What
joy to have been born in the Latter Day of the Law and to have shared
in the propagation of true Buddhism! How pitiful are those who,
though born in this time, cannot believe in the Lotus Sutra!
No
one can escape death once he is born as a human being, so why do you
not practice in preparation for the next life? When I observe what
people are doing, I realize that although they profess faith in the
Lotus Sutra and clasp its scrolls, they act against the spirit of the
sutra and thereby readily fall into the evil paths. To illustrate, a
person has five major internal organs, but should even one of them
become diseased, it will infect all the others and eventually he will
die. The Great Teacher Dengyo stated, "Even though one praises
the Lotus Sutra, he destroys its heart." He meant that even if
one embraces, reads and praises the Lotus Sutra, if he betrays its
intent, he will be destroying not only Shakyamuni but all other
Buddha in the universe.
The
sum of our worldly misdeeds and evil karma may be as great as Mount
Sumeru, but once we take faith in this sutra, they will vanish like
frost or dew under the sun of the Lotus Sutra. However, if one
commits even one or two of the fourteen slanders set forth in this
sutra, his offense is almost impossible to expiate. Killing a single
Buddha would be a far greater offense than destroying all living
beings in the universe, and to violate the sutra's spirit is to
commit the sin of destroying all Buddhas. One who commits any of
these fourteen is a slanderer.
Hell
is a dreadful dwelling of fire, and Hunger is a pitiful state where
starving people devour their own children. Anger is strife, and
Animality is to kill or be killed. The hell of the blood-red lotus is
so called because the intense cold of this hell makes one double over
until his back splits open and the bloody flesh emerges like a
crimson lotus flower. And there are hells even more horrible. Once
one falls into such an evil state, even a throne or the title of
general means nothing. He is no different from a monkey on a string,
tormented by the guards of hell. What use are his fame and fortune
then? Can he still be arrogant and persist in his false beliefs?
Stop
and ponder! How rare is the faith that moves one to give alms to a
priest who knows the heart of the Lotus Sutra! He will not stray into
the evil paths if he does so even once. Still greater are the
benefits arising from ten or twenty contributions, or from five
years, ten years, or a lifetime of contributions. They are even
beyond the measure of the Buddha's wisdom. The Buddha taught that the
blessings of a single offering to the votary of this sutra are a
hundred thousand myriad times greater than those of offering
boundless treasure to Shakyamuni for more than eight billion aeons.
When you embrace this sutra, you will overflow with happiness and
shed tears of joy. It seems impossible to repay our debt to
Shakyamuni, but by your frequent offerings to me deep in these
mountains you will repay the merciful kindness of the Lotus Sutra and
Shakyamuni Buddha. Strive ever harder in faith and never give in to
negligence. Everyone appears to believe sincerely when he first
embraces the Lotus Sutra, but as time passes, he tends to become less
devout; he no longer reveres nor serves the priest and arrogantly
forms distorted views. This is most frightening. Be diligent in
developing your faith until the last moment of your life. Otherwise
you will have regrets. For example, the journey from Kamakura to
Kyoto takes twelve days. If you travel for eleven but stop on the
twelfth, how can you admire the moon over the capital? No matter
what, be close to the priest who knows the heart of the Lotus Sutra,
keep learning from him the truth of Buddhism and continue you journey
of faith.
How
swiftly the days pass! It makes us realize how short are the years we
have left. Friends enjoy the cherry blossoms together on spring
mornings and then they are gone, carried away like the blossoms by
the winds of impermanence, leaving nothing but their names. Although
the blossoms have scattered, the cherry trees will bloom again with
the coming of spring, but when will those people be reborn? The
companions with whom we composed poems praising the moon on autumn
evenings have vanished with the moon behind the shifting clouds. Only
their mute images remain in our hearts. The moon has set behind the
western mountains, yet we shall compose poetry under it again next
autumn. But where are our companions who have passed away? Even when
the approaching Tiger of Death roars, we do not hear. How many more
days are left to the sheep bound for slaughter?
