During my 100 Days of Study reading the writings Nichiren, I opted to gather in one document examples of Nichiren’s reasoning in advocating violence against his opponents. The page numbers have been updated to conform to the Second  Edition of the Writings of Nichiren Shōnin.

I denounced the nembutsu, which people in Japan respect more than their parents and admire more highly than the sun and moon, as an act that causes people to fall into hell. I criticized Zen as the work of heavenly demons, and Shingon as an evil teaching destroying our country. I insisted Nembutsu, Zen and Ritsu temples be burned down and the nembutsu followers be beheaded. I even asserted that both the late Lay Priests Lord Saimyōji Tokiyori and Lord Gokurakuaji Shigetoki had fallen into the Avīci Hell. This was the extent of my offense. Since I forwarded such serious allegations to all the people, high and low, I won’t be pardoned from this exile even if they turn out not to be true. Moreover not only did I continue to voice these charges day and night, I also preached them in front of Hei no Saemonnojō and hundreds of officers on the tenth day of the ninth month in the eighth year of Bun’ei (1271), strongly declaring that I will never stop repeating them no matter what the punishment.

Kōnichi-bō Gosho, A Letter to Nun Kōnichi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Page 50

I knew when I began this 100-day journey that I would reach this point. Years ago I read Nichiren’s letters, first as translated by Nichiren Shoshu and later as translated by Soka Gakkai. Before I started this new study, I had already read the first volume of the Nichiren Shu translation of Nichiren’s writings.

I insisted Nembutsu, Zen and Ritsu temples be burned down and the nembutsu followers be beheaded.

Is there a historical context, a Japanese context, anything that would justify advocating the death and destruction of all who disagree with Nichiren? This is a question I’ve long puzzled over, wondering how to place this in a modern context.

Centuries of turmoil roiled Japan as people faithful to Nichiren’s words battled those who disagreed. The History of Japanese Buddhism includes this:

The last and bitterest of the combats was fought in Miyako in 1536, when the soldier-monks of Hiei in alliance with the Ikkō fanatics attacked the Nichirenites and burnt down twenty-one of their great temples in the capital and drove them out of the city. Shouts of “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,” the slogan of the Nichirenites, vied with “Namu Amida Butsu,” the prayer of the Ikkō men; many died on either side, each believing that the fight was fought for the glory of Buddha and that death secured his birth in paradise.

In November last year at the Komatsubara Persecution Service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church, Ven. Kenjo Igarashi offered this lesson (paraphrased by me based on a recording of the lecture):

Nichiren Shonin used “strong words” in establishing the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra and Sakyamuni Buddha because he was trying to save the suffering people of Japan. But those strong words provoked many people to attack Nichiren Shonin.

Today we don’t use shakubuku to break people’s ideas and then teach them the correct view. Now we teach using shoju to lead and convince them respectfully, accepting and understanding their viewpoints and situations.

In Nichiren’s time, however, the calamities and unhappiness were seen as the consequence of failing to embrace the Lotus Sutra and Sakyamuni. Strong words were necessary to break the wrong views and to enable the embracing of the supreme teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Only then would the protective deities return to Japan and make peace for the people.

As I continue through Nichiren Shu’s seven volumes of Nichiren’s writings, I’ll come across more “strong words.” It will jar my modern sensibilities but not temper in any way my faith in the teaching of the Eternal Śākyamuni in the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

I believe just as Rev. Igarashi said in his lecture:

If everyone follows Nichiren Shonin, then Sakyamuni Buddha and the deities are going to protect us all the time. Then we will be happy. Then we will have world peace.

Day 87 of 100

These quotes come from Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1

Part 2: Scriptural Statements to Show Why Slanderers of the True Dharma Must be Dealt With

Here, I would like to present passages in sūtras stating that slanderers in the royal domain should be dealt with. It is stated in the Nirvana Sūtra, fascicle 3: “The Buddha asked, ‘The king and ministers of a state and four categories of Buddhists (monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen) should severely deal with those who are idle in practicing Buddhism, break Buddhist precepts, and slander the True Dharma.

