The Importance of the Moment of Death Chapter4

———————————-（contimued from Chapter3)————————————-

White face powder has the power to make black lacquer as white as snow. Any color approaching Mount Sumeru takes on a golden hue. One who upholds the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra transforms the black lacquer of the evil deeds of a lifetime, and of countless kalpas of lifetimes in the past, into the great merit of good deeds. All the more so is this true of one’s good roots from the beginningless past, which all take on a golden hue.

And when your deceased husband chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo at the end on his deathbed, the evil deeds of a lifetime, and from the beginningless past, changed into the seeds of Buddhahood. This is what is meant by the teachings called “earthly desires are enlightenment,” “the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana,” and “attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form.”

And because you are the beloved wife of such a man, the teaching of women attaining Buddhahood without doubt also applies to you. And if this were to be a lie, Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and all the Buddhas of the ten directions, who are Shakyamuni’s emanations, would be liars, great liars, evildoers, and those who deceive all living beings and cause them to fall into hell. Devadatta would become the lord of the pure land of Tranquil Light. Shakyamuni, the lord of teachings, would be choked in the inferno of the great citadel of the Avīchi hell. The sun and moon would fall from the sky, the earth would overturn, the rivers would run backwards, and Mount Sumeru would crumble into dust.

It would not be Nichiren’s lie; rather it would be the lie of all the Buddhas in the ten directions and three existences. But consider: How could such a thing ever be? I will explain this matter in detail when we meet.

Nichiren

The fourteenth day of the seventh month

Please read this to the lay nun Myōhō.