Deep in the Snow
Mountains lives a bird called Kankucho which, tortured by the numbing
cold, cries that it will build a nest in the morning. Yet, when the
day breaks, it sleeps away the hours in the warm light of the morning
sun without building its nest. So it continues to cry vainly
throughout its life. The same is true of people. When they fall into
hell and suffocate in its flames, they long to be reborn as humans
and vow to put everything else aside and serve the three treasures in
order to attain enlightenment in their next life. But even on the
rare occasions when they happen to be reborn human, the winds of fame
and fortune blow violently and the lamp of Buddhist practice is
easily extinguished. The squander their wealth without a qualm on
meaningless trifles but begrudge even the smallest contribution to
the Buddha, the Law, and the Priest. This is very serious, for then
they are being hindered by messengers from hell. This is the meaning
of "Good by the inch invites evil by the yard."
Furthermore,
since this is a land whose people slander the Lotus Sutra, the gods
who would be protecting them thirst for the Law and ascend to heaven,
forsaking their shrines. The empty shrines are the occupied by demons
who mislead the worshippers. The Buddha, his teachings completed,
returned to eternal paradise. Temples and shrines were abandoned to
become the dwellings of devils. These imposing structures stand in
rows, built at state expense, and still the people suffer. These are
not merely my own words; they are found in the sutras, so you should
learn them well.
Neither
Buddhas nor gods would ever accept contributions from those who
slander the Law. Then how can we human beings accept them? The deity
of Kasuga Shrine proclaimed through an oracle that he would accept
nothing from those with impure hearts, though he should have to eat
the flames of burning copper; that he would refuse to set foot in
their homes, though he should have to sit on red-hot copper. He would
rather come down to a miserable hut with weeds choking the
passageway, or to a poor thatched cottage. He declared that he would
never visit the unfaithful even if they hung sacred festoons for a
thousand days to welcome him, but that he would go to a house where
the people believe, no matter how others might shun their
wretchedness. Lamenting that slanderers overturn this country, the
gods abandoned it and ascended to heaven. "Those with impure
hearts" means those who refuse to embrace the Lotus Sutra, as is
stated in the fifth volume of the Lotus Sutra. If the gods themselves
regard alms from slanderers as "flames of burning copper,"
how could we common mortals possibly consume them? If someone were to
kill our parents and then try to offer us some gift, could we
possibly accept it? Not even sages or saints con avoid the hell of
incessant suffering if they accept offerings from slanderers. Nor
should you associate with slanderers, for if you do, you will share
the same guilt as they. This you should fear above all.
Shakyamuni
is the father, sovereign and teacher of all other Buddhas and all
gods, of the whole assembly of men and heavenly beings, and of all
sentient beings, What god would rejoice if Shakyamuni were killed?
Today all the people of our country have proved to be enemies of
Shakyamuni, but more than lay men or women, it is the priests with
twisted understanding who are the Buddha's worst enemies. There are
two kinds of understanding, true and perverted. No matter how learned
a person may appear, if his ideas are warped you should not listen to
him. Nor should you follow priests merely because they are venerable
or of high rank. But if a person has the wisdom to know the spirit of
the Lotus Sutra, no matter how lowly he may appear, worship him and
serve him as though he were a living Buddha. This is stated in the
sutra. That is why the Great Teacher Dengyo said that the lay men and
women who believe in this sutra, even if they lack knowledge or
violate the precepts, should be seated above Hinayana priests who
strictly observe all 250 commandment. The priests of this Mahayana
sutra should therefore be seated even higher. Ryokan of Gokuraku-ji
temple is believed to be a living Buddha, but men and women who
believe in the Lotus Sutra should be seated high above him. It seems
extraordinary that this Ryokan, who observes the 250 commandments,
should become angry and glower whenever he sees or hears about
Nichiren. The sage, it seems, has been possessed by a devil. He is
like a basically even tempered person who, when drunk reveals an evil
side and causes trouble. The Buddha taught that giving alms to
Mahakashyapa, Shariputra, Maudgalyayana and Subhuti, who did not yet
know of the Lotus Sutra, would lead one to fall into the three evil
paths. He said that these four great disciples were more base than
wild dogs or jackals. They adamantly upheld the 250 Buddhist
commandments, and their observance of the three thousand standards
was as perfect as the harvest moon. But until they embraced the Lotus
Sutra they were still like wild dogs to the Buddha. In his
comparison, our priests are so base that they are beyond description.
