Major Writings II - Nichiren Daishounin

On Practicing the Buddha's Teachings
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A Comparison of the Lotus Sutra and Other Sutras
A Ship to Cross the Sea of Suffering
Earthly Desires Are Enlightenment
Clear Sake Gosho
Letter to Niike
Letter to Domyo Zemmon
Letter to Akimoto
Letter from Sado
Reply to Nichigon-ama
Roots of Good Fortune
Reply to Jibu-bo
No Safety in the Threefold World - Nichiren Daishounin
Letter to Horen - Nichiren Daishounin
King Rinda - Nichiren Daishounin
Jozo and Jogen - Nichiren Daishounin
Bodhisattva Hachiman - Nichiren Daishounin
On Prayer - Nichiren Daishounin
The Opening of the Eyes Part I
The Opening of the Eyes Part II
Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man
Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man Part II
Establishment of the Legitimate Teaching for the Protection of the Country
How Those Initially Aspiring to the Way Can Attain Buddhahood Through the Lotus Sutra
The Learned Doctor Shan-wu-wei
The Entity of the Mystic Law
The Pure and Far-reaching Voice
Reply to Takahashi Nyudo
The Teaching, Capacity, Time, and Country
The Doctrine of Attaining Buddhahood in One's Present Form
Encouragement to a Sick Person
The Essence of the Yakuo Chapter
The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra
The Supreme Leader of the World
The Treasure of a Filial Child
The Supremacy of the Law
Reply to Nii-ama
The Workings of Bonten and Taishaku
The Story of Ohashi no Taro
The Teaching in Accordance with the Buddha's Own Mind
The Treatment of Illness and the Points of Difference between Mahayana and Hinayana and Provisional
Repaying Debts of Gratitude
On Practicing the Buddha's Teachings
On the Urabon
Letter to the Priests of Seicho-ji
Letter to Nichimyo Shonin
Letter to Shomitsu-bo
Questions and Answers on Embracing the Lotus Sutra
Reply to Sairen-bo
Rationale for Submitting the Rissho Ankoku Ron
Persecution by Sword and Staff
Rebuking Slander of the Law and Eradicating Sins
Recitation of the Hoben and Juryo Chapters
Reply to Lord Hakiri Saburo
Reply to Yasaburo
Letter to Ichinosawa Nyudo
Letter to Myomitsu Shonin
Reply to Hoshina Goro Taro
Wu-lung and I-lung
White Horses and White Swans
The Sutra of True Requital
The Kalpa of Decrease
The Farther the Source, the Longer the Stream
The Third Doctrine
The One-eyed Turtle and the Floating Sandalwood Log
Letter to Nakaoki Nyudo
General Stone Tiger
The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life
Lessening the Karmic Retribution
Letter to the Brothers
Hell is the Land of Tranquil Delight
On Prolonging Life
On the Buddha's Behavior
On the Buddha's Prophecy
On the Treasure Tower
Propagation by the Wise
The Embankments of Faith
The Dragon Gate
Strategy of the Lotus Sutra
Reply to Kyo-o
The Person and the Law
The One Essential Phrase
The Gift of Rice
The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon
Letter of Petition from Yorimoto
Introduction and Preface to the Ongi Kuden: Namu Myoho Renge Kyo [Devotion to the Lotus Sutra]
Muryogi Sutra [Sutra of Innumerable Meanings]
Chapter 3: Simile and Parable [Hiyu]
Chapter 4: Faith and Understanding [Shinge]
Chapter 6: Prediction [Juki]
Chapter 7: Phantom City [Kejoyu]
Chapter 8: Prophecy of Enlightenment for Five Hundred Disciples [Gohyaku Deshi Juki]

On Practicing the Buddha's Teachings


- Nyosetsu Shugyo Sho -


It is now clear that those who are born in this land and believe in this sutra when its propagation is undertaken in the Latter Day of the Law will suffer persecutions even more severe than those which occurred in the Buddha's lifetime. In that age the master was a Buddha, and his disciples were great bodhisattvas and arhats. Moreover, the Buddha expounded the Lotus Sutra only after he had thoroughly taught and trained everyone who was to hear it, including the gods, humans both lay and ordained, and the eight kinds of lowly beings. Still, some of his followers rejected it.


