In my hermitage on Mt. Minobu there are at least 40 persons and as many as 60. No matter how I refuse them, they come in saying that they are the siblings of someone who lives here, making it difficult to turn them down face to face. In my heart, I wish to recite the sutras in a quiet hermitage with only a young priest. This situation is almost unbearable. I am even thinking of running away somewhere in the coming year. There is nothing as annoying as this.

Hyōesakan-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ikegami Munenaga, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 102

One of the values of Nichiren’s writings is the opportunity imagine what life was like for him. This letter was written in 1278, four years after retiring to Minobu and four years before he died.

Although you two have a difference in status, if you [Munenaga] were greedy and crooked in mind and had not understood the reason behind everything, your elder brother’s disinheritance would never have been lifted. Your elder brother, Munenaka may become a Buddha due to his fervent belief in the Lotus Sūtra. However, your father would certainly go to hell for disinheriting his own son, who is a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. In this case you would lose your older brother and father and become like Devadatta. However, as you are born wise and without greed unlike those born in the Latter Age of Degeneration, three of the Ikegami family attained Buddhahood together, saving everyone on the father’s side as well as the mother’s side.

Hyōesakan-dono Gohenji, Answer to Lord Ikegami Munenaga, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 97

As you and your elder brother were born in the Latter Age of Degeneration in an outlying country and have faith in the Lotus Sūtra, I was sure that demons would possess the nation’s ruler or your parents and persecute you. But as I expected, despite your father disowning you repeatedly, you two brothers held onto your faith. Are you the reincarnation of Princes Pure Store and Pure Eyes, who led their father King Wonderful Adornment? Or is this through the discretion of Bodhisattva Medicine King and Bodhisattva Superior Practice [sic]? Your father’s disinheritance was revoked in the end and you were able to carry through with filial piety as before. Are you not filial sons in the truest sense of the word? I am sure the various heavenly beings are pleased, and the ten female rākṣasa demons, protectors of the Lotus Sūtra, accept your aspiration. Moreover, there is something heartfelt about you. When my doctrine spreads as widely as predicted in the Lotus Sūtra, I hope to share the joy with you.

Kōshi Gosho, A Letter to Filial Sons, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 103-104

The letters in the first half of Volume 6, the first of the Followers collections, were written to one or the other of the two Ikegami brothers, Munenaka and Munenaga, or their wives.

Munenaka, also called by Nichiren Emon no Tayūsakan, was a warrior who lived in the Ikegami District of Musashi Province (Tokyo today). His warrior father, Yasumitsu (Saemonnotayū), was a devoted follower of Ryōkan-bō Ninshō, whom Nichiren criticized harshly. Yasumitsu twice disowned Munenaka in an effort to persuade the brothers to abandon Nichiren. Munenaga stood to gain his brother’s inheritance if he renounced the Lotus Sūtra. But the brothers remained steadfast. Eventually, Yasumitsu was convinced to change his own faith and became a follower of Nichiren Shōnin.

This would make a wonderful plot outline for a movie or at least a novel.

The change of natural phenomenon such as the ebb and flow of the tide, the rise and setting of the moon, and the boundaries between summer and autumn or winter and spring is accompanied by something different. The same can be said when an ordinary person becomes a Buddha. Inevitably this change will be accompanied by the “three hindrances and four devils.” Although the wise will welcome them, those who are foolish fear them and retreat.

Hyōesakan-dono Gohenji, Answer to Lord Ikegami Munenaga, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 93

The glossary offers this explanation of the “three hindrances and four devils”:

Three hindrances and four devils (sanshō shima)

The hindrances and devils that block the way to Buddhahood. The three hindrances refer to evil passions, evil karmas, and painful retributions such as going to hell; the four devils refer to evil passions, physical pain, death, and king of devils. Grand Master T’ien-t’ai states in his Great Concentration and Insight, fascicle 5, that as practicing and understanding of the “tranquility and contemplation” proceed, “three hindrances and four devils” compete to interfere with the practicers, proving the doctrine to be true. Following T’ien-t’ai’s concept of “three hindrances and four devils,” Nichiren maintains that those who spread the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration are bound to be persecuted by the “three hindrances and four devils” and that only those who endured such difficulty proved to be the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra.

