Gosho Zenshu - Part 10
"Disintegration is the source of creation, and we descend in order to rise."
(Mikoshifuri Gosho, GZ-1264)
" ... just an island chieftan."
(Homon Mosarubeki Yo no Koto, GZ-1268)
"Names have the virtue of never failing to be substantiated."
(Jissho Sho, GZ-1274)
"Even though the Nembutsu is incorporated in the Lotus Sutra, it is still a provisional teaching within the body of the Buddha's enlightenment; it is not equal to the true teaching of the Buddha's enlightenment."
(Jissho Sho, GZ-1275)
"... escaped [the Matsubagayatsu] persecution through the protection of the ten demon daughters."
(?, GZ-1294)
"Someone reported to me that you had fallen ill. Day and night, dawn and dusk, I prayed to the heavens. Today I learned that you had recovered, and my joy knows no bounds. Let us talk in more detail the next time we meet."
(?, GZ-1298)
"The benefit of the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra [Nam-myoho-renge-kyo] is as vast as all the earth in the ten directions. "In a comparison of the benefit of the teachings prior to the Lotus Sutra to the benefit of the daimoku [Nam-myoho-renge-kyo]: one is as meager as a single drop of water, while one is as vast as the ocean; one is as worthless as a piece of tile or a pebble, while the other as precious as gold and silver; one is as dim as the light of a firefly, while the other as bright as the sun and moon."
(?, GZ-1300)
"Embracing the Lotus Sutra will produce no benefit without the heritage of faith."
(?, GZ-1338)
"This great mandala is the essence of the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single life moment [ichinen sanzen]."
(Somoku Jobutsu Kuketsu, GZ-1339)
"Those who become my disciples can see Eagle Peak in India without walking even a single step, and can travel to the land of Eternally Tranquil Light day and night. What an indescribable joy!"
(Sairenbo Gohenji, GZ-1343)
"The votary of the Lotus Sutra, if he neither backslides in faith nor acts falsely and, with full devotion to the Lotus Sutra, practices as it prescribes, will surely obtain supreme blessings and good fortune - not only in the next lifetime but in this lifetime, too - in preventing misfortune and prolonging his natural life span. Our great wish for kosen-rufu will then be fulfilled."
(Kito Kyo Okurijo, GZ-1357)
"Even a priest who belongs to one of the provisional sects should do so [observe the precepts, that is, not to marry or eat meat]. It goes without saying that this applies even more so to the practitioner of the True Law."
(Kito Kyo Okurijo, GZ-1357)
"If the mentor falls into Hell, then so will the disciples. If the disciples fall into Hell, then so will the followers."
(?, GZ-1368)
"It is the single thought or ichinen that the Buddhas and all other beings possess."
(?, GZ-1368)
"If there should be a bodhisattva who protects evil persons and fails to chastise them, and if, as a result, the growth of evil is abetted, good people are caused to feel worry and confusion and the True Law is destroyed, such a person is not truly a bodhisattva. He or she will often spuriously assert, 'I am carrying out the practice of perseverance.' When his or her life comes to an end, he or she will fall into hell along with those evil persons."
(Nanbu Rokuro Dono Gosho, GZ-1374)
"How is it that you can have faith in Nichiren, though you have never met him? It is, no doubt, the result of good causes you have planted in your life in the past. Since the time has come when you are certain to attain Buddhahood in your next life, you now have aroused faith."
(Matsuno Dono Goshosoku, GZ-1379)
"In the past, a child called Tokusho Doji made an offering of a mudpie to Shakyamuni Buddha. Thus he was later reborn as King Ashoka and became a lord of Jambudvipa and eventually attained enlightenment."
(Matsuno Dono Goshosoku, GZ-1380)
"Upon rising in the east in the morning, the god of the sun emits a great beam of brightness and, opening his divine eye, surveys Jambudvipa [the entire world]. If he finds a votary of the Lotus Sutra there, he feels joy in his heart. If there is a country that hates the votary, he looks menacingly at it, his divine eye glaring."
