Letter to Shimoyama（3rd of 6th paragraph）

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From this it should have been obvious what a great offense these men were guilty of. But on the contrary their slanderous words were accepted by the authorities and the truth of the matter never came to light.

Letter to Shimoyama（3rd of 6th paragraph）

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From this it should have been obvious what a great offense these men were guilty of. But on the contrary their slanderous words were accepted by the authorities and the truth of the matter never came to light. It seemed that the time had come for the country of Japan to perish.

When conducting prayers for rain, if rain actually falls, the nature and aspect of the rain will indicate whether the person conducting the prayers is worthy or unworthy. There are various types of rain, such as heavenly rain, dragon rain, asura rain, coarse rain, sweet rain, and thunder rain.

In the present instance of prayers for rain, of course, no rain whatsoever fell. Moreover, for a period of fourteen days there was even more severe drought than there had been previously, and great evil winds blew without cease throughout the twenty-four hours of the day and night.

If the priest Two Fires had been a man of true sincerity, he should immediately have renounced his erroneous views and hidden himself away in the mountain forests. But far from doing that, he brazenly showed his face before his disciples and patrons, and went even further by spreading slanderous words and urging the government to see that my head was cut off, so that a letter to that effect was sent to the authorities in the province28 where I was exiled. He is a very evil man who would have me done away with. And yet his patrons in their ignorance continue to support him, thus bringing about the ruin of the nation in this existence and insuring that in a future existence they will fall into the hell of incessant suffering. How pitiful!

The Origin of the World Sutra29 says, “Because the various living beings commit wanton acts and do things that defile their purity of conduct, Heaven refuses to send down rain.” And it also says, “Because people go against the Law and are guilty of greed and stinginess, jealousy, erroneous views, and perverseness, Heaven sends down no rain.”

Again, Divergent Concepts in the Sutras and Vinaya Texts30 states, “There are five factors that will prevent rain from falling.” (I will omit the first three here.31) “The fourth is that the rain-maker is a person of lewd and disorderly conduct. The fifth is that the ruler of the nation fails to govern according to principle and the rainmaker is angry. Under these conditions no rain will fall.”

With these passages of scripture as our mirror, let us see what they show us about the true nature of the priest Two Fires. They reveal him very clearly for what he is. First, though by reputation he is an observer of the precepts, in fact he is wanton in conduct. Second, he is greedy and stingy. Third, he is jealous. Fourth, he holds erroneous views. Fifth, he is lewd and disorderly. All the five factors apply to him.

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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

28. This refers to Homma Rokurō Saemon, deputy constable of Sado Island. The Daishonin was exiled to Sado in his custody.

29. A ten-volume sutra translated by Jnānagupta, a monk of Gandhāra in northwestern India, who went to Ch’ang-an in China around the mid-sixth century.

30. An explanation of Buddhist concepts written by Seng-min in 516, which consists of fifty volumes.

31. The first is that, among the four elements (earth, water, fire, and wind) that compose all things, fire works strongly to burn away clouds; the second is that a gale blows away clouds; and the third is that the great asura king takes the floating clouds and places them over the ocean.

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