Because I am deeply concerned about you I would like to tell you another important story. During the time of Yin in ancient China, the King of Ku-chu State had two princes named Pê-i and Shu-ch’i. The King chose the younger brother Shuch’i as his successor, but Shu-ch’i refused to ascend the throne upon the death of the King. Pê-i advised the younger brother to accede to the throne, but Shu-ch’i insisted that the elder brother should succeed the father. Pê-i protested saying, “How can we go against the will of our father?” Shu-ch’i retorted, “I understand the will of our father; however, how can I ascend the throne, disregarding my elder brother?” In the end, respecting the views of the other, both Pê-i and Shu-ch’i left the state of their parents and went to a foreign land.

While both brothers were serving King Wen of Chou, King Wen was murdered by King Chou Hsin of Yin, and King Wu of Chou, son of King Wen, started a war against King Chou Hsin of Yin within 100 days after the death of his father. Pê-i and Shu-ch’i held fast to King Wu’s horse, remonstrating the King saying, “Isn’t it unfilial to begin a war within three years after the passing of parents?” King Wu became furious and tried to kill Pê-i and Shu-ch’i, but they were spared when T’ai-kung Wang interceded.

The two brothers left the service of King Wu, and hid themselves in Mt. Shou-yang, staying alive by eating bracken. One day they came across a person called Wang Ma-tzŭ and told him the reason why they were hiding in the mountain. Wang Ma-tzŭ then reproached them saying, “Isn’t the bracken owned by King Wu of Chou?” Accused by Wang Ma-tzŭ, the two brothers stopped eating bracken. As it is the custom in heaven not to abandon a sage, heaven appeared as a white deer and fed the two brothers with its milk. One day Shu-ch’i casually remarked, “The milk of this white deer is very tasty, let alone its meat.” Although Pê-i stopped him from saying anything more, heaven heard it. As a result the white deer never appeared again and the two brothers died of hunger. In this way, even a person who lived as a sage throughout his life might destroy himself with one word.

Kyōdai-shō, Letter to the Ikegami Brothers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 79

The lives of sages, protected by the gods, lost with an inappropriate jest.

The tales Nichiren uses to illustrate his letters always intrigue me. This letter was sent to the Ikegami brothers, Munenaka and Munenaga, and their wives. Their faith in the Lotus Sūtra was being challenged by their father. The moral of this tale is used in a later letter addressed to the younger brother, Munenaga:

It is true that a bale of karukaya grass saved for 1,000 years burns to ashes in a flash and the merits of achievement gained in one hundred years can be wasted in one word.

Hyōesakan-dono Gohenji, Answer to Lord Ikegami Munenaga, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 92

The śrāvaka disciples such as Ānanda, and Rāhula, who were guaranteed to be future Buddhas in the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra through the three cycles of the Buddha’s preaching (dharma, parable, and past relationships) had learned the Lotus Sūtra far in the past, 3,000 dust-particle kalpa (aeons) ago, from a bodhisattva who was the 16th prince of the Great Universal Wisdom Buddha, namely Śākyamuni Buddha today. Nevertheless, due to evil karma they abandoned the Lotus Sūtra, embracing such Mahayana sutras as the Flower Garland Sūtra, Wisdom Sūtra, Sūtra of Great Assembly, Nirvana Sūtra, Great Sun Buddha Sūtra, Revealing the Profound and Secret Sūtra, and Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life or Hinayana Āgama sutras. While doing so, they gradually declined in status to the realms of heavenly and human beings and finally to the three evil realms. As a result for as long as 3,000 dust-particle kalpa they spent much of their time in the Hell of Incessant Suffering, some of their time in the seven major hells, once in a long while in the other one hundred or so hells, and on rare occasions in the realms of hungry souls, beasts, and asura. It was after the 3,000 dust-particle kalpa (aeons) that they were able to be born in the realm of human or heavenly beings.

