lotus Sūtra were false words.

Gyōbin Sojō Goetsū, Understanding Gyōbin’s Petition, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Desciples, Volume 5, Page 6

The Nirvana Sūtra, fascicle 22, preaches: “You should not be afraid of evil elephants but should be fearful of the ‘evil friend.’ Why is this? It is because an evil elephant may hurt your body but not your heart. The ‘evil friend,’ however, may destroy both your body and mind. (…) Killed by evil elephants, you will not fall into the three evil realms, but if you are killed by an ‘evil friend,’ you will never fail to fall in the three evil realms.” Grand Master Chang-an interprets this in his Annotations on the Nirvana Sūtra: “Evil elephants cannot cause one to harbor an evil mind, but an ‘evil friend’ can cause one to have an evil mind through sweet words and flattery destroying the virtuous mind. The destruction of one’s virtuous mind is referred to as killing the man. Namely, the man goes to hell.” The meaning of this passage of Chang-an is that ‘evil friends’ destroy the virtuous mind of the ignorant by skillful use of words. To sum up the spirit of the Nirvana Sūtra, it warns us that those who slandered the Lotus Sūtra, which is the True Dharma, and icchantika are worse sinners than those who commit the sin of the ten evil acts and the five rebellious sins. The icchantika means those who slander the Lotus and Nirvana Sūtras.

Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treastise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 11

The term Tripiṭaka means three baskets: (1) basket of sūtras, (2) basket of monastic rules and (3) basket of commentaries. The teachings of the Buddha are thus classified and stored in three categories. The Tripiṭaka is further divided into the Three Learnings: (1) Buddhist precepts (kai), (2) meditation (iō), and (3) wisdom (e). It is sometimes said that there are jō, kai, and e in the order of the Buddha’s preaching; kai, jō, and e in the order of practicing; and e, kai, and jō with regard to the doctrinal teachings. In the precept basket, there are various kinds of precepts such as the Five Precepts, the Eight Precepts, the Ten Good Precepts, the Two Hundred Fifty Precepts, the Five Hundred Precepts and so on. In the meditation basket, there are such meditations as the Ambiguous Meditation, the Pure Meditation, the Meditation without Delusions, and so on. The basket of wisdom refers to the Buddha’s wisdom through which one can understand suffering, voidness, impermanence, egolessness, and so on.

Ichidai Shōgyō Tai-I, Outline of All the Holy Teachings of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 67

[I]t is stated in the Annotations on the Great Concentration and Insight that the book of the Great Concentration and Insight explains the way of practicing meditation based on the principle of the Lotus Sūtra and that the pre-Lotus, provisional sūtras are expedient means in preparation for preaching the True Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra. It means that the whole of the Great Concentration and Insight is based on the doctrine of “replacing provisional teachings with the true teaching” of the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, although the Great Concentration and Insight quotes the pre-Lotus sūtras and non-Buddhist writings, it does not accept what is preached in them; it just borrows their sentences without meanings.

Jisshō-shō, A Treatise on the Ten Chapters of the Great Concentration and Insight, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 3

[L]et me explain why we should discard provisional sūtras, putting faith in the true sūtras instead.

QUESTION: What scriptural statements support your contention?

ANSWER: Ten scriptural statements support my contention. First, it is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, chapter 3 on the “Parable,” “You should try to uphold only Mahāyāna sūtras … without putting faith in even a verse of other sūtras.”

Secondly, the Nirvana Sūtra states, “We should depend on sūtras which thoroughly reveal the truth and not on those which do not.” Sūtras which do not thoroughly reveal the truth refer to those sūtras expounded in forty years or so before the Lotus Sūtra.

Thirdly, it is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, chapter 11 on the “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures”, “It is difficult to uphold this sūtra. If anyone upholds it even for a moment, I, as well as the other Buddhas, will rejoice and praise him. He is a man of valor and endeavor; he is observing the precepts and practicing the rules of frugal living.” In the Latter Age of Degeneration, we may not observe various precepts defined in the sūtras expounded during forty years or so before the Lotus Sūtra. Upholding the Lotus Sūtra single-mindedly may be called observing the precepts and rules of frugal living.

Fourthly, the Nirvana Sūtra states, “Those who do not exhort themselves to uphold the dharma may be called indolent, but those who do not exhort themselves to observe the precepts may not be. Bodhisattvas, if you are not lax in putting faith in this Mahāyāna dharma, you deserve to be called the upholders of the precepts. In order to uphold that True Dharma, you bathe in the water of Mahāyāna. Therefore, even when bodhisattvas break the precepts, they may not be called indolent.” This scriptural passage elaborates the spirit of observing the precepts in the Lotus Sūtra.

For the fifth, it is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 4, chapter 11 on the “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures”, “The Lotus Sūtra is entirely true.” This is the attestation by the Buddha of Many Treasures.

For the sixth, in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 8, chapter 28 on the “Encouragement of Universal Sage Bodhisattva, Universal Sage Bodhisattva, swearing to Śākyamuni Buddha, declares, “I will make sure that this sūtra will be spread all over the world (Jambudvīpa) and not be destroyed after the extinction of the Buddha.”

For the seventh, it is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 7, chapter 23 on the “Previous Life of Medicine King Bodhisattva”, “I will not let this sūtra perish in the world (Jambudvīpa) during the fifth 500-year period after My extinction.” This is an oath by Śākyamuni Buddha Himself.

