Chanting Growers Group (2013-∞)

Propagating the Law at the Appropriate Time

I HAVE received the horseload of polished rice that you sent.

All affairs whatsoever depend on the time. We speak of “blossoms in the spring, the moon in autumn” because those are the things that are appropriate to the time.

In the case of the Buddha, he appeared in the world for the sake of the Lotus Sutra, but for the first forty and more years of his teaching life he did not expound it. The reason, as explained in the sutra itself, was that “the time to preach so had not yet come.”1

In summer we may be pleased to receive a heavily padded jacket, and in winter to receive a sheer summer robe, but how much more delightful to receive a padded jacket in winter, or a sheer robe in summer! Money may be welcome when we are hungry, and an imperial gift when we are thirsty, but can never compare to food in time of hunger or drink in time of thirst. The boy who gave the Buddha a pie made of mud and attained Buddhahood thereby,2 and the person who offered a jewel but fell into hell instead,3 are illustrations of this principle.

I, Nichiren, was born in this country of Japan, have never deceived others, never stolen, or committed any sort of offense. I am a teacher of the Law in this latter age of few offenses. But in the time of a ruler who favors civil affairs, the military arts will be neglected. And those who live for love have no liking for persons of strict morals. Because, born in an age that puts its faith in the Nembutsu, Zen, True Word, and Precepts teachings, I propagate the Lotus Sutra, I am hated by the ruler and high ministers and by the common people. And so in the end I live in the mountains. What plans, I wonder, do the heavenly deities have for me?

Snow piles up five feet deep, blocking the mountain trails that are deserted to begin with, and no one comes to visit. My clothes are thin and hardly keep out the cold, my food supplies are exhausted, and it would seem that my life must come to an end. At such a moment, to receive a gift like yours, one that has saved my life, is an occasion for both joy and lamentation. Just when I had resigned myself to the thought of starvation, your gift came like oil added to a lamp that could hardly last much longer. How wonderful, how welcome, how generous the heart of the giver! Surely it must have been the design of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sutra.

With my deep respect,

Nichiren

for more on this passage ---> http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-2/Content/319

Nam myoho renge kyo

On Prayer / WND pg.345-346

One may ask why the results of these vows should be so long in appearing. And yet, though one might point at the earth and miss it, though one might bind up the sky, though the tides might cease to ebb and flow and the sun rise in the west, it could never come about that the prayers of the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra would go unanswered. If the bodhisattvas, the human and heavenly beings, the eight kinds of nonhuman beings, the two sages, the two heavenly deities, and the ten demon daughters would by some unlikely chance fail to appear and protect the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra, then above them they would be showing disdain for Shakyamuni and the other Buddhas, and below they would be guilty of deceiving the beings of the nine realms.

It makes no difference if the practitioner himself is lacking in worth, defective in wisdom, impure in his person, and lacking in virtue derived from observing the precepts. So long as he chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, they will invariably protect him. One does not throw away gold because the bag that holds it is dirty; one does not ignore the sandalwood trees because of the foul odor of the eranda trees around them; and one does not refuse to gather lotuses because the pond in the valley where they grow is not clean. If they ignore the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra, they will be going against their vow.

Now that the Former and Middle Days of the Law are over, persons who observe the precepts are as rare as tigers in a marketplace, and persons of wisdom are harder to find than the horns of a ch’i-lin. While waiting for the moon to rise, one must rely upon a lantern, and when there are no true gems at hand, gold and silver must serve as jewels. The debt of gratitude one owes to a white crow may be repaid to a black crow, and the debt one owes to a sage priest may be repaid to an ordinary priest. So, if you earnestly pray that blessings be given to you without delay, how can your prayers fail to be answered?

Nam myoho renge kyo

The Selection of Time / WND pg. 539

Thus a single word of this Lotus Sutra is as precious as a wish-granting jewel, and a single phrase is the seed of all Buddhas. We may leave aside the question of whether Shakyamuni’s listeners at that point possessed the capacity to understand such doctrines or not. The fact is that the time had come for him to preach them. As the sutra says, “Now is the very time when I must decisively preach the great vehicle.”

Question: If one preaches the great Law to people who do not have the capacity to understand it, then the foolish ones among them will surely slander it and will fall into the evil paths of existence. Is the person who does the preaching not to blame for this?

Answer: If a man builds a road for others and someone loses his way on it, is that the fault of the road-builder? If a skilled physician gives medicine to a sick person but the sick person, repelled by the medicine, refuses to take it and dies, should one blame the physician?

Question: The second volume of the Lotus Sutra says, “Do not preach this sutra to persons who are without wisdom.” The fourth volume says, “It must not be distributed or recklessly transmitted to others.” And the fifth volume states, “This Lotus Sutra is the secret storehouse of the Buddhas, the Thus Come Ones. Among the sutras, it holds the highest place. Through the long night I have guarded and protected it and have never recklessly propagated it.” These passages from the sutra would seem to indicate that one should not expound the Law to those who do not have the capacity to understand it.