Therefore, it is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 2 (chapter 3), “They will always stay in hell, strolling in it as though it were a garden, and remain in other evil realms as if they were at home.” Those who committed the ten evil acts will fall into such hells as the hell of regeneration and that of black ropes, where they spend 500 or 1,000 years. Those who committed the five rebellious sins, are destined to the Hell of Incessant Suffering for as long as one medium kalpa before being reborn. Those who abandoned the Lotus Sūtra, however, will fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering and remain there for innumerable number of kalpa, though their sin does not seem to be as terrible as the sin of murdering parents.

Kyōdai-shō, Letter to the Ikegami Brothers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 73

At the conclusion of Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, the Buddha teases what’s coming next in Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City:

Now I will tell you
About my previous existence
And also about yours.
All of you, listen attentively!

What we learn is that Śākyamuni, as one of 16 princes, has been teaching the same people ever since 3,000 dust-particle kalpas ago.

“These sixteen Bodhisattvas willingly expounded the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Each of them taught six hundred billion nayutas of living beings, that is, as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges. Those living beings were always accompanied by the Bodhisattva[, by whom they were taught,] in their consecutive existences. [In each of their consecutive existences,] they heard the Dharma from him, and understood it by faith. By the merits [they had thus accumulated], they were given a privilege to see four billion Buddhas, that is, four billion World­Honored Ones. They have not yet seen all of them.

As I read Nichiren’s explanation of what happened to the śrāvaka disciples such as Ānanda and Rāhula, I ponder whether this is why the Buddha predicts it will take these śrāvakas lengthy kalpas before they complete the way of Bodhisattvas and become Buddhas.

How many times in my past lives have I failed to keep the faith?

Each character of the Lotus Sūtra is a living Buddha, but seen through the “naked eye” of a common person, it looks like nothing but a character. For instance the Ganges River looks like fire to the hungry ghosts, water to human beings, and “nectar” to the heavenly beings. The same water appears to be different to those who live under different circumstances. These characters of the Lotus Sūtra cannot be seen at all by the blind, but they appear as black letters to the “naked-eye” of ordinary people, the sky to the “wisdom-eye” of the Two Vehicles, various doctrines to the “dharma-eye” of the bodhisattvas, and the Buddhas to the “Buddha-eye” of those in whom the seed of Buddha is ripe. Therefore, it is preached in the “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “He who upholds this sūtra sustains the Buddha,” and Grand Master T’ien-t’ai states in his “Ryaku Hokekyō,” “I believe in the Lotus Sūtra, consisting of eight fascicles, 28 chapters, namely 69,384 Chinese characters. Each of these characters is itself the true Buddha, who preaches the dharma for the benefit of people who listen.”

Contemplating these statements, you, Priest Hōren produces golden-colored letters from your mouth every morning. As you read and recite the “jiga-ge” verse, you produce 510 golden characters. Each of these characters transforms itself to be the sun, which in turn changes to Śākyamuni Buddha, who emits the rays of bright light shining through the earth, the three evil realms (hell, realm of hungry spirits and that of beasts), the Hell of Incessant Suffering, and to all the directions in the north, south, east, and west. They shine upward to the “Heaven of neither Thought nor Non-Thought” at the top of the realm of non-form looking everywhere for the souls of the departed. Upon finding the spirit of your father, they politely say, “Whom do you think we are? We are the characters of the ‘jiga-ge’ of the Lotus Sūtra chanted by your son Hōren every morning. We will be your eyes, ears, legs, and hands.” Then your father’s spirit will say, “My son, Hōren, is not my son but a ‘good friend’ who leads me to Buddhahood,” and worship you toward the Sahā World. This is indeed true filial piety.

