Letter to Shimoyama（3rd of 12th paragraph）
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Although this doctrine was proclaimed by one Buddha alone, Shakyamuni, unless one is a follower of non-Buddhist teachings, one should have no doubts concerning it. In order to make clear that it is of greater weight than all the doctrines of the other sutras that the Buddha has preached, now preaches, or ever will preach, the Thus Come One Many Treasures of the land called Treasure Purity came in person all the way to this world of ours to testify to its importance. He gave his testimony to the truth that all those people who adamantly adhere to the earlier teachings of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni, as set forth in the Mahāvairochana, Amida, and other sutras, or to the Nembutsu practice, and fail to accept the Lotus Sutra that was preached later, are without doubt destined to enter the Avīchi hell.
In addition, Amida Buddha and the other Buddhas of the ten directions one and all abandoned their respective lands and journeyed to Eagle Peak to take part in the Ceremony in the Air. There, seated under the jeweled trees, they stuck out their long broad tongues until they reached to the Brahma heaven. It was as though a countless, immeasurable number of rainbows were soaring into the sky.
The purport of all this was that the matters related in the sutras preached in the first forty and more years, such as the Meditation, Amida, and Compassionate White Lotus Flower sutras, including the story of how the monk Dharma Treasury made his forty-eight vows and the other bodhisattvas their respective vows, promising to guide ordinary people to the Pure Land with the nine-grade distinction,75 were no more than temporary words of solace preached prior to the Lotus Sutra. There is in fact no such thing as being welcomed into the pure lands of the ten directions or of the western direction, as is asserted in those various sutras, and one should not look on such assertions as the truth.
The truth lies in what Shakyamuni Buddha has preached now [in the Lotus Sutra]. One should have faith in the five characters of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the crux of the “Life Span” chapter. It was to affirm this that Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions appeared here and stuck out their long broad tongues.
“We are Buddhas in the same way that Shakyamuni is a Buddha” [said the Buddhas of the ten directions]. “Shakyamuni Buddha is like the moon in the heavens, and we are the reflection of the moon in the water. The realm of Shakyamuni Buddha is in fact this sahā world. So long as the moon in the heavens does not move, we ourselves will not take our leave. We will continue to reside in this sahā world and will guard and protect the votary of the Lotus Sutra, serving him the way ministers and subjects serve their sovereign ruler, and loving him the way parents love an only child.” This is what they wished to express when they stuck out their tongues.
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Notes
75. Nine categories, classified according to their natures and qualities, of people who attain rebirth in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha. Ordinary believers are of superior, medium, or inferior capacity, corresponding respectively to followers of Mahayana, followers of Hinayana, and evil people who violate the precepts and commit crimes. Each of these three categories is further divided into those of superior, medium, or inferior quality and merit. According to which category they belong to, Amida Buddha comes down to this world in a different manner to lead them at the moment of death to the Pure Land.