The Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra
Chapter8(The Delight in the Law at Tsukahara Sammai-do)
Main Text
I left Echi on the tenth day of the tenth month (1271) and arrived in the province of Sado on the twenty-eighth day of the same month. On the first day of the eleventh month, I was taken to a small hut that stood in a field called Tsukahara behind Homma Rokurō Saemon’s residence in Sado. One room with four posts, it stood on some land where corpses were abandoned, a place like Rendaino in Kyoto. Not a single statue of the Buddha was enshrined there; the boards of the roof did not meet, and the walls were full of holes. The snow fell and piled up, never melting away. I spent my days there, sitting in a straw coat or lying on a fur skin. At night it hailed and snowed, and there were continual flashes of lightning. Even in the daytime the sun hardly shone. It was a wretched place to live.
I felt like Li Ling,13 who was imprisoned in a rocky cave in the land of the northern barbarians, or the Tripitaka Master Fa-tao, who was branded on the face and exiled to the area south of the Yangtze by Emperor Hui-tsung. Nevertheless, King Suzudan received severe training under the seer Asita to obtain the blessings of the Lotus Sutra, and even though Bodhisattva Never Disparaging was beaten by the staves of arrogant monks and others, he achieved honor as votary of the one vehicle.14 Therefore, nothing is more joyful to me than to have been born in the Latter Day of the Law and to suffer persecutions because I propagate the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo. For more than twenty-two hundred years after the passing of the Buddha, no one, not even the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che, experienced the truth of the passage in the sutra that says, “It [the Lotus Sutra] will face much hostility in the world and be difficult to believe.”15 Only I have fulfilled the prophecy from the sutra, “again and again we will be banished.”16 The Buddha says, in reference to those who “listen to one verse or one phrase [of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law],” that “I will bestow on all of them a prophecy [that they will attain supreme perfect enlightenment].”17 Thus there can be no doubt that I will reach supreme perfect enlightenment. It is the lord of Sagami above all who has been a good friend to me. Hei no Saemon is to me what Devadatta was to Shakyamuni Buddha. The Nembutsu priests are comparable to the Venerable Kokālika, and the observers of the precepts to the monk Sunakshatra. The age of the Buddha is none other than today, and our present age is none other than that of the Buddha. This is what the Lotus Sutra describes as the “true aspect of all phenomena” and as “consistency from beginning to end.”18
The fifth volume of Great Concentration and Insight states, “As practice progresses and understanding grows, the three obstacles and four devils emerge in confusing form, vying with one another to interfere.” It also states, “It will only be like a boar rubbing against the golden mountain; like the various rivers flowing into the sea; like logs making a fire burn more briskly; or like the wind swelling the body of the kālakula insect.” These passages mean that, if one understands and practices the Lotus Sutra just as it teaches, in accordance with the people’s capacity and at the right time, then these seven obstacles and devils will confront one. Among them, the devil king of the sixth heaven [is the most powerful. He] will possess one’s sovereign, parents, wife or children, lay supporters, or evil persons, and through them will attempt in a friendly manner to divert one from one’s practice of the Lotus Sutra, or will oppose one outright. The practice of Buddhism is always accompanied by persecutions and difficulties corresponding in severity to whichever sutra one may uphold. To practice the Lotus Sutra will provoke particularly harsh persecutions. To practice as it teaches, and in accordance with the time and the people’s capacity, will incite truly agonizing ordeals.
The eighth volume of The Annotations on “Great Concentration and Insight” states, “So long as a person does not try to depart from the sufferings of birth and death and aspire to the Buddha vehicle, the devil will watch over him like a parent.” This passage means that, even though a person may cultivate roots of goodness, so long as he practices Nembutsu, True Word, Zen, Precepts, or any teaching other than the Lotus Sutra, he will have the devil king for a parent. The devil king will possess and cause other persons to respect him and give him alms, and people will be deluded into believing that he is a truly enlightened priest. If he is honored by the sovereign, for instance, the people are sure to offer him alms. On the other hand, a priest who incurs the enmity of the ruler and others [because of the Lotus Sutra] is surely practicing the correct teaching.
