In the fifth fascicle (chapter 14, “Peaceful Practices”) of the Lotus Sūtra it is said, ” Mañjuśrī! This Lotus Sūtra is the secret teaching of the Buddhas. This is above all the sūtras.” According to this passage the Lotus Sūtra is the True Dharma, the highest above all the sūtras including the Great Sun Buddha Sūtra. How did such masters as Śubhākarasimha, Vajrabodhi, Amoghavajra, Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō interpret this?

It is said also in the seventh fascicle (chapter 23, “Previous Life of the Medicine King Bodhisattva”) of the Lotus Sūtra, “The person who keeps this sūtra likewise is superior to any other living being.” According to it, the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra is like an ocean among various rivers, Mt. Sumeru among various mountains, the moon among many stars, the sun among various bright objects, and the Great King of the Brahma Heaven among various kings such as the Wheel-turning Noble King and Indra.

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 27-28.

Why can I say that [the Japanese people unintentionally have become the enemies of Śākyamuni Buddha]? The Lotus Sūtra states: “The whole world of the unenlightened is My domain. All beings living therein are My own children. Yet this place is filled with much great suffering. There is no one but I who can save all beings.” It means that Śākyamuni is the lord, the master, and the father of all the people in Japan. Even gods and kings during the reigns of seven generations of heavenly gods, five generations of earthly gods, and ninety generations of emperors are servants of Śākyamuni Buddha; and of course, ordinary people, who are servants of those gods and kings, are also His servants. All fields, mountains, rivers, oceans, trees, and grass in Japan today are the property of Śākyamuni Buddha. None belongs to Medicine-Master Buddha, Amida Buddha, or Buddhas of other domains. The heavenly gods, earthly gods, ninety generations of emperors, and all living beings are children of Śākyamuni Buddha. It is due to the teachings of Śākyamuni Buddha that heavenly and earthly gods, and rulers and subjects of Japan can distinguish between heaven and earth, water and fire, father and mother, lord and servants, man and woman, parents and children, and black and white. It is not due to the teachings of Medicine-Master or Amida Buddha. Therefore, we owe Śākyamuni Buddha a favor thicker than the earth, wider than the sky, and higher than heaven. That is why we, kings, his ministers and all the people, should respect the Buddha more than our parents and revere Him more than gods. Then the gods will protect us even if we are sinful, and the earth will not quake in rage.

Myōhō Bikuni Go-henji, A Reply to Nun Myōhō, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 192-194

And yet even though a finger might point to the great earth and miss it, a person tie up the sky, the ocean’s tide lack an ebb and flow, or if the sun should rises in the west, there cannot be a time when the prayer of a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra is not answered. If the various bodhisattvas, human and heavenly beings, eight kinds of gods and demi-gods who protect Buddhism, the two sage bodhisattvas (Medicine King and Brave Donor Bodhisattvas), two heavenly kings (Jikoku-ten and Bishamon-ten), and ten female rākṣasa demons, or even one out of 1,000, do not rush to protect practicers of the Lotus Sūtra, they commit the sin of fooling Śākyamuni and the other Buddhas above and in the nine realms below. Thus, they will protect the practicers of the Lotus Sūtra without fail regardless if the practicers are insincere, unwise, impure, and do not observe the precepts so long as they chant “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.”

Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 68

Except for the Eternal Buddha revealed in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra, Buddhas all attained Buddhahood for the first time in this life and possess three kinds of bodies (the Dharma Body, Reward Body and Accommodative Body). Accommodative Buddhas are finite Buddhas who appear in this world, showing both beginning (attaining Buddhahood) and ending (entering nirvana). The Reward Body is obtained as the reward for completing the bodhisattva practice and having mastered the wisdom of the Buddha. Buddhas in this body (Reward Buddhas) therefore has the beginning (attaining Buddhahood) but no ending (entering nirvana). The Dharma Body is the body of fundamental truth, the Dharma to which the Buddha is enlightened, which is immaterial having no beginning or ending. The Vairocana Buddha of the Flower Garland School and the Great Sun Buddha of the True Word School are claimed to be the Buddhas in Reward Body and Dharma Body respectively.

