Letter to Shimoyama（2nd of 8th paragraph）

Main Text

The priest known as the Great Teacher Kōbō, after the demise of the Great Teacher Dengyō, without ever confronting his opponents in debate, succeeded in deceiving the members of the imperial court and was thus able to establish the True Word teachings as the eighth school.

Letter to Shimoyama（2nd of 8th paragraph）

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This great teacher not only refuted the doctrines of the six earlier schools of Buddhism,37 but also made a thorough study of the teachings of the Zen school. In addition, he investigated the doctrines of the Lotus and True Word schools, which at that time had not yet been widely propagated in Japan. Examining them in the mirror of Buddhist doctrine as a whole to determine their relative worth, he found that the distinction between the exoteric and esoteric teachings became as clear as black and white.

But because this alone was not sufficient to dispel the doubts of the age, in the Enryaku era he embarked on a journey to T’ang China. The Chinese, however, though sagacious in other matters, had not as yet made clear the relative worth of the T’ien-t’ai and True Word schools and the texts on which they are based, the Lotus Sutra and the Mahāvairochana Sutra respectively, or determined which was the more profound. Therefore, after the Great Teacher Dengyō returned to Japan, he expounded his ideas in accordance with his earlier conclusions. As proof that the T’ien-t’ai teachings are superior to those of True Word, he cited the passage in the tenth volume of the Great Teacher Miao-lo’s Annotations on “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra” in which Han-kuang tells how his teacher, the Tripitaka Master Pu-k’ung, in his late years abandoned the True Word teachings and converted to those of the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai.38 That citation is found in Dengyō’s Clarification of the Schools Based on T’ien-t’ai’s Doctrine.

In addition, he asserted that the True Word school did not deserve to be called a “school” at all. He gave as his reason the fact that he had discovered that the three True Word masters, Shan-wu-wei, Chin-kang-chih, and Pu-k’ung, had duped Āchārya I-hsing by stealing the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, which was based on the personal enlightenment of the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai, and asserting that it was to be found in the Mahāvairochana Sutra, thus committing the gross error and deception of taking a treasure that belonged to someone else and claiming it as their own.

In similar fashion, he perceived that the Dharma Teacher Ch’eng-kuan had stolen the ten ways of observing the mind expounded by the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai [in his Great Concentration and Insight],39 incorporating them into his own Flower Garland school and then turning around and claiming that the T’ien-t’ai school represents the “branch teachings.”

Thus the Great Teacher Dengyō, having denied True Word the right to call itself a school, taught that there were only seven schools of Buddhism [the six earlier schools and the Tendai school].

The priest known as the Great Teacher Kōbō, however, a man of great falsehoods who was given to praising himself and defaming others, after the demise of the Great Teacher Dengyō, without ever confronting his opponents in debate, succeeded in deceiving the members of the imperial court and was thus able to establish the True Word teachings as the eighth school.

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Background

One of Nichiren Daishonin’s ten major writings, Letter to Shimoyama is a petition to Shimoyama Hyōgo Gorō Mitsumoto, the steward of the district of Shimoyama near Mount Minobu in the province of Kai. The Daishonin wrote it on behalf of a priest named Inaba-bō Nichiei in the sixth month of 1277, while residing at Mount Minobu.

Inaba-bō Nichiei had been converted by Nikkō to the Daishonin’s teachings, and tried to convert Shimoyama Mitsumoto, who was Inaba-bō’s father (or, according to another account, his lord in the feudal system of the time). But Shimoyama, who was a believer in the Nembutsu, or Pure Land, teachings, furiously opposed the priest’s new-found faith. Hearing this, the Daishonin wrote a petition on behalf of Inaba-bō to persuade Shimoyama to discard the Pure Land teachings and take faith in the Lotus Sutra.

The petition explains the superiority of the Lotus Sutra to the Pure Land doctrines, and states that Inaba-bō’s conversion to the Lotus Sutra constitutes a distinguished act of loyalty to Shimoyama. Later, Shimoyama in fact gave up the Nembutsu and became a follower of the Daishonin’s teachings.