Devadatta was the foremost good friend to the Thus Come One Shakyamuni. In this age as well, it is not one’s allies but one’s powerful enemies who assist one’s progress. We find examples before our very eyes. The Hōjō clan in Kamakura could not have firmly established itself as the ruler of Japan had it not been for the challenges posed by Yoshimori and the Retired Emperor of Oki.19 In this sense these men were the best allies the ruling clan could have. For me, Nichiren, my best allies in attaining Buddhahood are Kagenobu, the priests Ryōkan, Dōryū, and Dōamidabutsu, and Hei no Saemon and the lord of Sagami. I am grateful when I think that without them I could not have proved myself to be the votary of the Lotus Sutra.
Notes
13. Li Ling (d. 74 b.c.e.) was a military commander who led the Chinese forces in an attack on the nomadic Hsiung-nu tribes living north of China and was taken prisoner by them.
14. The one vehicle here means the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.
15. Lotus Sutra, chap. 14.
16. Ibid., chap. 13.
17. Ibid., chap. 10.
18. Here “the true aspect” refers to the principle that the votaries of the Lotus Sutra meet with persecutions, and “all phenomena” to the fact that persecutions befell both Shakyamuni and Nichiren Daishonin. In the phrase “consistency from beginning to end,” “beginning” refers to Shakyamuni’s age and “end” to the Daishonin’s age.
19. Wada Yoshimori (1147–1213) and the Retired Emperor Gotoba (1180–1239). Yoshimori was the chief of military police under Minamoto no Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura regime, but in 1213 turned against the Hōjō clan only to be defeated and killed. Gotoba attempted to overthrow the Kamakura regime in 1221, but was defeated and exiled to Oki (the Jōkyū Disturbance). Hence he was called the Retired Emperor of Oki. Clashes such as these established the power of the Hōjō regents.
Lecture
Nichiren Daishonin arrived on Sado Island on the 28th day of the 10th month. By the 1st day of the 11th month, he was settled at Tsukahara Sammai-do. He resided there for five months until the 2nd day of the 4th month, 1272 (the ninth year of Bun’ei). On the following day, he moved to the residence of Ichinosawa Nyudo, where he lived until his pardon and departure from Sado in the 3rd month of 1274.
The area surrounding Tsukahara Sammai-do was a desolate field used for discarding the dead, far from being fit for human habitation. Sado exile was reserved for the most serious offenders, such as political prisoners or those guilty of murder; to be sent there was essentially a death sentence.
For the Daishonin, the environment was particularly hostile as Sado was a stronghold of Nembutsu followers. Slanderers had spread rumors that he was a great criminal of Kamakura and a villain who taught that the Nembutsu leads to the hell of incessant suffering—teachings they claimed were unforgivable by heaven and earth. Consequently, many approached him with murderous intent.
Abutsu-bo and his wife, who are today revered as mirrors of faith, were originally devout Nembutsu practitioners in Sado. However, when Abutsu-bo went to Tsukahara Sammai-do to debate and refute the Daishonin, he was so struck by the Daishonin’s dignity that he abandoned his former beliefs and converted. Thereafter, Abutsu-bo and his wife served the Daishonin with absolute devotion, disregarding the dangers and the wind and snow to provide for him during his deprived life in exile.
Furthermore, the Daishonin arrived just as the island was entering the depths of winter. In the freezing cold of Sado, the bitterness must have pierced the skin every day. In his Letter to Toki Nyudo, he writes:
“When I was in Kamakura in Sagami Province, I thought that the changes of the seasons were the same in all provinces. But since I arrived in this northern province of Sado, I have found that, though the cold wind blows continually and frost or snow may not be falling, I never see the sunlight. I feel in my own body the eight cold hells.” (WND-1, p. 222 / GZ, 955)
The only protection against this cold was a hut with a ceiling of ill-fitting boards and ruinous walls. He slept on animal skins spread on the floor and wore only a straw cape. An ordinary person would have frozen to death within days. It is beyond our capacity to fully grasp that Nichiren Daishonin, the True Buddha, endured such a horrific environment.
