Letter to Niike.pdf

Letter to Niike

(Written from Mt. Minobu by Nichiren Shonin at the age of 58)

It’s such a joy for us to have been born into the age of propagation of Mappo. How sorrowful it is,

however, that some people cannot believe in this Sutra even though they were also born at this

time.

No one can escape the law of Impermanance once he is born into this world of human beings.

So why do you not practice in preparation for the next life? Observing the people of this world,

although they may verbally profess faith in the Lotus Sutra and even hold a roll of the Sutra itself

within their own hands, in just an instant their hearts can turn their back on the Sutra and then fall

into the Evil Paths. To give you an example, a person has five major internal organs. However,

should just one of them become diseased, it could affect the other organs resulting in the

eventual loss of one’s life. In regards to this, the Great Master of the Dharma Dengyo once

stated, “Even though one may praise the Lotus Sutra, he can on the other hand destroy the heart

of the Sutra.” The essential meaning of this phrase signifies that even though one may embrace,

read and praise the Lotus Sutra, if he turns his back on the heart of the Sutra, he then instead

kills Sakyamuni Buddha and all the other Buddhas of the Ten Directions.

Our misdeeds and evil karma may be as great as Mount Sumeru, but once we take faith in this

Sutra, all evil karma will vanish like frost or dew under the rays of the sun of the Lotus Sutra.

However, if one commits even one or two of the fourteen slanders set forth in this Sutra, then it

will become very difficult to expiate any of our evil karma. Killing a Buddha would be a far greater

offense than destroying all living beings throughout the entire universe, and to violate the Sutra's

heart and intent is to commit the sin of destroying the lives of all the Buddhas of the Ten

Directions. Anyone who hears this Sutra, but then turns his back on its spirit, is a slanderer.

Hell is a terrifying dwelling of fire and Hunger is a pitiful state of starvation where people can

devour even their own children. Anger is strife, and Animality is to kill or be killed. The “Crimson

Lotus Hell” is so called because the intense cold of this hell makes one double over until his back

splits open and bloody red flesh emerges like a crimson lotus flower. There also exist the hell of

“The Great Crimson Lotus” and other evil places even more horrifying. Once a person falls into

such an evil state, even a King’s throne or the title of General means nothing. Such a person

becomes no different than the appearance of a monkey on a string, tormented by the guards of

hell. What use then are his fame and fortune? And how can he still remain arrogant, biased or

obstinant?

You should stop and think about this! How rare is a faith that moves a person to make a single

offering to a priest who knows the Lotus Sutra! Such a person will never stray into evil ways. Still

greater yet are the merits received from ten or twenty offerings, or from five years, ten years, or a

lifetime of making offerings. They go beyond even the measure of the Buddha's wisdom. The

Buddha taught that the blessings of a single offering to the votary of this Sutra are a hundred

thousand myriad times greater than those of offering boundless treasures to Sakyamuni Buddha

for more than eight billion aeons. When you embrace this Sutra, you will be overcome with

happiness and shed tears of joy, making you feel it is impossible to repay our profound debt of

gratitude to Sakyamuni Buddha. However, due to your frequent offerings to me deep within

these mountains you will come to know and understand, as well as repay the merciful kindness

of the Lotus Sutra and Sakyamuni Buddha. Strive ever harder in your faith and practice, and

never give in to negligence.

Everyone appears to believe sincerely when they first embrace the Lotus Sutra, but as time

passes, they tend to become less devout, no longer revere nor respect the priest, cease to make

offerings and being proud of themselves, arrogantly form distorted and evil views. This is

frightening, really terrifying. Be diligent in developing your faith until the very last moment of your

life. Otherwise you will indeed have regrets. For example, the journey from Kamakura to Kyoto

takes twelve days. If you travel for only eleven days and then stop, not continuing your journey

on the last day, how can you then admire the moon over the capital? No matter what, be close to

the priest who knows the heart of the Lotus Sutra, keep learning the principles of the Dharma

from him and continue on your journey of faith.

