The Nirvana Sūtra, the “Four Reliances” chapter, preaches the “Four Reliances” in person and in dharma. The former is the four ranks of bodhisattvas upon whom Buddhists relied on for guidance after the death of the Buddha, and the latter is the four standards which Buddhists must follow: (1) to follow the true teaching, not persons; (2) to follow the meaning of the teaching, not the words; (3) to follow the wisdom of the Buddha, not the knowledge of the people; and (4) to follow the Lotus Sūtra, which is the true teaching, not the pre-Lotus sūtras. These are the basic teaching in practicing Buddhism.

Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 244

Nobody, regardless of high and low, however, believes that I, Nichiren, am a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. People must be wondering why Nichiren, who claims to be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra, is confronted by many persecutions and difficulties while the sūtra preaches that one who practices Buddhism is at peace in this world and will be reborn in a better place in future lives. It must be that, they believe, Nichiren is not in accordance with the true intent of the Buddha.

Expecting such a vicious criticism from the beginning, I am not surprised even if I am exiled at the displeasure of the ruler of Japan because it is clearly stated in the Lotus Sūtra that one who practices the teachings of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration will be confronted by many difficulties.

Hakii Saburō-dono Go-henji, A Response to Lord Hakii Saburō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 183

Everything must be suitable to the time. They say that cherry blossoms bloom in spring and the moon looks best in autumn. This saying shows the importance of timing. The reason why Śākyamuni Buddha appeared in this world was to expound the Lotus Sūtra, the True Dharma. Nevertheless, He did not preach it for 40 years or so after attaining Enlightenment. The Lotus Sūtra, the Expedients chapter, tells of the reason why the Buddha did not expound the Lotus Sūtra for more than 40 years, “It was because the time to preach it was not ripe.”

Ueno-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 34

King Ajātaśatru’s skin disease was caused by committing the five rebellious sins and the sin of slandering the True Dharma. When the Buddha entered the Moon Love Meditation emitting rays of a pure light that shone on the body of the king, the rash of Ajātaśatru disappeared instantly and his remaining life span of three weeks was extended by as long as forty years. Therefore, King Ajātaśatru gathered 1,000 arhats to write down the holy teachings of the Buddha expounded during His lifetime so that the Buddhist sūtras remained to be spread after the passing of the Buddha throughout the Age of the True Dharma, that of the Semblance Dharma, and the Latter Age of Degeneration.

Now, your skin disease was caused solely by the sin of slandering the True Dharma. What is more, the Lotus Sūtra which you embrace is superior to the Moon Love Meditation. How then can you not cure the light skin disease and live long? If you find in the end my words have no effect, you should shout, “The Buddha, the eyes of the whole world, is a big liar; the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra is meaningless and false; if you are concerned for your reputation, please Śākyamuni Buddha carry out Your vow to save living beings, and many wise and holy beings who vowed before the Buddha to protect the Lotus Sūtra, come to help me.” Writing cannot wholly express my words and words cannot fully express what is in my mind. I hope to tell you more in detail when I see you.

Ōta Nyūdō-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lay Priest Lord Ōta, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 37

Therefore, as your late husband chanted “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō” at the last moment of life, evil karma which he committed during his life or innumerable kalpa (aeons) since the eternal past will be fully transformed into the seed of Buddhahood. This is the doctrine of “evil passions are themselves enlightenment,” “birth and death are themselves Nirvana,” and “attaining Buddhahood with the present body.”

Myōhō-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Reply to My Lady, the Nun Myōhō, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 142

When the Buddha preached the Flower Garland Sūtra at the Hall of Enlightenment, various Buddhas appeared from the worlds in ten directions, and all great bodhisattvas gathered together. Moreover, the Great King of the Brahma Heaven, Indra, and the Four Heavenly Kings danced for joy; eight kinds of gods and semi-gods such as dragon gods held their hands together in reverence; the wiser among ordinary men bent their ears to Him; and various bodhisattvas such as Moon of Emancipation (Vimuki-candra), who have attained enlightenment during the present life, begged Him to preach. However, Śākyamuni did not even reveal the names of His two most important teachings: “Obtaining Buddhahood by men of the Two Vehicles, śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha” (nijō-sabutsu) and “Śākyamuni’s attaining Enlightenment in the eternal past” (kuon-jitsujō). Nor did He expound the fundamental doctrines of the “becoming a Buddha with one’s present body” (sokushin-jōbutsu) and “3,000 existences contained in one thought” (ichinen-sanzen). It was not that He did not speak of those doctrines because no one had the capacity to understand them. It was solely because, as stated in the Lotus Sūtra, chapter 2 on “Expedients”, “the time was not ripe. ”

Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 188-189

[I]f there is a man after the death of the Buddha who breaks the attachment to the false doctrines of the “four tastes and three teachings” of the pre-Lotus sūtras and puts faith in the True Dharma of the Lotus Sūtra, all the virtuous gods and numerous bodhisattvas who sprang up from underground will protect such a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. Under such protection, this practicer would be able to spread over the world the honzon revealed in the essential section and the five-word daimoku of “myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō,” the essence of the Lotus Sūtra.

He is just like Never-Despising Bodhisattva, who in the Age of the Semblance Dharma after the death of Powerful Voice King Buddha spread in the land of this Buddha the twenty-four-character passage in the Lotus Sūtra (chapter twenty) saying: “I respect you deeply. I do not despise you. Why is it? It is because you all will practice the way of bodhisattvas and will be able to attain Buddhahood.” With such propagation, the Bodhisattva was severely persecuted by all the people in the land, who beat him with sticks and threw stones at him.

Kembutsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 174

[A letter of explanation written by Nichiren Shōnin on behalf of Shijō Yorimoto on the 25th of the sixth month in the third year of the Kenji Period (1277) and submitted to the lord of the Ema Family.]

“Master Shan-tao of the Pure Land Sect in China said that ten out of ten or 100 out of 100 of those who practice the nembutsu will be able to be reborn in the Pure Land through the power of the original vow of Amitābha Buddha, but not even one out of one thousand persons who practice the holy way gate such as the Lotus Sūtra will be able to attain Buddhahood. Priest Hōnen of the Pure Land Sect in Japan urged his followers to abandon, close, set aside, and cast away the Lotus Sūtra, the holy way gate, calling the practicers of the holy way gate a school of bandits. Zen Sect insists that Śākyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment is transmitted to practicers only through the mind (special transmission without scriptures or preachings) and therefore sūtras are needless.

“The Buddha Śākyamuni, however, states in the Lotus Sūtra: ‘I will reveal the Truth after an extensive period of preaching.’ The Buddha of Many Treasures also verified that ‘The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is entirely true,’ and the Buddhas manifested in the worlds throughout the universe also testify to the truth of the Lotus Sūtra. Which should we believe between the two: Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures and the Buddhas manifested in the worlds throughout the universe who prove the truth of the Lotus Sūtra, or Grand Master Kōbō of Japan who says that the Lotus Sūtra is a sūtra of no merit? Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and the Buddhas manifested in the worlds throughout the universe preach that all without exception will attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sūtra, but Master Shan-tao and Priest Hōnen said that no one could attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sūtra, which we should abandon, close, set aside, and cast away. The teachings of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and the Buddhas in manifestation and those uttered by Master Shan-tao and Priest Hōnen are as different as fire and water or clouds and mud. Which should we put faith in? Which should we discard? …

To this question put forth by Sammi-kō, Ryūzō-bō replied: “How can I have any doubts about such senior masters as Shan-tao and Hōnen? The only thing that ordinary monks like myself can do is to pay respect and venerate them.”

Then, Sammi-kō asked again: “Such an answer does not sound like your teaching. Although everybody respects their senior masters or men of virtue, it is willed in the Nirvana Sūtra, preached last by the Buddha, ‘Rely on the dharma, not on masters.’ This means that since masters may have made mistakes, one should depend upon the sūtras the Buddha expounded.

Yorimoto Shinjō, Yorimoto’s Letter of Explanation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 101-102

The Buddha attained Buddhahood by understanding this Lotus Sūtra. If He does not preach the sūtra for other people, He will commit the mistake of destroying the seed of Buddhahood. Therefore, Śākyamuni Buddha appeared in this world to expound the Lotus Sūtra. Then the King of Devils in the Sixth Heaven, who is said to be the manifestation of fundamental ignorance, entered the bodies of all sentient beings, made them bear a grudge against the Buddha, and tried to interfere with His attempt.

King Virūḍhaka murdered 500 members of the Śākya Clan; Aṅgulimāla chased after the Buddha; Devadatta injured the Buddha with a huge rock; and Chinchāmānavika strapped a bowl to her belly and spread a rumor that the Buddha made her pregnant. After a Brahman king decreed that anyone who let the Buddha enter the walled city would be fined 500 taels, the people in the city erected barriers of thorny roses on streets, threw feces into wells, blocked the gates with spikes, and poisoned food. These were all caused by the King of Devils who hated the Buddha. The murder of Nun Utpalavarṇā, who was a disciple of the Buddha, the killing of Maudgalyāyana by non-Buddhists with bamboo sticks and burying the murdered body of Kālodāyin in horse dung were also caused by hatred of the Buddha on the part of the King of Devils.

Śākyamuni Buddha, however, was able to escape all kinds of persecutions and began preaching the Lotus Sūtra on a mountain called Mt. Sacred Eagle northeast of Rājagṛha in Central India. The Buddha was then 72 years old and it was the forty-second year since He began expounding the Dharma. After preaching the sūtra for eight years He passed away at the age of 80 at midnight on the 15th day of the second month by the Hiraṇyavati River at Kuśinagara in East India. Nevertheless, as He made it clear that His enlightenment was preached in the Lotus Sūtra, the words of the Lotus Sūtra are thus the very spirit of the Buddha. As each word of the sūtra represents the Buddha’s spirit, Śākyamuni Buddha will protect those who practice this sūtra as if they were His own eyes. He will accompany and protect them as a shadow follows the body. Why shouldn’t their prayers be answered?

Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 60-61

The Annotations to the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 6, states: “Although various sūtras claim to be the king of sūtras, they do not preach as the Lotus Sūtra does that they are superior to all the sūtras preached in the past, being preached at present and will be preached in the future. You should know for certain that those sūtras preached before the Lotus Sūtra are those preaching the perfect and distinct teachings combined (Flower Garland Sūtra); preaching merely tripiṭaka (Hinayāna) teaching (Āgama sūtras); comparing the tripiṭaka, common, distinct and perfect teachings (Hōdō sūtras); and preaching the perfect teaching tinged with the common and distinct teachings (Wisdom Sūtra).” The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 3, states, “The tongue will be inflamed in the mouth.” Elaborating on this, the Commentary on the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra declares: “The Lotus Sūtra is supreme of all the sūtras preached in the past, being preached now, and to be preached in the future. If you harbor any doubts about this, your tongue will be inflamed in this present life and you will suffer for aeons for committing the sin of slandering the True Dharma. … You will be remonstrated by the Buddha for all time.”

Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 243-244