(Matsuno Dono Goshosoku, GZ-1380)
"There is no need at this late date to emphasize how great is the debt one owes to one's father and mother. But I would like to stress that the debt to one's mother is particularly important and worthy to be taken to heart. "When we observe how even the birds on the wing nourish their young, how even the beasts that range the field strive to quell their offspring's hungry cries, it is a sight almost unbearable to behold, so overwhelming is their devotion. "I would like to stress that the debt to one's mother is particularly important and worth taking to heart."
(Gyobu Saemon no Jo Nyobo Gohenji, GZ-1398)
"When my own mother was still living, I went too much against her words. Now when my mother has already passed away and I think of it, I cannot help but feel deep regret. That is why I have studied the entire body of teachings put forward by Shakyamuni Buddha in the course of his lifetime in order to determine which sutra is most appropriate for someone who wishes to show filial devotion to his mother."
(?, GZ-1401)
"Learn first about death, then about other things."
(Myoho Ama Gozen Gohenji, GZ-1404)
"Doubting the truth [of the Nembutsu teaching], I made a vow."
(Myoho Bikuni Gohenji, GZ-1407)
"... born of a commoner's house."
(Myoho Bikuni Gohenji, GZ-1407)
"People, without giving careful consideration [to whether the teaching is correct] took faith in the Nembutsu one after another because it is easy to practice."
(Myoho Bikuni Gohenji, GZ-1410)
"... [He took action] because he treasured the Buddhist Law and did not fear secular rules."
(Myoho Bikuni Gohenji, GZ-1412)
"My situation is the same [as the T'ang general Li-ju Hsien]. Although I brought forth [this teaching of the True Law] out of the desire to help the people of Japan, I am not allowed even to enter the province of my birth, and now, too, I have left the province of my exile. In living secluded deep in this mountain [Mount Minobu], I resemble Li-ju Hsien.
"Since I have no wife or children in either my native province or in my place of exile, there is certainly no need for me to grieve (as Li-ju Hsien must have.) Still, apprehensive thoughts of my parents' graves lying untended and of people dear to me weigh on my heart. My feelings are beyond words to express.
"Yet, I feel joy. Although their bodies have perished, the warriors who, true to their ways, marched forward in the cause of their lord, taking the lead in crossing the Uji and Seta rivers, made names that will be known in ages to come.
"For the cause of the Lotus Sutra, I, Nichiren, have likewise been driven from my dwelling and attacked on many occasions, suffering wounds on my body. My disciples have been killed. I have twice been condemned to exile in distant regions. And, once, I was almost beheaded. All this I bore for the sake of the Lotus Sutra.
"The Buddha preaches in the Lotus Sutra that more than 2,200 years after his death, in the fifth 500-year period [i.e., at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law] when the Lotus Sutra is about to spread throughout the world, the Devil of the Sixth Heaven will take possession of people, abusing, striking, banishing or killing those who happen to take faith in this sutra, in an attempt to prevent them from propagating the sutra's teachings. He goes on to say that those who stand in the vanguard at that time will win benefit as great as though they had given offerings to the Buddhas of the three existences and the ten directions. And the Buddha also promises that he will transfer to such persons the benefits resulting from his own trials and the ascetic practices he underwent as a bodhisattva.
"When in the past Bodhisattva Never Disparaging (Jpn Fukyo) spread the Law, respected monks and nuns, known for their wisdom and for upholding all 250 rules of the monk's regulations, gathered in a great assembly and cunningly enticed the laymen and laywomen to slander and attack Bodhisattva Never Disparaging. But Bodhisattva Never Disparaging never thought of turning back and continued to spread the Lotus Sutra, until finally he attained Buddhahood.
