It is attributed to a little-known monk named Nissen (d.u.), whose main other work was to that of annotations of the lessons of Gyōgakuin Nicchō 行學院智朝2 . Nicchō was the 11th abbot of Kuonji 久遠寺 of Mt. Minobu 身延山 who in 1480 first includedin a collection one of the most famous non-autographical writings [N-AW] attributed to Nichiren, the Shohō jissō shō 諸法實相抄 [Shjss]. Nissen is assumed to have been a young student of Nicchō, but there is not much information about him, only that he is likely to have studied with monks belonging to the Nakayama 中山派 and Minobu branches 身延派 of Nichiren school 日蓮宗, and that in his old age he became the ninth abbot of a temple in the present Shizuoka Prefecture, the Myō'onji 妙恩寺 of Hamamatsu3 . But also left behind a personal manuscript: the Shohō jissō denshō 諸法實相傳抄 [hereafter: Nissen Note]. The manuscript is a private collection of notes, not edited for use in formal instruction. Its format is akin to the notes taken during a class lesson, inscribed in a personal cursive style.

Composition and content: The Nissen Note consists of nine papers, eighteen pages, seven rounds of questions and answers 問答, two explanations, two schematic diagrams, and is composed in a form that can be arranged into ten paragraphs. The content, following the interpretation of Nissen, can be summarized into twenty points as follows.

1. Kyō (sutra) 經 of myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō, the title of the Lotus Sutra 法華經 in Kumārajīvaʼs 鳩摩羅什 Chinese translation from the first half of 5th century, represents the dais where the two buddhas, Śākyamuni of the present age and Prabhūtaratna of the past age, share the same seat in the stūpa that appears in the eleventh chapter of Lotus Sutra. The four legs of their seat represent the 'highest distant virtue 懸隔ノ德,' and the place where the lion is holding up their seat.
2. Ge 華 (flower) of myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō represents the lion sitting on his jeweled dais; the grass crown of the character ge 草冠 is the board on the lionʼs head, and the lower part of the same character represents the seat of the lion.
3. Ren (lotus) 蓮, is the lotus ring 蓮輪 over the lion, like that found in the traditional Sanbō butsu-zō 三寶佛像 of the Nichiren School; it also represents the very body of those who believe in the Lotus Sutra teaching, and it also implies 'perfection'  圓.
4. Hō 法 (dharma) of myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō represents the two buddhas, Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna, the ten realms 十界 extending from hell 地獄 to the Buddhaʼs realm 佛界, which are both included in the provisional 權 and in the true 實 teaching.
5. Śākyamuni represents the revelation of the true teaching 實教ノ座; he represents the rising of a single instant of mental activity 一念 into the state of existence 有; the rising of a believer into the state of existence, as well as the luminosity of the awakening. Prabhūtaratna represents the preaching of the provisional teaching 權教ノ座; he represents the permanence 常住 of a single mental activity into the state of nothingness 無, and also the latency of the awakening within the believer of the Lotus Sutra.
6. Myō 妙 (subtle) of myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō is like the sharpest sword 上ノ劍, representing the highest virtue, the luminosity [of the awakening] which reveals the true meaning of the other Buddhist teachings and phenomena.
7. Mu 無 of na-mu-myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō also represents the light and brightness (of the awakening).
8. Na 南 of na-mu-myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō also represent the light and brightness (of the awakening) and the highest virtue 懸隔ノ德.
9. mental phenomena 心法 have both an invisible essence 體 and a visible shape 相; the five characters of myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō represents the essence of a mental phenomenon, and also the body and the environment 身土 surrounding the Lotus Sutra believer. Seeing in this way is called the 'contemplation that is able to uninterruptedly see through past, present and future'  三世不斷ノ觀法, the deep and primordial source of the awakening with this very body 卽身成佛ノ深源. If one does not learn this contemplation he will only remove his afflictions 煩惱 with the three elements of teaching, practice and actual proof [of being awakened] 教行證 over a limitless time. The 'visible shape'  相 of mental phenomena 心法 shows itself as the Buddha as a result of his practices in the past 修果ノ佛, and this appears with the shape of the two buddhas Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna.
10. About the virtual principle that rules every phenomena 理, and every single visible phenomenon in the world 事, the visible Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna 事ノ釋迦多寶 are the Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna everybody knows; but the virtual Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna 理ノ釋迦多寶 represent the totality of this phenomenal world 森羅萬象, and the totality of both the provisional and the true teachings.
11. About movement 動 and stillness 靜, when the invisible essence and the virtual principle of a mental phenomenon are in motion, they appear as Śākyamuni, and this represents the visible shape of a mental phenomenon 相; when they are still, they appear as Prabhūtaratna, and this represents in itself the essence 體 of Śākyamuni; to be free from all obstacles is the Middle Way and the eternal Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna 久遠の釋迦多寶.
12. About the method of practice called śamatha-vipaśyanā (calm abiding and clear contemplation) 止觀, and about the relation between śamatha and vipaśyanā, provisional and true, stillness and movement: śamatha 止 means provisional and stillness, vipaśyanā 觀 means true and in motion. Furthermore, these elements differ in name but are the same in essence 同體異名. This is the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.; Nichiren says the same in the Autographical Writing [AW], the Honzon shō 本尊抄.4
13. Not believing in the Lotus Sutra is the basis of the evil attachments 惡執ノ座; to be a believer of the Lotus Sutra is to sit on the Lotus seat 蓮華ノ座.