Answer: I refer you to the passage in the “Never Disparaging” chapter that states, “He would say to people, ‘I have profound reverence for you.’ . . . Among the four kinds of believers there were those who gave way to anger, their minds lacking in purity, and they spoke ill of him and cursed him, saying, ‘This ignorant monk.’” The chapter also says, “Some among the group would take sticks of wood or tiles and stones and beat and pelt him.” And in the “Encouraging Devotion” chapter it says, “There will be many ignorant people who will curse and speak ill of us and will attack us with swords and staves.” These passages imply that one should preach the Law even though one may be reviled and cursed and even beaten for it. Since the sutra so teaches, is the one who preaches to blame?

Nam myoho renge kyo

Like the Roar of the Lion
Nam myoho renge kyo

The Izu Exile

I HAVE received the rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, sake, dried rice, peppers, paper, and other items from the messenger whom you took the trouble to send. He also conveyed your message that these offerings should be kept secret. I understand.

When, on the twelfth day of the fifth month, having been exiled, I arrived at that harbor I had never even heard of before, and when I was still suffering after leaving the boat, you kindly took me into your care. What karma has brought us together? Can it be that, because in the past you were a votary of the Lotus Sutra, now, in the Latter Day of the Law, you have been reborn as Funamori no Yasaburō and have taken pity on me? Though a man may do this, for your wife, as a married woman, to have given me food, brought me water to wash my hands and feet with, and treated me with great concern, I can only call as wondrous.

What caused you to inwardly believe in the Lotus Sutra and make offerings to me during my more than thirty-day stay there? I was hated and resented by the steward and the people of the district even more than I was in Kamakura. Those who saw me scowled, while those who merely heard my name were filled with spite. And yet, though I was there in the fifth month when rice was scarce, you secretly fed me. Have my parents been reborn in a place called Kawana, in Itō of Izu Province?

The fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra states, “[I will send . . .] men and women of pure faith, to offer alms to the teachers of the Law.”1 The meaning of this sutra passage is that the heavenly gods and benevolent deities will assume various forms such as those of men and women, and present offerings to help the persons who practice the Lotus Sutra. There can be no doubt that this refers to you and your wife being born as a man and a woman, and making offerings to Nichiren, the teacher of the Law.

Since I wrote to you in detail earlier,2 I will make this letter brief. But I would like to mention one thing in particular. When the steward of this district sent me a request to pray for his recovery from illness, I wondered if I should accept it. But since he showed some degree of faith in me, I decided I would appeal to the Lotus Sutra. This time I saw no reason why the ten demon daughters should not join forces to aid me. I therefore addressed the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions, and also the Sun Goddess, Hachiman, and other deities, both major and minor. I was sure that they p.36would consider my request and show some sign. Certainly they would never forsake me, but would respond as attentively as a person rubs a sore or scratches an itch. And as it turned out, the steward recovered. In gratitude he presented me with a statue of the Buddha that had appeared from the sea along with a catch of fish. He did so because his illness had finally ended, an illness that I am certain was inflicted by the ten demon daughters. This benefit too will surely become a benefit for you and your wife.

Living beings like ourselves have dwelt in the sea of the sufferings of birth and death since time without beginning. But they become votaries of the Lotus Sutra, and realize that their bodies and minds, which have existed since the beginningless past, are inherently endowed with the eternally unchanging nature; awaken to their mystic reality with their mystic wisdom; and attain the Buddha’s body, which is as indestructible as a diamond. How then could they be different from that Buddha? Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, who said numberless major world system dust particle kalpas ago, “I am the only person [who can rescue and protect others],”3 refers to living beings like ourselves. This is the Lotus Sutra’s teaching of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, and the action of “I am always here, preaching the Law.”4 Even though such an admirable Lotus Sutra and Shakyamuni Buddha exist, ordinary people are unaware of it. The passage in the “Life Span” chapter that reads, “I make it so that living beings in their befuddlement do not see me even when close by,” refers to this. The disparity between delusion and enlightenment is like that between the four views in the grove of sal trees.5 What is called the Buddha of three thousand realms in a single moment of life means that the entire realm of phenomena attains Buddhahood.

The demon who appeared before the boy Snow Mountains was Shakra in disguise. The dove that sought the protection of King Shibi was the god Vishvakarman. King Universal Brightness, who returned to the palace of King Spotted Feet [to be executed], was Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings. While the eyes of ordinary people are blind to this, the eyes of the Buddha see it. A sutra passage states that there are paths by which birds and fish come and go in both the sky and the sea. A wooden statue [of the Buddha] is itself a golden Buddha, and a golden Buddha is a wooden statue. Aniruddha’s gold turned into a hare and then a corpse.6 In the palm of Mahānāma’s hand, even sand turned into gold.7 These things are beyond ordinary understanding. An ordinary person is a Buddha, and a Buddha, an ordinary person. This is what is meant by three thousand realms in a single moment of life and by the phrase “I in fact attained Buddhahood.”8

In that case, perhaps the World-Honored One of Great Enlightenment, the lord of teachings, has been reborn and has helped me as you and your wife. Though the distance between Itō and Kawana is short, our hearts are kept far apart. I write this letter for the sake of the future. Do not discuss it with others, but ponder it yourself. If people should learn anything at all of it, it will go hard with you. Keep it deep in your heart and never speak of it. With my deepest regards. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Nichiren

The twenty-seventh day of the sixth month in the first year of Kōchō (1261)

Sent to Funamori Yasaburō.

