Letter to Shimoyama（5th of 13th paragraph）
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The Great Teacher Dengyō said: “My opinion is this: It is stated in the Lotus Sutra that a bodhisattva is the treasure of the nation, and the Mahayana teachings tell us that the great vehicle of the Mahayana can benefit others. When the seven disasters attack the whole country, what but the Mahayana sutras can drive them away? And when great calamities occur in the future, who but the bodhisattva priests [of the Mahayana] can wipe them out?”89
But now when I examine the daily records of how the courtier and warrior families are attempting to overcome the forces of the great Mongol Empire through prayers and incantations, I see that they are performing ceremonies to the five honored ones,90 to the seven Buddhas beginning with Medicine Master,91 to the Honored One Buddha Eye, or to the Honored One One-Character Gold-Wheel.92 But how can these manifestations of a petty doctrine be expected to dispel a major calamity? Rather [as the Lotus Sutra says], they will “rebound upon the originator,”93 and this country of ours will be summarily destroyed.
There are other persons who carry out the Lotus Sutra fire ceremony at Hie Shrine.94 But this ceremony is based upon the mistaken teachings of the Tripitaka Master Pu-k’ung and therefore cannot function as a true prayer.
Again, many of the eminent priests of the present time follow the True Word teachings of Tō-ji temple or the True Word teachings of the Tendai school. But the Tō-ji doctrines originated with the Great Teacher Kōbō, while those of the Tendai school originated with Jikaku and Chishō. And, as I stated earlier, these three men are all great slanderers of the Law. And many of the priests other than the disciples of these three are men who received Hinayana precepts at the ordination platform of Tōdai-ji temple.
Furthermore, the ordination platform on Mount Hiei for administering the precepts of perfect and immediate enlightenment has been diverted from its original meaning by Jikaku’s slandering of the Law. And even in its original form it represented the precepts of perfect and immediate enlightenment of the theoretical teaching only, so it could hardly be effective in this latter age. In any event, such prayers as I have described cannot be expected to have any effect.
At this moment, our nation is on the brink of destruction. It is too late now to regret what one has done. How pitiful, how pitiful indeed!
What I have written above is only one small part of the teachings I heard from the Sage Nichiren.
Though I am a person of lowly birth and poor mental powers, these teachings of the Sage Nichiren seemed to me entirely reasonable. However, the rulers of the nation fail to make use of them, and therefore I am in doubt as to how they are viewed in Kamakura. Unworthy as my thoughts on the subject may be, I keep asking myself why, when this is a matter of such grave concern to the nation, the authorities do not investigate the facts, but have twice sent this man into exile. I cannot believe that people have a right to decide if his doctrines are correct or not when they have not taken the trouble to conduct a thorough examination of them.
As for myself, it is for your sake and the sake of my parents that I desist from reciting the Amida Sutra. If you should tell me that I absolutely must recite it, I will at that time address you again on the matter. But when I am ordered to do something not because the matter has been thoroughly investigated, but because certain persons are making arbitrary conjectures, then although I might obey in body, in my heart I could never comply.
Though I fear I speak too boldly, may I urge you once more to consider the matter. This priest Nichiren we are speaking about—there is no one else like him! If events should take a certain course, I fear you may later have cause for regret. Just because the people of our present age do not heed his teachings, it would be foolish for you to do likewise. If in the future the persons in authority decide to heed him, then who among all the rest will fail to do so? But at that late date, what use will it be for you to join them? You will merely be putting your faith in persons rather than in the Law.
People these days believe that children should at all times obey their parents, and that the same should hold for subjects with regard to their sovereign, or students with regard to their teacher. But this is a mere erroneous conjecture put forward by persons who do not understand the non-Buddhist texts or have no knowledge of the Buddhist scriptures. Among the non-Buddhist writings, The Classic of Filial Piety describes cases in which a son should remonstrate with his father, or a subject with his sovereign. And in the Buddhist scriptures the Buddha makes clear that by renouncing one’s obligations [to parent and ruler] and entering the Buddhist life one can truly repay those obligations in full.95
Prince Siddhārtha was the most filial son in all the continent of Jambudvīpa, yet only by disobeying the orders of his father, the king, was he able in the end to lead both his father and mother to enlightenment. And it was because Pi Kan reprimanded his father, King Chou of the Yin dynasty, though his breast was slashed open as a result, that later ages have honored him as a worthy man.
You may well look on me as a person of no importance, but if you fail to heed my advice, humble priest though I am, I fear you will regret it in both your present and future existences. It is for my parents’ sake that I have ceased my recitations of the Amida Sutra, so it is hardly likely that I could now comply with your wishes by resuming them.
With deep respect I offer these thoughts,
Priest Nichiei
The sixth month in the third year of Kenji [1277]
Reply to Shimoyama Hyōgo Gorō
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Notes
89. The Regulations for Students of the Mountain School.
90. Also known as the five great wisdom kings, Immovable, Conqueror of the Threefold World, Kundalī, Great Awesome Virtue, and Diamond Yaksha.
91. The seven Buddhas refer to the seven manifestations of the Thus Come One Medicine Master, said to reside in realms to the east of our world. In Japan they are represented either by seven independent images or, more frequently, by six or seven figurines attached to the halo of Medicine Master sculptures.
92. One of the Buddhas described in the esoteric teachings. One-Character Gold-Wheel is a deification of the crown of a Buddha’s head and also of a mantra expressed in one character. This Buddha is compared to a gold-wheel-turning king because the latter is foremost among the four types of wheel-turning kings.
94. This ceremony of worship is based on Pu-k’ung’s translation of The Rules of Rituals Based on the Lotus Sutra, which practitioners of esoteric teachings adopted.
95. Salvation by Men of Pure Faith Sutra. Though this sutra is no longer extant, this passage from it is quoted in The Forest of Gems in the Garden of the Law. “The Buddhist life” in the sutra’s context means a monastic life, but here the Daishonin interprets it as a life based on faith in the Law.