The Letter of Petition from Yorimoto
Chapter6(Further Refutation of Ryokan-bo)
Then, at the time of the great drought, the government ordered the priest Ryōkan to perform a ceremony for rain on the eighteenth day of the sixth month in the eighth year of the Bun’ei era (1271), cyclical sign kanoto-hitsuji, in order to save the people. Hearing this news, the Sage Nichiren said, “Although prayers for rain are a trifling matter, perhaps I should take this opportunity to demonstrate to everyone the power of the Law that I embrace.” He sent a message to the priest Ryōkan, saying: “If the Honorable Ryōkan brings about rainfall within seven days, I, Nichiren, will stop teaching that the Nembutsu leads to the hell of incessant suffering and become his disciple, observing the two hundred and fifty precepts. But if no rain falls, that will show clearly that the Honorable Ryōkan is deliberately confusing and misleading others, though he appears to be observing the precepts. In ancient times there were many instances in which the supremacy of one teaching over another was determined through prayers for rain, such as the challenge between Gomyō and the Great Teacher Dengyō,23 or between Shubin and Kōbō.”24
The Sage Nichiren sent this message to the priest Ryōkan through the intermediaries, the priest Suō-bō and the lay priest Irusawa, who are Nembutsu believers. In addition to being Nembutsu believers, this priest and lay priest are Ryōkan’s disciples and do not yet believe in Nichiren’s teaching. So the Sage Nichiren said to them, “We will decide whose teachings are correct through this prayer for rain. If it rains within seven days, you can believe that you will be reborn in the Pure Land by virtue of the eight precepts and the Nembutsu, which you already uphold. But if it does not rain, you should place your faith in the Lotus Sutra alone.” Delighted to hear this, the two delivered the message to the priest Ryōkan at Gokuraku-ji temple.
With tears of joy, the priest Ryōkan, along with more than 120 of his disciples, offered prayers, the sweat of their faces rising up in steam and their voices resounding to the heavens. They chanted the Nembutsu, the Prayer for Rain Sutra,25 and the Lotus Sutra, and the priest Ryōkan preached on the eight precepts in an effort to produce rainfall within seven days. When no sign of rain appeared after four or five days, he grew frantic and summoned hundreds of his disciples from Tahō-ji temple26 to join him, exhausting all his powers of prayer. But within seven days not a drop of rain fell.
At that time, the Sage Nichiren sent a messenger to him on no less than three occasions, saying, “A wanton woman called Izumi Shikibu and a priest named Nōin27 who broke the precepts were each able to cause rain immediately with just a thirty-one-syllable poem that made little sense and was full of excess flourishes. Why is it, then, that the Honorable Ryōkan—who observes all the precepts and rules, has mastered the Lotus and True Word doctrines, and is renowned as the foremost in compassion—cannot produce rainfall within seven days, even when assisted by hundreds of his followers? Consider this: if one cannot cross a moat ten feet wide, can one cross a moat that is twenty or thirty feet wide? If you cannot bring about rainfall, which is easy, how can you attain rebirth in the pure land and achieve Buddhahood, which is difficult?
“Accordingly you should from this point on revise your prejudiced views, which lead you to hate Nichiren. If you fear for your next life, come to me immediately as you have promised. I will teach you the Law that causes rain to fall and the path that leads to Buddhahood. Have you not failed to produce rain within seven days? The drought intensifies and the eight winds28 blow all the more violently, while the people’s grief grows deeper and deeper. Stop your prayers immediately.” When the messenger conveyed the Sage Nichiren’s message word for word at the hour of the monkey (3:00–5:00 p.m.) on the seventh day, the priest Ryōkan wept, and his disciples and lay believers also cried aloud in their chagrin.
When the Sage Nichiren incurred the wrath of the government authorities and was asked about this matter, he told the story as it really happened. So he said: “If the priest Ryōkan had had any sense of shame, he would have disappeared from public view and retired to a mountain forest. Or if he had become my disciple as he had promised, then he would have shown at least a little seeking spirit. But in actuality, he made endless false accusations against me in an attempt to have me executed. Is this the conduct of a noble priest?” I, Yorimoto, also personally observed the situation. Where other affairs are concerned, I would not dare to address my lord in this fashion, but in this matter alone, however I may consider it, I find I cannot remain silent.
Notes
23. Gomyō (750–834) was a priest of the Dharma Characteristics school. According to The Record of the Precepts of the One Mind, in 818, when people were enduring the hardships of a great drought, Dengyō, in response to Emperor Saga’s command, offered prayers employing the Lotus, Golden Light, and Benevolent Kings sutras. On the third day rain began to fall. Gomyo prayed for rain with his forty disciples using only the Benevolent Kings Sutra, and rain did not fall until the fifth day.
24. Shubin was a ninth-century priest of the True Word school. In 823 he was given Sai-ji (West Temple) by Emperor Saga, while Kōbō was given Tō-ji (East Temple). In the spring of 824, during a drought, Shubin competed with Kōbō in praying for rain. He brought about rainfall on the seventh day, while Kōbō could not make rain fall even after twenty-one days.
