On Treasure Chapter1
IHAVE received the one thousand coins, one sack of salt, one sack of taros, and some ginger that you took the trouble to have a messenger bring.
In the heat, water is considered a treasure; in the cold, fire is. In a famine, rice is considered a treasure; in a war, weapons are. At sea, ships are seen as treasure; in the mountains, horses are. In the regions of Musashi and Shimōsa, stone is regarded as a treasure. But here deep in the mountains, taros and salt from the sea are held to be treasures. Even though we have bamboo shoots and mushrooms, without salt they taste like dirt. And with regard to gold, both the ruler and the people consider it a treasure. It is similar to rice, which is the life of all living beings.
The same may also be said of coins. In China there is a mountain called Copper Mountain. Because coins come from that mountain, each coin makes the journey here across three thousand miles of sea. Everyone thinks of them as jewels. And you have presented these to the Lotus Sutra.
Background
Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter on the eighth day of the eighth month in 1279 at Minobu to Nanjō Tokimitsu. The Daishonin praises Tokimitsu for his offerings to the Lotus Sutra, saying that, deep in the mountains where he is, the items such as salt and taros that Tokimitsu has sent are regarded as valuable treasure. The coins Tokimitsu sent he compares to jewels. Since the Lotus Sutra can turn even plants and trees and persons of incorrigible disbelief into Buddhas, he says, there can be no doubt about the Buddhahood of a believer.