31
On the Treasure Tower

Background

I HAVE read your letter with great care. I have also received your offering to the treasure tower of one thousand coins, polished rice, and other articles. This I have respectfully reported to the Gohonzon and to the Lotus Sutra. Please rest assured.

In your letter you ask, “What is signified by the Thus Come One Many Treasures and his treasure tower, which appeared from beneath the earth?” The teaching on the treasure tower is of great importance. In the eighth volume of his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai explains the appearance of the treasure tower. He states that it has two distinct functions: to lend credence to the preceding chapters and to pave the way for the revelation to come. Thus the treasure tower appeared in order to verify the theoretical teaching and to introduce the essential teaching. To put it another way, the closed tower symbolizes the theoretical teaching, and the open tower, the essential teaching. The open tower reveals the two elements of reality and wisdom.1 This is extremely complex, however, so I will not go into further detail now.

In essence, the appearance of the treasure tower indicates that on hearing the Lotus Sutra the three groups of voice-hearers perceived for the first time the treasure tower within their own lives. Now Nichiren’s disciples and lay supporters are also doing this. In the Latter Day of the Law, no treasure tower exists other than the figures of the men and women who embrace the Lotus Sutra. It follows, therefore, that whether eminent or humble, high or low, those who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo are themselves the treasure tower, and, likewise, are themselves the Thus Come One Many Treasures. No treasure tower exists other than Myoho-renge-kyo. The daimoku of the Lotus Sutra is the treasure tower, and the treasure tower is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

At present the entire body of the Honorable Abutsu is composed of the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space. These five elements are also the five characters of the daimoku. Abutsu-bō is therefore the treasure tower itself, and the treasure tower is Abutsu-bō himself. No other knowledge is purposeful. It is the treasure tower adorned with the seven kinds of treasures—hearing the correct teaching, believing it, keeping the precepts, engaging in meditation, practicing assiduously, renouncing one’s attachments, and reflecting on oneself. You may think you offered gifts to the treasure tower of the Thus Come One Many Treasures, but that is not so. You offered them to yourself. You, yourself, p.300are a Thus Come One who is originally enlightened and endowed with the three bodies. You should chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with this conviction. Then the place where you chant daimoku will become the dwelling place of the treasure tower. The sutra reads, “If there is any place where the Lotus Sutra is preached, then my treasure tower will come forth and appear in that spot.”2 Faith like yours is so extremely rare that I will inscribe the treasure tower especially for you. You must never transfer it to anyone but your son. You must never show it to others unless they have steadfast faith. This is the reason for my advent in this world.

Abutsu-bō, you deserve to be called a leader of this northern province. Could it be that Bodhisattva Pure Practices has been reborn into this world as Abutsu-bō and visited me? How wonderful! How marvelous! I do not understand how it is that you have such faith. I will leave it to Bodhisattva Superior Practices when he appears, as he has the power to know these things. I am not saying all this without good reason. You and your wife should worship this treasure tower privately. I will explain more later.

With my deep respect,

Nichiren

The thirteenth day of the third month in the ninth year of Bun’ei (1272), cyclical sign mizunoe-saru

To the Honorable Abutsu-bō

For more on this passage: ---> http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/31

http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/61

An excerpt from Letter to the Brothers


The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai commented, “If they encounter an evil friend, they will lose their true mind.”9 “True mind” means the mind that believes in the Lotus Sutra, while “lose” means to betray one’s faith in the Lotus Sutra and transfer one’s allegiance to other sutras. The sutra reads, “But when they are given the medicine, they refuse to take it.”10 T’ien-t’ai stated, “Those who have lost their minds refuse to take the good medicine, even though it is given to them. Lost in the sufferings of birth and death, they run away to another land.”11

Since this is so, believers in the Lotus Sutra should fear those who attempt to obstruct their practice more than they fear bandits, burglars, night raiders, tigers, wolves, or lions—even more than invasion now by the Mongols. This world is the domain of the devil king of the sixth heaven. All of its people have been under the rule of this devil king since time without beginning. Not only has he built the prison of the twenty-five realms of existence12 within the six paths and confined all humankind within it, but also he has made wives and children into shackles, and parents and sovereigns into nets that block off the skies. To deceive the true mind of the Buddha nature, he p.496causes the people to drink the wine of greed, anger, and foolishness, and feeds them nothing but dishes of evil that leave them prostrate on the ground of the three evil paths. When he happens on persons who have turned their hearts to goodness, he acts to obstruct them. He is determined to make believers in the Lotus Sutra fall into evil, but if he is unsuccessful, he tries to deceive them gradually by luring them toward the Flower Garland Sutra, which resembles the Lotus Sutra.

Earthly Desires Are Enlightenment

I DEEPLY appreciate your visit here and your constant concern over the numerous persecutions that have befallen me. I do not regret meeting with such great persecutions as the votary of the Lotus Sutra. However many times I were to repeat the cycle of birth and death, no life could be as fortunate as this. [If not for these troubles,] I might have remained in the three or four evil paths. But now, to my great joy, I am sure to sever the cycle of the sufferings of birth and death, and attain the fruit of Buddhahood.

