Mere metaphors?

What are the Four Great Bodhisattvas? 

"They are Jogyo, Muhengyo, Jyogyo, and Anryugyo, the leaders of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth mentioned in the 15th chapter of the Lotus Sutra. They signify the four virtues of the Buddha's life: true self, eternity, purity and happiness. They are functions inherent within our lives, activated by our practice of True Buddhism. -- SGI member

Did not Nichiren teach us that it precisely because Shakyamuni Buddha made his advent in this Saha World that he towers above Amida and Dainichi Buddhas?

Proclaiming that the Four Great Bodhisattvas  are merely metaphors is an extremely shallow view of the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren's teachings and not one based on documentary, theoretical, or actual proof: One of them has already made his advent, Nichiren Daishonin, How long before the others come to assist us?

"Among the host of those bodhisattvas there were the four leading teachers: The first was named Emminent Conduct, the second named Boundless Conduct, the third named Pure Conduct, and the fourth named Steadfast Conduct. These four bodhisattvas are of their hosts the chief heads and leaders."(LS Ch. 15) 

               

How they revered their teacher Shakyamuni Buddha!! They spoke in verse: 

                               

                         "Good, good! 

                           Great hero, "World-honored one! 

                           All these living creatures 

                           Are easily transformed [by thee], 

                           Are able to inquire into 

                           The wisdom of Buddhas, 

                           And, hearing, to believe and discern. 

                           We congratulate thee."(ibid. Ch.15) 

The Daishonin states in Establishing The Four Bodhisattvas as the Object of Worship (MW vol 3): 

"In your letter you asked: " You have told me that an object of worship should bemade of Lord Shakyamuni of the essential teaching, flanked by the four Bodhisattvas of the Earth who have attended him since he attained enlightenment in the remote past. But when is such an object of worship to be established?" 

                   

And he further states in the Kaimoku Sho: 

All these beings [not metaphors] are disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha. Since the various Buddhas themselves are emanations of Shakyamuni buddha, it goes without saying that their disciples must be disciples of Shakyamuni. And of course the various deities of the sun, moon and stars, who have dwelt in the world from countless ages in the past must likewise be disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha."

The metaphors derive from the entities, the personality, the qualities and characters of these great Bodhisattvas, three of whom, who have not yet arrived.