"Bodhisattva Never Disparaging of the past is the present Shakyamuni Buddha. The respected monks who envied and attacked him fell into the Avichi hell for a thousand kalpas. Even though they praised thousands of sutras including the Kammuryoju and Amida sutras, hailed the names of all Buddhas, invoked the Nembutsu of Amida Buddha, and day and night read the Lotus Sutra, because they had viewed the true votary of the Lotus Sutra with enmity, neither the Lotus Sutra, nor the Nembutsu teaching nor the precepts could save them, and they fell into the Avichi hell for a period of a thousand kalpas.
"Those monks at first regarded Bodhisattva Never Disparaging with disdain, but later had a change of heart and themselves took action to serve him, following him as slaves would obey their master. Nevertheless, they could not avoid falling into the hell of incessant suffering.
"The people of Japan who are now hostile toward Nichiren are the same. No, my situation is completely different from that of Bodhisattva Never Disparaging - he was scorned and beaten, but he was never sent into exile by the ruler. He was struck with sticks and staves, tiles and rocks, but he was not wounded or nearly beheaded.
"For more than 20 years, l have been continually vilified and attacked by sticks and staves, tiles and rocks. In addition, I have been wounded, exiled, and even nearly beheaded. My disciples have had their lands confiscated, been jailed, sent far away, driven away from their homes, or had their rice paddies and fields stolen. They have been treated even worse than night robbers, thieves, pirates, mountain bandits and rebels.
"This [the Daishonin's having encountered persecutions incomparably greater than those which Bodhisattva Never Disparaging faced] is entirely because of the charges made [against the Daishonin to the rulers] by high-ranking priests of the Shingon, Nembutsu and Zen sects.
"Accordingly, their offense is more weighty than the earth. become a reality. Therefore, the earth shakes more violently than a ship on the sea in the midst of a great storm. The 84,000 stars glare down from the heavens, day and night there are abnormal phenomena in the heavens and the sun and moon also show great irregularities.
"Already 2,227 years have passed since the Buddha entered nirvana. Even when King Mihirakula burned all the Buddhist halls and monasteries of the five regions of India and murdered all the monks of the16 major states or when Emperor Wu-tsung of T'ang China destroyed Buddhist temples and pagodas in China and broke up the Buddha images, or when Mononobe no Moriya burned the gilded bronze statue of the Buddha with charcoal and persecuted the monks and nuns, forcing them to return to secular life, never have such comets [as the great comet of 1264] or such great earthquakes [as the great earthquake of 1257] occurred.
"The evil of people today is hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of times more severe. In these earlier cases, the evil mind of a single ruler [was the cause of the persecution]; the persecution did not arise from the hearts of the ministers on down [who merely carried out the king's wishes]. Moreover, King Mihirakula and the others were enemies of the provisional Buddha and sutras. And the monks [who were persecuted] did not practice the Lotus Sutra.
"Now, however, the persecutions are completely against the Lotus Sutra and they represent a great evil spirit that arises not only from the heart of the ruler himself but from the hearts of wise people throughout the entire land and of the entire populace.
"When a woman becomes envious, a great fire burns in her heart, and as a result her body turns red. The hair on her body stands on end, her limbs shake and a flame rises to her face, which turns vermilion. Her eyes open wide like the eyes of a cat glaring at a mouse. Her hands tremble, resembling the leaves of an oak blown by the wind. To those nearby, she resembles a great demon.
"This is the state of the ruler and high-ranking priests of Japan, as well as the monks and nuns. When they hear Nichiren declare that the invocation of the Nembutsu to Amida Buddha, on which they rely, leads to the hell of incessant suffering, that Shingon is a teaching that destroys the country and that Zen is the practice of devils, they grind their teeth [in a fit of rage] while counting their prayer beads and bobbing their heads [in exasperation] while ringing their prayer bells.
"Although they appear to uphold the precepts, they harbor an evil spirit [to do away with the Daishonin]. Saint Ryokan of Gokuraku-ji temple, who is revered as a living Buddha, has made charges to the government on folded paper [official stationary folded in half]. Saint Doryu of Kencho-ji has ridden on a litter and kneeled before magistrate officials. Nuns of high standing who have received all of the 500 precepts [from Ryokan and others] write their accusations down on the finest silk and present them to high officials.
