Point One, on the terms “learners” and “adepts” in the “Prophecies Conferred on Learners and Adepts” chapter
The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings says: “Learners” means those who do not possess wisdom. “Adepts” means those who possess wisdom. Now, when Nichiren and his followers chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, they are bestowing on both learners and adepts a prophecy that, as Shakyamuni Buddha said, “all persons [will be] / equal to me, without any distinction between us” (chapter two, Expedient Means), are they not?
Some belong to the “adept” category in terms of body but to the “learner” category in terms of mind, while others belong to the “adept” category in terms of mind but to the “learner” category in terms of body.
These “learners and adepts” are all the living beings in the country of Japan. On all of them, wise and foolish alike, we bestow the prophecy of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, “preaching to them forcefully, though it angers them” [as volume ten of Words and Phrases says].
81Point Two, on the passage “At that time the Buddha said to Ānanda: ‘In a future existence you will become a Buddha with the name Mountain Sea Wisdom Unrestricted Power King Thus Come One.1’”
The Record of the Orally Transmitted Teachings says: “Mountain” stands for the principle that earthly desires are enlightenment. “Sea” stands for the principle that the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana. “Wisdom” is what is expressed in the words we speak. “Unrestricted” means without hindrance or obstruction. “Power King” [or “Penetrating King”] refers to the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, to the hundred worlds and thousand factors, to the three thousand realms in a single moment of life.
Again, we may say that “Mountain” represents the meaning of the theoretical teaching, and “Sea” represents the meaning of the essential teaching. “Wisdom” represents the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, the Wonderful Law. Now Nichiren and his followers, who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, are the Buddha Mountain Sea Wisdom Unrestricted Power King. He is none other than we [Nichiren and his followers]. Outside of us, the votaries of the Lotus Sutra, there is no other Ānanda. The name Ānanda means “joy,” the joy of awakening to the realization of the principle of three thousand realms in a single moment of life.