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 56-57

I’ve included this so that I could extract and underscore:

As you read and recite the “jiga-ge” verse, you produce 510 golden characters. Each of these characters transforms itself to be the sun, which in turn changes to Śākyamuni Buddha, who emits the rays of bright light shining through the earth, the three evil realms (hell, realm of hungry spirits and that of beasts), the Hell of Incessant Suffering, and to all the directions in the north, south, east, and west. They shine upward to the “Heaven of neither Thought nor Non-Thought” at the top of the realm of non-form looking everywhere for the souls of the departed.

Each and every morning and evening when I recite “jiga-ge.”

Although the Japanese people today all appear to have faith in Buddhism, in ancient Japan when Buddhism had not yet been introduced, nobody knew of the Buddha nor of the dharma until Prince Shōtoku, an ardent believer in Buddhism, destroyed Mononobe Moriya, the anti-Buddhist leader. Even then there remained some who refused to believe in Buddhism. Likewise in China people began to believe in Buddhism only when Mātaṅga from India came to China and defeated Taoists in a debate. Yet more people remained opposed to Buddhism.

In those days in China, there was a calligrapher named Wu-lung. He was very popular but refused to copy Buddhist scriptures no matter how many times it was requested. He called his son, I-lung, to his deathbed and said to him: “You were born to our family and succeeded your father in art. In order to continue to be my filial son after my death, you must never copy Buddhist scriptures, especially the Lotus Sūtra. This is because Lao-tzŭ, our true teacher, is the Heaven-Honored One. As there have never been two suns, there is no Heaven-Honored One beside Lao-tzŭ. That being said, the Buddha claims in the Lotus Sūtra that ‘I am the only one,’ thus neglecting Lao-tzŭ. This is most strange. If you should copy the Lotus Sūtra against my will, I will immediately become an evil spirit to kill you.” As soon as he finished saying this, Wu-lung’s tongue split into eight pieces, his head was cracked into seven, blood spilled from his eyes and nose and the five sense organs and he passed away. However, as I-lung could not tell right from wrong, he did not know the fact that his father showed a scary look and fell into the Avīci Hell due to the sin of slandering the True Dharma. Therefore, I-lung refused to copy the Buddhist sūtras, much less to recite them verbally.

As time passed, when the Ssu-ma family was on the throne, it was decided to hold a Buddhist ritual with a Buddhist sūtra copied by the best calligrapher in China, and I-lung was chosen as the copier. He was summoned to the court and was ordered to copy the sūtra, which he repeatedly declined. The court had no choice but to have someone else copy the sūtra, and the emperor was not pleased. As a result, I-lung was once again summoned and the Emperor said to him: “You have refused to copy the sūtra for me, claiming it was against the will of your father. This is an outrage, but I will pardon you if you copy just the title of each fascicle of the sūtra.” The emperor repeated this order three times, but I-lung refused to obey three times. His countenance overcome with anger, the Emperor declared: “Everything in heaven and earth is under my control. Then isn’t your father also my subordinate? You cannot ignore your public duty due to private matters. You are to copy at least the title of each fascicle in the sūtra. Otherwise you will be beheaded immediately, though it might be in the midst of a Buddhist ritual.”

Thus I-lung was forced to copy the titles of the sūtra, namely, from “The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, Fascicle One” to “The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, Fascicle Eight.” Returning home in the evening, I-lung lamented, “I was unable to disobey the Imperial order, and went against the will of my father by copying the Buddhist sūtra. Both the heavenly gods and terrestrial deities must be furious with me for being an unfilial son.” He then went to bed.

