Cowards are the vilest of all people

"Let each and every one without exception who would name themselves my disciples never think of acting cowardly. Do not think of parents, wives, children, nor have regards for domains. For immeasurable kalpas there have been more instances than the dust atoms of the Great Earth that they have abandoned their lives for the sake of parents, children, and domains but never yet once have they abandoned their lives for the sake of the Lotus Sutra. Although they fully practice the Lotus Sutra, when such events occur, they turn, backslide, and stop. For example, it is like putting boiling water into cold water or attempting to start a fire and failing to succeed. Let each one be resolved. Exchanging this body for the Lotus Sutra is exchanging rocks for gold or dung for rice. As an auspicious sign that the Five Characters Myo ho ren ge kyo which are the Essence of the Lotus Sutra and the Eyes of the Buddhas and which even Kashyapa, Ananda and so on, Ashvaghosa, Nagarjuna and so on, Nan Yueh, Tientai and so on, Miao-le, Dengyo and so on have not yet spread during the more than twenty-two hundred and fifty years after the Buddha's Extinction, they are going to spread at the beginning of the Age of the Latter Dharma. I, Nichiren, have taken the lead. My party, together with the second and third battle lines and continuing on are, indeed, superior even to Kashyapa and Ananda and go beyond Tientai and Dengyo. If they are terrified when the rulers of a mere little island nation threaten, what shall they do about the torments of King Emma? Those naming themselves, 'messengers of the Buddha' yet who act cowardly are the vilest of people." -- Letter on His Various Acts (Shuju Furumai Gosho)