For 400 years, since the reign of Emperor Kanmu, the capacity of all the people in Japan to understand and embrace the Lotus Sūtra exclusively has reached fruition. Their capacity to understand the Dharma is similar to those who heard the Lotus Sūtra expounded by Śākyamuni Buddha on Mount Sacred Eagle for eight years. (This is proven in the writings of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, Prince Shōtoku, Venerable Chien-chên, Grand Master Dengyō, Venerables Annen and Eshin.) Those who perceive this correctly are men who understand the capacity of people.

Kyō Ki Ji Koku Shō, Treatise on the Teaching, Capacity, Time and Country, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 101

[R]ecent scholars of the Tendai School have lost the secret teaching inherited from Grand Master T’ien-t’ai and stored in the stone tower. And, based on their own ideas, they forged such writings as the transmission of the threefold contemplation in a single thought, put them in bags of brocade, hung them around their necks, and put them at the bottom of a box, claiming them to be invaluable. As a result, false teachings have spread throughout the nation and the real intention of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai’s Buddha Dharma has been lost, and the Wonderful Dharma of Śākyamuni Buddha has been neglected. This is solely due to Bodhidharma’s dogma of “special transmission without scriptures and preachings” and Śubhākarasimha’s assertion that the Lotus Sūtra is inferior to the Great Sun Buddha Sūtra. Therefore, they do not know anything about doctrines of the threefold contemplation in a single thought, the triple truth in a single thought and 3,000 existences contained in one thought, not to speak of the Great Concentration and Insight. Moreover, they know nothing of (such fundamental issues of the T’ien-t’ai teaching as) the essential and theoretical sections; relative subtleties and absolute subtleties; subtle contemplation of the Lotus Sūtra; three kinds of doctrinal study; provisional and true teachings; four doctrinal teachings (piṭaka, common, distinct and perfect teachings); eight teachings (four methods of teaching and four doctrinal teachings); five periods in the Buddha’s lifetime preaching; and five flavors (of milk, cream, curds, butter and ghee). Needless to say, they do not know that they should propagate the Buddhist teaching in consideration of the content of teaching, capacity of people, time and nation (and that they should propagate the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration). It is natural that (owing to distant disciples, the teaching of the Tendai School) has become inconsistent, looking like neither the true teaching, nor the provisional teachings.

Risshō Kanjō, A Treatise on Establishing the Right Way of Meditation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 231-232

Take the image of a house. A man is like a pillar while a woman is like the crossbeam. Or use the image of a human body. A man is like a leg, and a woman is like the body. Further still, take the image of a bird, a man is like the wings and woman is like the body. If the wings and the body separate, how can a bird fly? If the pillar collapses, the crossbeam will fall. A house without a man is like a body without a soul. With whom can you have conversations or discuss important matters? With whom can you share delicious meals?

Sennichi-ama Gohenji, A Reply to Sennichi-ama, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 161

First of all, let me state what is most important to you. During the 2,000-year period after the passing of Śākyamuni Buddha, in the Age of the True Dharma and that of the Semblance Dharma, the power of the Buddhist Dharma was vibrant, sages and wise men continued to appear in the world one after another, and the Buddhas and heavenly beings continued to protect human beings. In the Latter Age of Degeneration, however, people have become greedy thus fighting never ceases between a lord and subordinates, parents and children, and among siblings. How much more so is this the case among those who are not related! Therefore, heaven has abandoned such a country and as a result the “three calamities and seven disasters” have overtaken the land and not just one, but two, three, four, five, six and as many as seven suns appear at the same time. Plants wither and die, large and small rivers dry up, the earth catches fire like charcoal, the ocean becomes like boiling oil, and in the end a blaze will start in the Hell of Incessant Suffering, burning everything down including the Brahma Heaven above. This is the devastation that awaits a world in decline.

Hyōesakan-dono Gohenji, Answer to Lord Ikegami Munenaga, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 91-92

On the 12th of the 9th month in the 8th year of the Bun’ei Era (1271), when I was arrested, I declared to Hei no Saemon and hundreds of his soldiers, “I, Nichiren, am the pillar of Japan. When you kill me, you cut down the pillar of Japan.”

Now, it is said in those sūtras that if the wise man is punished by the rulers of the land because of calumnies of evil priests or slandering words of the people, immediately there will be a civil war, gale and foreign invasion. A civil war broke out within the Hōjō clan in the second month in the 9th year of the Bun’ei Era (1272). A terrible wind blew in the 4th month in the 11th year of the Bun’ei Era. The Mongols invaded Japan in the tenth month of the same year. Aren’t these solely due to Nichiren being persecuted? As I predicted these in my “Treatise on Spreading Peace Throughout the Country by Establishing the True Dharma,” how can anyone have doubts about it?

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 32-33.

QUESTION: Hasn’t Grand Master T’ien-t’ai really attained the word of the Wonderful Dharma?

ANSWER: Though Grand Master T’ien-t’ai attained the Wonderful Dharma in mind, he did not propagate it outwardly. He kept the realm of profound enlightenment he attained to himself and outwardly did no more than calling the Wonderful Dharma the threefold contemplation and show the way of practicing the doctrine of “3,000 existences contained in one thought.”

QUESTION: Why did Grand Master T’ien-t’ai not propagate the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma though he attained it?

ANSWER: First, (as Grand Master T’ien-t’ai was in the Age of the Semblance Dharma while the Lotus Sūtra should be spread in the Latter Age of Degeneration,) his days were not appropriate for the essence of the Lotus Sūtra to be revealed; secondly, (since the propagation in the Latter Age of Degeneration was entrusted to such bodhisattvas emerged from underground as Superior Practice Bodhisattva,) he did not take charge of the propagation; thirdly, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai was a disciple of a manifestation Buddha (not of the Original Śākyamuni Buddha).

Risshō Kanjō, A Treatise on Establishing the Right Way of Meditation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 229

Once there were two boys named Unvanquished and Virtuous-Victory [who met the Buddha but had nothing of value to offer] so they offered a mud pie to the Buddha, and by virtue of this one of them was reborn as King Aśoka the lord of Jambudvīpa. After building 84,000 stupas and sending them to various countries, he was able to fulfill his long time wish and attain enlightenment.

Minobu-san Gosho, Mt. Minobu Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 131

Thus, only those who thoroughly discern the difference between the Lotus Sūtra and other sūtras can truly be said to have understood the teaching.

Many scholars today do not understand this correctly, so very few seem to have truly understood the teaching. As there are few scholars who understand the teaching, there are only few who truly read the Lotus Sūtra. If no one reads the Lotus Sūtra, there will be no one who can lead the country wisely. If there is no right leader, the people of the country will not know the difference between Hinayāna and Mahāyāna, provisional and true teachings, and exoteric and esoteric teachings. As a result, no one will be able to leave the transmigration of birth and death, and everyone will become a slanderer of the Dharma. More people than the number of dust-particles in the earth will believe in evil dharmas and fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. Those who leave the delusion of life and death through the right teaching are scarcer than the amount of soil on a fingernail. How terrible this is!

Kyō Ki Ji Koku Shō, Treatise on the Teaching, Capacity, Time and Country, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 100-101