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Letter to Ichinosawa Nyudo
In the first year of the Kocho era (1261), when the reverse
marker of Jupiter was in the sector of the sky with the
cyclical sign kanoto-tori, on the twelfth day of
the fifth month, I incurred the displeasure of the government
authorities and was exiled to the village of Ito in the
province of Izu. It is the place where the subcommander
of the Imperial Guard Minamoto no Yoritomo was banished.
However, before long, in the third year of the Kocho era
(1263), the year with the cyclical sign mizunoto-i,
on the twenty-second day of the second month, I was pardoned
and allowed to return to Kamakura.
Then, in the eighth year of the Bun'ei era (1271), the
year with the cyclical sign kanoto-hitsuji, on the
twelfth day of the ninth month, I once more incurred the
displeasure of the government and was summarily sentenced
to have my head cut off. Because of certain circumstances,
the execution was temporarily postponed. Instead, I was
placed in the custody of the former governor of Musashi,
who held the island province of Sado in the north as part
of his feudal domain. In accordance with the designs of
his retainers, I was sent to that island.
The inhabitants of the island are a wild and barbarous
lot, with no understanding of the law of cause and effect.
Needless to say, they treated me very roughly. Nevertheless,
I did not harbor the slightest resentment against them.
The reason is this: Even the ruler of the country of Japan,
the lord of Sagami, whom one would expect to have at least
some understanding of principles, failed to investigate
the circumstances of my case, though I was in fact attempting
to aid the nation. Instead, contrary to all reason and justice,
he had me condemned to death. Therefore, even the good men
among his subjects were not to be counted upon, and so there
was surely no point in hating the evil ones.
Since the time I began declaring this teaching, I have
resolved to dedicate my life to the Lotus Sutra and to spread
my name in the pure lands of the Buddhas of the worlds in
the ten directions. Hung Yen took the liver of his dead
lord, Duke Yi of Wei, cut open his own stomach and inserted
the liver before he died. Yu Jang, because his lord, Chih
Po, had suffered disgrace, fell on his sword to avenge the
wrong. These men went to such lengths to repay what was
no more than a worldly debt of gratitude. The reason why
people continue to transmigrate through the six paths for
countless kalpas without ever being able to attain Buddhahood
is because they begrudge their bodies and do not lay down
their lives for the sake of the Lotus Sutra.
The bodhisattva called Kiken for a period of twelve hundred
years burned his own body as an offering to the Buddha Pure
Bright Excellence of Sun and Moon, and for seventy-two thousand
years he burned his arms as an offering to the Lotus Sutra,
after which he was reborn as Bodhisattva Yakuo. Bodhisattva
Fukyo over a period of many kalpas suffered abuse and ridicule
and was attacked with sticks and staves, tiles and rocks,
all for the sake of the Lotus Sutra. But was he not reborn
as Shakyamuni Buddha? Thus we can see that the path to Buddhahood
requires different forms of practice depending upon the
age.
In our present day, the Lotus Sutra is of course supreme
as it was in the past. And yet, because the way of practicing
it differs from age to age, even if one were to retire to
the mountain forests and read and recite it, or live in
the villages and expound its doctrines, or observe all the
various precepts or even burn one's arms in offering, he
would nevertheless fail to attain Buddhahood.
It would seem as though the teachings of Buddhism are now
flourishing in Japan. And yet there is something strange
in regard to these teachings, though people are unaware
of it. They are like insects that unwittingly fly into a
flame, or birds that enter the mouth of a serpent.
The teachers of the Shingon sect and the adherents of the
Kegon, Hosso, Sanron, Zen, Pure Land and Ritsu sects all
believe that they have grasped the Law and freed themselves
from the sufferings of birth and death. But the founders
who first established these sects failed to discern the
true meaning of the sutras upon which they based their teachings.
They proceeded only in a shallow manner, employing the sutras
in a way that fitted with their own ideas. In doing so,
they went against the Lotus Sutra, which means that their
teachings were not in accord with the true intention of
the Buddha. They were unaware of this, however, and as they
proceeded to propagate their doctrines, both the rulers
of the nation and the common people came to believe in them.
In addition, these doctrines spread to other countries,
and many years have gone by since they were first propagated.