Now in the Latter Day of the Law, even though the teaching, the people's capacity and the time for propagation are in accord, we must expect all the more hostility. For this is the age of conflict in which the Pure Law has been lost. Moreover, the teacher is but a common person, and his disciples come from among impious men defiled by the three poisons. For this reason, people reject the virtuous teacher and seek out evil priests instead.


What is more, once you become a follower of the Lotus Sutra's true votary whose practice accords with the Buddha's teachings, you are bound to face the three powerful enemies. Therefore, from the very day you take faith in this teaching, you should be fully prepared to face the three kinds of persecutions which are certain to be more terrible now after the Buddha's passing. Although my disciples had already heard this, some became so terrified when both great and small persecutions confronted us that they even forsook their faith. Did I not warn you in advance? I have been teaching you day and night directly from the sutra, which says, "Since hatred and jealously abound even during the lifetime of the Buddha, how much worse will it be in the world after his passing?" You have no reason to be suddenly frightened when you witness me driven from my home, wounded, or officially censured and exiled--this time to a distant province.


Question: The votary who practices according to the Buddha's teachings should live a peaceful life in this world. Why then are you beset by the three powerful enemies?


Answer: Shakyamuni faced the nine great persecutions for the sake of the Lotus Sutra. In the distant past, Bodhisattva Fukyo was attacked with sticks and stones. Chu Tao-sheng was exiled to Mount Su, Priest Fa-tao was branded on the face, and Aryasinha was beheaded. The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai was opposed by the seven northern and three southern sects, and the Great Teacher Dengyo was vilified by the six sects in the old capital of Nara. The Buddha and these bodhisattvas and great saints were all votaries of the Lotus Sutra, yet they suffered great persecutions. If you deny that they practiced according to the Buddha's teachings, then where can you find those who did? This is the age of conflict in which the Pure Law has been lost. Moreover, in this evil country, the ruler, his ministers and even the general public are without exception tainted by slander. They have opposed the true teaching and revered heretical doctrines and priests instead. Therefore, demons have invaded the land furiously, causing the three calamities and seven disasters to strike again and again.


This is indeed an accursed time to live in this land. However, the Buddha has commanded me to be born in this age, and it would be impossible to go against his decree. And so, I have put complete faith in the sutra and launched the battle of the provisional and true teachings. Donning the armor of endurance and girding myself with the sword of the true teaching, I have raised the banner of Myoho-renge-kyo, the essence of the entire eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra. Then drawing the bow of the Buddha's declaration, "I have not yet revealed the truth" and notching the arrow of "honestly discarding the provisional teachings," I have mounted the cart drawn by the great white ox and battered down the gates of the provisional teachings. Attacking first one and then another, I have refuted the Nembutsu, Shingon, Zen, Ritsu and other sects. Some of my adversaries have fled headlong while others have retreated, and still others have been captured to become my disciples. I continue to repulse their attacks and defeat them, but there are legions of enemies opposing the single king of the Law and the handful who follow him. So the battle goes on even today.


"The practice of the Lotus Sutra is shakubuku, the refutation of the provisional doctrines." True to the letter of this golden saying, the believers of all provisional teachings and sects will ultimately be defeated and join the followers of the king of the Law. The time will come when all people, including those of Learning, Realization and Bodhisattva, will enter on the path to Buddhahood, and the Mystic Law alone will flourish throughout the land. In that time because all people chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo together, the wind will not beleaguer the branches or boughs, nor will the rain fall hard enough to break a clod. The world will become as it was in the ages of Fu Hsi and Shen Nung in ancient China. Disasters will be driven from the land, and people will be rid of misfortune. They will also learn the art of living long, fulfilling lives. Realize that the time will come when the truth will be revealed that both the Person and the Law are unaging and eternal. There cannot be the slightest doubt about the sutra's solemn promise of a peaceful life in this world.


