Letter to Shimoyama（5th of 8th paragraph）

Letter to Shimoyama（5th of 8th paragraph）

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We may note the following passage in one of the non-Buddhist scriptures: “If in a large state there are seven ministers who remonstrate, in a middle-sized state five such ministers, or in a small state three such ministers, and if they remonstrate and reason with the ruler, then although there may be errors in the conduct of government, the state will not be destroyed. Likewise if there is a son in the family who remonstrates with the head of the family, then the family will not fall into unrighteous ways.”43

The same is true in the world of Buddhism. Because at the time we are speaking of there were those who continued to debate over the relative worth and profundity of the Tendai and True Word teachings and the matter was not yet settled, although various minor troubles and disasters occurred, the nation was not abandoned by the blue heavens or rejected by the yellow earth, and what troubles occurred were confined within the borders of the nation.

But in the time of the Retired Emperor Goshirakawa, the seventy-seventh human sovereign, Myōun, the chief priest of Enryaku-ji temple on Mount Hiei, cast aside the Lotus Sutra and the other sutras that make up the three sutras for the protection of the nation,44 which the Great Teacher Dengyō had enshrined in Shikan-in hall,45 and instead paid honor to the Mahāvairochana Sutra and the other sutras that make up the three sutras of True Word, which the Great Teacher Jikaku had enshrined in Sōji-in hall.46 Thus Mount Hiei became a Tendai mountain in name only, and in fact was a True Word mountain, and the domain of the Lotus Sutra now became the property of the Mahāvairochana Sutra.

This was the presage to an era in which Tendai and True Word, the chief priest and the religious community as a whole, confronted each other as enemies; and in the country at large, the presage of an era when the ruler and his ministers wrangled with each other and the ruler was obliged to obey the will of his ministers. It presaged a time when the entire nation would be plunged into disorder and would be destroyed by another country. Thus Myōun suffered death at the hands of Minamoto no Yoshinaka,47 and the Retired Emperor Goshirakawa was forced to obey the orders of Taira no Kiyomori.48

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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

43. Source unknown.

44. The three sutras refer to the Lotus Sutra, the Golden Light Sutra, and the Benevolent Kings Sutra.

45. Also called Ichijō Shikan-in. Another name for Kompon Chūdō, the main temple building on Mount Hiei.

46. A great lecture hall west of Shikan-in in the Tōdō area on Mount Hiei. Jikaku founded Sōji-in in this area in 851 as a center for esoteric practice.

47. Yoshinaka (1154–1184), a general and a cousin of Yoritomo, the head of the Minamoto clan. He beheaded Myōun when he attacked Mount Hiei during the struggle between the Minamoto and the Taira clans.

48. In the Shishigatani Conspiracy of 1177, the Retired Emperor Goshirakawa and others attempted to dispose of Taira no Kiyomori, who, as grand minister of state, held military control of the capital. The plot was discovered, however, and the conspirators were arrested. The Retired Emperor Goshirakawa was confined to the Toba detached palace.

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