During the night he had a dream in which a great light appeared. While wondering whether or not it was the morning sunlight, a heavenly being accompanied by many attendants was standing in the garden, and there appeared 64 Buddhas in the sky above this heavenly being. Pressing the two palms of his hands together in gasshō, I-lung inquired, “What kind of heavenly being are you?” The heavenly being answered:

I am your father Wu-lung. Due to my sin of slandering the Buddhist Dharma, my tongue split into eight pieces, my five sense organs bled, my head was broken into seven pieces, and I fell into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. I thought the torment at my death was unbearable indeed. Nevertheless, the pain in the Hell of Incessant Suffering was one hundred, one thousand, one hundred million times more severe. Even the pain a human being experiences when his nails are removed by a dull knife, his neck is sawed off, he is forced to walk on a charcoal fire, or crammed into thorns cannot compare to the torment in the Hell of Incessant Suffering. I tried in vain to inform my own son of this. One could not measure the regret I felt that I willed to you at my death not to copy the Buddhist sūtras. However, regret does not mend matters. It did not do any good no matter how much I regretted and blamed myself.

Starting yesterday morning, however, the character myō at the beginning of the Lotus Sūtra came flying over the tripod kettle in the Hell of Incessant Suffering, transforming itself into the golden colored Śākyamuni Buddha equipped with the 32 marks of physical excellence and a peaceful face like the full moon. The Buddha preached in a resounding voice, “All the evil persons, as many as to fill the heaven and earth, will not fail to attain Buddhahood if only they hear the Lotus Sūtra once.” Then heavy rain began to fall from those characters, extinguishing the blazes in the Hell of Incessant Suffering. As a result, King Yama, though strict as he is, bowed his head in respect, the guards of the hell stood still without their iron sticks, and the sinners all panicked wondering what was happening. Then came flying the character “hō,” appearing just like the “myō.” It was followed by the characters “ren,” “ge, ” and “kyō. ” Altogether 64 characters thus came flying to become 64 bodies of the Buddha. The 64 Buddhas appearing in the Hell of Incessant Suffering seemed as though 64 suns and moons appeared in the heaven. Nectar rained from the heaven bathing the sinners in hell, who asked the Buddha the reason why this merry occurrence had taken place. The 64 Buddhas answered: “Our golden bodies did not come from the mountain of sandalwoods and treasures; they are the titles of the eight fascicles of the Lotus Sūtra, each consists of eight Chinese characters and therefore 64 in total, written by Ilung, son of Wu-lung, who is in the Hell of Incessant Suffering at present.

The hand of I-lung is a part of the body begotten by Wu-lung, therefore, the characters written by I-lung are as though they were written by Wu-lung.” Upon hearing this the sinners in the Hell of Incessant Suffering lamented in vain: “We also have children, wives, followers in the Sahā World. Why do they not hold memorial services for us? Or, is it that even if they hold services, they don’t help us here because there is not enough merit of good acts?” One or two days, one or two years, a half or one kalpa (aeon) have passed since we fell into this hell. I am now happy to encounter a “good friend,” who will lead me out of hell while my fellow sinners are glad to follow me to go up to the Trāyastriṃsá Heaven led by you. Therefore, we came to worship you first of all.

Upon listening to his late father’s account, I-lung was overjoyed to be able to see his father, whom he did not expect to meet again, and to worship the figures of Buddhas, though in a dream.

The 64 Buddhas then spoke to I-lung, “We do not serve any Buddha. As you are our patron, beginning today we will protect you as our parent, therefore please do not forget to help us. In the life hereafter, we will without fail come to lead you to the inner palace of the Tuṣita Heaven.” In response, I-lung respectfully vowed never to write the characters of non-Buddhist scriptures. It was similar to the vow made by Bodhisattva Vasubandhu who pledged not to read the Hinayana sūtras and Nichiren who vowed never to chant the nembutsu.

