On Reprimanding Hachiman Chapter11

The Buddhist priest Dōkyō, having gained favor with Empress Shōtoku, schemed to have himself made ruler of the nation. But when Kiyomaro went to pay his respects to Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, Hachiman spoke to him through a medium, saying: “Among the gods there are great ones and small ones, good ones and bad ones. . . . The opposing party is large in number while our party is few, the evil are strong and the just are weak. It is best to rely upon the power of the Buddha for protection and thus to insure that the imperial line is carried on in proper fashion.”²³

From this we may understand that Great Bodhisattva Hachiman has employed the power of the correct teaching in providing protection for the ruling house and its institutions. [But at the time of the Jōkyū Disturbance], the imperial court relied on the erroneous True Word teachings of the priests of Mount Hiei and Tō-ji in an attempt to defeat the Acting Administrator [Hōjō Yoshitoki] through their prayers. The acting administrator, however, proved to be the more powerful, and the Retired Emperor of Oki suffered defeat. This is what [the Lotus Sutra means] when it says, “The injury will rebound upon the originator.”²⁴

At present [the Buddha images of] the 11,037 temples and the deities of the 3,132 shrines of Japan are duly worshiped in order to insure the peace and safety of the nation. But the superintendents of these various temples and the Shinto priests of the various shrines are all in disagreement with the hearts of the Buddhas and deities that they are supposed to be worshiping. These various Buddhas and deities differ from one another in their bodily form, but all are alike in heart in being divine protectors of the Lotus Sutra. The temple superintendents and shrine custodians are in some cases True Word teachers, in some cases Nembutsu believers, in some cases Zen priests, in some cases priests of the Precepts school, but all are alike in being enemies of Hachiman and the other deities. Yet Hachiman lends his protection to those who slander the correct teaching and behave in an unfilial manner, while he allows those who uphold the correct teaching to be sent into exile or condemned to death. That is why he has been chastised by the other heavenly beings.