Chapter4(Emphasizing the Unity of Comrades in Faith)
Main Text
Probably you are well aware of it, but let me cite the Buddha’s prediction about what the latter age will be like. In essence he states: “It will be a muddied age in which even sages will find it difficult to live. They will be like stones in a great fire, which for a while seem to endure the heat but finally char and crumble into ashes. Worthy persons will advocate the five constant virtues, but they themselves will find it hard to practice them.” Thus the saying goes, “Do not remain in the seat of honor too long.”
Many people have plotted to undo you, but you have avoided their intrigues and emerged victorious. Should you lose your composure now and fall into their trap, you will be, as people say, like a boatman who rows his boat with all his might only to have it capsize just before he reaches the shore, or like a person who is served no hot water at the end of his meal.
While you are in your lord’s residence, if you stay in the room assigned to you, nothing will happen. But on your way to work at dawn or returning from it at dusk, your enemies are bound to be lying in wait for you. Also, be very careful in and around your house in case someone should be hiding beside the double doors, inside the family sanctuary, under the floor, or in the space above the ceiling. This time your foes will use even more cunning in their plots than before. In the end, no one will be more dependable in an emergency than the night watchmen of Egara4 in Kamakura. However disagreeable it may be to you, you should associate with them amicably.
Yoshitsune found it utterly impossible to defeat the Heike until he won Shigeyoshi over to his side and in that way vanquished the rival clan.5 The shogun [Minamoto no Yoritomo] sought to take revenge on Osada for his father’s death, but he would not behead the murderer until after he had conquered the Heike.6 It is even more vital for you to ally yourself with the four night watchmen. The dwellings they had earned by risking their lives were confiscated by their lord because of the Lotus Sutra, and more directly, because of Nichiren. Be considerate of those who believe in Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra, no matter what they may have done in the past. Moreover, if they frequent your house, your enemies will be afraid to attack you at night. It is not as if they were trying to avenge their father’s murder; certainly they do not want their plot to come out into the open. Against those who seek to avoid the eyes of others, there are no warriors as dependable as they are. Always maintain friendly relations with them. But since you are hot-tempered by nature, you might not take my advice. In that case, it will be beyond the power of my prayers to save you.
Notes
4. Egara is the name of a place in Kamakura where government buildings were located.
5. Shigeyoshi is Taguchi Shigeyoshi (n.d.), the head of a powerful family in Awa, a province on the island of Shikoku. Though he was a member of the Taira, or Heike, clan, he regularly passed information to Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159–1189), a younger half brother of Minamoto no Yoritomo, about the internal conditions of the Taira army and the weak points in their positions.
6. In 1159 Minamoto no Yoshitomo, the father of Yoritomo, led a battle against the Taira army and was defeated. Fleeing, he hid in the house of Osada Tadamune, a samurai in Owari Province in central Japan. Acting on the Taira’s orders, Osada led Yoshitomo into the bath where he killed him. When Yoritomo later raised an army to fight the Taira, Tadamune and his son sided with him, but were killed at Yoritomo’s command after the fall of the Taira.
Lecture
Prefacing his remarks with the words, “Though I have told you time and again about the need for prudence,” the Daishonin explains how corrupt the hearts of people in the Latter Day of the Law are. Within such a world, he gives Shijō Kingo—who is particularly hated by those around him—painstaking and meticulous guidance on how he ought to conduct himself.
Section 1
Gosho Passage
“It will be a muddied age in which even sages will find it difficult to live. They will be like stones in a great fire, which for a while seem to endure the heat but finally char and crumble into ashes. Worthy persons will advocate the five constant virtues, but they themselves will find it hard to practice them.“
Commentary
Using “sage” (seijin) and “wise person” (kenjin) as a pair is a traditional Chinese practice, and it appears frequently throughout the Gosho. In general terms, a “sage” refers to an individual whose speech and behavior naturally express a noble human ideal, serving as a model for future generations. A “wise person” refers to someone who inherits the ideals and teachings of such a sage and preaches them for the benefit of the people.