"In trying to do away with Nichiren by making slanderous accusations against him, Ryokan and the others while reading the Lotus Sutra fail completely to comprehend it. And while hearing it are utterly deaf to its meaning.
"They are drunk on the sweet old sake of the words of Shan-tao and Honen who say that 'not one person in a thousand [can attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra],' or of Kobo and Jikaku who characterize the Lotus Sutra as 'just empty theory' or of Bodhidharma who claims that the true teaching of Shakyamuni was transmitted apart from the sutras. As a result, they have become deranged.
"For are not people intoxicated who, while seeing the plain statement [in the Lotus Sutra] that the 'Lotus is foremost' (LS10, 164), say that the Dainichi Sutra is superior to the Lotus Sutra, or that the teaching of Zen is the supreme law, or that the Ritsu sect is truly respectworthy or that the Nembutsu is the teaching that actually matches people's capacity?
"They are like people who say that stars are superior to the moon, that rocks are superior to gold, that east is west or that the sky is land. Because of their distorted minds, they feel tremendous animosity toward those who tell how things really are and explain that the moon and gold are superior to stars and rocks, that east is east and the sky is the sky.
"Under such circumstances, should one blindly follow the majority? Today the majority is just a gathering of many people out of their minds.
"I feel the greatest pity for all ordinary men and women who, because they base themselves on this distorted way of thinking, will experience the sufferings of hell.
"In the Nirvana Sutra, the Buddha says that in the Latter Day of the Law those who slander the Lotus Sutra and fall into hell will be more numerous than the dust particles that comprise the earth, while those who believe in the Lotus Sutra and become Buddhas will be fewer than the specks of dirt one can pile on a fingernail.
"You should consider things in light of these words. Is it possible that the people of Japan correspond to the specks of dirt on a fingernail and the one person Nichiren to the dust particles [of the worlds] in the ten directions?
"Nonetheless, what karmic relationship could have caused you and your sister-in-law to send me a robe? Your making of such an offering surely indicates your desire to join those who count themselves among the specks of dirt that can be placed on a fingernail
"The Nirvana Sutra also says that even though one might be able to dangle a thread from the Brahma heaven in a great wind and thread it through the eye of a needle set upon the earth, it is extremely difficult to encounter the votary of the Lotus Sutra in the Latter Day of the Law.
"The Lotus Sutra tells of a turtle that lives at the bottom of the sea. Once every 3,000 years the turtle rises to the surface. At that time, if he happens to find a hollowed-out sandalwood log, he can rest in its hollow to cool his belly while warming his back in the sun. Because the turtle is one-eyed and squint-eyed, he sees west as east and east as west. [And even if he is fortunate enough to find a log shaped just right, he may be unable to climb into its hollow (LS27, 315).]
"These examples illustrate just how rare the men and women born in the evil age of the Latter Day are who can thread themselves through the needle's eye or rest in the hollow of the Lotus Sutra and Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
"What karma or relation from the past could have made you want to present an offering to this person [Nichiren]? When we read the Lotus Sutra, we find it explains that this spirit arises in a person when Shakyamuni Buddha enters his or her life.
"This is comparable to how when someone becomes drunk on sake an unexpected spirit may arise in them and they may want to give things away to others, even though they previously had no such inclination. Thus, someone who would otherwise fall into the world of Hunger on account of stinginess and greed may, through the external cause of sake, be possessed by the spirit of a bodhisattva.
"Dirty water becomes clear when a jewel is placed in it. When a person faces the moon their mind begins to wander.
"A demon depicted in a painting has no spirit. but is still frightening. A courtesan in a painting can not steal your husband, but it can still elicit envy. One will not want to enter even fine brocade bedding if the image of a snake is woven into it. When we feel hot, a warm breeze is unpleasant.
