The Problem to Be Pondered Night and Day
Background
This letter was written to Toki Jōnin, a learned and dedicated disciple who lived in Shimōsa Province. In it Nichiren Daishonin stresses the extreme seriousness of the offense of slander and also the importance of embracing the supreme Buddhist teaching. The letter is dated simply the twenty-third day of the eighth month, and though it is generally thought to have been written in the first year of Kenji (1275) at Minobu, no firm conclusion has been reached in this regard. Other opinions are that the Daishonin wrote it in 1276 or even in 1273 while he was still on Sado Island.
In the Daishonin’s teaching, rather than adherence to a specific code of conduct, one’s fundamental posture toward the Mystic Law, or ultimate reality, determines one’s happiness or unhappiness in life. A person who seeks and awakens to the ultimate truth within will attain enlightenment, while one who remains in ignorance of it or even slanders it will continue to be bound by suffering. Hence the Daishonin’s emphasis on exclusive commitment to the Lotus Sutra, which teaches the direct attainment of Buddhahood for all people.
In the last part of this letter, the Daishonin raises a question that had crossed many people’s minds: on the basis of what sort of insight does he dare to criticize such eminent teachers of the past as Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō? However, instead of answering this question directly, he simply says, “You had better cut short your sleep by night and curtail your leisure by day, and ponder this!” This passage, from which the letter takes its name, suggests that the most important task of our human existence is to seek out and uphold the correct teaching leading to enlightenment.
Chapter1（Showing the seriousness of the evil deed of slandering the Law）
THE second volume of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law states: “If a person fails to have faith but instead slanders this sutra . . . or on seeing those who read, recite, copy, and uphold this sutra, should despise, hate, envy, or bear grudges against them . . . When his life comes to an end he will enter the Avīchi hell . . . He will keep repeating this cycle for a countless number of kalpas.”1 The seventh volume reads, “For a thousand kalpas [they underwent great suffering] in the Avīchi hell.”2 The third volume mentions [those who wandered in the evil paths for] major world system dust particle kalpas, and the sixth volume refers to [those who were submerged in the realm of suffering for] numberless major world system dust particle kalpas. The Nirvana Sutra states, “Even if you are killed by a mad elephant, you will not fall into the three evil paths. But if you are killed by an evil friend, you are certain to fall into them.”
The Treatise on the Treasure Vehicle of Buddhahood by Bodhisattva Sāramati reads: “Those who are ignorant and unable to believe in the correct teaching, who hold false views and are arrogant, suffer such hindrances in retribution for the slanders of their past lives. They cling to incomplete doctrines and are attached to receiving alms and being treated with deference; they recognize only false doctrines, distance themselves from good friends, approach with familiarity such slanderers who delight in attachment to the teachings of the lesser vehicle, and do not believe in the great vehicle. Therefore they slander the Law of the Buddhas.
“A person of wisdom should not fear enemy households, snakes, the poison of fire, the god Indra, the roll of thunder, attacks by swords and staves, or wild beasts such as tigers, wolves, and lions. For these can only destroy one’s life, but cannot cause one to fall into the Avīchi hell, which is truly terrifying. What one should fear is slander of the profound teaching as well as companions who are slanderers, for these will surely cause one to fall into the frightful Avīchi hell. Even if one befriends evil companions and with evil intent spills the Buddha’s blood, kills one’s own father and mother, takes the lives of many sages, disrupts the unity of the Buddhist Order, and destroys all one’s roots of goodness, if one fixes one’s mind on the correct teaching, one can free oneself from that place. But if there is someone who slanders the inconceivably profound teaching, that person will for immeasurable kalpas be unable to obtain emancipation. However, if there is one who can cause others to awaken to and take faith in a teaching such as this, then that person is their father and mother, and also their good friend. This is a person of wisdom. After the Thus Come One’s passing, that person corrects false views and perverse thoughts, and causes people to enter the true way. For that reason, he has pure faith in the three treasures, and his virtuous actions lead others to enlightenment.”
Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna states in his Treatise on the Discipline for Attaining Enlightenment: “The World-Honored One expounded five causes3 leading to the hell of incessant suffering. . . . But if, with respect to the profound teaching that one has yet to comprehend, one were to remain attached [to lesser teachings and declare that this is not the Buddha’s teaching], then the accumulated sins of all the above-mentioned five acts would not amount to even a hundredth part of this offense.”
Notes
1. Lotus Sutra, chap. 3.
2. Ibid., chap. 20. This refers to the karmic retribution suffered by those who persecuted Bodhisattva Never Disparaging.
3. The five causes are the five cardinal sins of killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, injuring a Buddha, and causing dissension in the Buddhist Order.
Chapter2（Repentance of sages for slandering the Law）
A wise person, while dwelling in security, anticipates danger; a perverse one, while dwelling amid danger, takes security for granted. A great fire fears even a small quantity of water, and a large tree may have its branches broken by even a small bird. What a wise person fears is slander of the great vehicle. It was on this account that Bodhisattva Vasubandhu declared that he would cut out his tongue,4 Bodhisattva Ashvaghosha implored that his own head be cut off,5 and the Great Teacher Chi-tsang made a bridge of his own body.6 The Tripitaka Master Hsüan-tsang traveled to the sacred land of India to discern [which teaching represents the truth], the Tripitaka Master Pu-k’ung likewise returned to India to resolve his doubts,7 and the Great Teacher Dengyō sought confirmation in China. Did not these men act this way in order to protect the true meaning of the sutras and treatises?
Notes
4. According to The Biography of Vasubandhu, when Vasubandhu, originally a Hinayana scholar, was awakened to the greatness of the Mahayana by his brother Asanga, he wanted to cut out his tongue to expiate the slander he felt he had committed in preaching the Hinayana teachings and criticizing those of the Mahayana. However, Asanga persuaded him that he could better eradicate his offense by using the same tongue to praise the Mahayana.
5. No mention of this incident appears in the biography of Ashvaghosha. Possibly, after his conversion to Mahayana by Pārshva, he felt regret similar to that of Vasubandhu for having previously condemned the Buddhist teachings.
6. Chi-tsang (549–623) was a priest of the Three Treatises school in China, sometimes regarded as the founder of the school. According to The Supplement to “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra,” he took T’ien-t’ai as his master and personally served him in reparation for his previously shallow understanding. “Made a bridge of his own body” means that he lifted T’ien-t’ai on his back whenever the latter mounted the elevated lecture platform.
7. According to his biography in The Sung Dynasty Biographies of Eminent Priests, Pu-k’ung returned to India to obtain a copy of the Diamond Crown Sutra in order to resolve doubts he had about the Diamond Realm mandala.