Therefore, while a “sage” is named as such when they express noble virtues in both mind and body, in both speech and conduct, a “wise person” may not necessarily align their speech with their actions. The Daishonin states this passage with this distinction in mind.
That is to say, a “sage” who ought to be noble in both speech and conduct can hardly exist in a world where people’s hearts are degraded and their lives are thoroughly corrupted. The phrase “for a time” (shibaraku wa) can also be read, in a sense, as “when one is a youth burning with ideals and full of passion.” While young, one holds up ideals and acts accordingly; however, as one grows older—reaching forty or fifty—their passion cools, their ideals vanish, and they come to act merely for their own survival, fame, and profit. They “burn up and crumble into ashes.”
On the other hand, in the case of a “wise person,” since it is enough merely to preach ideals in words, one can remain a “wise person” indefinitely in that sense. However, in a corrupt age, it is entirely impossible for one to act in accordance with one’s own words. People, too, realizing that such execution is impossible, will eventually cease to listen to those words as well.
Through this, what the Daishonin is teaching is that patience (nin) is vital in such a corrupt age. Even if one attempts to push through one’s convictions out of short-temperedness, it will only intensify and concentrate the evil attacks of society upon oneself, leading to one’s own collapse. While exercising patience to uphold righteousness might be perceived as cowardly, patience (nin) is essential precisely for maintaining righteousness, as indicated by “patience” (nin) being listed among the six paramitas and as taught in the phrase “wearing the armor of forbearance.”
Section 2
Gosho Passage
“Be considerate of those who believe in Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra, no matter what they may have done in the past.“
Commentary
Nichiren Daishonin is the True Buddha of the oneness of person and Law (ninpō ikka). Therefore, he presents his name “Nichiren” alongside the Great Law of the Lotus Sutra—namely, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. In the ten thousand years of the Latter Day of the Law—indeed, in any era since the time of kuon ganjo, anywhere in the cosmos—there is no one other than Nichiren Daishonin who can unequivocally declare that a person who stakes their life on and maintains firm faith in them alongside the Mystic Law is truly noble.
To be sure, human life is intrinsically dignified; thus, respecting anyone’s life and laying down one’s own life to protect life is the most noble act a human being can perform. However, no one other than the Buddha of the oneness of person and Law possesses the qualification to say this of themselves. If someone other than the Daishonin were to make such a claim and force it upon others, it would be the logic of a dictator, like Hitler. In this way, only a thorough humanism—holding that all human beings are equally noble and that no one’s life or human pride should be sacrificed for the sake of a single individual—can serve as the sole fundamental brake against falling into the danger of fascism.
Section 3
Gosho Passage
“But since you are hot-tempered by nature, you might not take my advice. In that case, it will be beyond the power of my prayers to save you.“
Commentary
The Daishonin’s compassion in caring for his beloved disciples is boundless, and the power of his prayers for their happiness is immense. However, unless the disciple receiving it truly believes in the Daishonin and practices in accordance with his teachings, neither the Daishonin’s compassion nor the power of his prayers will manifest. The Daishonin’s compassion corresponds to “Buddha power” (butsuryoki), and the power of his prayers corresponds to “Law power” (hōriki). The disciple’s power to believe in the Daishonin is “faith power” (shinriki), and the power to practice according to his teachings is “practice power” (gyōriki). Even Buddha power and Law power manifest in proportion to faith power and practice power. If faith power and practice power are boundless, boundless Buddha power and Law power will manifest.
Therefore, while the latent Buddha power and Law power are absolute, how much of them is manifested depends on faith power and practice power, making it relative. That the power of the Buddha and the power of the Buddhist Law are absolute must be understood with a clear awareness of this relationship. Without doing anything, Buddha power and Law power do not manifest or function on their own. That would be an “absence of the human element”—a characteristic of monotheistic religions that teach the arbitrary exercise of power by an omnipotent God. Buddhism, on the other hand, is a magnificent religion centered on human beings and rooted in human agency.