"Disintegration is the source of creation, and we descend in order to rise."
(Mikoshifuri Gosho, GZ-1264)
" ... just an island chieftan."
(Homon Mosarubeki Yo no Koto, GZ-1268)
"Names have the virtue of never failing to be substantiated."
(Jissho Sho, GZ-1274)
"Even though the Nembutsu is incorporated in the Lotus Sutra, it is still a provisional teaching within the body of the Buddha's enlightenment; it is not equal to the true teaching of the Buddha's enlightenment."
(Jissho Sho, GZ-1275)
"... escaped [the Matsubagayatsu] persecution through the protection of the ten demon daughters."
(?, GZ-1294)
"Someone reported to me that you had fallen ill. Day and night, dawn and dusk, I prayed to the heavens. Today I learned that you had recovered, and my joy knows no bounds. Let us talk in more detail the next time we meet."
(?, GZ-1298)
"The benefit of the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra [Nam-myoho-renge-kyo] is as vast as all the earth in the ten directions. "In a comparison of the benefit of the teachings prior to the Lotus Sutra to the benefit of the daimoku [Nam-myoho-renge-kyo]: one is as meager as a single drop of water, while one is as vast as the ocean; one is as worthless as a piece of tile or a pebble, while the other as precious as gold and silver; one is as dim as the light of a firefly, while the other as bright as the sun and moon."
(?, GZ-1300)
"Embracing the Lotus Sutra will produce no benefit without the heritage of faith."
(?, GZ-1338)
"This great mandala is the essence of the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single life moment [ichinen sanzen]."
(Somoku Jobutsu Kuketsu, GZ-1339)
"Those who become my disciples can see Eagle Peak in India without walking even a single step, and can travel to the land of Eternally Tranquil Light day and night. What an indescribable joy!"
(Sairenbo Gohenji, GZ-1343)
"The votary of the Lotus Sutra, if he neither backslides in faith nor acts falsely and, with full devotion to the Lotus Sutra, practices as it prescribes, will surely obtain supreme blessings and good fortune - not only in the next lifetime but in this lifetime, too - in preventing misfortune and prolonging his natural life span. Our great wish for kosen-rufu will then be fulfilled."
(Kito Kyo Okurijo, GZ-1357)
"Even a priest who belongs to one of the provisional sects should do so [observe the precepts, that is, not to marry or eat meat]. It goes without saying that this applies even more so to the practitioner of the True Law."
(Kito Kyo Okurijo, GZ-1357)
"If the mentor falls into Hell, then so will the disciples. If the disciples fall into Hell, then so will the followers."
(?, GZ-1368)
"It is the single thought or ichinen that the Buddhas and all other beings possess."
(?, GZ-1368)
"If there should be a bodhisattva who protects evil persons and fails to chastise them, and if, as a result, the growth of evil is abetted, good people are caused to feel worry and confusion and the True Law is destroyed, such a person is not truly a bodhisattva. He or she will often spuriously assert, 'I am carrying out the practice of perseverance.' When his or her life comes to an end, he or she will fall into hell along with those evil persons."
(Nanbu Rokuro Dono Gosho, GZ-1374)
"How is it that you can have faith in Nichiren, though you have never met him? It is, no doubt, the result of good causes you have planted in your life in the past. Since the time has come when you are certain to attain Buddhahood in your next life, you now have aroused faith."
(Matsuno Dono Goshosoku, GZ-1379)
"In the past, a child called Tokusho Doji made an offering of a mudpie to Shakyamuni Buddha. Thus he was later reborn as King Ashoka and became a lord of Jambudvipa and eventually attained enlightenment."
(Matsuno Dono Goshosoku, GZ-1380)
"Upon rising in the east in the morning, the god of the sun emits a great beam of brightness and, opening his divine eye, surveys Jambudvipa [the entire world]. If he finds a votary of the Lotus Sutra there, he feels joy in his heart. If there is a country that hates the votary, he looks menacingly at it, his divine eye glaring."