After awakening from his dream, I-lung spoke of his experience to the Emperor, who issued an edict: “This completes the Buddhist rite. Write it out in the form of a prayer.” Thus I-lung wrote as was ordered. Thereafter both China and Japan began to believe in the Lotus Sūtra. This is recorded in the Biography of the Lotus Sūtra in China, showing the merit of copying the Lotus Sūtra. The “Teacher of the Dharma” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra preaches the five ways of practicing the Lotus Sūtra: upholding, reading, reciting, explaining, and copying. Among them copying is ranked the lowest. How much more so, then, is the merit gained from reading and reciting the Lotus Sūtra. It is immeasurable.

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 52-55

This is one of my favorite stories included in Nichiren’s letters. When I get back to Volume 1 I will include here the Rationale For Remonstration With Hachiman from Kangyō Hanchiman-shō, Remonstration with Bodhisattva Hachiman. My interest in the Hachiman letter is the tale of the previous life of Venerable Kāśyapa, which offers a wonderful explanation of how babies are conceived.

As for the tale of I-lung and his father Wu-lung, what calls to me here is the power of a child to pass on his merit to his ancestors and, in doing so, improve their existence. For me, this is the greatest benefit of the practice.

An alternate ending of this story is offered in Day 77 of 100.

In the first place, the “Wheel-turning Noble King” is the foremost among humans. When this king appears in the world, a huge tree called uḍumbara grows in the ocean, blossoms and bears fruits as an omen. There are four kinds of “Noble King” based on the different qualities of the wheel. When the “Golden-wheel King” appears, peace prevails throughout the Four Continents, the earth is as soft as cotton, the ocean is as sweet as nectar, and the seven treasures grow like plants and trees on golden mountains. This king can travel around the world in a moment as various heavenly beings protect him and demons come to serve him while the dragon king sends down rain when appropriate. Even lowly people can travel around the whole world in a moment by following this king. These wonderful merits of the “Wheel-turning Noble King” are all rewards for having practiced the “ten good acts” in the past lives.

Incomparably superior to the Wheel-turning Noble King are the Four Great Heavenly Kings including Vaiśravaṇa, who are the great kings of the Four Continents. Indra is the lord of Trāyastriṃsá (the heaven of the 33 gods) while the King of Devils in the Sixth Heaven dwells on top of the realm of desire and controls the triple world. They acquired such good fortune by virtue of observing the ten good precepts to the highest degree and through giving the root of goodness equally to all without discrimination. The King of the Mahābrahman Heaven, who is the lord of the triple world, dwells on the summit of the world of form waited on by the King of Devils and Indra, and he controls the triple-thousand worlds. This is the merit received from having practiced not only the meditation to eliminate worldly passions but also the Four Infinite Virtues (of benevolence, compassion, giving joy, and selflessness).

The voice-hearer (śrāvaka) refers to disciples of the Buddha such as Śāriputra and Kāśyapa. They observed the 250 precepts and practiced the supra-worldly meditation. Moreover, they contemplated the truths of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and self-effacement; completely eliminated the delusions arising from false views and thoughts; and mastered the supernatural power of being in water and fire. Therefore they were able to make even the King of the Mahābrahman Heaven and Indra their followers.

A Hinayana sage known as Pratyekabuddha is incomparably superior to a śrāvaka. He is so great that he can stand in for the Buddha to appear in the world to save its people. It is said that there was once a hunter who in a time of famine gave a bowl of rice mixed with barnyard millet to a pratyekabuddha called Rita, and as a result he was rewarded with rebirth as a man of wealth in the human or heavenly world for as long as 91 kalpa (aeons). Aniruddha, one of the ten great disciples of the Buddha who is reputed to have mastered the divine-eye of heavenly beings to see through everything, is said to have been [the incarnation of) the hunter. Grand Master Miao-lê interprets this, “Although the bowl of barnyard millet rice has little value, the hunter donated all that he owned to a person of great merit. Therefore, the hunter was rewarded with such good fortune.” It means that although a bowl of millet rice was not much in value, it was presented to a noble person of Pratyekabuddha status, and this is the reason why he was able to be reborn with such good luck.

