Many in Body, One in Mind

Background

This letter is generally thought to have been presented to the lay priest Takahashi, whose wife was an aunt of Nikkō. Hōki-bō, better known as Nikkō, led the propagation of Nichiren Daishonin’s teachings in Fuji District of Suruga. Takahashi was a leading figure among the lay believers there, and his residence was used as a headquarters when the persecutions of lay believers occurred in Atsuhara Village in the Fuji area.

This letter is dated the sixth day of the eighth month, but no year is given. It is believed, however, to have been written between 1275, when persecutions began in Atsuhara due to the increasing number of new believers there, and 1280, the year before the second Mongol invasion, when the Atsuhara persecutions were resolved.

This letter stresses the importance of unity in the face of the numerous evils arrayed against the Daishonin’s followers, and speaks of the imminence of a second Mongol invasion that may ultimately serve to excise slander against the correct teaching of Buddhism.