Letter to Shimoyama（4th of 5th paragraph）

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I am like someone who throws cold water on molten iron, or who tweaks the leg of a sleeping lion.

Letter to Shimoyama（4th of 5th paragraph）

 

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Again it is stated in one of the sutras: “Those who give alms to you will fall into the three evil paths.”22 If even persons who made offerings to the arhats while the Buddha was in the world could not escape falling into the three evil paths, then how much worse will it be for those who make offerings to the deluded priests of the Hinayana Precepts teachings living in an age long after the Buddha’s passing! From this we know how serious is the offense of clinging to the Hinayana precepts. The precepts may be compared to donkey’s milk, which in the end turns to excrement. Their adherents may be compared to dogs that eat the excrement of persons of the Mahayana teaching. They are like apes or monkeys,23 broken tiles and shards.

If one fails to understand what is demanded by the time and the capacity of the people and instead observes the Hinayana precepts, this will act as an obstruction to the Mahayana teachings. And if one violates these Hinayana precepts, this too will invite evil consequences.

In addition, the followers of the Hinayana precepts at present appropriate the Mahayana precepts and combine them with their Hinayana precepts, which is like mixing cow’s milk with donkey’s milk, and in this way attempt to deceive the Mahayana followers. Persons who do this are great thieves, great slanderers of the Law. Considering the offense they are committing, even Devadatta does not measure up to them; even the Venerable Kokālika cannot compare to them, for they are the most evil persons in the whole continent of Jambudvīpa. So long as people follow their teachings, can there be any peace and safety for the nation?

I observe these things and understand them to my own satisfaction, which should be enough. But among those persons in Japan who are thought to be wise, there is not a single one who understands this, and the country is thus in grave danger of destruction. Moreover, one must respect the admonitions of the Buddha and exercise a measure of compassion for others, and therefore for the sake of the country I risk my body and life by speaking out on the matter. But the rulers of the nation are so deceived by these men that not one of them heeds my warnings. I am like someone who throws cold water on molten iron, or who tweaks the leg of a sleeping lion.

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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

22. Vimalakīrti Sutra.

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