How quickly the days go by. It makes us realize how short life really is. Friends can enjoy flowers

together on spring mornings but then they are gone, carried away just like the blossoms by the

winds of impermanence, leaving nothing behind but their names. Although the blossoms have

scattered, trees will bloom again during the coming Spring. But when will those people come

back into this world? The people with whom we composed poems praising the moon on autumn

evenings have vanished together with the moon behind passing clouds. Only a shadow of their

image remain. The moon has set behind the western mountains, yet we shall once again

compose poetry under it next autumn. But where are our companions who have passed away?

Even though we hear the roar of the approaching Tiger of Impermanence, we are not surprised.

How many more days are left before the sheep walk down the path of impermanence?

In the Snow Mountains lives a bird called Kankucho. Suffering from the extreme cold, it cries at

night that it will build a nest the following morning. Yet, when the sun rises, it sleeps away the

hours in the warm light of the morning sun forgeting to build its nest. So it continues to cry vainly

throughout its life. The same is true of all living beings. When they fall into hell and suffocate in its

flames, they wish to be reborn as humans and vow to put everything else aside, making offerings

to the Three Treasures in order to attain enlightenment in their next life. However, when they are

reborn as human beings, the winds of fame and fortune blow violently and the lamp of Buddhist

practice is easily extinguished. They squander their wealth without a qualm on meaningless

trifles but hesitate to make even the slightest offering to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. This

is very serious, because they are being called by messengers from hell. This is what is meant by

"Good by the inch invites evil by the yard."

Furthermore, since this is a land where people slander the Dharma, the gods who should protect

them, being starved for nourishment by the Dharma, ascend to heaven, forsaking their shrines.

The empty shrines are then occupied by evil demons who misguide numerous people. The

Buddha ceases his teaching and returns to the land of tranquil light. Halls, pagodas, temples and

shrines are abandoned and become the dwellings of demons. These imposing structures stand

in rows, built at state expense, but still the people suffer. These are not my own words, but the

words of the Sutras that should be learned.

Not a single Buddha nor any of the gods would ever accept offerings from those who slander the

Dharma. Then how can we human beings accept them? The great deity of Kasuga Shrine

proclaimed that even if he were forced to eat flames of burning copper, he would never accept

anything from those with impure hearts and that he would refuse to set foot in their homes, even

though he would be forced to sit on red-hot copper. He further declared he would rather go to a

hut whose pathway is choked with weeds, or to a poor thatched cottage. He stated that he would

never visit the non-believers even if they displayed sacred decorations for a thousand days to

welcome him, but he would instead visit the homes of the faithful, no matter how poor they might

be. Accordingly, the benevolent gods abandoned this land and ascended back into the heavens,

complaining that this had become a country that slanders the Dharma.

"Those with impure hearts" means those who refuse to embrace the Lotus Sutra, as can be seen

in the fifth volume of the Lotus Sutra. If the gods regard offerings to slander of the Dharma as

"flames of burning copper," how can we common mortals possibly consume them? If someone

were to kill our parents and then try to offer us some gift, could we possibly accept it? Not even

sages or saints can avoid the hell of incessant suffering [if they accept slander 1 ]. Stay far away

from slander, otherwise you will accumulate the same evil karma within your own life. This is

trully terrifying and you should fear it above all.

Sakyamuni Buddha, the World Honoured One, is the Father, Sovereign and Teacher of all

Buddhas, of all gods, of the great assembly of human and heavenly beings, and of all living

beings. Which heavenly or benevolent god could rejoice if Sakyamuni Buddha were to be killed?

All the people in our country today have become enemies of Sakyamuni Buddha. More than the

lay men or women, it is the priests with hearts filled with distorted views who are the Buddha's

worst enemies. Within the realm of wisdom, there are two kinds of knowlege: both correct and

distorted. You should not comply with distorted principles. No matter how noble or high ranking a

priest may appear, if his ideas are distorted you should not depend on him. But if a person has

the wisdom to know the spirit of the Lotus Sutra, no matter how lowly he may appear, venerate

and make offerings to him as a living Buddha. This is stated in the Sutra. That is why the Great

Master of the Dharma Dengyo stated that the lay men and women who believe in this Sutra,

even if they lack knowledge or violate the precepts, should be seated above Hinayana priests

who strictly observe all 250 precepts. The priests of this Mahayana Sutra should therefore be

seated even higher.

