The Eight Winds
Chapter4(Refuting the Shingon Prayers)
Main Text
Myōun was the fiftieth chief priest of the Tendai school. He was punished by the retired emperor4 in the fifth month of the second year of Angen (1176) and ordered into exile in the province of Izu. En route, however, he was rescued at Ōtsu by his priests from Mount Hiei. He reassumed his position as chief priest, but in the eleventh month of the second year of Juei (1183), he was captured by [Minamoto no] Yoshinaka5 and beheaded. I am not saying that being exiled or beheaded is in itself an indication of fault. Even sages and worthies undergo such things.
When civil war broke out between Yoritomo of the Minamoto clan and Kiyomori of the Taira clan, more than twenty of Kiyomori’s clansmen signed a pledge and affixed their seals. They vowed: “We will look to Mount Hiei as our clan temple. We will revere the three thousand monks as our own parents. The sorrows of the mountain temple will be our sorrows, and the joys of the mountain temple, our joys.” They donated all the twenty-four districts of Ōmi Province to the temple. Then the chief priest [Myōun] and his disciples employed all the rites of the True Word teachings in their prayers to vanquish the enemy and even ordered their armed priests to shoot arrows at the Minamoto soldiers. Yoshinaka [of the Minamoto clan] and one of his retainers, Higuchi, however, accompanied by a mere five or six men, climbed Mount Hiei and burst into the main hall. They dragged Myōun from the platform where he was praying for victory, bound him with a rope, rolled him down the west slope of the mountain like a big stone, and beheaded him. Nevertheless, the people of Japan do not shun the True Word teachings, nor have they ever delved into this matter.
During the fifth, sixth, and seventh months of the third year of Jōkyū (1221), the cyclical sign kanoto-mi, the imperial court and the barbarian warriors engaged in combat.6 At that time Mount Hiei, Tō-ji, the seven major temples of Nara, Onjō-ji, and the other temples each performed all the most esoteric rites of the True Word school in their prayers to the Sun Goddess, Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, the Mountain King,7 and other deities. Forty-one of the most renowned priests, including the General Administrator of Priests Jien, a former chief priest of the Tendai school, and the administrators of priests of Tō-ji, of Omuro,8 and of the Jōjū-in hall of Onjō-ji temple, prayed repeatedly for [Hōjō] Yoshitoki’s defeat.
The prelate of Omuro also began a ceremony to overpower the enemies in Shishin-den Palace on the eighth day of the sixth month. He proclaimed that the imperial court would be victorious within seven days. But on the seventh day—the fourteenth day of the sixth month—the battle ended in defeat, and the prelate died of extreme grief because his beloved page, Setaka,9 had been beheaded. Yet despite all this, no one ever wondered what was wrong with the True Word doctrines. The ceremonies that incorporated all the True Word doctrines—the first conducted by Myōun and the second by Jien—resulted in the complete collapse of royal rule in Japan. Now, for the third time, a special religious ceremony is being held to ward off the Mongol invasion. The present regime will surely suffer the same fate. This is a confidential matter; you should keep it strictly to yourself.
As for your own problem, I advise you not to go to court. Neither harbor a grudge against your lord, nor leave his service. Stay on in Kamakura. Go to attend on your lord less frequently than before; wait upon him only from time to time. Then you can expect that your wish will be fulfilled. Never conduct yourself in a shameful manner. Be unmoved by greed, by the desire for fame, or by anger.
Notes
4. When the warrior-priests of Enryaku-ji temple made forcible demands on the imperial court, the Retired Emperor Goshirakawa was angered and had the temple’s chief priest Myōun exiled to Izu.
5. Yoshinaka (1154–1184) was a cousin of Yoritomo, the head of the Minamoto clan, who assisted the latter in his revolt against the Taira.
6. A reference to the Jōkyū Disturbance, an attempt by the Retired Emperor Gotoba to overthrow the military Kamakura shogunate. The victory of the shogunate clearly established the power of the Hōjō regency.
7. The Mountain King refers to Hie Shrine, which is located at the foot of Mount Hiei, and to the main god of the shrine, who was revered as the guardian deity of Mount Hiei and of the Tendai school.
8. Another name for Ninna-ji temple of the True Word school in Kyoto. The prelate of Omuro, who appears in the next sentence, refers to Prince Dōjō, the second son of the Retired Emperor Gotoba, who had entered the priesthood at Ninna-ji.
9. Setaka (d. 1221) was the sixth son of Sasaki Hirotsuna, the constable of Ōmi, who rallied to the imperial cause during the Jōkyū Disturbance.
Lecture
Following the passage from the previous section—“Though patrons and teachers may care for one another, if they have long violated the Great Law with minor laws, their prayers will remain unanswered, and both teacher and patron will perish”—the Daishonin points to specific historical facts to illustrate how all of Japan was currently committing a grave error in its attempt to subdue the Mongol forces.
The relationship between Myoun, the chief priest of the Tiantai school, and those who took refuge in him, such as Taira no Kiyomori and the rest of the Taira clan, was exactly that of “teacher” and “patron.” Although they called their practice the Tiantai school, it had become tainted by the erroneous teachings of Shingon. In effect, they were violating the “Great Law” of the Lotus Sutra with the “minor law” of Shingon.
Consequently, despite Myoun holding the highest religious and intellectual authority in Japan as the Tiantai chief, he died by beheading. The tragic end of his patrons, Kiyomori and the Taira clan, is well known and needs no further explanation. Truly, “both teacher and patron perished.”
During the era when the Daishonin wrote this letter, both the Kamakura Shogunate and the Imperial Court in Kyoto were repeating this same error in the face of an unprecedented national crisis. Although the Bunei Invasion had passed without catastrophic disaster, it was a well-known fact that the Mongols were preparing an even larger force for a second invasion. To “subdue” the Mongol army, the rulers were collectively devoted to Shingon rituals. The Daishonin issued strict admonitions and warnings, stating that such actions would only drive the nation toward ruin.
However, he cautioned Shijo Kingo and other general believers not to speak of these matters indiscriminately to others. While the Daishonin spoke the truth directly and firmly to the rulers who needed to hear it, he was likely wary of his followers facing persecution or suppression by speaking out thoughtlessly. One can discern here his careful consideration and compassion to protect his disciples.
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