Major Writings II - Nichiren Daishounin

No Safety in the Threefold World - Nichiren Daishounin

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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]

No Safety in the Threefold World


I have received the various articles you sent me.

Concerned about my life in the mountains, you

had your messenger plow through the snow to

call on me. Your sincerity has no doubt been

recognized by the Lotus Sutra and the ten demon

daughters.


The Nirvana Sutra states, "Human life runs its

course more swiftly than a mountain stream; the

person here today will not likely be here

tomorrow." The Maya Sutra reads, "Imagine, for

instance, a flock of sheep being driven by a

chandala to the slaughterhouse. Human life is

exactly the same; step by step one approaches

the place of death." The Lotus Sutra states,

"There is no safety in the threefold world; it is like

a burning house, replete with a multitude of

sufferings, truly to be feared,..."


In these passages from the sutras, our

compassionate father, the World-Honored One

of Great Enlightenment, admonishes the ordinary

persons of the latter age, warning them, his

ignorant children. Nevertheless, they do not

awaken for even one instant; nor do they

conceive a desire to attain the way for even a

single moment. In order to decorate their bodies,

which, if abandoned in the fields, would be

stripped naked overnight, they spend their time

striving to pile up articles of clothing.


When their lives come to an end, within three

days their bodies will turn into water that washes

away, into dust that mixes with the earth, and into

smoke that rises up into the sky, leaving no trace

behind. Nevertheless, they seek to nurture these

bodies and to amass great wealth.


This principle has been known since ancient

times, but today the situation is pitiable. The

country of Japan has been visited by continuous

famine for the last several years, and supplies of

food and clothing are exhausted. The domestic

animals have all been consumed, and persons

who eat human flesh are appearing. They tear

flesh from the bodies of the dead, children and

the sick, mix it with fish or deer meat, and sell it.

People purchase this mixture and eat it. Thus,

this country has unwittingly become an abode of

wicked demons.


Moreover, from the spring of last year through

the middle of the second month of this year,

epidemics have spread throughout the country.

In five families out of ten, in fifty households out

of a hundred, all the members have died from

disease. Others have escaped illness but are

suffering from great spiritual distress, and thus

are in even greater agony than those who are ill.

Even the people who managed to survive have

lost the children who used to follow them as

closely as shadows, or the spouses from whom

they had been as inseparable as a pair of eyes,

or the parents upon whom they had relied as

they would upon heaven and earth. For them,

what meaning does life hold? How could

sensible people not abhor this world? The

Buddha taught that there is no safety in the

threefold world, but the current state of affairs

seems excessively tragic.


Although I myself am only an ordinary person, I

informed the ruler that the Buddha had left

behind teachings predicting such a situation.

However, he did not heed my admonitions, but

rather began to persecute me even more

harshly, so there was nothing further I could do.

This country has already become a slanderer of

the Law and, by turning into an enemy of the

Lotus Sutra, it has also made itself an enemy of

the Buddhas and the gods of the three

existences and the ten directions.


Please consider deeply. No matter what grave

crimes I Nichiren, have been charged with, I am

a votary of the Lotus Sutra. No matter what grave

crimes a person who chants Namu Amida Butsu

may be guilty of, it cannot be denied that he is a

follower of the Nembutsu. Because I chant Nam

-myoho-renge-kyo with my own mouth, I have

been reviled, struck. exiled and had my life

threatened. However, in spite of all this, I have

continued to exhort others to do likewise. Am I

not then a votary of the Lotus Sutra?


In the Lotus Sutra, it is stipulated that those who

bear a grudge against its votary are destined to

fall into the Avichi hell. The fourth volume states

that the offense of harboring malice toward a

votary of the Lotus Sutra in the latter age is

graver than that of reviling the Buddha for an

entire medium kalpa The seventh volume

teaches that people who disparage the votary will

suffer in the Avichi hell for a thousand kalpas.

The fifth volume states that after the Buddha’s

death, when the Latter Day of the Law arrives, a

votary of the Lotus Sutra will certainly appear,

and that at that time, in that country, an

immeasurably great multitude of monks who

either uphold or violate the precepts will gather

and denounce the votary to the ruler of the

country, causing him to be banished and ruined.


These passages from the sutra all coincide

precisely with what has happened to me. I am

therefore convinced that I will attain Buddhahood

in the future. I will speak in more detail when we

meet.


Nichiren


The thirteenth day of the second month in the

fourth year of Kenji (1278), cyclical sign

tsuchinoe-tora


Reply to Lord Matsuno

  

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The True Entity of Life
The One Essential Phrase
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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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