So
flagrantly do the priests of Kencho-ji and Engaku-ji temples break
the code of conduct that it resembles a mountain which has collapse
into rubble. Their licentious behavior is like that of monkeys. It is
utterly futile to look for salvation in the next life by giving alms
to such priests. There is no doubt that the protective gods have
abandoned our land. Long ago the gods, bodhisattvas, and men of
Learning pledged together in the presence of Shakyamuni that if there
be a land hostile to the Lotus Sutra, they would become frost and
hail in summer to drive the country into famine, or pestilence to
devour the crops; or cause droughts, or floods to ruin the fields and
farms; or become typhoons and sweep the people to their deaths; or
transform themselves into demons and plague the people. Bodhisattva
Hachiman was among those present. Does he not fear breaking the oath
made at Eagle Peak? Should he break his promise, he would surely be
doomed to the hell of incessant suffering -- a fearful, terrible
thing to contemplate. Until the envoy of the Buddha actually appeared
to expound the Lotus Sutra, the rulers of the land were not hostile
to it, for they revered all the sutras equally. However, now that I
am spreading the Lotus Sutra as the Buddha's envoy, everyone -- from
ruler to the lowliest subject --has become a slanderer. So far
Hachiman has done everything possible to prevent hostility toward the
Lotus Sutra from developing among our people, as reluctant to abandon
them as parents would be to abandon an only child, but now in fear of
breaking the pledge he made at Eagle Peak, he has razed his shrine
and ascended to heaven. Even so, should there be a votary of the
Lotus Sutra who would give his life for it, Hachiman will watch over
him. But since both Tensho Daijin and Hachiman have gone, how could
the other gods remain in their shrines? Even if they did not wish to
leave, how could they stay another day if I reproach them for not
keeping their promise? A person may be a thief and as long as no one
knows, he can live wherever he wishes. But when denounces as a thief
by someone who knows him, he is forced to flee at once. In the same
way, because I know of their vow, the gods are compelled to abandon
their shrines. Contrary to popular belief, the land has become
inhabited by demons. How pitiful!
Many
have expounded the various teachings of Shakyamuni, but until now, no
one, not even T'ien-t'ai or Dengyo, has taught the most important of
all. That is as it should be, for that teaching appears and spreads
with the advent of Bodhisattva Jogyo during the first five hundred
years of the Latter Day of the Law.
No
matter what, always keep your faith in the Lotus Sutra steadfast.
Then, at the last moment of your life, you will be welcomed by a
thousand Buddhas, who will take you swiftly to the paradise at Eagle
Peak where you will experience the true happiness of the Law. If your
faith weakens and you do not attain Buddhahood in this lifetime, do
not reproach me. If you do, you would be like the patient who refuses
the medicine his physician prescribes and takes the wrong medicine
instead. It never occurs to him that it is his fault, and he blames
the physician when he does not recover. Faith in this sutra means
that you will surely attain Buddhahood if you are true to the
entirety of the Lotus Sutra, adhering exactly to its teachings
without adding any of your own ideas or following the arbitrary
interpretations of others.
