How much less should we disparage Nichiren

The following passages are from Reply to Lord Matsuno [the Fourteen Slanders gosho]:

The Bodhisattva Fukyô in the past, saying that all beings have the Buddha Nature and that, if they keep the Hokekyô, they will certainly attain Buddhahood and to slight them would turn out to be slighting Buddhas, established the Practice of Bowing in Reverence; saying that even those who do not keep the Hokekyô, if they were to keep it, have the Buddha Nature, [and would become Buddhas], he performed Bowing in Reverence in this way [to those who did not keep it]. How much more to the householders and those who have left the household life who keep it! In the fourth fascicle of this Sutra it appears that if there is demeaning with even one evil word of one who keeps and preaches the Hokekyô, be it a householder or one who has left the household life, the magnitude of the sin is beyond the sin of directly disparaging the Buddha Shakya. It is also preached, 'Whether real or not real'. When one thinks of it in these terms, those who keep the Hokekyô should not, even forgetfully, disparage each other, should they? The reason is that all those who keep the Hokekyô are necessarily Buddhas and to disparage a Buddha is to earn oneself a sin. When one understands it in this way, the merit of the Title (Daimoku) which one chants must be equal to the merit of Lord Shakya. (KHS, p. 573)

Those who have obtained a human body, which is difficult to receive, and who happen to have left the household life, who have studied the Buddha Dharma and who do not attack those who blaspheme against the Dharma but vainly spend their nights and days in disporting and playing and idle talk are beasts who have put on the skin of Dharma teachers. Though they borrow the name of 'Dharma teachers' to make their way through the world and nourish themselves, there is not one instance of their turning out to be Dharma teachers. They are thieves who steal the name of 'Dharma teachers'. They should be ashamed. They should be afraid. In the Manifestation Doctrine (Shakumon) it preaches , 'We shall not cherish bodily life but only treasure the Supreme Way' and in the Original Doctrine it preaches, 'Not sparing their bodily lives' and in the Nirvana Sutra there appears, 'The body is slight and the Dharma important: kill the body to spread the Dharma.' It appears in the Two Doctrines of the Manifestation and of the Original and the Nirvana Sutra that one should abandon bodily life to spread the Dharma. The fact that, though the grave sin of flouting these injunctions does not appear to the eyes, it builds up and one falls to hell, for example, the cold and heat are without form and do not appear to the eye but in the winter the cold comes and attacks plants and trees, humans and beasts, and in the summer the heat afflicts both humans and beasts. (KHS, p. 580)

But for your person, as a householder, the essence is for you to chant 'Namu Myôhô renge kyô' with no other thought and also to make offering to the monks. And also, if it is according to the Sutra text, one should also 'expound it according to their strength', shouldn't one? When the world is sorrowful, though you think, 'Even the sufferings of the present life are painful, how much more the sufferings of the world to come,' chant 'Namu Myôhô renge kyô', and when it joyful also, think, 'The joy of the present life is a dream within a dream; it is the joy of the Pure Land of Spiritual Mountain (Ryôzen jôdo) that is the true joy' and with this chant 'Namu Myôhô renge kyô', and, practicing without backsliding, wait for the time approaching the very end and see! If you run and climb the Mountain of Sublime Enlightenment and take a good look at the four directions, how fantastic! The Realm of Dharmas is the Land of Tranquil Light with lapis lazuli as its earth and the eight ways bounded with ropes of gold, and from the heavens the four types of flowers rain down, in the void music is heard, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas caressed by the winds of Eternity, Bliss, Self and Purity, indeed rejoice and are happy. And is it nearing the time when we too shall be ranked in that number, disporting and playing and taking pleasure. When the mind of faith is weak, one cannot go to such an auspicious place; one cannot go! (The ninth day of the twelfth month of the Second Year of Kenji (1276): KHS, p.581)