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On the Buddha's Prophecy
- Kembutsu Mirai Ki -
Nichiren, the Shramana of Japan
The seventh volume of the Lotus Sutra states,
"In the fifth five hundred years after my death, accomplish
worldwide kosen-rufu and never allow its flow to cease."
On the one hand, it is deplorable to me that more than twenty-two
hundred and twenty years have already passed since the Buddha's
death. What evil karma prevented me from being born in his
lifetime? Why couldn't I have seen the four ranks of saints
in the Former Day of the Law, or T'ien-t'ai and Dengyo in
the Middle Day? On the other hand, I rejoice at whatever good
fortune enabled me to be born in the fifth five hundred years
and read these words of the Buddha.
Even if I had been born in the Buddha's lifetime,
it would have served no purpose, for those who embraced the
first four tastes of teachings had not yet heard of the Lotus
Sutra. Again, my being born in either the Former or Middle
Day of the Law would have been meaningless, for neither the
scholars of the three sects to the south or the seven sects
to the north of the Yangtze River, nor those of the Kegon,
Shingon or any other sects, believed in the Lotus Sutra.
The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai said, "In
the fifth five hundred years, the Mystic Way shall spread
and benefit mankind far into the future." Doesn't this
describe the time of kosen-rufu? The Great Teacher
Dengyo said, "The Former and Middle Days are almost over,
and the Latter Day is near at hand." These words reveal
how he longed to live at the beginning of the Latter Day of
the Law. When one compares the rewards of living in the three
different periods, it is clear that mine surpass not only
those of Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu, but those of T'ien-t'ai
and Dengyo.
Question: You are not the only person living
in this five-hundred-year period; why are you in particular
so overjoyed to be living now?
Answer: The fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra
reads, "Since hatred and jealousy abound even during
the lifetime of the Buddha, how much worse will it be in the
world after his passing?" The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai
stated, "It will be 'much worse' in the future because
the Lotus Sutra is so hard to teach." The Great Teacher
Miao-lo explained, "T'ien-t'ai calls the Lotus Sutra
'hard to teach' to let us know how hard it is to enable people
to understand it." Priest Chih-tu stated, "It is
said that good medicine tastes bitter. Similarly, this sutra
dispels attachments to the five vehicles and establishes the
one supreme teaching. It reproaches common mortals and censures
saints, denies Mahayana and refutes Hinayana... All those
who are repudiated persecute the believers in the Lotus Sutra."
The Great Teacher Dengyo said, "The propagation of the
true teaching will begin in the age when the Middle Day of
the Law ends and the Latter Day opens, in a land to the east
of T'ang and to the west of Katsu, among people stained by
the five impurities who live in a time of conflict."
The sutra says, "Since hatred and jealousy abound even
during the lifetime of the Buddha, how much worse will it
be in the world after his passing?' There is good reason for
this statement." The Great Teacher Dengyo wrote as though
describing his own day, but actually, he was referring to
the present time. That is what gives such profound meaning
to his words, "The Former and Middle Days are almost
over, and the Latter Day is near at hand."
The sutra states, "Devils, people under
their influence, spirits of the heavens and seas, sinister
demons called Yasha, demons which drain human vitality and
others will seize the advantage." Another portion of
the sutra details these "others": "Yasha, nimble
demons, hungry demons, demons of filth, vengeful demons, red,
orange, black, and blue demons, and so on." These passages
explain that those who in previous lifetimes embraced the
four tastes or the three teachings, Brahmanism, or the doctrines
of Humanity and Heaven appear in this life as devils, spirits
or human beings who persecute the votary of the true and perfect
teaching when they see or hear of him.
Question: In comparing the Former and Middle
days with the Latter Day of the Law, it seems to me that the
first two periods were far superior in terms of both time
and the people's inborn capacity. Why are these factors of
time and capacity ignored in the Lotus Sutra which refers
exclusively to this age?