Attaining
Buddhahood is nothing extraordinary. If you chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo
with your whole heart, you will naturally become endowed with the
Buddha's thirty-two features and eighty characteristics. Shakyamuni
stated, "At the start I pledged to make all people perfectly
equal to me, without any distinction between us" Therefore, it
is not difficult to become a Buddha. A bird's egg contains nothing
but liquid, yet by itself this develops into a beak, two eyes, and
all the other parts which form a bird, and can fly into the sky. We,
too are like the egg, ignorant and base, but when nurtured by the
chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we develop the beak of the Buddha's
thirty-two features and the feathers of his eighty characteristics
and are free to soar into the skies of the ultimate reality. The
Nirvana Sutra states that all people are enclosed by the shell of
ignorance, lacking the beak of wisdom. The Buddha comes back to this
world, just as a mother bird returns to her nest, and cracks the
shell so that all people, like fledglings, may leave the nest and
soar into the skies of enlightenment.
"Knowledge
without faith" describes those who may be knowledgeable about
the Lotus Sutra but do not believe in it. These people will never
attain Buddhahood. Those of "faith without knowledge" may
lack knowledge but believe, and can attain Buddhahood. These are not
merely my own words but are explicitly stated in the sutra. In the
second volume of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha said to Shariputra, "It
is by faith and not by your own intelligence that you can attain
enlightenment." This explains why even Shariputra, unsurpassed
in his intelligence, was able to attain Buddhahood only by embracing
and firmly believing in the sutra. Knowledge alone could not bring
him to enlightenment. If Shariputra could not reach enlightenment
through his vast knowledge, how can we, of little knowledge, dare to
dream that we may attain Buddhahood if we do not have faith? The
sutra explains that people in the Latter Day of the Law will be
arrogant, though their knowledge of Buddhism is trifling, and will
show disrespect to the Priest, neglect the Law and thereby fall into
the evil paths. If one truly understands Buddhism, he should show
this in his respect for the Priest, reverence for the Law and
offerings to the Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha is not among us now, so
you must respect the person with enlightened wisdom as you would the
Buddha himself. If you sincerely follow him, your blessings will be
bountiful. If one wishes for happiness in his next existence, he
should renounce his desire for fame and fortune and respect the
priest who teaches the Lotus Sutra as a living Buddha, no matter how
humble that priest's station. Thus it is written in the sutra.
The
Zen sect today violates the five great principles of humanity --
benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith. To honor the
wise and virtuous, to respect the elderly and protect the young, are
recognized universally as humane conduct in both Buddhist and secular
realms. But the Zen priests, who are nothing but uneducated rabble,
are not even intelligent enough to distinguish black from white. They
have now donned gaudy priestly garments and become so conceited that
they belittle the learned and virtuous priests of the Tendai and
Shingon sects. They observe none of the proper manners and think that
they rank higher than all others. These people are so insolent that
even the animals are more respectable. Regarding this, the Great
Teacher Dengyo wrote that the otter shows his respect before eating
the fish he has caught, the crow in the forest carries food to its
parents and grandparents, the dove takes care to perch three branches
lower than its father, wild geese keep perfect formation when they
fly together, and lambs kneel to drink their mother's milk. He asks,
if lowly animals conduct themselves with such propriety, how can
human beings be so lacking in courtesy? Judging from the words of
Dengyo, it is only natural that the Zen priests should be confused
about Buddhism when they are ignorant even of how men should behave.
They are acting like devils.
Understand
clearly what I have taught you here and practice without negligence
all the teachings of the Lotus Sutra's eight volumes and twenty-eight
chapters. When you long to see me, pray toward the sun and at the
same time, my image will be reflected there. Have the priest who is
my messenger read this letter to you. Trust him as a priest with
enlightened wisdom and ask him any questions you may have about
Buddhism. If you do not question and resolve your doubts, you cannot
dispel the dark clouds of illusion, any more than you could travel a
thousand miles without legs. Have him read this letter again and
again and ask whatever questions you wish. In expectation of seeing
you again, I will conclude here.
Respectfully,
Nichiren
The
second month in the third year of Koan (1280)
Major
Writings of Nichiren Daishonin; Vol. I, pp. 253 - 262.
