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Banishment to Sado
On the twelfth day of the ninth month, I
incurred the wrath of the government
authorities, and I am to leave for the province of Sado
on the tenth day of the tenth month of this year.
My original aim in studying was to master
the Buddhist teachings, so that I might attain Buddhahood
and thereby also save the people to whom I am indebted. I
always assumed that, on the path of attaining Buddhahood,
one is certain to meet some great trial that will demand of
him that he be willing to give up his life; only then can
one become a Buddha. And already, just as the sutra states,
I have been cursed and vilified, attacked with swords and
staves, rocks and tiles, and banished again and again. I therefore
believe that I am reading the Lotus Sutra with my entire being.
My faith increases all the more and I am confident of my future
existence. Should I die, I will surely save each one of you
as well.
In India a person called the Venerable Aryasimha
was beheaded by King Dammira, and Bodhisattva Aryadeva was
murdered by a Brahman. In China, a person called Chu Tao-sheng
was banished to Mount Su, and the Learned Doctor Fa-tao was
branded on the face and exiled south of the Yangtze River.
All these men suffered persecution on account of the virtue
of the Lotus Sutra and for the sake of the Buddhist Law.
I, Nichiren, am the son of a chandala
family who lived near the seashore in Tojo in Awa Province,
in the remote countryside of the eastern part of Japan. To
discard my body, which would otherwise decay in vain, for
the sake of the Lotus Sutra will be like exchanging rocks
for gold. None of you should lament for me. Please convey
what I have said to the priest Dozen-bo. I had also thought
of writing to the nun of the manor, but because of my present
circumstances, she may no longer wish to be reminded of me.
Should the opportunity arise, please tell her what I have
said.
Nichiren
The tenth month
Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin,
Vol. 5, page 123.
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