Question: How should one practice if he is to be faithful to the Buddha's teachings?


Answer: The Japanese people of this age are one in their opinion of what practice accords with the Buddha's teachings. They believe that since all vehicles are incorporated in the one supreme vehicle, no teaching is superior or inferior, shallow or profound, but that all are equal to the Lotus Sutra. Hence the belief that repeating the Nembutsu chant, embracing Shingon esotericism, practicing Zen meditation, or professing and chanting any sutra or the name of any Buddha or bodhisattva equals following the Lotus Sutra.


But I insist that this is wrong. The most important thing in practicing Buddhism is to follow and uphold the Buddha's golden teachings, not the opinions of others. Our master, Shakyamuni Buddha, wished to reveal the Lotus Sutra from the moment of his enlightenment. However, because the people were not yet mature enough to understand, he had to employ provisional teachings for some forty years before he could expound the true teaching of the Lotus Sutra. In the Muryogi Sutra, which served as an introduction to the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha clearly distinguished the provisional teachings from the true teaching. He declared, "I have preached the Law in many ways, devising many means. But in these more than forty years, I have not yet revealed the truth." The eighty thousand bodhisattvas, including Bodhisattva Daishogon, fully understood why Shakyamuni had preached the provisional teachings, demonstrated that they were nothing more than means, and finally discarded them entirely. They expressed their understanding by declaring that no one can attain supreme enlightenment by embracing any of the provisional sutras, which expound bodhisattva austerities spanning millions of aeons. Finally the Buddha came to reveal the Lotus Sutra and stated, "The World-Honored One has long expounded his doctrines and now must reveal the truth." He also warned, "In all the Buddha's lands of the universe there is but one supreme vehicle, not two or three, and it excludes the provisional teachings of the Buddha," and "Honestly discarding the provisional teachings, I will expound the Supreme Law," and "Never accept even a single phrase from the other sutras." Thus, ever since that time, the supreme vehicle of the Mystic Law has been the only teaching profound enough to enable all people to attain Buddhahood. Even though no sutra other than the Lotus Sutra can provide even the slightest benefit, the Buddhist scholars of the Latter Day claim that all sutras must lead to enlightenment because they were expounded by the Buddha. Therefore, they arbitrarily profess faith in any sutra and follow whatever sect they choose, whether Shingon, Nembutsu, Zen, Sanron, Hosso, Kusha, Jojitsu, or Ritsu. The Lotus Sutra says of such people, "One who refuses to take faith in this sutra and instead slanders it immediately destroys the seeds for becoming a Buddha in this world....After he dies he will fall into the hell of incessant suffering." Thus the Buddha himself concluded that one's practice accords with the Buddha's teachings only when he bases his faith precisely on the standard of the sutra, believing that there is but one Supreme Law.


Question: Then it would be wrong to say that faith in any sutra or any Buddha of the provisional teachings equals faith in the Lotus Sutra. But what of one who believes only in the Lotus Sutra and carries out the five practices of the Hosshi chapter or follows the easy practices of the Anrakugyo chapter? Could we not say that his practice accords with the Buddha's teachings?


Answer: Anyone who practices Buddhism should first understand the two types of practice--shoju and shakubuku. Any sutra or treatise must be practiced in one of these two ways. Although scholars in this country may have studied Buddhism extensively, they do not know which practice accords with the time. The four seasons continually repeat themselves, each in turn manifesting its own characteristics. In summer it is hot; in winter, cold. Flowers blossom in spring, and fruit ripens in autumn. Therefore, it is only natural to sow seeds in spring and reap the harvest in fall. If one sowed in autumn, could he harvest in spring? Heavy clothing is useful in bitter cold, but of what use is it in sweltering heat? A cool breeze is pleasant in summer, but what good is it in winter? Buddhism works in the same way. There are times when Hinayana Buddhism should be disseminated for the benefit of humanity, times when the provisional Mahayana doctrines are necessary, times when the true Mahayana teaching must spread to lead people to Buddhahood. The two millennia of the Former and Middle Days of the Law required the spread of Hinayana and provisional Mahayana Buddhism, while the first five hundred years of the Latter Day call for the kosen-rufu of the perfect, supreme teaching of the Lotus Sutra. As predicted by the Buddha, now is the age of conflict when the Pure Law has been lost, and the provisional and true teachings of Buddhism are hopelessly confused.


