Correcting the mistaken assumption, "The Dharma is the Truth, and that's not a person."

"- is not what I'm looking for, not even focus on the historical Buddha. I believe the Truth is not a person. Didn't the Buddha himself say: "Why do you want to see my foul body? You who see the Dharma see me. You who see me see the Dharma." - The Dharma is the Truth, and that's not a person."

The Lotus Sutra states:

"Listen then all of you attentively to the secret, mysterious, and supernaturally pervading power of the Tathagata."

"According to Chih-i, by "secret" is meant that the one body of the Buddha is three bodies, and by "mysterious" that the three bodies are in the one. Spiritually or supernaturally pervading power, or power of spiritual or supernatural pervasion, or ubiquity, is the function of the three bodies, or trikaya: the dharmakaya (truth-body or Law-body), the sambhogakaya (reward-body or bliss-body), and the nirmanakaya (mutation-body or response-body). Dharmakaya indicates the buddhahood in its universality, nirmanakaya the buddhahood embodied or personalized, and sambhogakaya the buddhahood as spiritualized. Chih-i attributes the revelation of the trikaya in this form to this passage and emphasizes the unity of the trinity as constituting the only correct doctrine of the Buddha's person and reality." -- Bunno translator of the Threefold Lotus Sutra

"Sometimes I reveal myself and sometimes the matter of another". -- Lotus Sutra Chapter 16 paraphrased

Question: What is the Meaning of Original Buddha or Original Teacher?

Answer: Original Teacher means that no matter how eminent, wise, or knowledgeable one may be, no matter how diligent one is in carrying out the Six Paramitas (Six Perfections), and no matter how long one practices the Six Paramitas, there is no way that one could come up with, let alone reveal, Myoho renge kyo independently of Shakyamuni Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha, in the history of the universe, was the one unique individual capable of doing so. Nichiren realized this, taught this, and reverenced Shakyamuni Buddha for His astronomical feat of autonomous self-practice. That is why He, rather than any other individual, is revered as the person of the Gohonzon (Ninpo-Ika or Oneness of Person and Law).