Nichiren explains the meaning of the General and the Specific Transmissions in The Entity of the Mystic Law [Totaigi Sho] :
(General)
"Answer: In this passage, Shakyamuni Buddha explains that he is entrusting to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth, his original disciples, the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, which is the essence of the Lotus Sutra. Shakyamuni, who attained enlightenment countless kalpas in the past, says elsewhere, "By now the original vows that I made have already been fulfilled. I have converted all living beings and caused them all to enter the Buddha way." Thus, he has already fulfilled his earlier vow. Then, intending to charge his disciples with the task of accomplishing widespread propagation in the fifth five hundred years after his death, he called forth the Bodhisattvas of the Earth and entrusted them with the heart of the sutra, the lotus of the entity of the essential teaching. This passage represents the ultimate purpose for which Shakyamuni Buddha appeared in the world, the secret Law that he attained in the place of meditation. It is this passage that gives proof of the lotus of the entity that, for those of us who live in the Latter Day of the Law, assures the attainment of Buddhahood in both the present and future."
(Specific)
"Accordingly, at the present time in the Latter Day of the Law, other than the envoy of the Thus Come One, there can be no one who understands and produces this passage as proof of the lotus of the entity. Truly it is a passage of secret meaning. Truly it is a matter of great concern. Truly it is to be honored and admired. Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, Namu-myoho-renge-kyo!"(ibid)
Nichiren quotes Tientai:
"If we are to explain the meaning of the treatise (Hokke-ron), we would say that when the Thus Come One causes ordinary beings to see the Dharma body in its purity and wonder, he is showing them the lotus that opens through a mystic cause. And when the Thus Come One enters the multitude of listeners and seats himself on a lotus, he is showing them the lotus that is the realm produced as a mystic result."
and Dengyo:
"The ‘one great matter,’ the true heart and core of the Lotus Sutra, is the revelation of the lotus. The word ‘one’ signifies that it is the one reality. The word ‘great’ signifies that it is broad and all-encompassing in nature. And the word ‘matter’ refers to the essential nature of phenomena. This one great reason or ‘ultimate matter’ is the truth, the teaching, the wisdom and the practice of the perfect teaching, or the Dharma body, the wisdom and the emancipation of the perfect teaching. Through this, the persons of the one vehicle, those of the three vehicles, those of the determinate groups, those of the indeterminate group, those who believe in Buddhist teachings, those who believe in non-Buddhist teachings, those who have no desire to become Buddhas, and those who are unable to believe in the correct teachings--all of these beings, every one of them, are brought to the realm of the wisdom penetrating all phenomena. Thus, this ‘one great reason’ opens the door of Buddha wisdom to all beings, shows it, causes them to awaken to it and induces them to enter into it, and all of them attain Buddhahood."(ibid)
Nichiren on both the Specific and the General Transmission
"It is the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo that constitute the Great Pure Law that will be spread widely in the Latter Day of the Law. And it is the great bodhisattvas who sprang up from, the earth in numbers equal to the dust particles of a thousand worlds who were entrusted with the task of spreading it abroad. Therefore Nan-yueh, T’ien-t’ai and Dengyo, though in their hearts they understood the truth, left it to the leader and teacher of the Latter Day to spread it widely, while they themselves refrained from doing so." (ibid)
Nichiju on the transmission
"Among the disciples of the school of Nichiju, nobody should be chosen, directly or indirectly as an heir disciple. However, anybody among the priests or the laymen of my congregation that spreads the teaching in Kyoto and swears that other sects are the root of all evils and that only the Hokke Sect makes us enter Nirvana can be my disciple. And if candidates are equally gifted, they should propagate during the summer, practicing in turn. You should consider a person who spreads the teaching like this as the true disciple of Nichiju and Nichiren Shonin. So in the days to come, this shall be my will."
Brief commentary
"The leader and teacher of the Latter Day", in the second to last quotation above, is specific to one man, Nichiren Daishoni (Jogyo). "Bodhisattvas of the Earth" is general to all of us. There are not superior and inferior Bodhisattvas of the Earth. The responsibilities of laymen and priests are blurred and there is only one High Priest and leader, Nichiren Daishonin.
Question: The Lotus Sutra states that there are many leaders of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth with various large and small retinues of followers. Wouldn't that mean Daisaku Ikeda, the High Priest of the Nichiren Shoshu, the Chief Bishop of Minobu. Nikkyo Niwano, and others?
Answer: In the Latter Age there is only Superior Practices [Nichiren Daishonin] and his followers. Those who follow Nichiren Daishonin and who are of the same mind as he ["The bodhisattvas, as numerous as the dust particles of a thousand worlds,
Are Daisaku Ikeda, the High Priest of Nichiren Shoshu, the Chief Bishop of Minobu and Nikkyo Niwano, of the same mind as Nichiren Daishonin? Nikkyo Niwano and his followers, despite chanting the daimoku, fail to acknowledge Nichiren Daishonin as the leader of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. Daisaku Ikeda and the High Priest throw out Shakyamuni Buddha. The Bishop of Minobu allows all sorts of sundry practices and a false transmission between priests and lay believers [not to mention interfaith]. They are not followers of Nichiren Daishonin and therefore, not inheritors of the specific transmission. How can they then possibly be inheritors of the general transmission?
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