25. This sutra, translated by Pu-k’ung, details the ritual of the prayer for rain and the proper conduct to be observed by the one performing it.
26. A temple, no longer extant, in Kamakura. In light of the text, it would appear to have been a large temple and under the supervision of Ryōkan.
27. Izumi Shikibu (b. c. 976), a court lady-in-waiting, and Nōin (b. 988), a poet-priest, whose works include poems that express prayers for rain.
28. Eight kinds of gales including rainstorms, tornados, and storms. Explanations vary according to the source, but in any event they indicate actual violent weather conditions. When Ryōkan offered his prayers, no rain fell; instead, destructive winds arose.
Lecture
In the previous chapter, it was stated that Ryokan, who was revered by society and even called the rebirth of Shakyamuni, was actually a demonic monk who would not hesitate to drive people to their deaths to fulfill his own ambitions.
In this chapter, through the specific details of the rainmaking contest of the Bunei era—which can be considered the direct cause of Ryokan driving Nichiren Daishonin toward execution and exile—the Daishonin further exposes Ryokan’s true nature in a concrete manner, urging the lord to reconsider his devotion to Ryokan.
In Bunei 8 (1271), a severe drought began in the spring, and even after entering the rainy season, there was no sign of rain at all. As part of its countermeasures, the Kamakura shogunate ordered Ryokan of Gokuraku-ji temple to perform a “ritual for rain.”
The Pride and the Challenge
As indicated by the passage, “He always proclaims that he can make rain fall at will” (0349-16), Ryokan was highly confident in his rainmaking rituals alongside his charitable activities. Therefore, he readily accepted the shogunate’s order and did not hesitate to boast proudly, saying, “I shall perform the ritual for rain and save all people.”
Nichiren Daishonin, who had long been deeply concerned about defeating Ryokan’s deception and arrogance to save the populace suffering in the agony of the Avici hell, challenged Ryokan to a rainmaking contest, taking the stance that: “Although this matter seems small, I would like to use this opportunity to show the validation of Nichiren’s teachings to everyone.”
Of course, although it was a contest to make rain, it was nonetheless a spiritual battle upon which religious figures staked their lives. The people’s growing yearning for rain naturally turned into an intense interest in this contest. Therefore, despite being a match for rain, this confrontation carried a weight truly comparable to a public debate.
The Conditions of the Contest
The Daishonin sent a message to Ryokan through two of Ryokan’s disciples who were Nembutsu practitioners, Suo-bo and the Lay Priest Irisawa, stating:
” He sent a message to the priest Ryōkan, saying: “If the Honorable Ryōkan brings about rainfall within seven days, I, Nichiren, will stop teaching that the Nembutsu leads to the hell of incessant suffering and become his disciple, observing the two hundred and fifty precepts. But if no rain falls, that will show clearly that the Honorable Ryōkan is deliberately confusing and misleading others, though he appears to be observing the precepts. In ancient times there were many instances in which the supremacy of one teaching over another was determined through prayers for rain, such as the challenge between Gomyō and the Great Teacher Dengyō, or between Shubin and Kōbō.””
He also sent word:
“If it rains within seven days, you can believe that you will be reborn in the Pure Land by virtue of the eight precepts and the Nembutsu, which you already uphold. But if it does not rain, you should place your faith in the Lotus Sutra alone.”
The Outcome of the Prayer
Upon hearing this, Ryokan wept with joy. He and more than 120 disciples prayed desperately to make it rain within seven days, but when after four or five days there was still no sign of rain, Ryokan hastily requested reinforcements of several hundred disciples from Taho-ji temple. They exerted all their power to pray for rain, but because it was a prayer based on erroneous teachings, not a single drop of rain fell by the promised seventh day.
The outcome of the contest was absolutely clear. The desperate prayers of the monks of erroneous teachings not only failed to bring rain, but on the contrary, the drought worsened, gale-force winds blew violently, and the grief of the populace only deepened.
Nichiren Daishonin’s Refutation and the Aftermath
In the midst of Ryokan’s prayers for rain, the Daishonin sent messengers three times to thoroughly refute him. He declared that even if Ryokan was praised by society as a strict observer of the precepts and monastic rules, a master of the profound meanings of the Lotus and Shingon sutras, and the foremost in compassion, if he could not actually make a single drop of rain fall, he was inferior even to Izumi Shikibu, a sensual woman who caused rain with a 31-syllable poem, or the precept-breaking monk Nōin Hōshi. The Daishonin stringently questioned how Ryokan, who could not even bring rain, could possibly achieve rebirth or enlightenment.
Utterly defeated in the rainmaking contest, Ryokan broke his promise with the Daishonin. Instead, he plotted to eliminate the Daishonin, spreading endless slanderous rumors to high-ranking shogunate officials in an attempt to have the Daishonin executed. Yorimoto petitioned his lord, stating that he could not revere such a man as a noble monk.
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