We, ordinary people, are ignorant because we do not fear or take heed to what is written in the sūtras and commentaries. Nor do we concern ourselves about events likely to occur in the future. I am sure that Hei no Saemonnojō Yoritsuna, Akita Jōnosuke, and others will be enraged with us, Nichiren Buddhists, and persecute us with great intensity. You should summon your resolve and be prepared for it. Please consider things from the position of those who would be deployed in Kyushu to fight against the Mongols, those who are on the way to Kyushu as well as those who have already been fighting. Thus far our fellow Nichiren Buddhists have not experienced such suffering. The warriors in Kyushu, however, are encountering the horrible agony of death and will fall into the realm of hell if they are killed in battle. On the other hand, though we encounter great perils now, we are sure to become Buddhas in the next life. This is like moxa treatment, painful but bearable if we keep in mind the beneficial aftereffects.

Shōnin Gonan Ji, Persecution Befalling Nichiren Shōnin, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 119-120

The Buddha is the master of the human and heavenly realms, the parents of all living beings, and the teacher who opens the way and leads us all to enlightenment. Lowly parents lack the virtue of a master, and the master without the virtue of parents is frightening. People with the virtue of parents or master do not necessarily possess the virtue of the teacher. Various Buddhas are also World Honored Ones with the virtue of a master, but they are not our teachers because they do not appear in this Sahā World to guide us. As they do not declare, “All living beings in it are my children,” they also lack the parental virtue. Śākyamuni Buddha alone is equipped with all three virtues of the master, teacher, and parent.

Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 66

According to these sūtras, it is due to the great merit of his virtuous acts in past lives that anyone listens to the Lotus Sūtra without slandering it, though unable to understand it. The chances of our being born in the three evil realms are more numerous than particles of dust on earth, while chances of our being born in the human realm are as scarce as the specks of dirt on a fingernail. (…) The chances of our encountering expedient sūtras preached in the forty-odd years before the Lotus Sūtra are more numerous than the particles of dust on earth, while encountering the Lotus-Nirvana Sūtras is as scarce as specks of dirt on a fingernail. It is just as the passage … from the Nirvana Sūtra, fascicle 33 stated. To be able to believe in this Lotus Sūtra, even one character or one phrase, is due to the profound association with it from previous lives, which is a great blessing.

Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 66

It is said in the Lotus Sūtra, “Those who heard the Dharma from those śramaṇera (teachers) are now living under those Buddhas.” T’ien-t’ai stated (in the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra), “The Buddha in the Western Pure Land is different from the Buddha in this Sahā World; therefore, no relationship between parents and children exists between the Buddha of Infinite Life and us, ordinary beings in the Sahā World.” Miao-lê explains this (in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra) that the Buddha of Infinite Life and Śākyamuni are different Buddhas. (…) Their relationships to us from past lives are different, so are their ways of teaching. Sowing the seeds of Buddhahood in living beings by the Buddha is similar to giving birth to a child by parents and guiding the people by the Buddha is similar to raising a child by parents. If the parents who give birth to a child and parents who raise him are different, the true relationship between parents and child does not exist.

In these days, people in Japan believe that the Buddha of Infinite Life will come to save them. This is as nonsensical as feeding a baby cow on horse milk or trying to have the moon reflected on a roof tile.

Hokke Shuyō Shō, Treatise on the Essence of the Lotus Sūtra, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 208

I have written exhaustively about your deep resolution to make a donation for the cause of the Lotus Sūtra that my writing brush is worn out and my fingers are too tired to hold the brush. It may be possible to count the number of rain drops falling in seven days over the triple thousand worlds. There must be a person who knows the amount of dust on the earth in all the worlds throughout the universe. In contrast, however, the Buddha has declared that the merit of offering a donation to just one character of the Lotus Sūtra is unfathomably great. Please realize the significance of offering a donation to the Lotus Sūtra through this teaching.

Kubo-ama Gozen Gohenji, Response to My Lady, the Nun of Kubo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 95

It is said that a sage is not affected by the “eight winds”: profit, sorrow, slander, fame, praise, censure, and pleasure. This means that a sage neither takes delight in his crowning hour nor grieves during depths of despair. Those who are unaffected by the “eight winds” are protected by the heavenly deities without fail, but not so for those who carry an irrational grudge against their lord, no matter how hard they pray.

Shijō Kingo Shakabutsu Kuyō, Opening the Eyes Service of Shijō Kingo’s Statue of Śākyamuni Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 135

I, Nichiren, was born as a human being, which is difficult to achieve, and also encountered Buddhism, which is difficult to encounter. And among all the Buddha’s teachings, I was able to come across the Lotus Sūtra. When I think of my good fortune, I realize that I owe a debt of gratitude to my parents, the rulers of the country, and to all the people. Concerning the debt of gratitude we owe to our parents, a compassionate father is like the heaven and a compassionate mother is like the earth. Although it is difficult to distinguish the debt of gratitude between the two, it would be especially difficult to repay the favors of our mothers. Were we to try to repay them by following non-Buddhist writings such as the writings of Three Emperors and Five Rulers of Ancient China and the Classic of Filial Piety of Confucianism, our efforts would help them in this present life but not in future lives. In other words we could support their physical well-being but not save their souls.