When one must face enemies, he needs a sword, staff or a bow and arrows. However, when he has no enemies, such weapons are of no use at all. In this age the provisional teachings have turned into enemies of the true teaching. When the time is right to propagate the supreme teaching, the provisional teachings become enemies. If they are a source of confusion, they must be thoroughly refuted from the standpoint of the true teaching. Of the two types of practice, this is shakubuku, the practice of the Lotus Sutra. With good reason T'ien-t'ai stated: "The practice of the Lotus Sutra is shakubuku, the refutation of the provisional doctrines." The four easy practices in the Anrakugyo chapter are shoju. To carry them out in this day would be as foolish as sowing seeds in winter and expecting to reap the harvest in spring. It is natural for a rooster to crow in the morning but strange for him to crow at dusk. Now when the true and provisional teachings are utterly confused, it would be equally unnatural for one to seclude himself in the mountains, carrying out the easy practice of shoju, and avoid refuting the enemies of the Lotus Sutra. He would lose all chance to practice the Lotus Sutra. Now in the Latter Day of the Law, who is carrying out the practice of shakubuku in strict accordance with the Lotus Sutra? Suppose someone, no matter who, should loudly proclaim that the Lotus Sutra alone can lead people to Buddhahood and that all other sutras, far from enabling them to attain enlightenment, only drive them into hell. Observe what happens should he thus try to refute the teachers and doctrines of all the other sects. The three powerful enemies will arise without fail.


The true master, Shakyamuni Buddha, practiced shakubuku during the last eight years of his lifetime, the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai for more than thirty years, and the Great Teacher Dengyo for more than twenty, Nichiren has been refuting the provisional teachings for more than twenty years, and the great persecutions he has suffered during this period are beyond number. I do not know whether they are equal to the nine great persecutions suffered by the Buddha, but surely neither T'ien-t'ai nor Dengyo ever faced persecutions as great as Nichiren's for the sake of the Lotus Sutra. They encountered only envy and slander, whereas I was twice exiled by the regent, this time to a remote province. Furthermore, I was nearly beheaded at Tatsunokuchi, wounded on the forehead at Komatsubara, and slandered time and again. My disciples have also been exiled and thrown into prison, while my lay followers have been evicted and had their property confiscated. How can the persecutions faced by Nagarjuna, T'ien-t'ai or Dengyo possibly compare with these? Understand then that the votary who practices the Lotus Sutra exactly as the Buddha teaches will without fail be attacked by the three powerful enemies. Shakyamuni himself, T'ien-t'ai and Dengyo were the only three who perfectly carried out the Buddha's teachings in these more than two thousand years. Now in the Latter Day of the Law, the only such votaries are Nichiren and his disciples. If we cannot be called votaries faithful to the Buddha's teachings, then neither can Shakyamuni, T'ien-t'ai nor Dengyo. Could Devadatta, Kokalika, Sunakshatra, Kobo, Jikaku, Chisho, Shan-tao, Honen, Ryokan and others like them be called votaries of the Lotus Sutra? Could Shakyamuni Buddha, T'ien-t'ai, Dengyo or Nichiren and his disciples be followers of the Nembutsu, Shingon, Zen, Ritsu or other sects? Could the Lotus Sutra be called a provisional teaching, and the Amida Sutra and others be the Lotus Sutra? None of this could ever be possible, even if east were to become west and west become east; even if the earth and all its trees and plants were to fly up and become the heavens, while the sun, the moon and the stars tumbled down and became the earth.