Even for spreading the teaching of the theoretical “three thousand realms in a single moment of life” from the first half of the Lotus Sutra, T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō met with hatred and jealousy. In Japan it was transmitted from Dengyō to Gishin, Enchō, Jikaku, and others, and spread. The eighteenth chief priest of the Tendai school was the Great Teacher Jie, and he had many disciples. Among them there were four named Danna, Eshin, Soga, and Zen’yu. The teaching also was divided into two: the Administrator of Priests Danna transmitted the doctrinal studies, while the Supervisor of Priests Eshin studied the meditative practices. Thus the doctrinal studies and meditative practices are liken the sun and moon; doctrinal studies are shallow, while meditative practices are deep. Thus the teaching expounded by Danna is broad but shallow, while the teaching of Eshin is limited but deep.

Though the teaching I am now propagating seems limited, it is extremely profound. That is because it goes deeper than the teaching expounded by T’ien-t’ai, Dengyō, and others. It is the three important matters1 in the “Life Span” chapter of the essential teaching. Practicing only the seven characters of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo seems limited, but since they are the master of all the Buddhas of the three existences, the teacher of all the bodhisattvas in the ten directions, and the guide that enables all living beings to attain the Buddha way, it is profound.

The sutra states, “The wisdom of the Buddhas is infinitely profound and immeasurable.”2 It refers to “the Buddhas” here in the sense of all Buddhas throughout the ten directions in the three existences, from the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana of the True Word school and Amida of the Pure Land school to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of all schools and all sutras, all Buddhas of the past, future, and present, and the present Thus Come One Shakyamuni. And the sutra speaks of the wisdom of all those Buddhas.

What is meant by this “wisdom”? It is the entity of the true aspect of p.318all phenomena, and of the ten factors of life that lead all beings to Buddhahood. What then is that entity? It is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. A commentary states that the profound principle of the true aspect is the originally inherent Myoho-renge-kyo.3 We learn that that true aspect of all phenomena is also the two Buddhas Shakyamuni and Many Treasures [seated together in the treasure tower]. “All phenomena” corresponds to Many Treasures, and “the true aspect” corresponds to Shakyamuni. These are also the two elements of reality and wisdom. Many Treasures is reality; Shakyamuni is wisdom. It is the enlightenment that reality and wisdom are two, and yet they are not two.

These are teachings of prime importance. These are also what is called “earthly desires are enlightenment,” and “the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana.” Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo during the physical union of man and woman is indeed what is called “earthly desires are enlightenment,” and “the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana.” “The sufferings of birth and death are nirvana” exists only in realizing that the entity of life throughout its cycle of birth and death is neither born nor destroyed. The Universal Worthy Sutra states, “Without either cutting off earthly desires or separating themselves from the five desires, they can purify all their senses and wipe away all their offenses.” Great Concentration and Insight says, “The ignorance and dust of desires are enlightenment, and the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana.” The “Life Span” chapter of the Lotus Sutra says, “At all times I think to myself: How can I cause living beings to gain entry into the unsurpassed way and quickly acquire the body of a Buddha?” The “Expedient Means” chapter says, “The characteristics of the world are constantly abiding.” Surely such statements refer to these principles. Thus what is called the entity is none other than Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

It was such an august and precious Lotus Sutra that in past existences I put under my knees, despised, scowled upon in disgust, and failed to believe in. In one way or another, I maliciously ridiculed those who, studying the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, taught them to even one person, and carried on the life of the Law. In addition, I did everything I could to hinder people from embracing the sutra by asserting that they should set it aside for a while because, though it might be suitable for practice in their next lifetime, it would be too difficult to practice in this one. Slanderous acts such as these have brought on the many severe persecutions I have suffered in my lifetime. Because I once disparaged the Lotus Sutra, the highest of all sutras, I am now looked down on, and my words go unheeded. The “Simile and Parable” chapter states that other people will neither concern themselves with one nor have sympathy for one, even though one sincerely tries to be friendly with them.

Nevertheless, you became a votary of the Lotus Sutra, and as a result, you suffered severe persecutions, and you came to my assistance. In the “Teacher of the Law” chapter, the Buddha states that he will magically conjure and send the four kinds of believers—monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen [—for the sake of the teachers of the Law]. If the “laymen” mentioned here does not mean you, who does it refer to? You have not only heard the Law, but have taken faith in it and since then have followed it without turning aside. How wondrous! How extraordinary! If that is the case, then can there be any doubt that I am the teacher of the Law of the Lotus Sutra? Perhaps I also resemble “the envoy of the Thus Come One,” for I am carrying out “the Thus Come One’s work.”4 I have nearly spread the p.319five characters of the daimoku that were entrusted to Bodhisattva Superior Practices when the two Buddhas were seated together within the treasure tower. Does this not mean that I am an envoy of Bodhisattva Superior Practices? Moreover, following me, you, as a votary of the Lotus Sutra, have told others of this Law. What else could this be but the transmission of the Law?