The Buddha revealed in the essential section of the Lotus Sūtra is the One attaining Buddhahood in the eternal past. He, too, possesses the three kinds of the Buddha Body. In this Eternal Buddha, the three bodies are fused in one, having no beginning and no ending, and He lives forever from the eternal past to the infinite future to guide the people.

Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 250

We, sentient beings in this Sahā World, have all been beloved children of the Lord Buddha Śākyamuni since “500 dust-particle kalpa” ago. Because of our own fault, being undutiful to the Buddha, we had not been aware of being His children until today, but we are not the same as sentient beings in other worlds. The relationship between the Buddha and us, which was established in the remotest past of 500 dust particle kalpa ago, is like the moon in the sky reflecting on clear water by itself. Our relationship to other Buddhas, which has never been established, is like deaf people unable to hear the peal of thunder or blind people unable to see the sun and moon.

Hokke Shuyō Shō, Treatise on the Essence of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 209

There is a story of a person who offered a rice cake made of soil to a Buddha and attained Buddhahood as a result. Conversely, there is also the story of a person who donated a jewel but went to hell. The difference between the two appears to be in the timing.

Since my birth in Japan I have never deceived anyone, stolen anything, or committed any sinful deed. As a priest in the Latter Age of Degeneration I have committed few errors. Nevertheless, I was despised both by the ruler and the people in the same way a literary ruler disregards the military arts or a garish person hates the faithful, because I propagated the Lotus Sūtra in a world where Pure Land, Zen, Shingon (True Word), and Precept Buddhism were widely believed. In the end, finding no place among the people in the street, I retreated into the mountain. I wonder how Heaven will treat me hereafter. The five-foot deep snow-covered mountain path, which normally has no traffic, makes it impossible for anyone to visit me here. My clothing is not thick enough to protect me against the freezing weather. My food supply is gone, and I am at the end of my life.

It was just at this time that I received your gift as if to prevent my decision to face death. I felt both happy and sad when I received it because I had just made up my mind to die of hunger once and for all, but your gift of polished rice was like adding oil to a light that was about to burn out. It was indeed a precious and wonderful offering of yours. Śākyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sūtra will never fail to extend their divine protection to you.

Ueno-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 35

It is preached in the eighth fascicle of the Great Concentration and Insight: “As devils respectfully avoid the Hall of Indra, evil demons are unable to invade the place of practicing Buddhism indiscriminately when a powerful god protects it. When the lord of a castle is dauntless, his soldiers also are powerful. When the lord of a castle is a coward, his soldiers also are frightened. The mind is the lord of the body, which is always guarded by the two gods named Dōmyō and Dōshō. When the mind is steadfast, the body is guarded well. If the god of a body is like this, how much more so with the god of the place of practicing Buddhism!”

Interpreting this, the Annotations on the Great Concentration and Insight, fascicle 8, states: “The two gods of Dōmyō and Dōshō never cease in protecting people, but the stronger one’s mind is, the more powerful will the protection be;” and “even the gods who rest on the shoulders of people never stop protecting them, how much more so the god of the place of practicing Buddhism.” People are protected ever since their birth by the two gods of Dōshō-ten and Dōmyō-ten, who are called Kushō-jin in the Flower Garland Sūtra.

Dōjōjin Shugo-ji, Protective Deities for the Place of Practicing Buddhism, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 15-16

Once upon a time, a man who had offered a “rice cake” made from mud to a Buddha ascended the throne in a kingdom due to this virtuous act. As the Lotus Sūtra is the dharma superior to a Buddha, those who make donations to the sūtra will inevitably gain blessings in this life and attain Buddhahood in the future lives, will they not?

Kurōtarō-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lord Kurōtarō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 153