“Gentlemen, do you think this king and others who punish such people are committing a sin?’ ‘No, World Honored One, we do not think so,’ answered Kāśyapa and others. The Buddha stated, ‘Gentlemen, such a king and the four categories of Buddhists are innocent of any sin.’ ”

The sūtra also states in fascicle 12: “In a past life I had once been born to this Sahā World as King Sen’yo of a great state. I cherished and revered Mahayana sūtras, having a pure and virtuous mind without a bad temper and jealousy. … Gentlemen, as I firmly believed in Mahayana, as soon as I heard Brahmans slander Mahayana sūtras, I killed them. Gentlemen, because of this merit of protecting the True Dharma, I have never again fallen into hell.”

… [In the Nirvana Sutra] the Buddha warned His disciples, “Those who do not reprimand slanderers of the True Dharma are not His disciples.” Thus it is stated in the Nirvana Sutra, fascicle 3: “Suppose after My extinction there will be a monk who strictly observes Buddhist precepts, acts with dignity, and believes in the True Dharma. Upon seeing those who destroy the True Dharma, he should at once chase, chastise and punish them. Then he will gain immeasurable happiness.” The sūtra says also, “Suppose there is a virtuous monk who, upon seeing slanderers of the True Dharma, leaves them alone without reprimanding, chasing, and punishing them, you should know that he is an enemy of Buddhism. If he chases, reprimands, and punishes them, he is My disciple and a true śrāvaka.”

Hoping to be counted a disciple of the Buddha, I wrote this book to define the sin of slandering the True Dharma and propagate it among the people. May Buddhas in all the worlds in the universe help me disseminate this book and stop the worst dharma spreading further in order to save all people from the sin of slandering the True Dharma!

Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Pages 47-48

These quotes come from Risshō Ankoku-ron, Treatise on Spreading Peace Throughout the Country by Establishing the True Dharma

In the text below, words inside square brackets [] are found only in the “expanded edition” of Risshō Ankoku-ron. Words inside curly brackets {} are inserted for clarity. Words in parentheses () were inserted by translators.

The {Nirvana} sūtra also states that when the Buddha was a king practicing the bodhisattva way once in His previous life, He killed many Brahmans. The same sūtra explains the killing:

There are three categories in killing: the lower, the intermediate, and the upper. The lower category means killing all beasts beginning with an ant, except those into which bodhisattvas transformed themselves in order to save others. For committing a killing of the lower category one will fall into hell, the realm of hungry spirits, or that of beasts and birds, where he will undergo all the sufferings of the lower category. Why is it? Because each beast possesses the Buddha-nature, though it may be little, those who kill such a beast will receive full punishment for this offense.

The intermediate category means murdering people, including ordinary people, as well as those sagacious people, who have reached the stage of not being reborn in the world of transmigration. Those who commit this sin will fall into hell, the realm of hungry spirits or that of beasts and birds to bear all the sufferings of the intermediate category.

The upper category of killing means to kill one’s parents, arhats, pratyekabuddha, or bodhisattvas who have reached the stage of no regression. He who commits this sin will fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. Good man! Killing a man of icchantika, however, is not included in these three categories. Good man! Those Brahmans who slander the True Dharma are all without exception men of icchantika; murdering them does not constitute a sin.

The Buddha addressed King Prasenajit in the Sūtra of the Benevolent King: “Therefore, I will transmit this sūtra to kings, not to monks or nuns, who are not as powerful as kings.”

The Nirvana Sūtra restates this: “Now I will transmit this supreme True Dharma to kings, ministers, prime ministers, and the four categories of Buddhists (monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen). Ministers and the four categories of Buddhists should chastise those who slander the True Dharma.”

The Buddha preached to Kāśyapa Bodhisattva in the same sūtra: “Kāśyapa! Because of the karma from upholding the True Dharma in My previous lives, I was able to attain Buddhahood with My body as indestructible as a diamond. Good man! Those who wish to uphold the True Dharma should arm themselves with swords, bows and arrows, and halberds, instead of observing the five precepts (against killing, stealing, adultery, lying, and drinking alcohol), and keeping propriety.”

It also states: “Those who keep the five precepts are not necessarily practicers of Mahayana Buddhism. Even those who do not observe the five precepts can be called the men of Mahayana if they protect the True Dharma. Protectors of the True Dharma should arm themselves with swords and sticks. Even if they carry swords and sticks, they should be called the keepers of the precepts.”

