The Lotus Sutra, Nichiren, and Ashvaghosha
In The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, Ashvaghosha writes:
"As the World-honored one, considering the inferior intellectual caliber of Shravakas and Pretyekabuddhas, taught them only the doctrine of the non-personal atman,[and did not make any further demonstration of the doctrine], the people have in the meantime formed a fixed idea of the transitoriness of the five skandhas, and being terrified of the thought of birth and death, have fanatically craved for Nirvana.
"In order that this clinging may be eliminated, be it clearly understood that the essence of the five skandhas is uncreate, there is no annihilation of them; that since there is no annihilation of them, they are in their [metaphysical] origin Nirvana itself."
Nichiren Dasihonin states in On Repaying Debts of Gratitude:
Question: 'Is there a True Dharma which Tendai and Dengyô did not propagate?' Answer: 'There is.' We inquire, 'What is it?' Answer: 'There are three: The Buddha has left them for the sake of the Latter Dharma. They are the TrueDharma which Kashyapa, Ananda and so on, Ashvaghosha, Nagarjuna and so on, Tendai, Dengyô and so on did not propagate.' We inquire:' What about their form and appearance?' Answer: 'One: Japan and so on to the whole of Jambudvîpa should uniformly take the Master of Teachings Lord Shakya of the Original Doctrine as the Object of Worship. Which is to say, Shakya and Tahô within the Jewelled Stupa, the various Buddhas outside as well as the Four Bodhisattvas, Jôgyô and the others, are to become the side attendants. 'Two: the Precept [Ordination] Platform of the Original Doctrine. Three: Each person of Japan and so on to the Land of Han, the Yüeh-chih, and the whole of Jambudvîpa, regardless of whether they have wisdom or have no wisdom, should uniformly abandon other matters and chant "Namu Myôhô renge kyô". This matter has not yet spread. Within whole of Jambudvîpa during the two thousand two hundred twenty-five years after the Buddha's Extinction not one person has chanted [it]. I, Nichiren, alone have chanted without sparing my voice, "Namu Myôhô renge kyô, Namu Myôhô renge kyô." For example, there is a greater or lesser size of waves according to the wind; there is a rising and falling of a fire in accordance with the fuel; there is a greater or lesser size of lotuses according to the pond; the greatness or smallness of rain depends upon the dragon; when the roots are deep, the branches are luxuriant; when the source is far away, the stream is long: when they say these, it refers to this. For the seven hundred years of the Chou Era they depended on the filial piety and ritual of King Wen. The Era of Ch'in was of no extent: it was [due to] the left [wrong, vile] way of the First Emperor (Shih huang). If Nichiren's compassion is broad and great, "Namu Myôhô renge kyô" will flow on to the future, beyond ten thousand years. He has the merit of opening the blind eyes of all the beings of the country of Japan; he has blocked the path to the Unremitting Hell. This merit goes beyond Dengyô and Tendai, and surpasses Nagarjuna and Kashyapa. Practice for a hundred years in [the Western Pure Land of] Gokuraku is not up to the merit of one day in the impure land. Is propagation for the two thousand years of the True and Counterfeit [Dharmas] superior to one hour in the Latter Dharma? This is by no means from the worthiness of Nichiren's wisdom; it is only that the time makes it so. In spring the flowers bloom; in autumn the fruit forms. In the summer it is hot, but in winter it is cool: it is not the time that makes it so.? (The twenty-first day of the Seventh Month of the Second year of Kenji (1277): KHS, p. 482)