Chapter1(On the crime of slandering theLotus Sutra and the evidence that the country will be destroyed by the teachers of the True Word school )

“IN the continent of Jambudvīpa [when a kalpa of] famine has begun I [the Buddha] will make my advent. In the continent of Jambudvīpa [when a kalpa of armed conflict has begun I will] make my advent.”¹ And it also states: “In the continent of Jambudvīpa when a kalpa [of pestilence] has begun I will make my advent.”

In the reign of the thirtieth human sovereign [Kimmei], King Syŏngmyŏng of the country [of Paekche] had [the Buddhist sutras and a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha] brought to this country. But the ruler did not accept them, and so for three reigns² the country endured the Buddha’s punishment. . . . [illegible] The blame incurred for concealing Shakyamuni Buddha . . . [illegible] the Nembutsu believers claimed that the statue brought from Paekche was that of Amida Buddha of Zenkō-ji temple.³ From the one ruler on down to the commoners, all people . . . [illegible] declared this.

Those persons who treat Nichiren as an enemy all attack him. The heavenly gods all [abandon] this country. [The Lotus Sutra] states, “[If this person] on seeing those who read, recite, copy, and uphold this sutra, should despise, hate, envy, or bear grudges against them, . . .”⁴ It also says, “[He will be] plagued by many ailments, thin and gaunt.”⁵ And the eighth volume states, “[And he will] suffer from severe and malignant illnesses.”⁶ The second volume also states, “Though he might practice the art of medicine and by its methods cure someone’s disease, the person would grow sicker from some other malady and perhaps in the end would die.”⁷ And it goes on to say, “If he himself had an illness, no one would aid or nurse him, and though he took good medicine, it would only make his condition worse.”⁸

The Great Teacher Kōbō remarked, “[Each vehicle that is put forward is claimed to be the vehicle of Buddhahood, but] when examined from a later stage, they are all seen to be mere childish theory.”⁹ And so the followers of Tō-ji temple, from the prelate of Omuro¹⁰ on down to the ordinary priests, all referred to the Lotus Sutra as “childish theory.” The chief priest of Mount Hiei [Jikaku], along with the three thousand priests under him . . . [illegible] throughout Japan, the mountain temples all alike said that [the Lotus Sutra was inferior to] the Mahāvairochana Sutra. The Great Teacher Chishō stated that the Lotus Sutra could not equal it. The chief official of Onjō-ji and the other followers of Chishō throughout the country declared that the Lotus Sutra could not compare to the True Word sutras. And the rulers who accepted the opinion of these three teachers [Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō] were overthrown, and the retired emperors too were wiped out. The chief priest Myōun was killed by Yoshinaka,¹¹ and in the Jōkyū Disturbance, the prelate of Omuro was driven to death by sorrow.

Chapter2( Daishonin exhorts his disciples to be “cubs of the lion king”)

My wish is that my disciples will be cubs of the lion king, never to be laughed at by the pack of foxes. It is hard to encounter a master like Nichiren, who since distant kalpas in the past down to the present day has never begrudged his body or life in order to expose the faults of his powerful enemies!

Even the reproaches of the temporal ruler are greatly to be feared, and how much more so are the reproaches of Yama! The reproaches of the land of Japan are like water, and one should not fear to be drenched by them. The reproaches of Yama are like fire; imagine yourselves striding naked into the flames. The Nirvana Sutra in essence teaches us that when persons who have faith in the Buddhist teachings and are determined to free themselves from the sufferings of birth and death grow a little faint in heart, the Buddha inflicts illness upon them in order to encourage them to strive harder. He does so to embolden them, to drive them forward.

I, Nichiren, am an ordinary mortal. Lacking the divine eye of heavenly beings, I cannot even see through a sheet of paper. Lacking the power of knowing past lives, I have little understanding of the three existences of past, present, and future. But, though people speak of the divine eye, the wisdom eye, or the Dharma eye, these are no different from the physical eye. The votary of the Lotus Sutra possesses only the physical eye, but it is said that he is also endowed with the divine eye, the wisdom eye, the Dharma eye, and the Buddha eye. Thus, just as the sutra passage states,¹² though I have only the physical eyes, it is as if I were endowed with the divine eye and the power of knowing past lives. It is clear to me how the Buddha’s teachings have spread in the seven hundred and more years since they were introduced to Japan. I can also judge which of the eight schools or the ten schools of Buddhism are correct and which in error, I can weigh the relative worth of the various Buddhist teachers and scholars of China and India, and I can fathom the meaning of the eighty thousand teachings and twelve divisions of the scriptures . . . [illegible] I could see in advance the causes that would bring about the downfall of the nation, and my predictions have proved to be entirely accurate just as two tallies match precisely. I was able to do all of this through the power of the Lotus Sutra.

The ruler, heeding the evil words of slanderous officials, has persecuted me, but because they are only ordinary mortals, I know that this is simply to be expected. I had no intention of ceasing my efforts, and have suffered further persecution from time to time since then.

Since they refused to accept the fine feast I offered them, there was nothing more I could do, and so I have retired to this mountain forest. But as I am an ordinary mortal, I find it hard to endure the cold or to put up with the heat here. And we are very short of food. Piao Ch’ing-mu¹³ could travel ten thousand miles on one meal, but I am not up to that. Tzu Ssu¹⁴ and Confucius ate only nine meals in the space of a hundred days,¹⁵ but that is beyond me. I barely have the voice to recite the sutra, and I have grown remiss in matters of meditation.

How wonderful it was, then, that your messenger should arrive at such a moment! Did Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, prompt this visit? Or did it come about because of some action in a past life? I cannot express on paper all that I wish to say.

With my deep respect.