Chapter2(Demonstrating the Punishment of Those Who Obstruct the Correct Law)
Main Text
The heavenly devil knew about this from before, and he therefore possessed your colleagues, causing them to invent that preposterous lie3 in order to prevent you from making offerings to the Lotus Sutra. Since your faith is profound, however, the ten demon daughters must have come to your aid and caused your lord’s illness. He does not regard you as his enemy, but since he once acted against you by giving credit to the false accusations of your colleagues, he has become seriously ill, and the malady persists.
Ryūzō-bō, whom these people count on as their pillar of strength, has already been toppled, and those who spoke falsely of you have contracted the same disease as your lord. Because Ryōkan is guilty of a much graver offense, it is more than likely that he will meet with or cause a bad accident. Surely he will not escape unharmed.
Notes
3. “That preposterous lie” refers to the report that Shijō Kingo’s colleagues are said to have made to Lord Ema that, in order to embarrass the Tendai priest Ryūzō-bō, Kingo had attempted to forcibly disrupt the Kuwagayatsu Debate.
Lecture
The Daishonin implicitly indicates that Lord Ema Chikatoki’s falling ill once again was a penalty for being misled by the slanderous accusations of his retainers and persecuting Shijō Kingo, who was guiding him toward the correct path. Furthermore, he implies that the fact that those opposing the Correct Law are incurring punishment one after another serves as clear proof that Kingo’s victory is near.
Describing the colleagues who slandered Kingo as being “possessed by heavenly demons” (tenma tsuite) might sound like an antiquated superstition to modern sensibilities, but it embodies the profound wisdom and penetrating insight of Buddhism. First, from the standpoint of wisdom, it means that the root of evil does not lie inherently within the person’s life itself, but rather that an external influence has taken hold of them, causing them to commit the evil deed of persecuting the Correct Law. If the root of evil were intrinsic to a person’s life, it would inevitably provoke hostility and hatred toward that individual. This Buddhist perspective serves to soften and defuse relentless conflict and hatred between human beings.
Second, from the standpoint of penetrating insight, the principles governing human thought and behavior function precisely as expressed by this concept. That is, even if people harbored hatred toward faith in the Lotus Sutra, that hatred was not innate. It was likely instilled in them by priests of the Pure Land sect and the general social atmosphere shaped by them, gradually forming over time. This applies not only to hatred toward the Correct Law, but to all ideologies and views of life. Therefore, the root of evil does not reside in human life itself—for life is inherently neutral, capable of turning toward either good or evil—but rather in the thoughts and viewpoints disseminated and spread throughout society. The Daishonin utilizes the traditional terms “heavenly demons” (tenma) or “devils” (akuma) to express this phenomenon.
However, there are ringleaders who originally concocted such evil ideas, instilled them in people, and stained their lives. Such instigators, as expressed in the phrase “Ryōkan is guilty of an even heavier offense,” bear a far graver sin compared to the ordinary people who were merely influenced and manipulated. Conversely, looking at this from the perspective of the Correct Law, as opposed to merely accepting and following the correct Buddhist Law passively, a practitioner of “practice for oneself and others” (jigō kata)—who makes the Law their own and transmits it to others—can be called “a person of even greater good.”