Nichiren departed from the concepts of Master and Disciple relationships. Unlike other priests of his time, like Dogen who regarded Ju-ching as his teacher, or Shinran who revered Honen, Nichiren had no one person contemporary to himself that he looked up to throughout his entire life as, "master". He did however retain a life long feeling of gratitude and affection for Dozen-bo of Kiyosumi-dera in Awa, under whom he took the tonsure at sixteen, he departed very early from Dozen-bo's Amidist mode of Buddhist practice and understanding. Also, Nichiren had no special allegiance to anyone at Mount Hiei or any of the other major Buddhist centers where he studied from 1238 to 1253.

Nichiren saw himself standing in a line that had begun with Shakyamuni Buddha and passed to Chich-I (TienTai), Saicho (Dengyo) and himself. Eventually, he believed he received a transmission directly from Shakyamuni. This is the spirit of Kempon Hokke Kai. Direct lineage from the scrolls of the Lotus Sutra.

"Although Nichiren dwells in such a remote and forlorn retreat [Minobu], within the heart of his fleshy body he holds concealed the secret Dharma of the sole great matter (ichidaiji) transmitted by the Lord Shakyamuni, master of the teachings, on Vulture Peak."

From "Nanjo Hyoe Shichiro-dono gohenji" STN 2:1884

" True Object of Worship For Attaining Buddhahood," concerning recitation of the Sutra:

"There is doubt that we should not read the provisional teaching because of my sentence in the 'True Object of Worship'. This is a wrong view. As a result, I sometimes wrote that you must discard the provisional gate. The provisional gate [I referred to] is not the provisional teaching [of the Hoben chapter] we now read. I refuted the provisional teaching of the Mt. Hiei Tendai sect as a teaching whose time is past. If you practice according to T'ien-t'ai and Dengyo in the Latter Day of the Law, it is like using last year's calendar." (Gosho Zenshu, p. 972)