(Matsuno Dono Goshosoku, GZ-1380)
"There is no need at this late date to emphasize how great is the debt one owes to one's father and mother. But I would like to stress that the debt to one's mother is particularly important and worthy to be taken to heart. "When we observe how even the birds on the wing nourish their young, how even the beasts that range the field strive to quell their offspring's hungry cries, it is a sight almost unbearable to behold, so overwhelming is their devotion. "I would like to stress that the debt to one's mother is particularly important and worth taking to heart."
(Gyobu Saemon no Jo Nyobo Gohenji, GZ-1398)
"When my own mother was still living, I went too much against her words. Now when my mother has already passed away and I think of it, I cannot help but feel deep regret. That is why I have studied the entire body of teachings put forward by Shakyamuni Buddha in the course of his lifetime in order to determine which sutra is most appropriate for someone who wishes to show filial devotion to his mother."
(?, GZ-1401)
"Learn first about death, then about other things."
(Myoho Ama Gozen Gohenji, GZ-1404)
"Doubting the truth [of the Nembutsu teaching], I made a vow."
(Myoho Bikuni Gohenji, GZ-1407)
"... born of a commoner's house."
(Myoho Bikuni Gohenji, GZ-1407)
"People, without giving careful consideration [to whether the teaching is correct] took faith in the Nembutsu one after another because it is easy to practice."
(Myoho Bikuni Gohenji, GZ-1410)
"... [He took action] because he treasured the Buddhist Law and did not fear secular rules."
(Myoho Bikuni Gohenji, GZ-1412)
"My situation is the same [as the T'ang general Li-ju Hsien]. Although I brought forth [this teaching of the True Law] out of the desire to help the people of Japan, I am not allowed even to enter the province of my birth, and now, too, I have left the province of my exile. In living secluded deep in this mountain [Mount Minobu], I resemble Li-ju Hsien.
"Since I have no wife or children in either my native province or in my place of exile, there is certainly no need for me to grieve (as Li-ju Hsien must have.) Still, apprehensive thoughts of my parents' graves lying untended and of people dear to me weigh on my heart. My feelings are beyond words to express.
"Yet, I feel joy. Although their bodies have perished, the warriors who, true to their ways, marched forward in the cause of their lord, taking the lead in crossing the Uji and Seta rivers, made names that will be known in ages to come.
"For the cause of the Lotus Sutra, I, Nichiren, have likewise been driven from my dwelling and attacked on many occasions, suffering wounds on my body. My disciples have been killed. I have twice been condemned to exile in distant regions. And, once, I was almost beheaded. All this I bore for the sake of the Lotus Sutra.
"The Buddha preaches in the Lotus Sutra that more than 2,200 years after his death, in the fifth 500-year period [i.e., at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law] when the Lotus Sutra is about to spread throughout the world, the Devil of the Sixth Heaven will take possession of people, abusing, striking, banishing or killing those who happen to take faith in this sutra, in an attempt to prevent them from propagating the sutra's teachings. He goes on to say that those who stand in the vanguard at that time will win benefit as great as though they had given offerings to the Buddhas of the three existences and the ten directions. And the Buddha also promises that he will transfer to such persons the benefits resulting from his own trials and the ascetic practices he underwent as a bodhisattva.
"When in the past Bodhisattva Never Disparaging (Jpn Fukyo) spread the Law, respected monks and nuns, known for their wisdom and for upholding all 250 rules of the monk's regulations, gathered in a great assembly and cunningly enticed the laymen and laywomen to slander and attack Bodhisattva Never Disparaging. But Bodhisattva Never Disparaging never thought of turning back and continued to spread the Lotus Sutra, until finally he attained Buddhahood.