Carry through with your faith in the Lotus Sutra. You cannot strike fire from flint if you stop halfway. Bring forth the great power of faith, and be spoken of by all the people of Kamakura, both high and low, or by all the people of Japan, as “Shijō Kingo, Shijō Kingo of the Lotus school!”5 Even a bad reputation will spread far and wide. A good reputation will spread even farther, particularly if it is a reputation for devotion to the Lotus Sutra.

Explain all this to your wife too, and work together like the sun and moon, a pair of eyes, or the two wings of a bird. With the sun and moon, could there be a path of darkness? With a pair of eyes, no doubt you will see the faces of Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions. With a pair of wings, you will surely fly in an instant to the treasure land of Tranquil Light. I will write in more detail on another occasion.

With my deep respect,

Nichiren

http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/35

Nam myoho renge kyo

The Three Obstacles and Four Devils

THE two men you sent have arrived here, bringing your various offerings. I also heard that the priest Ben1 has written about your sincerity in his letter.

In this letter I want to advise you about what is most important for you. In the Former and Middle Days of the Law, the world did not fall into decline because sages and worthies appeared frequently, and the heavenly gods protected the people. In the Latter Day of the Law, however, people have become so greedy that strife rages incessantly between sovereign and subject, parent and child, elder and younger brother, and all the more so among people who are unrelated. When such conflict occurs, the gods abandon the country, and then the three calamities and seven disasters begin, until one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven suns appear in the sky.2 Plants and trees wither and die, large and small rivers dry up, the earth smolders like charcoal, and the sea becomes like boiling oil. Eventually flames fill the atmosphere, arising from the hell of incessant suffering and reaching the Brahmā heaven. Such is the devastation that will occur when the world reaches its final dissolution.

Everyone, regardless of rank or status, considers it natural for children to obey their father, for subjects to be loyal to their sovereign, and for disciples to follow their teacher. Recently, however, it appears that the people of our day, drunk with the wine of greed, anger, and foolishness, make it a rule to betray their sovereign, despise their parents, and scoff at their teachers. You should read again and again the previous letter3 in which I explained that one should of course obey one’s teacher, sovereign, and parents, but should they commit wrongs, admonishing them is in fact being loyal to them.

Recently your elder brother, Uemon no Sakan, was again disowned by your father. I told your wife when she came to visit me here that he was certain to be disowned again, that I was apprehensive about how it would affect you, Hyōe no Sakan, and that she should be prepared for the worst. This time I am sure that you will give up your faith. If you do, I have not the slightest intention of reproaching you for it. Likewise, neither should you blame me, Nichiren, when you have fallen into hell. It is in no way my responsibility. It is an undeniable fact that fire can at once reduce even a thousand-year-old field of pampas grass to ashes, and that the merit one has formed over a hundred years can be destroyed with a single word.

Your father, Saemon no Tayū, now seems to have become an enemy of the Lotus Sutra, yet your brother, Uemon p.637no Tayū Sakan, will now become one of its votaries.4 You, who think only of immediate affairs, will obey your father, and deluded people will therefore praise you for your filial devotion. Munemori obeyed his father’s tyrannous commands and was finally beheaded at Shinohara. Shigemori disobeyed his father and preceded him in death.5 Who was truly the filial son? If you obey your father who is an enemy of the Lotus Sutra and abandon your brother who is a votary of the one vehicle, are you then being filial? In the final analysis, what you should do is resolve to pursue the Buddha way single-mindedly just as your brother is doing. Your father is like King Wonderful Adornment, and you brothers are like the princes Pure Storehouse and Pure Eye. The age is different, but the principle of the Lotus Sutra remains the same. Recently the lay priest of Musashi6 abandoned his vast territory and his many subjects in order to retire from all worldly affairs. If you ingratiate yourself with your father for the sake of a small private estate, neglect your faith, and fall into the evil paths, you should not blame me, Nichiren. Yet despite my warnings, I feel that this time you will discard your belief.

I state this out of pity because, though you have been faithful until now, you may still fall into the evil paths. If, by one chance out of a hundred or a thousand, you should decide to follow my teaching, then confront your father and declare: “Since you are my father, I should by rights obey you, but since you have become an enemy of the Lotus Sutra, I would be unfilial if I were to do so in this matter. Therefore, I have resolved to break with you and follow my brother. If you should disown him, be aware that you are disowning me too.” You should not have the slightest fear in your heart. It is lack of courage that prevents one from attaining Buddhahood, although one may have professed faith in the Lotus Sutra many times since innumerable kalpas ago.

There is definitely something extraordinary in the ebb and flow of the tide, the rising and setting of the moon, and the way in which summer, autumn, winter, and spring give way to each other. Something uncommon also occurs when an ordinary person attains Buddhahood. At such a time, the three obstacles and four devils will invariably appear, and the wise will rejoice while the foolish will retreat. I have long been waiting to tell you this, either through my own messenger or by some other means. So I greatly appreciate your sending these messengers to me. I am sure that, if you were about to abandon your faith, you would not have sent them. Thinking it may still not be too late, I am writing this letter.

