Letter to Shimoyama（7th of 12th paragraph）
—————————-～（ continued from the previous section)～————————
All persons such as these dwell in the mansion of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, and yet they ignore their teacher and sovereign. Instead they erect halls to Amida in the domain of the Thus Come One Shakyamuni, building them side by side in every province, in every village, in every household. There they practice and perform the Nembutsu ten thousand times, twenty thousand times, seventy thousand times, or devote their entire lifetime to it, and, strange as it may seem, completely forget the one who is their sovereign, teacher, and parent.
Moreover, they seize upon the two days that commemorate the birth and the passing of their father, Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, and declare the second of them, the fifteenth day [of the second month], to be the death date of Amida Buddha, and the first, the eighth day [of the fourth month], to be the birth day of Medicine Master Buddha. To appropriate these two days that mark the birth and death of a single Buddha and assign them as the birth and death dates of two different Buddhas dwelling in the east and the west respectively—does this not show a gross lack of filial piety? Is not any person who would do this guilty of betraying his teacher and committing the seven cardinal sins? Each person who does so is guilty of a grave error, and yet each such person thinks that he is blameless. Each one is an unashamed, unabashed person of incorrigible disbelief.
The second volume of the Lotus Sutra describes the three great functions of Shakyamuni Buddha, those of sovereign, parent, and teacher, which constitute the heart of the entire sutra. In that passage, the Buddha states: “Now this threefold world is all my domain, and the living beings in it are all my children. Now this place is beset by many pains and trials. I am the only person who can rescue and protect others.” And regarding those who act contrary to this sutra passage, the Buddha says, “But though I teach and instruct them, they do not believe or accept my teachings. . . . When such a person’s life comes to an end he will enter the Avīchi hell.”
———————————-～(to be continued to the next section)～———————-