"Bodhisattva Never Disparaging of the past is the present Shakyamuni Buddha. The respected monks who envied and attacked him fell into the Avichi hell for a thousand kalpas. Even though they praised thousands of sutras including the Kammuryoju and Amida sutras, hailed the names of all Buddhas, invoked the Nembutsu of Amida Buddha, and day and night read the Lotus Sutra, because they had viewed the true votary of the Lotus Sutra with enmity, neither the Lotus Sutra, nor the Nembutsu teaching nor the precepts could save them, and they fell into the Avichi hell for a period of a thousand kalpas.
"Those monks at first regarded Bodhisattva Never Disparaging with disdain, but later had a change of heart and themselves took action to serve him, following him as slaves would obey their master. Nevertheless, they could not avoid falling into the hell of incessant suffering.
"The people of Japan who are now hostile toward Nichiren are the same. No, my situation is completely different from that of Bodhisattva Never Disparaging - he was scorned and beaten, but he was never sent into exile by the ruler. He was struck with sticks and staves, tiles and rocks, but he was not wounded or nearly beheaded.
"For more than 20 years, l have been continually vilified and attacked by sticks and staves, tiles and rocks. In addition, I have been wounded, exiled, and even nearly beheaded. My disciples have had their lands confiscated, been jailed, sent far away, driven away from their homes, or had their rice paddies and fields stolen. They have been treated even worse than night robbers, thieves, pirates, mountain bandits and rebels.
"This [the Daishonin's having encountered persecutions incomparably greater than those which Bodhisattva Never Disparaging faced] is entirely because of the charges made [against the Daishonin to the rulers] by high-ranking priests of the Shingon, Nembutsu and Zen sects.
"Accordingly, their offense is more weighty than the earth. become a reality. Therefore, the earth shakes more violently than a ship on the sea in the midst of a great storm. The 84,000 stars glare down from the heavens, day and night there are abnormal phenomena in the heavens and the sun and moon also show great irregularities.
"Already 2,227 years have passed since the Buddha entered nirvana. Even when King Mihirakula burned all the Buddhist halls and monasteries of the five regions of India and murdered all the monks of the16 major states or when Emperor Wu-tsung of T'ang China destroyed Buddhist temples and pagodas in China and broke up the Buddha images, or when Mononobe no Moriya burned the gilded bronze statue of the Buddha with charcoal and persecuted the monks and nuns, forcing them to return to secular life, never have such comets [as the great comet of 1264] or such great earthquakes [as the great earthquake of 1257] occurred.
"The evil of people today is hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of times more severe. In these earlier cases, the evil mind of a single ruler [was the cause of the persecution]; the persecution did not arise from the hearts of the ministers on down [who merely carried out the king's wishes]. Moreover, King Mihirakula and the others were enemies of the provisional Buddha and sutras. And the monks [who were persecuted] did not practice the Lotus Sutra.
"Now, however, the persecutions are completely against the Lotus Sutra and they represent a great evil spirit that arises not only from the heart of the ruler himself but from the hearts of wise people throughout the entire land and of the entire populace.
"When a woman becomes envious, a great fire burns in her heart, and as a result her body turns red. The hair on her body stands on end, her limbs shake and a flame rises to her face, which turns vermilion. Her eyes open wide like the eyes of a cat glaring at a mouse. Her hands tremble, resembling the leaves of an oak blown by the wind. To those nearby, she resembles a great demon.
"This is the state of the ruler and high-ranking priests of Japan, as well as the monks and nuns. When they hear Nichiren declare that the invocation of the Nembutsu to Amida Buddha, on which they rely, leads to the hell of incessant suffering, that Shingon is a teaching that destroys the country and that Zen is the practice of devils, they grind their teeth [in a fit of rage] while counting their prayer beads and bobbing their heads [in exasperation] while ringing their prayer bells.
"Although they appear to uphold the precepts, they harbor an evil spirit [to do away with the Daishonin]. Saint Ryokan of Gokuraku-ji temple, who is revered as a living Buddha, has made charges to the government on folded paper [official stationary folded in half]. Saint Doryu of Kencho-ji has ridden on a litter and kneeled before magistrate officials. Nuns of high standing who have received all of the 500 precepts [from Ryokan and others] write their accusations down on the finest silk and present them to high officials.