To attain Buddhahood is difficult indeed, more difficult than the feat of placing a needle atop the Mount Sumeru of this world and then casting a thread from atop the Mount Sumeru of another world directly through the eye of this needle. And the feat is even more difficult if it must be done in the face of a contrary wind. The Lotus Sutra states: “A million million ten thousand kalpas, an inconceivable time will pass, before at last one can hear this Lotus Sutra. A million million ten thousand kalpas, an inconceivable time will pass, before the Buddhas, World-Honored Ones, preach this sutra. Therefore its practitioners, after the Buddha has entered extinction, when they hear a sutra like this, should entertain no doubts or perplexities.”7 This passage is extremely unusual even among the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra. From the “Introduction” to the “Teacher of the Law” chapters, human and heavenly beings, the four kinds of believers, and the eight kinds of nonhuman beings—those at the stage of near-perfect enlightenment or below—were many in number, but there was p.638only one Buddha, the Thus Come One Shakyamuni. Thus, these chapters are of great import, but may appear insignificant. The twelve chapters from “Treasure Tower” to “Entrustment” are the most important of all. This is because it is in these chapters that, in the presence of Shakyamuni Buddha, there appeared the treasure tower of Many Treasures. It was as if the sun had emerged in front of the moon. The Buddhas of the ten directions were seated under the trees, and it was as if the grasses and trees of the worlds in the ten directions had been set afire. It was in this setting that the above passage was expounded.

The Nirvana Sutra states: “People have been suffering since numberless, uncountable kalpas ago. The bones one leaves behind in a kalpa pile up as high as Mount Vipula near Rājagriha, and the milk one sucks is equal to the water of the four seas. The blood one sheds surpasses the quantity of water in the four seas, and so do the tears one sheds in grief over the death of parents, brothers and sisters, wives, children, and relatives. And though one used all the plants and trees growing on the earth to make four-inch tallies to count them, one could not count all the parents one has had in the past existences of life.” These are the words the Buddha uttered lying in the grove of sal trees on the final day of his life. You should pay the strictest attention to them. They mean that the number of parents who gave birth to you since innumerable kalpas ago could not be counted even with tallies made by cutting all the plants and trees growing on all the worlds of the ten directions into four-inch pieces.

Thus you have had a countless number of parents in your past existences, yet during that time you have never encountered the Lotus Sutra. From this we see that it is easy to have parents, but very difficult to encounter the Lotus Sutra. Now if you disobey the words of a parent, one who is easy to come by, and follow a friend of the Lotus Sutra, one who can rarely be encountered, you will not only be able to attain Buddhahood, but will also be able to lead to enlightenment the parent whom you disobeyed. For example, Prince Siddhārtha was the eldest son of King Shuddhodana. His father wanted him to succeed to the throne and rule the nation, and actually made him crown prince, but the prince went against his father’s wishes and escaped from the palace at night. The king was angry at him for being unfilial, but after Siddhārtha had attained Buddhahood, he set about first of all to convert his parents, King Shuddhodana and Lady Māyā.

No parent would ever urge his son to renounce the world in order to attain Buddhahood. But however that may be, in your case, the observers of the precepts and the priests of the Nembutsu school have egged your father on to join with them so that they may make both you and your brother abandon your faith. I am told that Priest Two Fires8 is persuading others to chant one million Nembutsu in an attempt to cause discord among people and destroy the seeds of the Lotus Sutra. The lay priest of Gokuraku-ji seemed to be an admirable person. But deluded by the Nembutsu priests, he treated me with enmity, and as a result, he and his entire clan have been all but ruined. Only the lord of Echigo9 has survived. You may think that those who believe in Priest Two Fires are prospering, but you should see what has become of the Nagoe clan,10 who paid for the building of Zenkō-ji temple, Chōraku-ji temple, and Daibutsu-den!11 Again, the lord of Sagami12 is the ruler of Japan, but by his conduct he has called down on himself an enemy almost as great as the land of Jambudvīpa.

Even if you abandon your brother p.639and take his place in your father’s favor, you will never prosper in a thousand or ten thousand years. There is no knowing what will become of you even in the near future. How can you be certain of lifelong prosperity? Therefore, you should resolve to give all your thought to your happiness in the next existence. Having written all this, it occurs to me that this letter may be futile, and I tire of going on. But it may serve as a reminder to you in the future.

With my deep respect,

Nichiren

The twentieth day of the eleventh month

Reply to Hyōe no Sakan

for more on this passage http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/77

Nam myoho renge kyo

Happiness in This World


THERE is no true happiness for human beings other than chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. The sutra reads, “. . . where living beings enjoy themselves at ease.”1 How could this passage mean anything but the boundless joy of the Law? Surely you are included among the “living beings.” “Where” means Jambudvīpa, and Japan lies within Jambudvīpa. Could “enjoy themselves at ease” mean anything but that both our bodies and minds, lives and environments, are entities of three thousand realms in a single moment of life and Buddhas of limitless joy?2 There is no true happiness other than upholding faith in the Lotus Sutra. This is what is meant by “peace and security in their present existence and good circumstances in future existences.”3 Though worldly troubles may arise, never let them disturb you. No one can avoid problems, not even sages or worthies.

