Daimokuas the Seed of Buddhahood Chapter2

When one looks at the mountain, one sees that it drops down gradually from its heights to its foothills. When one looks at the sea, one finds that it gradually goes from shallow to deep. When one looks at the world, one finds that it has gradually declined year after year, from thirty years ago to twenty, to five, four, three, two, one year ago. The same is true of people’s minds.

Now when an age comes to its end, only twisted trees remain on the mountainside, only low grasses grow in the fields. In the world wise people are few, while foolish ones abound. They are like cows and horses, which never know their fathers, or like hares and sheep, unable to pick out their mothers.

It has been more than 2,220 years since the Buddha passed into extinction. Now we have come to this latter age, when men of wisdom gradually disappear from view, in the same way that a mountain slopes down, or like the shallow grasses. Though there are many who do things such as chant the Nembutsu or uphold the precepts, few rely on the Lotus Sutra. Though there are multitudes of stars, they fail to illuminate the great sea. Though there are myriads of grasses, they never become pillars in the imperial palace. In the same manner, even if one chants the Nembutsu many times, it can never be the path to attaining Buddhahood. And even if one upholds the precepts, it can never be the seed for rebirth in a pure land. Only the seven characters of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo are the seed for attaining Buddhahood.