On Repaying Debts of Gratitude

Nichiren

Table of contents

Chapter6(Demonstrating the Lotus Sutra’s Absolute Supremacy)
1. Main Text
2. Lecture

Chapter6(Demonstrating the Lotus Sutra’s Absolute Supremacy)

Main Text

Someone might doubt my words, saying that, although the Lotus Sutra is the finest among all the sutras that have been brought to China and Japan, in India, in the palaces of the dragon kings, the realms of the four heavenly kings, the realms of the sun and moon, the heaven of the thirty-three gods, or the Tushita heaven, for instance, there are as many sutras as there are sands in the Ganges. Among these, may there not be one that is superior to the Lotus Sutra?

I would reply that, by looking at one thing, you can surmise ten thousand. This is what is meant by the statement that you can come to know all under heaven without ever going out of your garden gate. But a fool will have doubts, saying, “I have seen the sky in the south, but I have not seen the sky in the east or west or north. Perhaps the sky in those other three directions has a different sun in it from the one I know.” Or he will see a column of smoke rising up beyond the hills, and although the smoke is in plain sight, because he cannot see the fire itself, he will conclude that the fire may not really exist. Such a person is my questioner, an icchantika, or person of incorrigible disbelief, no different from a man with sightless eyes!

In the “Teacher of the Law” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Thus Come One Shakyamuni, uttering words of absolute sincerity from his golden mouth, establishes the relative superiority of the various sutras he expounded during the fifty or so years of his preaching life, saying, “The sutras I have preached number immeasurable thousands, ten thousands, millions. Among the sutras I have preached, now preach, and will preach, this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.”

Though this statement is the declaration of a single Buddha, the Thus Come One Shakyamuni, all the bodhisattvas from the stage of near-perfect enlightenment on down should honor it and have faith in it. For the Buddha Many Treasures came from the east and testified to the truth of these words, and the [emanation] Buddhas assembled from the ten directions and extended their long broad tongues up to the Brahmā heaven just as Shakyamuni Buddha did. Afterward, they all returned to their respective lands.

The words “have preached, now preach, and will preach” include not only the sutras preached by Shakyamuni in his fifty years of teaching, but all the sutras preached by the Buddhas of the ten directions and three existences without setting aside a single character or even a single brushstroke. It is in comparison to all of these that the Lotus Sutra is proclaimed to be superior. At that time the Buddhas of the ten directions indicated their agreement beyond all doubt. If, after they had returned to their respective lands, they had told their disciples that there was in fact a sutra that is superior to the Lotus Sutra, do you suppose their disciples would ever have believed them?

If there are those who, though they have not seen it with their own eyes, nevertheless suspect that there may be a sutra superior to the Lotus Sutra somewhere in India or in the palaces of the dragon kings, the four heavenly kings, or the gods of the sun and moon, I would say this. Were not Brahmā, Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, the four heavenly kings, and the dragon kings present when Shakyamuni preached the Lotus Sutra? If the sun and moon and the other deities should say, “There is a sutra superior to the Lotus Sutra; you merely do not know about it,” then they would be a sun and moon who speak great falsehoods!

In that case, I would berate them, saying: “Sun and moon, you dwell up in the sky rather than on the ground as we do, and yet you never fall down—this is because of the power you gain by observing most strictly the precept of never telling a lie. But now if you tell this great lie by saying there is a sutra superior to the Lotus Sutra, I am certain that, even before the kalpa of decline arrives, you will come plummeting down to earth. What is more, you will not stop falling until you have reached the depths of the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering that is surrounded by solid iron! Beings who tell such great lies should not be allowed to remain a moment longer in the sky, circling above the four continents of the earth!” That is how I would berate them.

Yet such men of great wisdom, such great teachers and Tripitaka masters as Ch’eng-kuan of the Flower Garland school or Shan-wu-wei, Chin-kang-chih, Pu-k’ung, Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō of the True Word school, proclaim that the Flower Garland and Mahāvairochana sutras are superior to the Lotus Sutra. Though it is not for me to judge in such matters, I would say that, in the light of the higher principles of Buddhism, such men would appear to be archenemies of the Buddhas, would they not? Beside them, evil men such as Devadatta and Kokālika are as nothing. In fact they are in a class with Mahādeva and the Great Arrogant Brahman. And those who put faith in the teachings of such men—they too are a fearful lot indeed.

Lecture

From this point, the text seeks to establish that the Lotus Sutra is supreme above all.
First, a hypothetical objection is raised and resolved; next, passages from the “three declarations of superiority” are cited to clarify that, among all the sutras taught throughout the Buddha’s lifetime as well as those of the Buddhas of the ten directions and three existences, the Lotus Sutra is the foremost.

The initial hypothetical objection is this:
Even if the scriptures transmitted from India to China, and from China to Japan, place the Lotus Sutra above all others, might there not exist somewhere in the vast world an even more superior scripture unknown to us?

To this, it is taught:
“One may fathom all by understanding one,” and, “Without ever stepping beyond the garden of one’s dwelling, one may know the world.”