Drink sake only at home with your wife, and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens. How could this be anything other than the boundless joy of the Law? Strengthen your power of faith more than ever.

With my deep respect,

Nichiren

The twenty-seventh day of the sixth month in the second year of Kenji (1276), cyclical sign hinoe-ne

Reply to Shijō Kingo

http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/86

The One Essential Phrase

FOR you to inquire about the Lotus Sutra and ask its meaning is a rare source of good fortune. In this age of the Latter Day of the Law, those who ask about the meaning of even one phrase or verse of the Lotus Sutra are far fewer than those who can hurl Mount Sumeru to another land like a stone, or those who can kick the major world system away like a ball. They are even fewer than those who can embrace and teach countless other sutras, thereby enabling the monks and lay believers who listen to them to obtain the six transcendental powers. Equally rare is a priest who can explain the meaning of the Lotus Sutra and resolve people’s doubts concerning it. The “Treasure Tower” chapter in the fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra sets forth the important principle of the six difficult and nine easy acts. Your asking a question about the Lotus Sutra is among the six difficult acts. This is a sure indication that, if you embrace the Lotus Sutra, you will become a Buddha in your present form.

Since the Lotus Sutra defines our body as the Dharma body of a Thus Come One, our mind as the reward body of a Thus Come One, and our actions as the manifested body of a Thus Come One, all who uphold and believe in even a single phrase or verse of this sutra will be endowed with the benefits of these three bodies. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is only one phrase or verse, but it is no ordinary phrase, for it is the essence of the entire sutra. You asked whether one can attain Buddhahood only by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, and this is the most important question of all. This is the heart of the entire sutra and the substance of its eight volumes.

The spirit within one’s body of five or six feet may appear in just one’s face, which is only a foot long, and the spirit within one’s face may appear in just one’s eyes, which are only an inch across. Included within the two characters representing Japan is all that is within the country’s sixty-six provinces: the people and the animals, the rice paddies and the other fields, those of high and low status, the nobles and the commoners, the seven kinds of treasures and all the other precious gems. Similarly, included within the title, or daimoku, of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the entire sutra consisting of all eight volumes, twenty-eight chapters, and 69,384 characters, without the omission of a single character. Concerning this, Po Chü-i1 stated that the title is to the sutra as the eyes are to the Buddha. In the eighth volume of his Annotations on “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra,” Miao-lo states, “When for the sake of brevity one mentions only the daimoku, or title, the entire sutra is by p.923implication included therein.” By this he means that, although for the sake of brevity only the title of the sutra is spoken, the entire sutra is contained in the title alone.

Everything has its essential point, and the heart of the Lotus Sutra is its title, or the daimoku, of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Truly, if you chant this in the morning and evening, you are correctly reading the entire Lotus Sutra. Chanting daimoku twice is the same as reading the entire sutra twice, one hundred daimoku equal one hundred readings of the sutra, and one thousand daimoku, one thousand readings of the sutra. Thus, if you ceaselessly chant daimoku, you will be continually reading the Lotus Sutra. The sixty volumes2 of the T’ien-t’ai doctrines give exactly the same interpretation. A teaching this easy to uphold and this easy to practice was expounded for the sake of all living beings in the evil world of this latter age. A passage from the Lotus Sutra reads, “In the Latter Day of the Law . . .”3 Another reads, “If a bodhisattva mahāsattva in the latter age hereafter, when the Law is about to perish, should accept and embrace, read and recite this sutra . . .” A third states, “In the evil age of the Latter Day of the Law if there is someone who can uphold this sutra . . .”4 A fourth reads, “In the last five-hundred-year period you must spread it [the Lotus Sutra] abroad widely.”5 The heart of all these passages is the admonition to embrace and believe in the Lotus Sutra in this Latter Day of the Law. The learned authorities in Japan, China, and India have all failed to comprehend this obvious meaning and have slandered the sutra. They follow and practice the Hinayana and the provisional teachings upheld by the Nembutsu, True Word, Zen, and Precepts schools, thereby discarding the Lotus Sutra. They misunderstand the Buddha’s teachings, but the people are ignorant of their mistakes. Because they appear to be true priests, the people trust them without the slightest doubt about what they preach. Therefore, without realizing it, the people who follow them have become enemies of the Lotus Sutra and foes of Shakyamuni Buddha. It is obvious from the sutra that not only will all their wishes remain unfulfilled, but their lives will be short, and after this life, they will be doomed to the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering.6

Even though one neither reads nor studies the sutra, chanting the title alone is the source of tremendous good fortune. The sutra teaches that women, evil men, and those in the realms of animals and hell—in fact, all the beings of the Ten Worlds—can attain Buddhahood in their present form. [This is an incomparably greater wonder than] fire being produced by a stone taken from the bottom of a river, or a lantern lighting up a place that has been dark for a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years. If even the most ordinary things of this world are such wonders, then how much more wondrous is the power of the Buddhist Law! We ordinary beings are fettered by evil karma, earthly desires, and the sufferings of birth and death. But due to the three inherent potentials of the Buddha nature—innate Buddhahood, the wisdom to perceive it, and the actions to manifest it—we can without doubt reveal the Buddha’s three bodies—the Dharma body, the reward body, and the manifested body. The Great Teacher Dengyō states, “Through the power of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law they can do so in their present form.”7 He is referring to the example of the dragon king’s daughter, who achieved Buddhahood in her reptilian form through the power of the Lotus Sutra. Do not doubt this in the least. Please tell your husband that I will explain this in detail when I see him.

