how did buddha suffer & how does this inform nichiren buddhists?

[nichiren-123]

So the buddha taught the 4 noble truths:

there is suffering,
suffering is caused by attachment
suffering is ended by letting go of attachment
the eightfold path is the way to let go of attachment.

and once you master the eightfold path - let go of attachment completely - you cease to suffer and you become an arhat.

despite this, in nichiren buddhism we talk about 'suffer what there is to suffer', 'the fire burns quicker when logs are added', etc.

so this leaves me confused; there seem to be two options - let go of all attachments (if that's even possible) OR make the best use of sufferings.

Did buddha truly let go of all attachments or did he make the best use of them?
If he did truly let go of them then how does a nichiren buddhist go about doing the same thing?

[Minobu]

it helps me to see what sort of deal we live in.

As for Nichiren , He warns of being persecuted by all sorts of stuff and beings for just wanting to practice this Buddhism for oneself and others.

[Queequeg]

So the buddha taught the 4 noble truths:

there is suffering,
suffering is caused by attachment
suffering is ended by letting go of attachment
the eightfold path is the way to let go of attachment.

and once you master the eightfold path - let go of attachment completely - you cease to suffer and you become an arhat.

despite this, in nichiren buddhism we talk about 'suffer what there is to suffer', 'the fire burns quicker when logs are added', etc.

so this leaves me confused; there seem to be two options - let go of all attachments (if that's even possible) OR make the best use of sufferings.

Did buddha truly let go of all attachments or did he make the best use of them?
If he did truly let go of them then how does a nichiren buddhist go about doing the same thing?

The Four Noble Truths are understood differently depending on the view. In the Hinayana, the First Noble Truth is the Truth of Dukkha - "Dukkha of dukkha, says the preacher, dukkha of dukkha. All is dukkha!"

As was explained to me in the Mahayana, however, it is more accurate to say, "Unenlightened life is dukkha."

As I understand, in Hinayana, one works on disrupting the 12 linked chain of causation at the point between feeling (vedanha) and craving (Tanha), thereby ending the perpetuation of karma; as no new karma is created, the remaining karma carries through on momentum until it is finally and completely exhausted, ending in Nirvana. One feels the effects of past karma, but forms no attachment to it leading to the origination of further karma.

The letting go of attachment you refer to sounds like the Hinayana approach.

There are several views within Mahayana - there is the view that is more or less Hinayana in nature except that one postpones nirvana to work for the liberation of other beings - staying in the samsaric cycle on purpose.

There are other views in which one transforms dukkha into wisdom.

And still another view in which one directly embodies wisdom by virtue of our interpenetration with Buddha.

In Nichiren's teaching, one embodies Buddha wisdom through faith - though we don't directly see Buddha wisdom at this time, we proceed on faith that it is irrepressibly manifest perfectly. Hence Nichiren counsels, suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy, keep chanting Daimoku which is the expression of joy in the Dharma.