Letter to Hōren

Background

Soya Kyōshin, to whom this letter was addressed, lived in Soya Village in Katsushika District of Shimōsa Province. Sometime around 1260 he converted to the Daishonin’s teachings. Then, around 1271, he became a lay priest, whereupon Nichiren Daishonin bestowed upon him the Buddhist name Hōren (Law Lotus). At the time he received this letter, Kyōshin had been practicing the Daishonin’s Buddhism as one of the leading believers in the area for about fifteen years.

This somewhat lengthy letter was written at Minobu in the fourth month of the first year of Kenji (1275), when the Daishonin was fifty-four years old. It is one among nine extant writings that the Daishonin sent to Kyōshin, two of which were written in classical Chinese, their contents clearly indicating that he was highly educated.

The Daishonin had just received from Kyōshin a written declaration of the sort commonly read aloud at a memorial service, in which he explained that he had recited the Lotus Sutra to commemorate the thirteenth anniversary of his father’s death. In addition, Kyōshin mentioned that he had been performing a recitation of the verse section of the sutra’s “Life Span” chapter daily since the time of his father’s passing. In response, the Daishonin tells him that his devotion to the sutra is the truest form of filial piety, since only the Lotus Sutra can lead one’s parents, and all other living beings, to Buddhahood.

Here the Daishonin introduces the ancient Chinese story of the calligrapher Wu-lung and his son I-lung in order to illustrate how immeasurable the merit is that Kyōshin has been transferring to his deceased father through his continued recitation of the verse section of the “Life Span” chapter.

In the story, the calligrapher I-lung transcribes the title of each volume of the Lotus Sutra. As a result, he is able to save his father from his terrible distress in the hell of incessant suffering. But even such benefits as these, the Daishonin encourages Kyōshin, cannot compare to the benefits to be obtained from reciting the sutra. The Daishonin tells him that the verse section of the “Life Span” chapter represents the very heart of the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra, and that the benefits to be gained from reciting it can only be calculated and expressed by a Buddha.

The Daishonin also gives his disciple instructions in various other teachings. He discusses the wonderful rewards to be gained by one who praises and makes offerings to the votary of the Lotus Sutra of the Latter Day of the Law. He also discusses the great gravity of the offense incurred by one who slanders the votary.

With regard to specific details about the practice of the Lotus Sutra, the Daishonin points out that the way to practice its teachings will necessarily vary with the times, and that a person of wisdom is one who perceives the times correctly and spreads the teachings accordingly. And he declares that practice in the Latter Day means spreading the Lotus Sutra without begrudging one’s life. Because he himself has carried out precisely this sort of practice, the Daishonin says, he has been persecuted by the authorities and is detested by all the people of Japan. And, he notes, he was earlier forced to live under bitter conditions at a bleak and desolate location in exile on Sado Island and is now dwelling where there are no provisions at all, in an isolated mountain valley called Minobu. The Daishonin mentions how moved he is that Kyōshin has come all the way to see him in such a forsaken place.

Commenting upon his three remonstrations with the Kamakura authorities, the Daishonin proclaims that it is their disregard for his warnings and persecution of him that have brought down upon the country a string of major calamities.

And at the very end of this letter, the Daishonin explains why some people who slander the Lotus Sutra seem not to receive any punishment at all. Those who slander the correct teaching in existence after existence, he says, are condemned to the hell of incessant suffering and will receive no further warnings in this lifetime for their slanderous deeds.

For further details regarding this matter, the Daishonin asks Hōren to refer to the Lotus Sutra and the Nirvana Sutra. It is also discussed in The Opening of the Eyes (pp. 279–80).