As a result, the scholars of this latter age, unaware that
the founders of these sects were in error, look up to those
who practice and propagate their teachings as men of wisdom.
If the source is muddy, the stream will not flow clear;
if the body is bent, the shadow will not stand upright.
Shan-wu-wei and the others who founded the Shingon sect
were already destined for hell. Perhaps among them there
were some who repented in time and hence managed to avoid
falling into hell. Or perhaps there were some who merely
propagated the teachings of their own sutras and neither
praised nor attacked the Lotus Sutra, and thus, though they
could not free themselves from the sufferings of birth and
death, were nevertheless able to avoid falling into the
evil paths. But the people of this latter age are not aware
of these matters, and instead all alike put their faith
in these teachings. They are like people who board a damaged
vessel and set out upon the great sea, or like people who,
drunk with wine, lie down to sleep in the midst of a fire.
When I, Nichiren, perceived this state of affairs, I immediately
aroused the aspiration for enlightenment [in order to save
them] and began to speak out regarding the matter. I was
aware from the beginning that, no matter how I addressed
them, the people of the time would probably not believe
me, and that I would on the contrary most likely be sentenced
to exile or execution.
The nation of Japan today has turned its back on the Lotus
Sutra and cast aside Shakyamuni Buddha. For that reason,
its people are not only bound to fall into the great citadel
of the Avichi Hell in their next existence, but they will
surely encounter great troubles in their present existence
as well. That is to say, invaders will come from a foreign
land, and everyone, from the ruler on down to the common
people, will lament with a single voice.
To illustrate, if a thousand brothers join together to
slay their parent, the burden of guilt will not be divided
among them in a thousand portions. Rather each of every
one of the brothers must [receive the full karmic retribution,
and all alike will] fall into the great citadel of the hell
of incessant suffering, to remain there for the space of
a kalpa. And the same is true of [the people of] this country
of Japan.
Since the far-off time of gohyaku-jintengo, this
saha world has been the domain of Shakyamuni Buddha,
the lord of teachings. Of the vast earth, the skies, the
mountains and seas, the plants and trees, there is not a
single portion that belongs to any other Buddha. And all
the living beings within it are likewise the children of
Shakyamuni.
For example, it is said that at the beginning of the Kalpa
of Formation, the god Bonten descends from on high and gives
birth to the various beings who inhabit the six paths. Just
as Bonten is then the parent of all those beings, in the
same way Shakyamuni Buddha is the parent of all living beings
in this world. Moreover, the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni is the
enlightened teacher for all the living beings in this country
of ours. It is thanks to our teacher that we can understand
who our parents are. It is owing to Shakyamuni that we can
distinguish black from white.
But because of the teachings of men like Shan-tao and Honen,
who have been possessed by the Devil of the Sixth Heaven,
the practitioners of the Nembutsu proceed to build Amida
halls throughout the country. They build Amida halls in
each district, each village and each hamlet, or the general
populace build Amida halls in their own houses, or people
make painted or wooden images of Amida Buddha to put up
in their houses and dwellings. The name of Amida is on everyone's
lips, some chanting it in a loud voice, some chanting it
ten thousand times, some chanting it sixty thousand times
[a day]. And persons with a degree of wisdom make haste
to encourage them in these practices. This is like adding
dried grass to a fire, or loosing winds to blow upon the
waters and stir them up.
Of the inhabitants of this country, there is not one who
is not a disciple and subject of the Lord Shakyamuni. If
a person does not paint or carve a single image of Amida
or of any Buddha other than Shakyamuni, or does not chant
Amida's name, then, although he may be an evil person, he
still has not clearly shown that he has rejected Shakyamuni
Buddha. But all those persons who worship Amida Buddha exclusively
have already clearly shown that they have rejected Shakyamuni
Buddha. Those who chant the vain and profitless formula
of the Nembutsu--they are the truly evil ones!
This Buddha, who is neither father nor mother to them,
nor sovereign nor teacher, they treat with the kind of tenderness
one might show to a beloved wife. At the same time, they
cast aside Shakyamuni, our real sovereign, parent and enlightened
teacher, and fail to open their mouths to recite the Lotus
Sutra, which is like a wet nurse to us. How can they be
called anything but unfilial?