14. The five syllables of myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō represent the potential to produce all phenomena 能所, the main object of worship/the main Buddha 中尊; the two buddhas Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna represent what is produced and everything has a visible shape 生所. This visible shape, also called the 'originally existing sacred shape'  本有ノ尊形, refers to the object of worship 本尊, is the light breaking the darkness of ignorance of common mortals, the great conflagration 大火. Nichiren says the same thing in the N-AW Nichinyo gozen gohenji 日如御前御返事.5
15. Regarding the relation between of the four great bodhisattvas 四大菩薩 appearing in the fifteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra as representatives of who hear and believe in the teaching of the sutra and the five syllables of myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō, kyō 經 is the bodhisattva Stable Practice and symbolizes the pedestal. Ge 華 is the bodhisattva Pure Practice 淨行. Ren 蓮 is the bodhisattva Superior Practice 上行, of whom Nichiren is believed to be a rebirth, and symbolizes the great conflagration. Hō 法 is the bodhisattva Limitless Practice 無邊行 and symbolizes the surrounding phenomenal world 周邊法界. Myō 妙 represents the light emitted by the four great bodhisattvas.
16. The two buddhas Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna sitting on the same seat in the jeweled stūpa symbolizes the essential unity of the true teaching with the provisional teaching, and this unity also symbolizes the essential unity of Prabhūtaratna, as the true itself as the object of knowledge 境ノ多寶, with Śākyamuni, as the knowledge grasping the true. This is the meaning of 'the provisional will change into the true teaching producing a reward'  權變實爲報, which also means that Prabhūtaratna will enable Śākyamuni to receive the favor of his apparition into this world of suffering to let Śākyamuni begin the preaching of the true teaching; this is also the meaning of 'the true turns into the provisional and produces a reception'  實顚權爲受, or that Śākyamuni receives a reward. This represents the trigger of the 'true teaching as the truth manifesting itself by following worldly circumstances'  本門隨緣眞如の實, the teaching revealed in the second half of the Lotus Sutra (the true teaching). On the other hand, Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna still sitting in two different seats, before sharing the same into the Jeweled stūpa, symbolizes the virtual principle as the immutable truth 不變眞如ノ理 as it has been preached in the first half of the Lotus Sutra (the provisional teaching]).
17. The two buddhas sitting on the same seat into the jeweled stūpa symbolize the 'fortress of the truth originally existent as the pure mind/ninth consciousness'  九識, the 'fortress of the pure mind/ninth consciousness as the object of worship'  御本尊九識ノ都, as it is explained in the N-AW Nichinyo gozen gohenji; this 'fortress'  都 is quiescent yet enlightens everything at the same time 寂照同時, a topic which cannot to be conceptualized or expressed in language.
18. 'Quiet'  寂 in the assertion 'is quiet and enlightening everything at the same moment' , refers to śamatha, the calm abiding grasping the quiescence of the essence of all phenomena. It also refers to the time when the provisional teaching is preached, and is symbolized by Prabhūtaratna; 'enlightening everything' refers to vipaśyanā, the clear and dynamic contemplation grasping that the essence of each phenomena is quiescent and at the same time enlightening all beings, and also refers to the time when the true teaching is preached. It is symbolized by Śākyamuni.
19. All of this refers to the two buddhas sitting in the same seat into the jeweled stūpa of 'our' minds 己心ノ二佛竝座, Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna inside 'our' minds 己心ノ釋迦多寶. It also refers to the Lotus Sutra believer and to 'all phenomena'  諸法 in the assertion 'the real aspects is all phenomena'  諸法實相. The five characters of myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō practiced by 'us' refers to the 'real aspect'  實相; hence it is said that 'the real aspect is all phenomena;' in this sense Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna are not outside of 'us' , but refer directly to 'us' ; 'we,' the Lotus Sutra believers, are in ourselves the five characters of myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō, the Buddha-like entity of the lotus 當體蓮華ノ佛. This is the meaning of 'the real aspect is all phenomena;' also Nichiren says the same in the N-AW Tōtai gishō 當體義抄 to Sairenbō 最蓮房, (said also be a recipient of the Shjss).
20. At the end, Nissen reveals the origin of this oral transmission within the Minobu and the Nakayama branches of the Nichiren School, mainly the Honjaku icchi ha 本迹一致派 or Gonjitsu icchi ha 權實一致派, or the branch stressing the essential unity of the provisional teaching of the first half and the true teaching of the second half of Lotus Sutra. He then reports the name of the originator of this oral transmission, Shōgyōin Nichigen 正行院日源 (d.u.) from the Nakayama branch, master of Honjōbō Nichijitsu 本成房日實 (15c.) from the same branch, and of Nicchō from the Minobu branch, and also reports in which collection it has been officially recorded by Nicchō as a writing by Nichiren under the title of Shjss: the Collection of Writings Outside the Official Records 錄外合本 from 1480. He also reports relevant opinions about its content and the creation of manuscripts like the Shjss at that time.