The Dilapidated Shrine and Extreme Deprivation
Tsukahara Sammai-do is described as a shrine of Ikkan Shimen (one ken on each of the four sides). In architectural terms, this refers to a structure with four main pillars. It would be a mistake to interpret this simply as a six-foot-square room (the standard length of one ken), as that would barely equal the area of two tatami mats. Since the Daishonin mentions there was no statue of the Buddha in the hall, there was likely an altar, making the space even smaller and barely functional for daily life. While “Ikkan Shimen” is a technical term, the building was undoubtedly small and decrepit.
The Daishonin describes the ceiling boards as not meeting and the walls as ruinous, indicating the extreme poverty of his dwelling. Regarding food, even after moving to Ichinosawa, he writes:
“The food provided by the authorities was meager… though there were many disciples, there were only two or three mouthfuls of rice. We divided it on a tray or ate it from our palms.” (GZ, 1329)
The quantity was so small that any ordinary person would have succumbed to hunger. The people of Sado likely expected the Daishonin to eventually starve to death. His words, “Whether on the road or in the province, it was thought that I would either be killed or die of starvation,” reflect the dire straits of his existence.
Without adequate food, clothing, or heat in the freezing cold, the Daishonin’s life-state was beyond imagination. Reflecting on his environment, it is clear that no ordinary person could have survived. Clothing, food, and shelter are the basic conditions for human life, yet all three were at their absolute worst—conditions far beyond human comprehension. While we may shiver at the sight of icicles or feel dread at a sudden thunderstorm, there is a vast gulf between our experience and the reality of Tsukahara.
The Daishonin was in constant peril. As he notes in this writing:
“Nichiren has been exiled to this province… those exiled to this island seldom survive. Even if they do, they never return… Moreover, no one would be punished for striking me dead. Because I am alone in a place called Tsukahara, some said that however strong I might be, since there is no one around, they should gather and shoot me with arrows.”
He could not spend a single moment in peace, facing both the fury of nature and the threat of sudden attack by enemies of the Law. Yet, it was in the midst of this that he wrote many of his most important works.
Prolific Writings in Exile
Despite the extreme lack of paper—as he noted in The Sado Letter, “There is no paper in the province of Sado”—the Daishonin authored over 30 significant works during this period, including The Opening of the Eyes, The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind, and The Entity of the Mystic Law. His ability to do so under such circumstances is an inconceivable feat that makes us deeply feel the immense compassion of the True Buddha to save all people in the Latter Day of the Law.
The Philosophical Core: Consistency of Past and Present
“The time of the Buddha’s advent is the present, and the present is the time of the Buddha’s advent. This is what the heart of the Lotus Sutra means when it teaches the ‘true aspect of all phenomena’ and ‘consistency from beginning to end.’”
Buddhism is a great philosophy that explains the ultimate reality of life and the fundamental principle of the universe. Whether we speak of the Buddha’s lifetime or the present era of the Latter Day, the underlying current and essence of the times is life itself.
The shifts in eras and the transformation of society progress through a complex intertwining of various causes and effects, yet at the ultimate foundation, a strict law of life prevails. This law of life is the great philosophy of Ichinen Sanzen (three thousand realms in a single moment of life) and the philosophy of the Lotus Sutra.
When we speak of the “Buddha’s lifetime,” it is not a matter of the past. The events that unfolded then are the very reality of the Latter Day of the Law. This present moment itself already mirrors the future. Here, the struggle between the Buddha and devilish functions is described in terms of the very source of life. The relationship between Shakyamuni and Devadatta, or Nichiren Daishonin and Hei no Saemon, is not a matter of the past. The fierce battle between Buddha and Mara is the true aspect of life—it is “consistent from beginning to end” (honmatsu kukyo to) and is reflected exactly in our struggles today.
Ultimately, only the life-state of the Buddha can defeat devilish functions. When we perceive this essence of life, we realize that the struggle of the Soka Gakkai is the greatest revolution—one rooted in the very source of life, building the foundation for the undercurrent of the times.
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