Concerning the Statue of ShakyamuniBuddha Fashioned by Nichigen-nyo Chapter1
IHAVE inscribed the Gohonzon for your protection. I have previously received two thousand coins, and now receive another thousand from my lay supporter, Lady Nichigen-nyo, who fashioned the wooden statue, three inches in height, of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings of the threefold world.
In the “Life Span” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha says, “Sometimes I speak of myself, sometimes of others.”1 The Buddha Good Virtue of the eastern region, the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana of the center, the Buddhas of the ten directions, the seven Buddhas of the past, the Buddhas of the three existences, Bodhisattva Superior Practices and the other bodhisattvas, Manjushrī, Shāriputra and the others, the great heavenly king Brahmā, the devil king of the sixth heaven, the heavenly king Shakra Devānām Indra, the sun god, the moon god, the morning star god, the seven stars of the Big Dipper, the twenty-eight constellations, the five planets, the seven stars, the countless eighty-four thousand other stars,2 the asura kings, the heavenly gods, earthly gods, gods of the mountains, gods of the seas, household gods, village gods, and the rulers of all the various countries of the world—not one of these is other than [a provisional manifestation of] Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings! The Sun Goddess, Great Bodhisattva Hachiman—both these in their original form are Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings.
Shakyamuni Buddha is like the one moon in the sky, and the various other Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and beings are like the reflections floating on ten thousand different bodies of water. Thus 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.
When you shake your head, your hair sways; when your mind begins to work, your body moves. When a strong wind blows, the grass and trees can no longer remain still; when the earth shakes, the seas are atremble. Thus if one can move Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, can the grass and trees fail to respond, can the waters remain calm?
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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
1. In the passage “others” refers to Shakyamuni’s manifestations in various figures.
2. The five planets are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. In the thirteenth century the more distant planets were as yet unknown, and Earth was not known to be among the planets. The seven stars are the above-mentioned five planets plus the sun and moon. The figure eighty-four thousand is not to be taken literally, but simply indicates a large number, innumerable, countless, or all.