What a great pity it is that all the Japanese people are delighted to see Nichiren and his disciples suffer at the hands of the three powerful enemies! What befell another yesterday may befall oneself today. Nichiren and his disciples have but a short time to endure, the time it takes for frost or dew to vanish in the morning sun. When our prayers for Buddhahood are answered and we dwell in the land of eternal enlightenment where we will experience the boundless joy of the Law, what pity we will feel for those suffering incessantly in the depths of hell! How they will envy us then!


Life flashes by in but a moment. No matter how many terrible enemies we may encounter, banish all fears and never think of backsliding. Even if someone were to cut off our heads with a saw, impale us with lances, or shackle our feet and bore them through with a gimlet, as long as we are alive, we must keep chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Then, if we chant until the very moment of death, Shakyamuni, Taho and all other Buddhas in the universe will come to us instantly, exactly as they promised during the ceremony at Eagle Peak. Taking our hands and bearing us upon their shoulders, they will carry us to Eagle Peak. The two saints, the two heavenly gods, and the Ten Goddesses will guard us, while all the Buddhist gods raise a canopy over our heads and unfurl banners on high. They will escort us under their protection to the Buddha land. How can such joy possibly be described! Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.


Nichiren


The fifth month of the tenth year of Bun'ei (1273)


Postscript: Keep this letter with you at all times and read it over and over.

  

Home
The True Entity of Life
The One Essential Phrase
The Essence of the Juryo Chapter
The True Object of Worship
The Selection of the Time
The Problem to Be Pondered Night and Day
Reply to the Mother of Lord Ueno
The Bodies and Minds of Ordinary Beings
Teaching, Practice, and Proof
On Omens
On Persecutions Befalling the Buddha
The Votary of the Lotus Sutra Will Meet Persecution
Thus I Heard
The Izu Exile
The Origin of the Urabon
The Royal Palace
The Meaning of Faith
The Third Day of the New Year
Reply to the Followers
The Causal Law of Life
The Swords of Good and Evil
The Teaching for the Latter Day
The Unmatched Fortune of the Law
Easy Delivery of a Fortune Child
Letter to Konichi-bo
Letter to Misawa
An Outline of the Zokurui and Other Chapters
Consecrating an Image of Shakyamuni Buddha Made by Shijo Kingo
Curing Karmic Disease
Admonitions Against Slander
Bestowal of the Mandala of the Mystic Law
The Receipt of New Fiefs
The Unity of Husband and Wife
Letter to Ko-no-ama Gozen
Winter Always Turns to Spring
On Filial and Unfilial Conduct
A Father Takes Faith
A Warning against Begrudging One's Fief
The Mongol Envoys
Reply to Tokimitsu
Reply to Myoho Bikuni Gozen
Beneficial Medicine for All Ills
A Sage Perceives the Three Existences of Life
The Proof of the Lotus Sutra
Letter to Jakunichi-bo
Aspiration for the Buddha Land
Reply to Lord Shijo Kingo
The Universal Salty Taste
Good Fortune in This Life
The Wealthy Man Sudatta
Letter to Gijo-bo
New Year's Gosho
Persecution at Tatsunokuchi
Easy Delivery of a Fortune Child
Reply to Lord Matsuno's Wife
The Birth of Tsukimaro
Banishment to Sado
Great Evil and Great Good
Happiness In This World
Letter from Echi
Letter to Endo Saemon-no-jo
Letter to Priest Nichiro in Prison
On Flowers and Seeds
On Itai Doshin
Postscript to the Rissho Ankoku Ron
Reply to a Believer
Reply to Ko Nyudo
Reply to Lady Onichi-nyo
Reply to Lord Matsuno
Rissho Ankoku Ron
The Difficulty of Sustaining Faith
The Offering of a Summer Robe
The Property of Rice
The Wonderful Means of Surmounting Obstacles
Unseen Virtue and Visible Reward
Upholding Faith in the Gohonzon
The Drum at the Gate of Thunder

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