Reply to the Lay Priest Misawa

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No rain falls aslant on its own. The wind must be why it beats on the window at night.

Background

MANY of the practitioners from Sado Province have made the long journey all the way to this place, and that is why I have expounded for them the teaching that I am propagating now, which will become the seed of Buddhahood in their future lives as well. All of this is due to the blessings of the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. How marvelous!

I composed this poem in Echigo, so I will write it down to send to you.

No rain

falls aslant

on its own.

The wind must be why

it beats on the window at night.

The twenty-first day

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Background

On the twenty-first day of what is generally thought to have been the second month in 1275, Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter from Minobu to Misawa Kojirō, his follower in Misawa in Fuji District of Suruga Province. The Daishonin tells Misawa that his teaching, which he has passed on to followers who had traveled all the way to Minobu from Sado Island, provides them not only with the seed of Buddhahood for the present, but also for the future. And he includes a poem for Misawa.

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