The Buddha then related to Kāśyapa in the same sūtra the merit of His having defended the True Dharma in His previous lives:

Good man! Once in the past a Buddha named the Buddha of Joy lived in the City of Kuśinagara. The True Dharma of this Buddha lasted for countless hundreds of millions of years after His death. During the last forty years of this period, a monk called Virtue Consciousness appeared, and he strictly observed the precepts. As it was toward the end of the Age of the True Dharma, there were many monks who violated the precepts. Upon hearing Monk Virtue Consciousness preach the True Dharma, these evil monks hated and persecuted him with swords and sticks.

The king, named Virtuous, heard about this. In order to protect the dharma he hurried to this preacher and battled to the utmost of his power against those evil monks who did not keep the precepts. The preacher, Virtue Consciousness, was rescued unharmed but the king was wounded by swords and halberds so not any part of his body, even the size of a poppy seed, was left unharmed. Virtue Consciousness praised the king saying, “Excellent! Excellent! Now you, King Virtuous, are truly the protector of the True Dharma. You will be able to become a preacher of immeasurable strength.”

Hearing this, the king felt great joy in his heart and passed away. He was reborn in the land of Immovable Buddha to be the first disciple of this Buddha. Those of the king’s generals, soldiers, people, and clansmen who followed him in the battlefields or felt happy at seeing the king fight for the True Dharma all aspired for Buddhahood without ever falling back. When they died, they all were reborn in the land of Immovable Buddha. When Monk Virtue Consciousness died, he, too, was reborn in the land of Immovable Buddha, becoming the second disciple of this Buddha among all those who heard Him preach.

When the True Dharma is about to disappear, this is the way one should uphold and defend it. Listen, Kāśyapa! King Virtuous then was I, Śākyamuni Buddha, today; and Preacher Virtue Consciousness was Kāśyapa Buddha. Kāśyapa! Those who defend the True Dharma will gain such an immeasurable reward as this. Due to this karma of Mine in the past, I was able to attain various physical characteristics and attain Buddhahood with the indestructible Dharma Body.

The Buddha continued to instruct Kāśyapa Bodhisattva. Therefore, those laymen who wish to defend the True Dharma should arm themselves with swords and sticks in order to defend it just as King Virtuous did. Good man! In the decadent world after My (Śākyamuni’s) death, countries will be in chaos, plundering one another, and the people will be at the brink of starvation. Faced with starvation, many will aspire to enter the priesthood. Such people should be called “shaven-heads”, monks in form only. These “shaven-heads”, will chase out, harm, or even kill those who defend the True Dharma. Therefore, I now allow monks who keep precepts to ally with lay people who arm themselves with swords and sticks for the purpose of defending the True Dharma. Although these people may hold swords and sticks, it is for the purpose of defending the True Dharma. Therefore, I call them keepers of the precepts. Although they may hold weapons for the defense of the True Dharma, they may not kill people at random.

The third chapter, “A Parable,” of the Lotus Sūtra points out the graveness of the sin of slandering the True Dharma: “He who does not put faith in this sūtra and slanders it will destroy the seed of Buddhahood of all the people in the world. [ Also, he who slights, hates, envies, and bears a grudge against those who read, recite, copy and uphold this sūtra . . . will fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering upon death.”

The meaning of the above citations is quite clear. Yet, how they need my words of explanation! According to the Lotus Sūtra, slandering the Mahayana sūtras is more sinful than committing the five rebellious sins, such as killing one’s own parents, countless times. Therefore, such sinners will fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering, from which they will never be able to escape.

According to the Nirvana Sūtra, even if offerings to offenders of the five rebellious sins are permitted, it is not permitted to give offerings to slanderers of the True Dharma. One who kills an ant will fall into the three evil realms (hell, the realm of hungry spirits, and that of beasts and birds) without fail, but one who eliminates a slanderer of the True Dharma will reach the stage of non-regression, and eventually will attain Buddhahood. Monk Virtue Consciousness, who preached the True Dharma in the past despite persecution by slanderers of the True Dharma, became the Kāśyapa Buddha, and King Virtuous, who killed slanders to defend the True Dharma, was reborn in this world as Śākyamuni Buddha. …

VIII. OUTLAWING THE SLANDERERS

THE TRAVELER THEN ASKED THE MASTER: In order to eliminate the slanderers of the True Dharma in compliance with commandments of the Buddha, is it necessary to put them to death as preached in the Nirvana Sutra? If so, killing will beget killing. What should we do about sinful karma then? …

THE MASTER STATED IN RESPONSE: You, my guest, have seen clear statements in the Nirvana Sūtra outlawing slanderers of the True Dharma. Yet you ask me such a question. Is it because you don’t understand them, or is it because you don’t know the reason for them? What the Nirvana Sūtra means is not that we should outlaw disciples of the Buddha at all but that we should solely chastise slanderers of the True Dharma.

