The correct transmission of this commitment from teacher to disciple resulted in the correct teaching of Buddhism is passed on and widely spread. Through the unceasing joint struggle of mentor and disciple, the great path of kosen-rufu will continue forever. ​​

A famous passage in “The Parable of the Phantom City” (7th) chapter of the Lotus Sutra states: “Those persons who had heard the Law / dwelled here and there in various Buddha lands, / constantly reborn in company with their teachers” (LS7, 140). This means that teachers and disciples will always be born together in the same world and work together for kosen-rufu. ​

On the occasion of the third memorial (second anniversary) of Mr Makiguchi’s death, Mr Toda said, addressing his deceased mentor: ​

In your vast and boundless compassion, you let me accompany you even to prison. As a result, I could read with my entire being the passage from the Lotus Sutra: “Those persons who had heard the Law dwelled here and there in various Buddha lands, constantly reborn in company with their teachers.” The benefit of this was coming to know my former existence as a Bodhisattva of the Earth and to absorb with my very life even a small degree of the sutra’s meaning. Could there be any greater happiness than this?​

I have also engraved in my heart the afore-mentioned Lotus Sutra passage about teachers and disciples. I supported and protected my mentor and have realized all of his cherished dreams. And today I’m still fighting in unity with Mr Toda, in the spirit of being constantly in the company of my teacher. The shared commitment of teacher and disciple is one of the key teachings of the Lotus Sutra, because through the correct transmission of this commitment from teacher to disciple, the correct teaching of Buddhism is passed on and widely spread. ​

The karmic ties linking mentor and disciple are eternal. Through the unceasing joint struggle of mentor and disciple, the great path of kosen-rufu will continue forever. ​