In the beginning paragraphs, the voice is that of Inaba-bō addressing his angry father or lord, Shimoyama. Inaba-bō explains that he has ceased reciting the Amida Sutra and instead taken up recitation of the Lotus Sutra because of an encounter with the Sage Nichiren. He says he went to Mount Minobu to listen to a lecture by the sage without the intention of taking faith. He writes very briefly of what he felt about the lecture.

The letter then outlines the Daishonin’s lecture from a third-party viewpoint. The lecture first introduces the five guides of propagation, the teaching, the time, the people’s capacity, the country, and the proper sequence of propagation. Then it describes the history of the spread of Buddhism in Japan. This begins with the Chinese priest Chien-chen (known in Japan as Ganjin), who brought the Hinayana precepts and T’ien-t’ai’s teachings to Japan but propagated only the former, which he thought were appropriate to the time. Later Dengyō appeared and studied T’ien-t’ai’s teachings and investigated thoroughly the doctrines of the six schools of Nara, demonstrating the superiority of the former over the latter. Dengyō also asserted that the Hinayana precepts should be abolished and replaced with the Mahayana precepts.

Next, the Daishonin describes the spread of Buddhism during the Former, Middle, and Latter Days of the Law. The Buddhist leaders in the first two periods knew the great Law of the Lotus Sutra but did not expound it because the time had not yet come for its propagation. As the Daishonin points out, the Latter Day is the time for the advent of Bodhisattva Superior Practices, who will spread the essence of the Lotus Sutra, which is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Then the Daishonin refutes the views of Ryōkan, who attempted to restore the Hinayana precepts and who urged the shogunate to put to death his rival, Nichiren Daishonin. Basing his view on the Lotus Sutra, the Daishonin regards Ryōkan as the third of the three powerful enemies and himself as the votary of the sutra. He also describes the other persecutions he experienced.

He points out the errors of the shogunate and the Buddhist schools it supported, the Pure Land, True Word, and Zen schools. Moreover, he describes how Dengyō’s teachings were distorted by his successors, Jikaku and Chishō, who incorporated True Word teachings into the Tendai school. In addition, he asserts that the Pure Land and Zen schools have turned the people away from the Lotus Sutra. As a result of these errors, the three calamities and seven disasters have occurred.

The Daishonin explains that he submitted his work On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land to Hōjō Tokiyori, the retired regent and de facto leader of the shogunate, to identify the basic cause for these calamities. Not only was his advice unheeded, however, but he was subjected to various persecutions. Finally, without carrying out a full investigation, the shogunate exiled him to Sado Island. Because the internal strife he had predicted took place, he was pardoned from exile and summoned to an interview with Hei no Saemon, a powerful official of the shogunate. Hei no Saemon asked him when the Mongols would attack Japan, referring to another of the Daishonin’s prophecies. The Daishonin replied that it would occur within the year and warned Hei no Saemon that mistaken Buddhist teachings should not be relied on for prayers to protect the nation. When his admonitions went unheeded, he retired to Mount Minobu. Thus at this time the country appeared to be on the verge of ruin.

At the end of the letter, the voice returns to that of Inaba-bō Nichiei. He says that the Sage Nichiren regretted the turn events had taken, expressing great pity for the people. He says he himself has written down here only a part of the lecture, and urges Shimoyama to take faith in the sage’s teachings. He expresses his conviction that, in discarding the Nembutsu and embracing the Lotus Sutra, he had the happiness of his parents in mind, and is therefore exercising the highest form of filial piety.

 

Notes

37. The Dharma Analysis Treasury, Establishment of Truth, Three Treatises, Precepts, Dharma Characteristics, and Flower Garland schools.

38. Han-kuang said to Miao-lo, “When I was traveling in India together with the Tripitaka Master Pu-k’ung, a monk said to him, ‘In the land of China there are the teachings of T’ien-t’ai, which are most suitable in helping distinguish correct from incorrect doctrines and illuminating what is partial and what is perfect. Would it not be well to translate these writings and bring them here to this country?’” Then, Miao-lo exclaimed: “Does this not mean that Buddhism has been lost in India, the country of its origin, and must now be sought in the surrounding regions? But even in China there are few people who recognize the greatness of T’ien-t’ai’s teachings.”

39. “The ten ways of observing the mind” refers to the ten meditations set forth in Great Concentration and Insight as a way to observe the true nature of life. For ten meditations, see Glossary.

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