Concerning the Statue of Shakyamuni Buddha Fashioned by Nichigen-nyo Chapter3
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King Udayana fashioned an image of Shakyamuni Buddha, whereupon the great heavenly king Brahmā, the gods of the sun and moon, and other beings appeared in order to pay their respects to the wooden image. But the image said, “Rather than paying veneration to me, it is better to pay veneration to King Udayana.” And the same thing happened when King Bimbisāra produced a painted image of Shakyamuni Buddha.
In the Lotus Sutra the Buddha says: “If there are persons who for the sake of the Buddha fashion and set up images, . . . then all have attained the Buddha way.”4
This passage in effect indicates that all women who fashion images of Shakyamuni Buddha will day after day and month after month be spared both major and minor difficulties in their present life and in their next existence will invariably attain Buddhahood.
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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.