[The scriptural statements you cited above concerns monks with right views who may or may not observe precepts, and who have not received them, while what I am urging to eliminate are those with evil views who may or may not keep precepts and who have not received them.]

Speaking of the previous lives of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Nirvana Sūtra states that the Buddha, appearing as King Sen’yo and King Virtuous, killed slanderers of the True Dharma. However, the present Śākyamuni Buddha preaches not to give offerings to such slanderers. [Nevertheless, this is a special method applicable only to certain occasions. King Śīlāditya of ancient India was a sage who protected Buddhism. Punishing only the ringleader, the king spared the lives of all other members who rebelled against him, banishing them from his kingdom. Emperor Hsüan-tsung of T’ang China was a wise ruler who protected Buddhism. He executed 12 Taoist masters, eliminating enmies of the Buddha and restoring Buddhism.

These examples in India and China are of non-Buddhists and Taoist masters trying to destroy Buddhism. Their sins were comparatively light. On the contrary today in Japan, a disciple of the Buddha is about to destroy Buddhism. His sin is extremely grave; he must be strictly punished without delay.] Therefore, if all the countries in the world and the four kinds of Buddhists (monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen) all stop giving offerings to the evil priests who slander the True Dharma, putting all their faith instead in the defenders of the True Dharma, how can anymore calamities arise or disasters confront us?

Risshō Ankoku-ron, Treatise on Spreading Peace Throughout the Country by Establishing the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Pages 119-125

While this suggests that in 1260, when submitting the Risshō Ankoku-ron, Nichiren only wanted to deprive opponents of the Lotus Sūtra of financial support, the “Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple” suggests that by 1271 he was advocating beheading opponent priests.

It is said in a non-Buddhist writing that those who can predict things before they actually take place can be called sages. In Buddhism, those who see life in the past, present, and future are called sages. I made three outstanding predictions. First on the 16th of the seventh month in the first year of Bunnō (1260), upon presenting my “Risshō ankoku-ron (Treatise on Spreading Peace Throughout the Country by Establishing the True Dharma)” to the former Shogunal Regent, Hōjō Tokiyori, I told Lay Priest Yadoya, an entourage of Tokiyori: “Please tell the former Regent to probibit the Zen and Pure Land Schools. Otherwise fighting will break out within the Hōjō Clan and Japan will be attacked by foreign powers. ”

In the second place, at about 4p.m. on the 12th of the ninth month in the eighth year of Bun’ei (1271) I declared to Hei no Saemonnojō when he came to arrest me at Matsubagayatsu:

I, Nichiren, am the chief support of Japan. When you kill me, you will cut the pillar of Japan. Before long, there will be a civil war, in which the Japanese people fight among themselves, and foreign invasion, in which many people in Japan will not only be killed but also captured by foreign invaders. Unless all the temples of the Pure Land and Zen Schools such as Kenchōji, Jufukuji, Gokurakuji, Great Buddha, and Chōrakuji are burned down and their priests all beheaded at Yuigahama Beach, Japan will be bound to be destroyed.

Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1,
Page 220

While it is difficult from a modern standpoint to imagine justification for vowing to behead opponents, the context at the time was framed in a historical record of such acts by governments. These examples of Nichiren’s historical view come from Gōnin-jō Go-henji, Response to Gōnin’s Letter:

King Puṣyamitra of India burned down as many as 84,000 Buddhist temples and towers, beheaded countless number of Buddhist priests while Emperor Wu-tsung of T’ang China destroyed more than 4,600 Buddhist temples and secularized priests and nuns in nine states. Though wrongdoers of magnitude, they nevertheless cannot compare to those slanderers of the True Dharma in Japan. Thus, gods in heaven glare at the country and deities on earth tremble with rage, causing strange phenomena in the sky and natural calamities on earth.