Furthermore, the text says that foolish people, seeing the sun in the southern sky, imagine that there may also be separate suns in the east, west, or north; or, upon seeing smoke rising beyond a mountain, they doubt whether fire exists because they cannot directly see it.
Such people are called icchantikas—incorrigible unbelievers—or “living blind.”

Yet even today, despite the astounding advance of material civilization, religion remains filled with such icchantikas and the uninformed.
Those who do not know the Soka Gakkai all fall into this category.
That is, even when they hear of the benefits of the Gohonzon of the Essential Teaching—Nichiren Daishonin’s supreme purpose for appearing in this world—they refuse to believe.

They say things like:

“All religions are the same no matter what you believe.”
“If you feel gratitude toward your object of devotion, that is fine for you; I am different.”
“No object of worship can be absolutely supreme; there may be something better elsewhere.”

Such opinions are common not only among ordinary people but even among so-called scholars and critics—who speak without knowing the essence of Buddhism, the philosophy of life itself.
All of these people can be declared icchantikas, utterly ignorant of religion.

Next is the passage known as the “three declarations of superiority,” found in the Teacher of the Law (Hōshi) chapter of the Lotus Sutra:

“The scriptures that I have preached, now preach, and will preach in the future are immeasurable in number, tens of millions of myriads. Yet among them, this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and understand.”

Here, “previously preached” refers to all pre-Lotus teachings,
“currently preached” to the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra,
and “to be preached” to the Nirvana Sutra.
The reason this Lotus Sutra is “most difficult to believe and understand” is precisely because it is the highest, foremost sutra.

Moreover, this supremacy applies not only within Śākyamuni’s lifetime teachings but among all sutras preached by Buddhas throughout the ten directions and the three existences.
This is because the Expedient Means chapter proclaims:

“Just as all Buddhas of the three existences teach according to a single method,
so too do I now teach in the same manner.”

Furthermore, even within the Lotus Sutra itself, there are distinctions—
the trace teaching (shakumon), the origin teaching (honmon), and the hidden depths (montei).
The following passages, cited later, show that in contrast to all provisional and pre-Lotus teachings, even the trace teaching of the Lotus Sutra is difficult to believe and understand, and is supreme.

Nichiren Daishonin states in the The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind Established in the Fifth Five-Hundred-Year Period after the Thus Come One’s Passing:

“Among the sutras I have preached, now preach, and will preach, this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.” The “six difficult and nine easy acts” he expounds in the next chapter explains how difficult it is. (WND1, p.363)

Again:

The Great Teacher Dengyō remarks, “The Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to believe and to understand because in it the Buddha directly revealed what he had attained. (WND1, p.363)

And again:

He revealed the hundred worlds and thousand factors inherent in life, but he did not expound their eternal nature. Since the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra thus directly reveals a part of the Buddha’s own enlightenment, it excels all the other sutras that the Buddha had preached, now preached, or would preach, and is the correct teaching that is difficult to believe and difficult to understand. (WND1, p.368)

The next passage shows that Nichiren Daishonin overturns all earlier teachings—including the pre-Lotus and the trace teaching—and establishes the origin teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

All these teachings that fall into the three categories of preaching⁶⁶ are therefore easy to believe and easy to understand. In contrast, the essential teaching, which transcends the three categories, is difficult to believe and difficult to understand, for it directly reveals the Buddha’s own enlightenment. (WND1, p.368)

In the Latter Day of the Law, the three great secret laws—the hidden depths of the “Life Span of the Thus Come One” chapter—are the most difficult to believe and understand and are supreme.
In comparison, the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra taught by Śākyamuni, including both trace and origin teachings, become merely “easy to believe and easy to understand”—teachings adapted to others.

Nichiren writes:

The doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life is found in only one place, hidden in the depths of the “Life Span” chapter of the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra. (WND1, The Opening of the Eyes, p.224)

And again:

The essential teaching of Shakyamuni’s lifetime and that revealed at the beginning of the Latter Day are both pure and perfect [in that both lead directly to Buddhahood]. Shakyamuni’s, however, is the Buddhism of the harvest, and this is the Buddhism of sowing. The core of his teaching is one chapter and two halves, and the core of mine is the five characters of the daimoku alone. (WND1, The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind Established in the Fifth Five-Hundred-Year Period after the Thus Come One’s Passing, p.370)

”The Power of the Upper Grade of the Precept Against False Speech”

The five precepts (not killing, not stealing, not committing sexual misconduct, not speaking falsehoods, and not consuming intoxicants) each contain three levels: upper, middle, and lower.
“Upper grade” indicates the highest level.
In the passage cited, only the precept against false speech is mentioned for the moment; however, being born in the heavenly realms results from the merit of observing the ten good precepts, which consist of refraining from ten evils: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, duplicity, frivolous speech, abusive speech, greed, anger, and foolishness.

False speech refers to the opposite of honesty.
The heavenly deities arise from the karmic cause of honesty, and they dwell upon the heads of those who are upright.

