Some passages from The True Object of Worship, Nichiren's most important writing

"Present within our lives is the Lord Shakyamuni who obtained the three enlightened properties of life before gohyaku-jintengo, the original Buddha since time without beginning".

                     

"Shakyamuni Buddha did not transmit Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, the heart of the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra, even to Bodhisattvas Monju and Yakuo, let alone to any lesser bodhisattva. He transferred  it only to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, summoning them and preaching the eight core chapters---from the fifteenth to the twenty second---of the lotus Sutra".

" At the the dawn of the Latter Day evil people who slander the law would fill the land and so the Buddha rejected their pledge and instead summoned the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. He entrusted Namu Myoho Renge Kyo to them for the salvation of all mankind".

"The messengers in our time refers to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth".

"The Buddha transmitted this sutra solely to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Because the Law was expounded by the original Buddha, it was entrusted to his true disciples".

"Demonstrating ten great mystic powers, the Buddha transferred Namu Myoho Renge Kyo to the Four Great Bodhisattvas, Jogyo, Anrugyo, and Muhengyo".

"At this time Shakyamuni Buddha rose from his place of preaching, and displaying his great mystic powers, put his right hand on the heads of infinite numbers of bodhisattvas, saying, 'I now transfer the supreme law of enlightenment to you".

"These passages are a crystal mirror of the Buddha's will. They show that the Buddha did not appear for the sake of  those present during the eight years when he revealed the lotus Sutra at Eagle Peak but for those who would come after him. His advent was specifically for people like us, those living in the beginning of the Latter Day, not for those who lived in the Former or Middle Day of the law".

"You who are my disciples, take this to heart! The Bodhisattvas of the Earth were the first disciples of Lord Shakyamuni when he attained enlightenment in the remotest past".

"For the sake of those who live in the period of depravation, those who are too infantile to understand the Lotus of Perfect Truth, and who are ignorant of the treasure of the truth of the three-thousand-realms-in-one-mind, the Buddha with great compassion, will command the Four Great Bodhisattvas to appear in this world in order to hang around the their necks the Five Words, the container of the treasure".