Gōnin-jō Go-henji, Response to Gōnin’s Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 230-231

There are two meanings of honesty: first, honesty in the worldly sense and in the second place, honesty in Buddhism. Speaking of honesty in the worldly sense, the Chinese character for king means running through the heaven, human world and earth. The three horizontal lines stand for heaven, human world and earth, which are run through by a vertical line. That is to say, the king is a person who treads the way of honesty throughout the heaven, human world and earth. The character king also stands for the color yellow. In ancient China, five colors stood for five directions, with the yellow color in the center. As the ruler in the center, the king is also called “yellow emperor.” The lord of the heaven, lord of the human world as well as that of the earth are all called the king. Ex-Emperor Gotoba, however, was the ruler in name only; he was a liar, wicked and dishonest. On the contrary, Shogunal Regent Hōjō Yoshitoki was a subject in name, but he was worthy of a great ruler without double-talk, in whom the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman vowed to reside.

Next, speaking of honesty in Buddhism, pre-Lotus sūtras and commentaries and interpretations of the seven schools of Buddhism in Japan based on those pre-Lotus sūtras are all dishonest, while the Lotus Sūtra and the teaching of the Tendai (T’ien-t’ai) School based on it are honest. The original substance of the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman is Śākyamuni Buddha, who preached the honest sūtras and manifested Himself in Japan as the honest Great Bodhisattva Hachiman. The eight petals of the lotus flower surrounding the central dais for Lord Preacher Śākyamuni Buddha are the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman. Śākyamuni Buddha, who was born on the eighth day of the fourth month, passed away on the fifteenth of the second month 80 years later. How can it not be that Lord Śākyamuni Buddha was reborn in Japan as the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman! To prove this, it is stated on the stone monument at the Shō Hachiman Shrine of Ōsumi Province, “Expounding the Lotus Sūtra on Mt. Sacred Eagle in the past, He now manifests Himself as a bodhisattva in the palace of the Shō Hachiman Shrine.” The Lotus Sūtra, chapter on “Expedients” states, “Now this triple world all belongs to Me, and all the people therein are all My children;” and chapter 16 on “The Life Span of the Buddha” declares, “I always preach and enlighten the people on Mt. Sacred Eagle in the Sahā World. ” Therefore, all sentient beings faraway in the entire universe are children of Śākyamuni Buddha, and the 4,900,094,828 people nearby in Japan are all children of the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman. All living beings in Japan today, nevertheless, worship the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, who is a manifested trace of Śākyamuni, and ignore Śākyamuni Buddha, the original substance of Hachiman. This is like worshipping a shadow and slighting the substance or speaking ill of somebody to his children. The original substance of the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman is Śākyamuni Buddha, who was born in India, justly discarded the provisional sūtras and expounded the lone true teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. His manifested trace was born in Japan and resides in the head of an honest person.

Kangyō Hachiman-shō, Remonstration with Bodhisattva Hachiman, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 249-250

For the past 28 years since the 28th of the fourth month in the fifth year of Kenchō (1253) till the 12th month in the third year of Kōan (1280), I have devoted myself to nothing but encouraging all the people in Japan to recite the daimoku, the five or seven-character title of the Lotus Sūtra. This is exactly like the compassion of a mother trying to breast feed her baby. Now is the time for us to expound the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra as predicted by the Buddha to be spread in the fifth 500-year period, the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration after His death. The days of Grand Masters T’ien-t’ai and Dengyō were still in the Age of the Semblance Dharma prior to the time for the propagation of the Lotus Sūtra. Nevertheless, as there were some people whose capacity to understand and believe the Lotus Sūtra was ripe, the sūtra was spread a little. How much more it should be spread today, the Latter Age of Degeneration!

Kangyō Hachiman-shō, Remonstration with Bodhisattva Hachiman, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 245

It is stated in [the Sūtra of Transmission of the Buddhist Teaching] that Nyagrodha became furious when his prayers were not answered. Ordinarily, those who get furious at the community deity will destroy themselves in this life and fall into evil realms in the next life. Nevertheless, Millionaire Nyagrodha was able to achieve his great wish of having a child as wise as Kāśyapa by getting very angry at the community deity and speaking ill of him. You should know that anger may be both good and evil. My remonstration with the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman today is anger for a good cause.

Kangyō Hachiman-shō, Remonstration with Bodhisattva Hachiman, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 245