For the eighth, explaining why the Buddha of Many Treasures and various Buddhas manifested in many worlds all over the universe gathered together around Śākyamuni Buddha, the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 4, chapter 11, on the “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures” declares, “They have come together in order to perpetuate the dharma in this world.”

For the ninth, regarding the place where practicers of the Lotus Sūtra reside, the sūtra, fascicle 7, chapter 21 on the “Divine Powers of the Buddha” preaches:

“After the extinction of the Buddha, you should single-mindedly uphold, read, recite, expound, copy this sūtra and act according to its teachings. … Wherever a copy of this sūtra is, regardless where it may be, in a garden, in a forest, under a tree, in a monastery, in the house of a layman, in a hall, in a mountain, in a valley or in a wilderness, a Stupa should be erected and offerings be made to it. Why should it be? It is because this is the place of enlightenment. It was here that Buddhas attained Buddhahood.”

And for the tenth, it is stated in fascicle 9 of the Nirvana Sūtra, a sūtra preached for amplification of the Lotus Sūtra:

“During the last 80 years when the True Dharma will be about to expire after My death, this sūtra will spread widely in this world (Jambudvīpa). Then, however, evil monks will steal this sūtra, cutting it up into pieces to kill its original color, fragrance and flavor. In reading this sūtra, unable to understand the essence of the Buddha’s profound enlightenment, they will insert flowery phrases and meaningless sentences just to save appearances. They might put a beginning sentence at the end, an ending sentence at the beginning, a beginning or ending sentence in the middle, or a middle sentence at the beginning or at the end. You should know that these evil monks are not the Buddha’s disciples but the Devil’s companions. … Those evil monks are like a dairymaid who dilutes cow’s milk with much water to make a quick profit. Likewise, they will mix the Buddha’s words in this sūtra with worldly words, making it misleading. Many people will not be able to talk about, copy and comprehend this sūtra correctly, or be able to praise, make offerings to and revere it. Guided solely by self-interest, those wicked monks will be unable to spread this sūtra widely; it will spread so slightly that it will not be worth mentioning. It is just like a poor dairymaid selling cow’s milk, which was resold and repurchased many times. …When, finally, milk gruel is made of it, it will have no taste of milk. Likewise, this great Nirvana Sūtra, a Mahāyāna sūtra, while being transmitted from person to person, will lose its flavor until in the end it will be tasteless. Nevertheless, it is still 1,000 times superior to other sūtras just as the taste of milk, no matter how much diluted, is 1,000 times better than the taste of bitterness. It is because this great Nirvana Sūtra, a Mahāyāna sūtra, is supreme of all the sūtras transmitted by the direct disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha.”

Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 14-16

If women, who believe in the Lotus Sūtra, should be sent to the evil regions because of sins of envy, malice or greed, the precept against lying that has been observed strictly by Śākyamuni Buddha, Buddha of Many Treasures and Buddhas all over the universe would be broken. This would be a crime more serious than the sin of lying committed by Devadatta and Kōkalika. How can there be such a thing? How dependable the upholders of the Lotus Sūtra can be! How grateful we are!

Gassui Gasho, A Letter on Menstruation, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 32

Medicine King Bodhisattva burnt his elbows as a light to be offered to Lotus Sūtra for 72,000 years. Whenever Never Despising Bodhisattva saw anyone, he always recited the 24-character verse: I respect you deeply. I will never despise you because you are destined to practice the way of the bodhisattva and become Buddhas.” For many years he was the object of abuse of numerous men and women, priests and nuns, who beat him with sticks and threw stones at him.

This Never Despising Bodhisattva is the current Śākyamuni Buddha. What is more, King Suzudan in the past was so eager to learn the teaching of the five written characters, Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō, that he enslaved himself to the hermit Asita for a thousand years until he became the current Śākyamuni Buddha.

Nichimyō Shōnin Gosho, A Letter to Nichimyō Shōnin, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 138

Nevertheless, for what purpose did you take the trouble of sending a messenger all the way to this island? It was for the purpose of sending me the articles of offering in memory of the third-year memorial service for your beloved mother, which is an important matter in your life. To me, however, it was like a dream for a few days. I felt like Priest Shunkan of the Hosshōji Temple when he encountered his former boy servant of many years on Yuōjima Island [sic], where he had been exiled. When Duke Yang of a northern barbarian country was taken prisoner by the Chinese and brought southward from the north, he saw the wild geese flying northward, and sighed, saying, “They must be flying to my homeland.” I am sure that the sorrow the Duke Yang experienced then is not comparable to what I am undergoing today.

Nevertheless, it is preached in the Lotus Sūtra, “The Teacher of the Dharma” chapter, “Suppose there is a good person, man or woman, who can secretly preach even a phrase of the Lotus Sūtra for just one person after My (the Buddha’s) passing. You should know that such a person is a messenger of the Buddha, one who has been dispatched by the Buddha to carry out the work of the Buddha.” He who chants even one word or phrase of the Lotus Sūtra or explains it for the people is an envoy of the Lord Śākyamuni Buddha. Therefore, I am the person who has come to this country under the decree of the Lord Śākyamuni Buddha, though my social standing is humble. Accordingly, those who speak ill of me, even one word, will fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering while those who speak even a word or phrase for me will gain the merits superior to that which is received by supporting numerous Buddhas.

Shijō Kingo-dono Gohenji, Response to Lord Shijō Kingo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 117