Answer: The Buddha's thoughts are difficult
to fathom. Indeed, even I am still unable to do so. We may
attempt to understand, however, by taking Hinayana Buddhism
as a point of clarification. During the thousand years of
the Former Day of the Law, Hinayana was fully endowed with
teaching, practice and proof. In the subsequent thousand years
of the Middle Day, teaching and practice still remained, but
no longer was there any proof. Now in the Latter Day of the
Law, the teaching remains, but there is neither practice nor
proof. To examine this from the standpoint of the Lotus Sutra:
In the thousand years of the Former Day of the Law, those
who possessed all three had most probably formed a bond of
faith with the Lotus Sutra during the Buddha's lifetime. They
were born again in the Former Day and were able to obtain
the proof of Hinayana through its teaching and practice. Those
born in the Middle Day had not developed strong ties to the
Lotus Sutra during the Buddha's lifetime and were therefore
unable to attain proof through Hinayana. They turned instead
to provisional Mahayana and were thus able to be born in pure
lands throughout the universe. In the Latter Day of the Law,
there is no longer any benefit to be gained from either Mahayana
or Hinayana. Hinayana retains nothing but its teaching; it
has neither practice nor proof. Mahayana still has its teaching
and practice but no longer provides any benefit whatsoever,
either conspicuous or inconspicuous.
Furthermore, the sects of Hinayana and provisional
Mahayana established during the Former and Middle Days of
the Law cling all the more stubbornly to their doctrines as
they enter the Latter Day. Those who espouse Hinayana reject
Mahayana, and those who espouse provisional teachings attack
the true teachings, until the country is overrun with people
who slander. Those who fall into the evil paths because of
their mistaken practice of Buddhism outnumber the dust particles
which comprise the earth, while those who attain Buddhahood
by practicing the true teachings are fewer than the dust specks
you can hold on a fingernail. The gods have now abandoned
the country, and only demons remain, possessing the minds
and bodies of the ruler, his subjects, priests and nuns, and
causing them to vilify and humiliate the votary of the Lotus
Sutra.
If, however, in this time period after the
Buddha's death, one renounces his attachments to the four
tastes and three teachings and converts to faith in the Lotus
Sutra which is true Mahayana, all the gods and countless Bodhisattvas
of the Earth will protect him as the votary of the Lotus Sutra.
Under their protection, he will establish the true object
of worship represented by the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo
and bring it to the entire world.
It was the same with Bodhisattva Fukyo who
lived in the Middle Day of the Buddha Ionno's Law. He propagated
the teaching of twenty-four characters which begins, "I
deeply respect...," and was persecuted and attacked with
staves. The words of the twenty-four characters of Fukyo are
different from the five characters of Nichiren, but their
spirit is the same. The method of propagation is also exactly
the same both at the end of the Buddha Ionno's Middle Day
and now at the beginning of the Latter Day. Bodhisattva Fukyo
was a person of shozuiki and Nichiren is a common mortal
of myoji-soku, which are both the initial stages of
practice.
Question: How can you be certain that you
are the votary of the Lotus Sutra prophesied to appear at
the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law?
Answer: A passage from the Lotus Sutra states,
"...how much worse will it be in the world after his
passing?" Another passage reads, "There are many
ignorant people who will vilify and attack us, the votaries
of the Lotus Sutra, with swords and staves." A third
passage says, "We will be banished again and again."
A fourth reads, "The people will be full of hostility,
and it will be extremely difficult to believe." A fifth
reads, "They will stone him and beat him with staves."
A sixth reads, "Devils, people under their influence,
spirits of the heavens and seas, sinister demons called Yasha,
demons which drain human vitality and others will seize the
advantage."
That the people might believe in the Buddha's
words, I have sought throughout Japan, among the sovereign
and his subjects, among priests and nuns, lay men and women,
for one who has fulfilled these explicit predictions, but
I can find none other than myself. Now is most certainly the
beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, but had Nichiren not
appeared, the Buddha's predictions would be false.
Question: You are an extremely arrogant priest--even
more arrogant than Mahadeva or Sunakshatra. Is this not so?
Answer: Slandering Nichiren is a sin even
graver than those of Devadatta or Vimalamitra. My words may
sound arrogant, but my sole purpose is to fulfill the Buddha's
predictions and reveal the truth of his teachings. In all
Japan, who but Nichiren can be called the votary of the Lotus
Sutra? By denouncing Nichiren, you will make lies of all the
Buddha's prophecies. Are you not then an extremely evil man?
Question: You certainly fit the Buddha's prophecies.
But are there perhaps not other votaries of the Lotus Sutra
in India or China?
Answer: There cannot be two suns in the world.
Can there be two sovereigns in one country?
Question: What proof do you have of this?
