Daily Gosho

religion

On Practicing the Buddha’s Teachings

Chapter7(No matter how many terrible enemies you may encounter, banish all fears and never think of backsliding)

What a great pity it is that all the Japanese people are delighted to see Nichiren and his disciples and lay believers suffer at the hands of the three powerful enemies! What befell another yesterday may befall oneself today. Nichiren and his followers have but a short time to endure—merely the time it takes for frost or dew to vanish in the morning sun. When our prayers for Buddhahood are answered and we are dwelling in the true land of Tranquil Light where we will experience the boundless joy of the Law, what pity we will feel for those who sink to the bottom of the great citadel of the Avīchi hell and meet extreme suffering there! How they will envy us then!

Life flashes by in but a moment. No matter how many terrible enemies you may encounter, banish all fears and never think of backsliding. Even if someone were to cut off our heads with a saw, impale our bodies with lances, or shackle our feet and bore them through with a gimlet, as long as we are alive, we must keep chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyoNam-myoho-renge-kyo. Then, if we chant until the very moment of death, ShakyamuniMany Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions will come to us instantly, exactly as they promised during the ceremony at Eagle Peak. Taking our hands and bearing us on their shoulders, they will carry us to Eagle Peak. The two sages,19 the two heavenly kings,20 and the ten demon daughters will guard us, while all the heavenly gods and benevolent deities will raise a canopy over our heads and unfurl banners on high. They will escort us under their protection to the treasure land of Tranquil Light. How can such joy possibly be described!

Nichiren

The fifth month of the tenth year of Bun’ei (1273), cyclical sign mizunoto-tori

To all my followers

Keep this letter with you at all times and read it over and over.

 

Notes

19. The bodhisattvas Medicine King and Brave Donor.

20. Vaishravana and Upholder of the Nation, two of the four heavenly kings (see Glossary).

Comments

  1. こんにちは、これはコメントです。
    コメントの承認、編集、削除を始めるにはダッシュボードの「コメント」画面にアクセスしてください。
    コメントのアバターは「Gravatar」から取得されます。

Copied title and URL