On Reprimanding Hachiman Chapter9

The fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra says, “If after the Buddha has passed into extinction one can understand the meaning of this sutra, one will be the eyes of the world for heavenly and human beings.”¹⁶ Nichiren, who propagates the daimoku, the heart and core of the Lotus Sutra, throughout the country of Japan—is he not the “eyes of the world for heavenly and human beings”?

There are five types of vision, the physical eye, the heavenly eye, the wisdom eye, the Dharma eye, and the Buddha eye. These eyes are a product and creation of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore the Universal Worthy Sutra says, “This correct and equal sutra is the eye of the Buddhas. It is through this sutra that the Buddhas are able to acquire the five types of vision.” Here “this correct and equal sutra” refers to the Lotus Sutra. And the same sutra says that the correct and equal sutra is the field of good fortune for human and heavenly beings and is highest among those worthy of alms.

As these various sutra passages make clear, the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law represents the eyes of human and heavenly beings, the eyes of persons of the two vehicles and of bodhisattvas, and the eyes of the various Buddhas. And one who acts maliciously toward the votary of the Lotus Sutra is in effect gouging out the eyes of human and heavenly beings. And any deity who protects such a person and fails to punish him is aiding and abetting those who gouge out the eyes of human and heavenly beings.

Kōbō, Jikaku, Chishō, and others have clearly stated in their writings that they believe the Lotus Sutra belongs to the region of darkness and not to the position of enlightenment,¹⁷ that when examined from a later stage, it is a piece of childish theory,¹⁸ that it could never serve as a palanquin bearer and is not fit even to be a sandal tender.¹⁹ And in the four hundred and more years since they wrote these statements, everyone in Japan, from the ruler on down to the common people, has spoken contemptuously of the Lotus Sutra and gouged out the eyes of all living beings, and Great Bodhisattva Hachiman has acted as their accomplice by protecting them, has he not?

Some years ago, in the Kōchō era, and again in the eighth year of the Bun’ei era [1271], on the twelfth day of the ninth month,²⁰ though I, Nichiren, was guilty of no error whatsoever, I was charged with the grave fault of propagating Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and at the command of the ruler was forcibly dragged into the presence of Great Bodhisattva Hachiman and subjected to the ridicule of slanderers of the Law from throughout the nation. Great Bodhisattva Hachiman is the one guilty of a “grave fault,” is he not?

Only once has he moved to punish offenders, and that was at the time when fellow clansmen were attacking one another.²¹ He has appeared in the past as a worthy ruler of the Japanese nation, and in addition is a deity of the highest or second highest order. Indeed, there is scarcely any deity superior to him. And one would hardly suppose him given to favoritism or partiality. And yet if we are to believe what is written in the Lotus Sutra and the other various sutras that make up the canon, this deity has in fact committed a grave fault.