"In trying to do away with Nichiren by making slanderous accusations against him, Ryokan and the others while reading the Lotus Sutra fail completely to comprehend it. And while hearing it are utterly deaf to its meaning.
"They are drunk on the sweet old sake of the words of Shan-tao and Honen who say that 'not one person in a thousand [can attain Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra],' or of Kobo and Jikaku who characterize the Lotus Sutra as 'just empty theory' or of Bodhidharma who claims that the true teaching of Shakyamuni was transmitted apart from the sutras. As a result, they have become deranged.
"For are not people intoxicated who, while seeing the plain statement [in the Lotus Sutra] that the 'Lotus is foremost' (LS10, 164), say that the Dainichi Sutra is superior to the Lotus Sutra, or that the teaching of Zen is the supreme law, or that the Ritsu sect is truly respectworthy or that the Nembutsu is the teaching that actually matches people's capacity?
"They are like people who say that stars are superior to the moon, that rocks are superior to gold, that east is west or that the sky is land. Because of their distorted minds, they feel tremendous animosity toward those who tell how things really are and explain that the moon and gold are superior to stars and rocks, that east is east and the sky is the sky.
"Under such circumstances, should one blindly follow the majority? Today the majority is just a gathering of many people out of their minds.
"I feel the greatest pity for all ordinary men and women who, because they base themselves on this distorted way of thinking, will experience the sufferings of hell.
"In the Nirvana Sutra, the Buddha says that in the Latter Day of the Law those who slander the Lotus Sutra and fall into hell will be more numerous than the dust particles that comprise the earth, while those who believe in the Lotus Sutra and become Buddhas will be fewer than the specks of dirt one can pile on a fingernail.
"You should consider things in light of these words. Is it possible that the people of Japan correspond to the specks of dirt on a fingernail and the one person Nichiren to the dust particles [of the worlds] in the ten directions?
"Nonetheless, what karmic relationship could have caused you and your sister-in-law to send me a robe? Your making of such an offering surely indicates your desire to join those who count themselves among the specks of dirt that can be placed on a fingernail
"The Nirvana Sutra also says that even though one might be able to dangle a thread from the Brahma heaven in a great wind and thread it through the eye of a needle set upon the earth, it is extremely difficult to encounter the votary of the Lotus Sutra in the Latter Day of the Law.
"The Lotus Sutra tells of a turtle that lives at the bottom of the sea. Once every 3,000 years the turtle rises to the surface. At that time, if he happens to find a hollowed-out sandalwood log, he can rest in its hollow to cool his belly while warming his back in the sun. Because the turtle is one-eyed and squint-eyed, he sees west as east and east as west. [And even if he is fortunate enough to find a log shaped just right, he may be unable to climb into its hollow (LS27, 315).]
"These examples illustrate just how rare the men and women born in the evil age of the Latter Day are who can thread themselves through the needle's eye or rest in the hollow of the Lotus Sutra and Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
"What karma or relation from the past could have made you want to present an offering to this person [Nichiren]? When we read the Lotus Sutra, we find it explains that this spirit arises in a person when Shakyamuni Buddha enters his or her life.
"This is comparable to how when someone becomes drunk on sake an unexpected spirit may arise in them and they may want to give things away to others, even though they previously had no such inclination. Thus, someone who would otherwise fall into the world of Hunger on account of stinginess and greed may, through the external cause of sake, be possessed by the spirit of a bodhisattva.
"Dirty water becomes clear when a jewel is placed in it. When a person faces the moon their mind begins to wander.
"A demon depicted in a painting has no spirit. but is still frightening. A courtesan in a painting can not steal your husband, but it can still elicit envy. One will not want to enter even fine brocade bedding if the image of a snake is woven into it. When we feel hot, a warm breeze is unpleasant.
