"Aside from these people, some of my disciples might not be spared from this calamity of falling into the Hell of Incessant Suffering upon death." -- Nichiren

"Our teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha..was the first Buddha to
appear in this saha world of ours, which had previously not
known any other Buddha, and he opened the eyes of all living
beings. All other Buddhas and bodhisattvas, from east and
west, from the lands of the ten directions, received
instruction from him.....But now we have monks and nuns who,
because of the teachers of the Shingon sect, have decided to
look upon Dainichi Buddha as the supreme object of
veneration and have demoted Shakyamuni Buddha to an inferior
position, or who, because they believe in the Nembutsu, pay
honor to Amida Buddha and thrust Shakyamuni Buddha aside.

There are three reasons why Shakyamuni Buddha, rather than
any of the other Buddhas, has a relationship with all the
people of this saha world. First of all, he is the
sovereign of all the people of this saha world. Amida
Buddha is not the monarch of this world.....second,
Shakyamuni Buddha is the father and mother of all the people
in this saha world....third, Shakyamuni is the original
teacher of all the people in this saha world.....Amida,
Yakushi, Dainichi and the others are the Buddhas of other
realms; they are not the World-Honored Ones of this world of
ours.

When the Buddhas are viewed in terms of the unchanging
equality of their enlightenment, there are no distinctions
to be made among them. But when they are viewed in terms of
the ever- present differences among their preaching, then
one should understand that each of them has his own realm
among the worlds of the ten directions, and that they
distinguish between those with whom they have already had
some connection, and those with whom they have no such
connection.

The sixteen royal sons of Daitsuchiso Buddha each took up
their residence in a different one of the lands of the ten
directions and there led their respective disciples to
salvation. [note: one of these sons was named "Amita", but
this not the "Amida" of the Pure Land Sect who practiced
under Sejizaio Buddha and who lives in the Western Pure
Land, ten billion buddha lands to the west of the saha
world.] Shakyamuni Buddha, who was a reincarnation of one of
these sons, appeared in this saha world of ours. As the
Lotus Sutra says, "I [Shakyamuni] alone can save them".
Shakyamuni Buddha...is the very one who encourages us, the
people who have been driven out of all the other Buddha pure
lands by all the other Buddhas.


I explained [to Dozen-bo, that, by making five images of Amida
Buddha, he was condemning himself to fall five times into the
Avichi Hell. The reason for this, I told him, was that the Lotus
Sutra- wherein the Buddha says that he will now "honestly
discard the provisional teachings"- states that Shakyamuni
Buddha is our father, while Amida is like a distant uncle.
Anyone who would fashion five images of his uncle and make
offerings to them, and yet not fashion a single image of his own
father- how could he be regarded as anything but unfilial?:
(The Learned Doctor
Shan wu-wei).

Predicting their future lives, I also declared in the Rissho ankoru-ron;
"Should the people refuse to change their minds, clinging to false
teachings, they will soon leave this world and fall into the Hell of
Incessant Suffering without fail." Judging from my predictions in this
present life having proved to be true, I am sure that this prediction of
mine about their future lives will also become true. It is as certain as
shooting an arrow at the great earth that all the people in Japan, high and
low, will fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering.

Aside from these people, some of my disciples might not be spared from this
calamity of falling into the Hell of Incessant Suffering upon death. Those
who disdained and hurt the Never -Despising (Fukyo) Bodhisattva fell into
the Hell of Incessant Suffering upon death for as long as 1,000 kalpa. It
was due to their great sin of slandering the bodhisattva that they were paid
such a hard fate, although they had believed in, respected, followed, and
obeyed the bodhisattva while in this life.

Now, the same could be said of disciples of Nichiren. If they believe in,
respect, follow, and obey me in name only without heart, they will no doubt
suffer in the Hell of Incessant Suffering for the period of one, two, ten,
or one hundred, if not one thousand, kalpa. If you wish to be saved from
this, you should each practice just as the Medicine-King Bodhisattva did; he
set his arm afire to offer it as a light to the Buddha; or Gyobo Bonji, who
skinned himself to write the dharma on his own skin. Just as Sessen Doji
and Suzu Danno did, you should sacrifice your own life or serve your masters
from the bottom of your heart in search of the dharma. Otherwise, you
should beseech the Buddha for help, bowing to Him with your four limbs and
face touching the ground, dripping with sweat. Otherwise, you should pile
up rare treasures in front of the Buddha as an offering to Him. If that is
not possible, you must become servants to the upholders of the dharma. Or
you should practice some other ways according to the principle of the four
ways of teaching. Among my disciples those whose faith is shallow will show
at the moment of death the sign of falling into the Hell of Incessant
Suffering. Do not blame me for it then!" (A Tract Revealing the Gist of the
Rissho Ankoku Ron).