Concerning the Statue of Shakyamuni Buddha Fashioned by Nichigen-nyo Chapter2
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Now, Nichigen-nyo, you are in your thirty-seventh year, an unlucky age.3 The word “unlucky” means something that is like the corners on a pair of dice or the corners of a square measuring cup, or like the joints in a person’s body or the points in between the four cardinal ones of the compass. When the wind blows from the cardinal points, it is mild; but when it blows from the points in between, it is strong. If an illness arises in the muscles, it can be easily cured; but if it arises in the joints, it is hard to cure. If a house has no fence around it, robbers can break in; if a person has faults, his enemies can use them to get at him. An unlucky year is like a joint, or like a house that lacks a fence, or a person with faults. But if one has good soldiers on hand to guard the house, they can seize the robbers. And if the ailment in the joints can be cured in good time, one may live a long life.
Now fashioning an image of Shakyamuni Buddha is like a woman of humble rank giving birth to a prince and heir to the throne. Even the father, the ruler of the nation, will surely pay honor to such a woman, to say nothing of his ministers and those below them. And the great heavenly king Brahmā, the heavenly king Shakra Devānām Indra, and the sun and moon gods will protect a woman who fashions such an image, to say nothing of the other gods great and small.
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Background
This letter was written in the second month of 1279 to Nichigen-nyo, the wife of Shijō Kingo, in praise of her sincerity in fashioning a wooden statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. The Daishonin expresses appreciation for the coins he received as an offering. According to Reply to Kyō’ō, written in 1273, the Daishonin bestowed the Gohonzon upon Kyō’ō, the daughter of Shijō Kingo and Nichigen-nyo, who was then seriously ill. In that reply he explained the significance of the Gohonzon. That may be why in the current letter he simply states that he inscribed the Gohonzon for Nichigen-nyo.
As this letter indicates, worship of the Buddha Amida was widespread in Japan at the time. But Nichigen-nyo, crafting a statue of Shakyamuni, had rejected Amida, an imaginary Buddha, in favor of Shakyamuni, the real Buddha whose spirit is embodied in the Lotus Sutra. The Daishonin praises her, saying, “A person who fashions a single image of Shakyamuni Buddha is in effect making images of all the Buddhas of the worlds in the ten directions.” This statement is based on the view that the Buddhas of the ten directions are manifestations of Shakyamuni, the Buddha who originally attained enlightenment in the remote past. The Daishonin regards the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra as the Law that made the original enlightenment of Shakyamuni possible. And in the treatise Questions and Answers on the Object of Devotion written the previous year, the Daishonin makes it clear that the people in the Latter Day of the Law “should make the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra their object of devotion” (p. 787).
Nichigen-nyo made this offering in her thirty-seventh year. In Japan thirty-seven was considered one of several climacteric years in a woman’s life. The Daishonin instructs Nichigen-nyo that her pure faith and spirit of offering will keep her under the protection of all the deities. Citing passages from the Lotus Sutra and its commentaries, the p.814Daishonin asserts that Nichigen-nyo will attain Buddhahood because she upholds the sutra that guarantees enlightenment for women. He also states that her prayer for safety in her so-called unlucky year will be answered, and that she is foremost among all women in Japan.
Notes
3. The idea of unlucky ages derives from the ancient Chinese philosophy of yin and yang. The ages of nineteen, thirty-three, and thirty-seven were considered unlucky for women. It was customary at such times to perform various religious acts in order to ward off ill luck.