And these unfilial persons number not just one or two,
a hundred or a thousand; they include not just the inhabitants
of one or two provinces. From the ruler on down to the common
people, everyone in the entire land of Japan, without a
single exception, is guilty of committing three of the cardinal
sins!
As a result, the sun and moon change color and glare down
on this, the earth shakes and heaves in anger, great comets
fill the sky, and huge fires break out all over the land.
Yet these persons fail to perceive their error and instead
take pride in what they do, saying, "We unceasingly
recite the Nembutsu, and in addition we build Amida halls
and pay honor to Amida Buddha!"
Such ways may seem wise, but in fact they are worthless.
Suppose there is a young couple. The husband is so in love
with his wife, and the wife thinks so tenderly of her husband,
that they completely forget about their parents. As a result,
the parents go about in thin clothing, while the bedroom
of the young couple is warm and snug. The parents have nothing
to eat, while the young couple's stomachs are full. Such
young people are committing the worst kind of unfilial conduct,
and yet they fail to see that they are doing wrong. And
a wife who would deliberately turn her back on her own mother,
a husband who would go against his own father--are they
not guilty of an even graver offense?
Amida Buddha dwells in a region ten billion Buddha lands
away and has not the slightest connection with this saha
world. However one may claim [that such a connection exists],
there is no basis for it. It is like trying to mate a horse
with an ox, or a monkey with a dog!
I, Nichiren, am the only person who is aware of this. If,
begrudging my life, I should refrain from speaking out,
I would not only be failing to repay the debt of gratitude
I owe to my country, but I would also be acting as the enemy
of the Lord Buddha Shakyamuni. On the other hand, I knew
from the outset that if I set aside my fears and declared
matters exactly as they are, I would be sentenced to death.
And even if I should escape the death penalty, I would surely
be condemned to exile. So great is the debt of gratitude
I owe the Buddha, however, that I have not let myself be
intimidated by others but have spoken out on these matters.
Just as I anticipated, I was exiled no less than twice.
During the second of these sentences, in the summer of the
ninth year of the Bun'ei era (1272), I was sent to a place
called Ichinosawa in Ishida Village in the province of Sado.
The headman and his men in the region to which I had been
assigned, in both official and unofficial matters, treated
me with greater malice than if I had been a lifelong enemy
of their parents or a foe from some previous existence.
But the nyudo of the lodgings where I was put up, as well
as his wife and servants, though they seemed fearful at
first, privately came to look on me with pity, perhaps because
of some bond formed between us in a previous existence.
The rations of food that I received from the headman were
very scanty. And since I had a number of disciples with
me, we often had no more than two or three mouthfuls of
rice to a person. Sometimes we portioned out the food on
square trays made of bark, and sometimes we simply received
it in the palms of our hands and ate it then and there.
The master of the house in private treated us with compassion.
Though outwardly he appeared to be fearful of the authorities,
at heart he had great pity for us, something that I will
never forget in any future lifetime. At the time, he meant
more to me than the very parents who gave me birth. However
great the obligations I incurred with respect to him, I
must endeavor to somehow repay them. Even more, I must not
fail to do what I had promised him.
The nyudo was deeply concerned at heart about the life
to come, and had for a long time devoted himself to chanting
the Nembutsu. Moreover, he had constructed an Amida hall
and dedicated his lands in offering to Amida Buddha. He
was also afraid of how the steward of the area might react,
and so he did not come forward and take faith in the Lotus
Sutra. From his point of view, this was probably the most
reasonable course to take. But at the same time, he will
without doubt fall into the great citadel of the hell of
incessant suffering. I had thought, for example, that even
if I were to send him a copy of the Lotus Sutra, he would
not be willing to abandon the practice of the Nembutsu out
of his fear of worldly opinion, and so it would simply be
like adding water to fire. There was no doubt that the flood
of his slander of the Law would extinguish the small flame
of his faith in the Lotus Sutra. And if he were to fall
into hell, I, Nichiren, would in turn be to blame. Thus,
while asking myself anxiously again and again what ought
to be done, I have so far not sent him a copy of the Lotus
Sutra.
[In the midst of all this,] I received word that the copy
of the Lotus Sutra that I had earlier intended to send him
had been destroyed in a fire at Kamakura. More than ever
it seemed as though the nyudo had no connection with the
Lotus Sutra, and I wondered at myself for ever having promised
to send him a copy.
