Acknowledging Various Offerings Chapter4
———————————-（contimued from Chapter3)————————————-
Could your having taken pity on and made offerings to such a strange person be because you were my parent in a past existence, or could it be due to karma from a past lifetime? It is certainly no ordinary thing. Moreover, it is when the rain pours, the wind rages, and people try to hold one back that one’s resolve comes to the fore. This is also true in your case. Even in ordinary circumstances, at the border between Suruga and Kai, the mountains are high, the rivers deep, boulders lie everywhere, and the path is narrow. How much truer is this now, when it has been pouring for three months straight. The rivers have been rising for ninety days, landslides have occurred, paths are blocked, and no one can come or go. Just when our food supplies had run out and I thought my time had come, you presented this assortment of items, satisfied the hunger of the Lotus Sutra, and even saved the life of Shakyamuni Buddha. You can only guess at your good fortune. I will write you again in greater detail.
With my deep respect,
Nichiren
The seventh day of the seventh month
My reply to you
Background
Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter on the seventh day of the seventh month in 1278 to Nanjō Heishichirō, who is thought to have been a relative of Nanjō Tokimitsu. After thanking Heishichirō for the various offerings he had sent, the Daishonin explains that going against the Lotus Sutra leads to the hell of incessant suffering and that it is actually the eminent priests of the various schools who have turned against the Lotus. But having spoken up about this matter, he has been persecuted as if he were a traitor. The Daishonin praises Heishichirō for sending offerings to such a person in spite of the perilous way to Minobu, and concludes that there is no imagining the greatness of the benefit he will receive as a result.