p.924Nichiren

The third day of the seventh month in the first year of Kōan (1278), cyclical sign tsuchinoe-tora

Reply to the lay nun Myōhō

Nam myoho renge kyo

Nam myoho renge kyo

165 The Proof of the Lotus Sutra

Nichiren, the votary of the Lotus Sutra

HOW does the mirror of the Lotus Sutra portray the people who, in the evil world of the latter age, believe in the teachings of the Lotus Sutra just as they are set forth in the sutra? Shakyamuni Buddha has left us words from his golden mouth revealing that such people have already made offerings to a hundred thousand million Buddhas in their past existences.1 But ordinary people in the latter age might well doubt the words spoken by just one Buddha. With this in mind, Many Treasures Buddha came expressly all the way from his World of Treasure Purity, many lands to the east. Facing Shakyamuni Buddha, he gave his words of testimony about the Lotus Sutra, saying, “All that you have expounded is the truth!”2 If this is so, then there can be no room for doubt about the matter. Nevertheless, Shakyamuni Buddha may have felt that ordinary people in the latter age would still be skeptical. Hence he summoned the Buddhas of the ten directions to come and join him in the magnificent act of extending their long broad tongues, which had told nothing but the truth for countless kalpas, until they projected into the sky as high as Mount Sumeru.

Since this is the case, when ordinary people in the latter age believe in even one or two words of the Lotus Sutra, they are embracing the teaching to which the Buddhas of the ten directions have given credence. I wonder what karma we created in the past to have been born as such persons, and I am filled with joy. The words of Shakyamuni that I referred to above indicate that the blessings that come from having made offerings to a hundred thousand million Buddhas are so great that, even if one has believed in teachings other than the Lotus Sutra and as a result of this slander been born poor and lowly, one is still able to believe in this sutra in this lifetime. A T’ien-t’ai [school’s] commentary states, “It is like the case of a person who falls to the ground, but who then pushes himself up from the ground and rises to his feet again.”3 One who has fallen to the ground recovers and rises up from the ground. Those who slander the Lotus Sutra will fall to the ground of the three evil paths, or of the human and heavenly realms, but in the end, through the help of the Lotus Sutra, they will attain Buddhahood.

Now since you, Ueno Shichirō Jirō, are an ordinary person in the latter age and were born to a warrior family, you should by rights be called an evil man,4 and yet your heart is that of a good man. I say this for a reason. Everyone, from the ruler on down to the common people, refuses to take faith in my teachings. They inflict harm on the few who do embrace them, p.1109heavily taxing or confiscating their estates and fields, or even in some cases putting them to death. So it is a difficult thing to believe in my teachings, and yet both your mother and your deceased father dared to accept them. Now you have succeeded your father as his heir, and without any prompting from others, you too have wholeheartedly embraced these teachings. Many people, both high and low, have admonished or threatened you, but you have refused to give up your faith. Since you now appear certain to attain Buddhahood, perhaps the heavenly devil and evil spirits5 are using illness to try to intimidate you. Life in this world is limited. Never be even the least bit afraid!

And you demons, by making this man suffer, are you trying to swallow a sword point first, or embrace a raging fire, or become the archenemy of the Buddhas of the ten directions in the three existences? How terrible this will be for you! Should you not cure this man’s illness immediately, act rather as his protectors, and escape from the grievous sufferings that are the lot of demons? If you fail to do so, will you not have your heads broken into seven pieces in this life6 and fall into the great hell of incessant suffering in your next life! Consider it deeply. Consider it. If you ignore my words, you will certainly regret it later.

The twenty-eighth day of the second month in the fifth year of Kōan (1282)

Delivered by Hōki-bō.7


http://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/165

Just celebrated a most wonderful and fortuitous 9th Gohonzon Birthday! The severity of the attacks upon votaries of the Lotus Sutra only increase as our practice progresses. Imagine my delight now as I face the most daunting and critical obstacles I have brought upon myself. So here I am eternally grateful to all of you Thus Come Ones.

Please always chant to have the Gohonzon at the center or middle of your life, and please remember our heritage through Ted Osaki, Tony Matsuoka, PasstheDoobie, Babbabud, SoCal, and all of our shakubukus.

Lately, it has been so tough for months, massive obstacles. The strength we gain from our studies (OTT, WND, Passthedoobie's lectures on the OTT, President Ikeda's guidance derived from Josei Toda Sensei and President Makiguchi, etc.), practice, and faith is essential. Just keep chanting and live according to the Goshos, is my method.

I'm so glad to be alive in this time with you all. We sorely need to physically unite and have our own Chanting Growers convention. Much love to the Babbas, Doobies, Weirds, all our other extended chanting grower families.