Moreover, when the nun of Kamakura was leaving Sado to
return home, she found herself in difficulty for money to
cover her journey. Although reluctant to do so, I asked
the nyudo to provide for her expenses, though I regret having
made such a request. I could of course simply return the
sum of money to him along with interest. But my disciples
point out that I would still be failing to keep my original
promise. I am faced with difficulties any way I turn, and
yet I am afraid that people may think I am given to irresponsible
and deceitful behavior. Therefore I feel I have no choice
but to send a copy of the entire Lotus Sutra in ten volumes.
Since the nyudo's grandmother seems at heart to be more
deeply drawn to the sutra than does the nyudo himself, I
entrust it to you for her sake.
The things I, Nichiren, say sound like the words of a fool,
and so no one heeds them. Nevertheless, I must note that
in the tenth month of the eleventh year of the Bun'ei era
(1274), cyclical sign kinoe-inu, when the kingdom
of the Mongols launched an attack on Tsukushi, the defenders
of the island of Tsushima held fast, but So, the vice governor
of Tsushima, fled. As a result, the Mongols were able to
attack the peasants and other commoners, killing or taking
prisoners among the men, and herding the women together
and tying them by the hands to their ships or taking them
prisoner. Not a single person escaped.
In the attack on the island of Iki the same thing happened.
And when the Mongol ships pressed on [to Tsukushi], the
magistrate who was in charge of the area, the former governor
of Buzen, fled in defeat. Several hundred of the Matsurato
men were struck down or taken prisoner, and the population
of one costal village after another suffered the same fate
as the people of Iki and Tsushima.
And when the Mongols attack the next time, what will it
be like? When thousands and millions of fighting men from
their country come swarming and pressing upon Japan, what
will happen?
Their forces in the north will first of all attack the
island of Sado. In no time at all, they will kill the stewards
and constables of the area. And when the common people attempt
to flee to the northern mountains, they will be killed or
taken prisoner, or will perish in the mountains.
We must stop to consider why such terrible things should
occur. The reason, as I stated earlier, is that every single
person in this country has committed three of the cardinal
sins. Therefore, Bonten, Taishaku, the gods of the sun and
moon and the Four Heavenly Kings have entered into the body
of the Mongol ruler and are causing him to chastise our
nation.
I, Nichiren, may be a fool, but, having declared myself
to be the messenger of Shakyamuni Buddha and the votary
of the Lotus Sutra, it is nothing short of amazing that
my words go unheeded. And because of this failure, the nation
now faces ruin. Not only are my words not heeded, but I
have been driven out of province after province, been dragged
about, attacked and beaten, or sent into exile, and my disciples
have been killed or had their lands taken away from them.
If someone were to mete out such treatment to an actual
messenger of his parents, could that person's actions possibly
be condoned? And I, Nichiren, am parent to all the people
of Japan, I am their sovereign, I am their enlightened teacher!
Should they turn against one like me?
It is absolutely certain that those who chant the Nembutsu
are destined to fall into the hell of incessant suffering.
You may depend on it!
When the Mongols come to make their assault, what will
you do? Even if you should put this copy of the Lotus Sutra
on your head or hang it around your neck and flee to the
northern mountains, the fact remains that over a period
of many years you have given support to the Nembutsu believers
and have recited the Nembutsu yourself, and in doing so
have made yourself the enemy of Shakyamuni Buddha and of
the Lotus Sutra.
If at that time you should lose your life, you must bear
no resentment toward the Lotus Sutra. And when you are brought
before King Emma in his palace, what will you say? At that
time, though you may feel foolish in saying so, you will
probably declare that you are a follower of Nichiren.
But enough of that. As for this copy of the Lotus Sutra
that I am sending, you should ask Gakujo-bo to read it for
you regularly. But whatever anyone may say, you must not
allow any of the Nembutsu priests, Shingon teachers or observers
of the precepts to look at it. And though people may claim
to be disciples of Nichiren, if they do not possess some
proof of that fact from my hand, you must not trust them.
With my deep respect,
Nichiren
The eighth day of the fifth month
Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 6, p. 95.
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