Answer: The moon appears in the west and gradually
shines eastward, while the sun rises in the east and casts
its rays to the west. The same is true of Buddhism. It spread
from west to east in the Former and Middle Days of the Law,
but will travel from east to west in the Latter Day. The Great
Teacher Miao-lo said, "Buddhism has been lost in India,
and they are seeking it abroad." Thus there is no Buddhism
in India anymore. One hundred fifty years ago in China, during
the reign of Emperor Kao-tsung, barbarians from the north
invaded the Eastern Capital and put an end to what little
was left of both Buddhism and the political order there. Now,
not one Hinayana sutra remains in China and most Mahayana
sutras have also been lost. Even when Jakusho and other priests
set out from Japan to take some sutras to China, there was
no one there to whom these sutras could be taught. Their efforts
were as meaningless as trying to teach Buddhism to wooden
or stone statues garbed in priests' robes and carrying mendicants'
bowls. That is why Tsun-shih said, "Buddhism was first
transmitted from the west, just as the moon first appears
in the west. Now Buddhism returns from the east like the sun
rising in the east." The words of Miao-lo and Tsun-shih
make it clear that Buddhism is lost in both India and China.
Question: Now I can see there is no Buddhism
in either India or China, but how do you know there is no
Buddhism in the other three lands--to the east, west and north?
Answer: The eighth volume of the Lotus Sutra
states, "After the Buddha's death, I will spread this
sutra within the entire southern land and never allow it to
perish." The word "within" indicates that the
other three lands were excluded.
Question: You have fulfilled the Buddha's
prophecy; now what do you yourself predict?
Answer: There can be no doubt that the fifth
five-hundred-year period has already begun as prophesied by
the Buddha. I say that, without fail, Buddhism shall arise
and flow forth from the east, from the land of Japan. Omens
will occur in the form of natural disasters of a magnitude
greater than ever before witnessed in the Former or Middle
Day of the Law. When the Buddha was born, when he turned the
wheel of doctrine, and also when he entered nirvana, the omens,
both auspicious and inauspicious, were greater than any ever
observed. The Buddha is the teacher of all saints. The sutras
describe how, at the time of his birth, five colors of light
shone forth in all directions, and the night became as bright
as noon. At the time of his death, twelve white arcs crossed
the sky from north to south, the sun's light was extinguished,
and the day became as dark as midnight. There followed the
two thousand years of the Former and Middle Days of the Law;
saints, some Buddhist and some not, were born and died, but
never were there any omens of such magnitude.
However, from the beginning of the Shoka period
through this year, there have been tremendous earthquakes
and extraordinary phenomena in the heavens, exactly like the
signs which marked the Buddha's birth and death. Know that
a saint like the Buddha has been born. A great comet crossed
the sky, but for which sovereign or subject did this omen
come? The earth tilted, and gaping fissures opened three times,
but for which saint or sage did this occur? You should realize
that these great omens, both good and bad, are of no ordinary
significance. They are signs that the Great Pure Law is ascending
and the Pure Law is in decline. T'ien-t'ai stated, "By
observing the fury of the rain, we can tell the greatness
of the dragon that caused it, and by observing the flourishing
of the lotus flowers, we can tell the depth of the pond they
grow in." Miao-lo said, "Wise men can see omens
and what they foretell, as snakes know the way of snakes."
Twenty-one years ago I, Nichiren, understood
what was to come. Since then I have suffered persecution day
after day and month after month. In the last two or three
years, among other things, I was almost put to death. The
chances are one in ten thousand that I will survive the year
or even the month. If anyone questions these things, let him
ask my disciples for details. What joy is ours to expiate
in one lifetime our slanders from the eternal past! How fortunate
to serve the Buddha who has never been known until now! I
pray that before anything else I can guide to the truth the
sovereign and those others who persecuted me. I will tell
the Buddha about all the disciples who have aided me, and
before they die, I will share the great blessings of this
faith with my parents who gave me life. Now as if in a dream
I understand the heart of the Hoto chapter, which reads,
"To hurl Mount Sumeru into countless Buddha lands would
not be difficult...but to spread this sutra in the evil age
after the Buddha's death is difficult." The Great Teacher
Dengyo stated, "Shakyamuni taught that the shallow is
easy to embrace, but the profound is difficult. To discard
the shallow and seek the profound requires courage."
The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai practiced in a manner true to
Shakyamuni's teachings and spread the Hokke sect throughout
China. Dengyo and his followers received the doctrine from
T'ien-t'ai and disseminated it throughout Japan. Nichiren
of Awa Province inherited the lineage of Buddhism from these
three teachers and propagated the Lotus Sutra in the Latter
Day of the Law. Together they should be called "the four
masters of Buddhism in the three countries." Nam-myoho-renge-kyo,
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
The eleventh day of the fifth intercalary
month in the tenth year of Bun'ei (1273)
Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin,
Vol. 1.
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