Ryokan-bo of Gokuraku-ji temple is revered in this life to be a living Buddha, but men and women

who believe in the Lotus Sutra should be seated high above him. It seems extraordinary that this

Ryokan, who observes the 250 commandments, should become angry whenever he sees or

hears about Nichiren. The sage appears to have been possessed by demons. For example, his

basic character is similar to an even tempered person who though, when drunk reveals an evil

side and causes trouble. The Buddha taught that making offerings to the pre-Lotus Sutra

1 Translator’s note: In the original text the quotation is not present and has only been added for clarity’s sake. In some

versions of this translation the bracketed portion has also been interpreted as “receiving offerings (or contributions) from

slanderers”, but in actuality these quotes do not appear in the original text. Since the overall text, does however, make

the transition from “offerings by slanders” to merely “slander”, I have added the above quote in brackets, even though the

sentence in and of itself may stand alone without any further interpreted bracketed additions.

Mahakashyapa, Shariputra, Maudgalyayana and Subhuti would lead one to fall into the three evil

paths. He also said that these four great disciples were lower than wild dogs. Eventhough they

strictly upheld the 250 precepts and their observance of the three thousand standards were as

perfect as the harvest moon, until they embraced the Lotus Sutra they were still like wild dogs to

the Buddha. In his comparison, the people of today are so base that they are beyond description.

The priests of Kencho-ji and Engaku-ji readily break the cerimonial observance codes together

with the phrases of the precepts to such an extent that today, these temples have come to

resemble a great mountain which has collapsed into rubble. Their dissipating behaviour

resembles that of monkeys. It is useless then to look for salvation in the next life by making

offerings to such types of priests. Undoubtedly, the protective benevolent gods have abandoned

our country. Long ago, all the heavenly and benevolent gods, Bodhisattvas, and men who had

personally heard the Buddha’s teachings, pledged together in front of Sakyamuni Buddha, the

World Honoured One, that if a country becomes an enemy of the Lotus Sutra, then frost and hail

will come about in the month of June to drive that nation into famine, pestilence will destroy the

crops of the five grains 2 ; droughts will occur, floods will ruin fields and farms; typhoons will sweep

people to their deaths; and evil demons will appear to cause great suffering amongst the people.

Today’s Great Bodhisattva Hachiman was also seated amongst those present. Does he not fear

breaking the vow he made [to the Buddha] upon Sacred Vulture’s Peak? 3 Should he break his

promise, he would without a doubt fall into the hell of incessant suffering. Such a terrible and

fearful thing to contemplate. Until the envoy of the Buddha actually appeared in this world to

Five grains: Five very important food items composed of grain and legumes, that were a vital food staple making up

the basic diet of the Japanese people of the time. These five elements were: rice, barley, kibi-millet, awa-millet, and soy.

Other accounts refer to them as being: rice, hemp, millet, barley and soy.

Sacred Vulture’s Peak (Gridhrakuta in sanskrit, Ryojusen in Japanese, also known as Eagle’s Peak) is repeatedly

mentioned throughout Nichiren Shonin’s writings. It is located in northern India and one of the most famous places

connected with the life of the Buddha. It is therefore also considered a highly sacred mountain, being that it was also the

placed where the Buddha preached some of his most important teachings. Vulture’s Peak, according to the Mahayana

tradition, is also the place where the 16 years after his enlightenment, the Buddha turned the wheel of the Dharma for a

second time in front of numerous Bodhisattvas, monks, nuns, lay believers. Over a span of twelve years, the Buddha’s

most important teachings were presented, taught and transmitted to the disciples of the Buddha and included the series

of teachings called the Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita Sutra), the Surungama Samadhi Sutra, and

the Saddharma Pundarika Sura (the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Marvelous Dharma).

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