Regarding the writings of Buddhism, in the five to seven thousand fascicles of Hinayāna and Mahāyāna sūtras, it is nearly impossible for women to attain Buddhahood; therefore, the favors of our compassionate mothers cannot be repaid. Hinayāna sūtras in particular do not allow women to attain Buddhahood at all, and while some Mahāyāna sūtras may seem to allow for women the attainment of Buddhahood or reaching the Buddha land, but they are but the Buddha’s expedient words without substance. Realizing that only the Lotus Sūtra expounds the attainment of Buddhahood for women and therefore is the true sūtra through which we can repay our mother’s favors, I am encouraging all women to chant the title (daimoku) of this sūtra in order for them to repay their mothers’ favors.

Sennichi-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Reply to My Lady Nun Sennichi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 147-148

It is said in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 7 (chapter 23), “It will spread throughout the world in the fifth 500-year period after the death of the Buddha lest it should be lost.” It means that the Lotus Sūtra will spread in the period after the destruction of the pure dharma predicted in the Sūtra of the Great Assembly. The Lotus Sūtra also makes such references as : “those who uphold it in the evil world during the Latter Age of Degeneration” (fascicle 6: chapter 17); “at the time when the dharma is about to disappear in the future latter age” (fascicle 5: chapter 14): “even during the time of the Buddha much hatred and jealousy is raised against this Sūtra; how much more after His death!” (fascicle 4: chapter 10); and “much hate exists toward this Sūtra in the world, making it difficult to uphold it” (fascicle 5: chapter 14). Speaking of the fifth 500-year period after the death of the Buddha, namely, the period of increasing disagreements and quarrels, the Lotus Sūtra in its seventh fascicle (chapter 23) declares: “Devils, devils’ subjects, dragons, yakṣa demons, and kumbhāṇḍa devils will be trying to take advantage.” It is stated in the Sūtra of the Great Assembly: “Disputes and quarrels will arise within Buddhism itself.” And in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 5 (chapter 13): “Monks in the evil world will be cunning, flattering, and arrogant;” “some monks will live in monasteries and appear to be practicing the true ways;” and “devils will enter the bodies of those monks and cause them to abuse those who uphold the True Dharma.”

These citations meant to say that a large number of great monks will be haunted by a devil’s spirit all over the country in the fifth 500-year period. Suppose a wise man appears then. Those high priests haunted by a devil’s spirit would induce the king and his ministers and populace into speaking ill of him, abusing him, beating him with sticks or pieces of wood, throwing stones or tiles at him, and banishing or even executing him. Then Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures and Buddhas in all the worlds in ten directions would order the great bodhisattvas appearing from underground, who in turn would order the King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, the sun, the moon, and the Four Heavenly Kings to inflict strange phenomena in the sky and natural calamities on earth. If those kings do not heed the divine punishments, their neighboring countries would be ordered to chastise those evil kings and monks, resulting in the most terrible war the world has ever had.

Then all the people in the world living under the sun and moon, desirous of the welfare of their countries or of themselves, would pray in vain to all Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Finally, believing in the poor monk whom they have hated, an incalculable number of high priests, 80,000 great kings, and all the people would bow low with their heads touching the ground and holding their hands together in reverence, reciting “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.” It would be just as when the Buddha revealed the eighth of His ten supernatural powers in the “Divine Powers of the Buddha” of the (21st) chapter of the Lotus Sūtra that all the people without exception in all the worlds throughout the universe faced this Sahā World, resoundingly reciting in unison “Homage to Śākyamuni Buddha! Homage to Śākyamuni Buddha! Homage to the Lotus Sūtra! Homage to the Lotus Sūtra!”

Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 193-194

Considered from the point of view of the second half of the Lotus Sūtra, hommon or essential teachings, we are the real children of Śākyamuni Buddha since the eternal past, 500 dust-particle kalpa ago. However, we attach ourselves to worldly affairs and lose sight of the Lotus Sūtra, stick to old Hinayāna and provisional Mahāyāna Buddhism and discard the Lotus Sūtra, adhere to the first half of the Lotus Sūtra (shakumon) and forget about the second half (hommon), expect too much from the sūtras which will be preached and abandon the Lotus Sūtra, or are thinking only of the Pure Lands in other worlds in the universe or the Buddha of Infinite Life’s Pure Land of Bliss. Confused by evil monks of seven or eight schools of Buddhism, we have abandoned the Lotus Sūtra and have been unable to see Śākyamuni Buddha with three virtues for as long as 500 dust-particle kalpa. The 22nd fascicle of the Nirvana Sūtra preaches, “An evil elephant hurts only our body, but an evil teacher or friend destroys both our body and heart.” Grand Master T’ien-t’ai says, “If we keep improper company, we may lose the true purpose, falling into evil realms.”

Gochū Shujō Gosho, People in the World Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 203