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Reply to Jibu-bo
I have received one to of polished
rice, some myoga1
buds and one package of ginger.
People who present the Buddha with the
cherry blossoms of spring, the crimson leaves of autumn,
the clear water of summer and the snow of winter are all
able to attain Buddhahood. How then could one who makes
the Lotus Sutra an offering of rice, which sustains the
life of the emperor and to the common people is more valuable
than jewels, possibly fail to become a Buddha?
In society what people value are the words
of the ruler and the words of their parents. One who turns
one’s back on the instructions of one’s parents
is guilty of a lack of filial piety and will be abandoned
by heaven. One who fails to do the bidding of the ruler
of the country is a person who disobeys royal edicts and
will have his life taken away. Cherishing the desire for
enlightenment from inconceivably distant kalpas in the past,
we have done such things as abandoning our countries, our
wives and children, or our own lives, for the sake of attaining
enlightenment in future existences. When we thus draw near
to achieving Buddhahood, and when we encounter the scripture
entitled Myoho-renge-kyo, which is the single vehicle,
the Devil of the Sixth Heaven, ruler of the threefold world,
reasons: "If this person should become a Buddha, I
will suffer loss on two counts. First of all, if he frees
himself from the threefold world, he will escape my control.
Second, if he becomes a Buddha, his parents and siblings
will also depart from the saha world. How can I stop
this from happening?"
He produces various emanations and, with
these, takes possession of our parents, enters the body
of the ruler of our country or becomes a respected priest,
exhorting us to commit evil acts, making threats or resorting
to flattery. Or else he becomes a high-ranking priest, a
great priest, a wise man or someone who upholds the precepts
and, with the Kegon or Agon sutras or Nembutsu or Shingon
teachings in hand, attempts to turn our devotion from the
Lotus Sutra and toward these other teachings, using deception
to prevent us from becoming Buddhas.
The fifth volume of the Lotus Sutra states
that "when the Latter Day of the Law arrives, a great
demon will first enter the bodies of the sovereign, ministers
and common people, and curse or strike and wound the votary
of the Lotus Sutra. If this fails, he will appear as an
immeasurable multitude of priests who, employing all the
other sutras, attempt to win the votary over. If this does
not succeed, he will become a great priest who upholds the
two hundred and fifty precepts and the three thousand rules
of conduct, and wheedle the sovereign and deceive his wife
so that the votary is exiled or an attempt is made on his
life."2
We may also refer to the detailed descriptions
in the Fukyo chapter of the seventh volume, the Hosshi
chapter of the fourth volume and the Hiyu chapter
of the second volume, as well as in the forty-volume Nirvana
Sutra and in the Shugo Sutra, which differ not in
the least from the conditions of the present time. In addition,
the events in the area of Kashima in Suruga Province,3
especially as they affected you personally, must have brought
these things to mind. In a way that bears no comparison
with other matters, disobeying the prohibitions that one’s
parents or the sovereign may put forward regarding the Lotus
Sutra will in fact constitute filial piety toward one’s
parents and accord with the prayers of the sovereign [for
peace].
Furthermore, Japan is an unusual country,
a country that respects the gods and honors the Buddhas.
However, because everyone, from the sovereign on down to
the common people, hates Nichiren for propagating the Lotus
Sutra, though they may revere all the gods and make offerings
to all the Buddhas, these meritorious acts only turn into
great evil. This is like moxibustion causing the outbreak
of virulent boils, or medicine turning into poison. The
prayers they offer to all the Buddhas and gods turn into
faults, and the country itself is about to become the possession
of foreign countries. Moreover, for some time I have been
telling people that the time will come when those of high
standing will all suffer agonies that are a hundred, a thousand,
ten thousand, a hundred thousand times worse than those
suffered by the Heike clan at the time of their destruction.4
By considering the magnitude of the punishment
suffered by those who harbor enmity toward the Lotus Sutra,
we can understand the magnitude of the benefits obtained
by devoting oneself to it. For example, if a man murders
his parents, then no matter how many causes for great good
he may create, his efforts will not be acceptable to heaven.
But if one kills an enemy of the Lotus Sutra, even if that
enemy should be one’s father or mother, this great
crime will turn into a cause for great good.5
Even if a person should be an archenemy of all the Buddhas
of the three existences and the ten directions, if he believes
in a single phrase of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddhas will
not abandon him. With this in mind, please carefully consider
the nature of this matter. Because the messenger is in a
hurry, I cannot write in detail, but I will write to you
again.
With my deep respect,
Nichiren
The twenty-second day of the eighth month
Reply to Jibu-bo
Footnotes:
- Myaga:A perennial grass plant belonging to the ginger
family, whose buds and flower stems are both edible and
fragrant.
- Lotus
Sutra, chap. 13.
- Exactly what "events" are referred to here
is unclear, but it may indicate the Atsuhara Persecution,
which occurred two years earlier. Kashima, like the village
of Atsuhara, was located in Fuji District of Suruga Province.
- In 1180 Minamoto no Yoritorno led a revolt against the
powerful Heike or Taira clan. in the five-year struggle
that ensued, Yoritorno's forces crushed the Taira and
established a military government to rule Japan. All the
major Taira leaders, including Taira no Kiyomori, died
or were killed during this period, and the clan never
again achieved prominence.
- This passage should not be taken as an exhortation to
murder the enemies of the Lotus Sutra, but rather as a
call to battle against the fundamental darkness present
in people's lives. In this case, "killing" indicates
severing people's attachments to misleading teachings.
Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 7.
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