The Selection of the Time

Nichiren, disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha

Chapter19(A brief summary of the Latter Days of the Law)

Question: What is this secret Law? First, tell me its name, and then I want to hear its meaning. If what you say is true, then perhaps Shakyamuni Buddha will appear in the world once more, or Bodhisattva Superior Practices will once again emerge from the earth. Speak quickly, for pity’s sake!

They say that the Tripitaka Master Hsüan-tsang, after dying and being reborn six times,⁹⁵ was finally able to reach India, where he spent nineteen years. But he claimed that the one vehicle doctrine of the Lotus Sutra was a mere expedient teaching, and that the Āgama sutras of Hinayana Buddhism represented the true doctrine. And the Tripitaka Master Pu-k’ung, when he paid a return visit to India, his homeland, announced that the Buddha of the “Life Span” chapter of the Lotus Sutra was Amida! This is like saying that east is west or calling the sun the moon. They drove their bodies in vain and exerted their minds to no avail.

But fortunately, because we were born in the Latter Day of the Law, without taking a single step, we can complete [the bodhisattva practice] that requires three asamkhya kalpas, and without feeding our head to a tigress, we can obtain the unseen crown of the Buddha’s head.⁹⁶

Answer: This Law is revealed in the text of the Lotus Sutra, so it is an easy matter for me to explain it to you. But first, before clarifying this Law, there are three important concerns⁹⁷ that I must mention. It is said that, no matter how vast the ocean, it will not hold within it the body of a dead person,⁹⁸ and no matter how thick the crust of the earth, it will not support one who is undutiful to one’s parents.⁹⁹ According to the Buddhist teaching, however, even those who commit the five cardinal sins may be saved, and even those who are unfilial may gain salvation. It is only the icchantikas, or persons of incorrigible disbelief, those who slander the Law, and those who pretend to be foremost in observing the precepts who cannot be forgiven.

The three sources of difficulty mentioned above are the Nembutsu school, the Zen school, and the True Word school. The first, the Nembutsu school, has spread throughout Japan, and the Nembutsu is on the lips of the four categories of Buddhists. The second, the Zen school, has produced arrogant priests who talk of their three robes and one begging bowl, and who fill the area within the four seas, regarding themselves as the enlightened leaders of the whole world. The third, the True Word school, is in a class by itself. It receives support from Mount Hiei, Tō-ji, the seven temples of Nara, and Onjō-ji, as well as from the high priestly officials including the chief priest of Mount Hiei, the prelate of Omuro,¹⁰⁰ the chief official of Onjō-ji, and supervisors of the various temples and shrines.¹⁰¹ Since the sacred mirror kept in the lady officials’ quarters of the imperial palace was destroyed by fire,¹⁰² the precious mudra of the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana has been regarded as a mirror of the Buddha to take its place; and since the precious sword was lost in the western sea,¹⁰³ the five honored ones of the True Word school¹⁰⁴ have been looked upon as capable of cutting down the enemies of the Japanese nation. So firmly entrenched are these beliefs that, though the stone that marks the duration of a kalpa might be worn completely away,¹⁰⁵ it would seem that they would never be overthrown, and though the great earth itself might turn upside down, people would never question them.

When the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai defeated in debate the leaders of the other schools of northern and southern China, the True Word school’s teachings had not yet been introduced to that country, and when the Great Teacher Dengyō won victory over the six schools of Japan, the True Word doctrines escaped refutation. On several occasions they have managed to evade their powerful opponents, and on the contrary, have succeeded in overshadowing and imperiling the great teaching of the Lotus Sutra. In addition, the Great Teacher Jikaku, who was a disciple of the Great Teacher Dengyō, went so far as to adopt the doctrines of the True Word school, obscure the Tendai doctrines of Mount Hiei, and turn the entire school into a sphere of the True Word school. But who could effectively oppose such a person of authority as Jikaku?

Thus, helped on by prejudiced views, the false doctrines of the Great Teacher Kōbō continued to escape condemnation. It is true that the Reverend Annen did voice a certain opposition to Kōbō. But all he did was to demote the Flower Garland Sutra from second place and substitute the Lotus Sutra for it; he still ranked the Lotus Sutra as inferior to the Mahāvairochana Sutra. He was nothing more than an arranger of worldly compromises.

Notes

95. This indicates how difficult it was to reach India from China at that time. Hsüan-tsang is said to have died and been reborn six times on his perilous journey to India.

96. For three asamkhya kalpas, bodhisattvas carry out the six pāramitās and ten thousand practices to benefit others and attain near-perfect enlightenment. Shakyamuni was born in a past life as Prince Sattva and gave his body to a starving tigress to save her and her cubs. He was then able to obtain “the unseen crown of the Buddha’s head,” one of a Buddha’s eighty characteristics.

97. The “three important concerns” refers to the refutation of the Nembutsu, Zen, and True Word doctrines, which are explained subsequently.

98. This refers to one of the eight wonders of the ocean described in the Nirvana Sutra. The “body of a dead person” represents icchantikas, persons of incorrigible disbelief; monks who commit the four unpardonable offenses of killing, theft, sexual intercourse, and lying; people who commit the five cardinal sins; and those who slander the Mahayana teachings.

99. Reference is to a passage in the Flower Garland Sutra, in which the god of the earth refuses to protect three types of persons: those who cause the death of their king, those who are unfilial toward their parents, and those who deny the law of cause and effect or slander the three treasures of Buddhism.

100. Prince Dōjō, a son of Emperor Gotoba who had entered the priesthood. This generally means the title of a retired emperor or prince who entered the priesthood and lived at Ninna-ji, a True Word temple in Kyoto. Omuro is another name for Ninna-ji.

101. The supervisors refer here to those of the head temple of the True Word school at Mount Kōya, Kumano Shrine, and elsewhere.

102. The sacred mirror is one of the three divine symbols of the Japanese imperial throne, the others being the sword and the jewel. The mirror was lost in a fire in 960.

103. The sword was lost in 1185 at the battle of Dannoura, in which the Minamoto clan defeated the Taira.

104. The five honored ones refer to the five wisdom kings of the esoteric True Word teachings. They are Immovable; Conqueror of the Threefold World; Kundalī; Great Awesome Virtue; and Diamond Yaksha. Depicted as angry figures, they are said to conquer obstacles.

105. According to The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, a kalpa is longer than the time required to wear away a cube of stone 40 ri (one ri is about 600 meters) on each side, if a heavenly nymph alights on it and brushes it with a piece of cloth once every hundred years.