This is explained in the On Reprimanding Hachiman:

In his vow, Hachiman says: “I will take up my residence on the head of an upright person, but I will not abide in the heart of a person who is fawning and crooked.” (WND2, p.934)

Furthermore, it is taught that the original identity of Hachiman is Śākyamuni Buddha himself, who in India preached the Lotus Sutra—the “honest abandoning of expedient means”—and who, manifesting in Japan, resides upon the heads of those who embody honesty.

As stated:

“When, as a common mortal, he first aroused the aspiration for enlightenment, and later, after attaining Buddhahood, appeared in the world to lead others,
he revealed the very gateway through which he himself first attained enlightenment.” (588:09)

Thus, the heavenly deities become such through the cause of honesty and dwell upon the heads of those who are truthful.

”Those Who Trust Such People Are to Be Feared”

When one practices the Three Great Secret Laws under a correct teaching and a correct teacher, one attains Buddhahood in this very lifetime and truly repays one’s debts of gratitude.
But when one follows erroneous doctrines and evil teachers, one falls into hell.
If the teacher falls, the disciple also falls; and if the disciple falls, the lay supporter likewise falls.

In the age of the Buddha Mahābhijñā-jñānābhibhū (大荘厳仏), four monks at the end of his lifetime caused six hundred million nayutas of people to fall into the Avīci hell.
At the end of the lifetime of the Buddha Śīhaśvara-rāja (師子音王仏), the monk Śubhāvati (勝意比丘) caused immeasurable numbers of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen who upheld the precepts to fall into the Avīci hell.

Similarly, in Japan, due to the three great teachers—Kōbō (Kūkai), Jikaku, and Chishō—who upheld erroneous teachings, all living beings were driven into the suffering of the Avīci hell.

After the passing of Nichiren Daishonin as well, because people revered false doctrines, the three calamities and seven disasters arose in succession, and Japan ultimately experienced defeat and destruction in war.
Now that the time for the wide propagation of the correct teaching has arrived, we must never again repeat the sufferings caused by slandering the Law.
For this reason, our Soka Gakkai has arisen—to prevent such calamities and to protect the people.

Let us engrave this deeply in our hearts.

🌏 The Era of Propagation in Accord with Favorable Conditions

Judging the relative profundity of the various Buddhist teachings, the Lotus Sutra is indeed difficult to understand and difficult to enter.
The Three Great Secret Laws are even more difficult to believe and understand.

However, the present age has already entered the period of “propagation in accord with favorable conditions.”
The philosophy of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the essence of the Lotus Sutra for the Latter Day, is now being applied without obstruction to every aspect of daily life and is spreading freely throughout the entire world.

In the Letter to Myōhō-ama, the Daishonin teaches that while the Lotus Sutra is difficult to believe and difficult to understand,
the Nam-myoho-renge-kyo of the Three Great Secret Laws is easy to embrace in the Latter Day:

“Because this Law is easy to embrace and easy to practice,
it was entrusted to the people of the Latter Day of the Degenerate Age.” (1403:02)

Because it is the true Law, all people can embrace it.
Teachings such as the Hinayana doctrines save only a very small number of people.

For a long time, Buddhism came to be regarded as a dead religion, far removed from people’s hearts, and the idea that “Buddhism is difficult to understand” became a cliché.
Meanwhile, groups of new religions that stole fragments of Buddhist doctrine used them merely as tools for religious business.

Yet now, the very essence of Eastern Buddhism—the true Law of Nichiren Daishonin—has begun to function as a living Great Buddhist Law:
guiding all people in their real lives with supreme wisdom, and becoming, like a wellspring bubbling forth, the source of happiness.

The True Function of the Lotus Sutra Throughout Japanese History

When the Lotus Sutra was first transmitted to Japan, it existed largely as aristocratic Buddhism, separate from the common people, used in practices such as copying the sutra for merit.

Later, the Great Teacher Dengyō appeared in the period of the Middle Day of the Law and spread the trace teaching of the Lotus Sutra through the Great Concentration and Insight (Makashikan), completing the establishment of the precepts platform of the Lotus Sutra.

However, when Jikaku of Mt. Hiei incorporated the erroneous doctrines of esoteric Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra again fell into darkness.
Together with the Nembutsu, Esoteric, and Zen schools, it became a degenerate religion allied with political power, ceasing to be applied correctly.
This fulfilled the Buddha’s prediction of the disappearance of the pure Law.

More than 200 years after the beginning of the Latter Day, the Original Buddha of this age—Nichiren Daishonin—appeared in Japan and established the Nam-myoho-renge-kyo of the Three Great Secret Laws, the Lotus Sutra of the Latter Day.

Today, after seven hundred years, the Daishonin’s true teaching is being carried out flawlessly by the Soka Gakkai.

🙌 The Mission and Greatness of the Soka Gakkai

Our organization has a noble history—standing up for the happiness of the people amid relentless persecution and oppression.
The Soka Gakkai is the religion of the people, the Buddhism of democracy, the pure and singular community that becomes the source of happiness and prosperity for all people.

In every age, pioneers face storms of persecution.
All the more so in Buddhism, which is a struggle against delusion, where the original nature of enlightenment confronts the original ignorance.
Only by destroying erroneous doctrines and corrupt teachers with the weapon of the correct Law can the great goal of saving the people be accomplished.

Daily Gosho