Next, bodhisattvas refer to such practicers of Buddhism as Mañjuśrī and Maitreya. These great bodhisattvas are incomparably superior to such Buddhist sages called Pratyekabuddha. A Buddha is a wonderfully enlightened one who completely eliminated all the 42 stages of spiritual darkness, and he is like the harvest moon on the night of the 15th day of the eighth month. Compared to a Buddha, a bodhisattva is the one who eliminated the 41 stages of spiritual darkness reaching a rank nearly equal to the Buddha. One might say a bodhisattva is the moon on the 14th night of the eighth month.

Finally, a Buddha is a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, and hundred million times superior to those mentioned above. He has 32 marks of physical excellence such as a “Brahma’s voice,” the top of His head which no one can see, a bump on top of His head, a curl of white hair that is always shining in the middle of His forehead, and dharma-cakra on the soles of His feet. It is said that in order to gain one of these 32 marks, one has to accumulate the merit of 100 “meritorious acts.” Suppose there is a great physician who can simultaneously open the eyes of all the blind in Japan, China, and the 16 great countries, 500 middle-sized countries, and 10,000 small countries that make up India, as well as the continent of Jambudvipa, the four continents surrounding Mt. Sumeru, the six heavens in the realm of desire, and all the worlds in the universe. His work certainly falls in the category of “meritorious acts,” but only when he repeats the “meritorious acts” such as this 100 times can [he] receive one of the 32 marks of physical excellence. Accordingly, the merits of having one of these 32 marks is more numerous than the vegetation in the triple-thousand worlds or the number of raindrops in the entire world. It is said that during the kalpa of destruction a terrible wind known as sogyada would blow Mt. Sumeru up to the top of the realm of form smashing it to small pieces. Even such a fierce wind as this cannot move a single hair of a Buddha. It is also said that the Buddha has a great fire stored in His chest. It is called “Great Wisdom of Equality, Light of Great Knowledge, Fire Pit Meditation,” and He sometimes cremates Himself upon entering Nirvana in this fire. If heavenly beings and dragon gods in the six heavens of the realm of desire and oceans in the four directions gather together, and out of sorrow for the passing of the Buddha, they try to extinguish this great fire by causing such a great rain that all the lands in the whole universe are flooded and Mt. Sumeru begins to flow, it is said, they cannot extinguish this great fire of the Buddha.

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 45-47

This relationship between gods and followers of the Buddha is fascinating to me. That voice-hearers (śrāvakas) can make gods in Heaven their followers helps frame the universe of the Lotus Sūtra, the only medicine that can cure the poison of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.

There will be a person who hates the Buddha physically, verbally, and mentally for as long as a kalpa like Devadatta. The Buddha was the crown prince of King Śuddhodana while Devadatta was a prince of Doroṇodana, and therefore the Buddha and Devadatta were first cousins. In the past as well as today, among sages as well as ordinary people, a breakdown of human relations arises more often from the dispute over women than anything else. When Śākyamuni Buddha was Crown Prince Siddhārtha, Devadatta was also a crown prince. Minister Ya’o had a daughter called Yaśodharā, who was the most beautiful girl in the whole India, and whose beauty was known throughout the world. As Crown Prince Siddhārtha and Devadatta fought for her hand, their relationship turned sour.

Thereafter, Prince Siddhārtha entered the priesthood becoming the Buddha, and Devadatta, too, entered the priesthood under the guidance of Monk Sūdra. As the Buddha observed the 250 precepts and maintained the 3,000 proper demeanors of a priest, all the heavenly beings and the people adored and respected Him. However, no one respected Devadatta, causing him to ponder over a way to win a better reputation than the Buddha among the people in the world. In the end Devadatta began to assert that there were five points that proved that he should be more respected than the Buddha. It is preached in the Fourfold Precepts that a Buddhist monk should always 1. wear a robe made of rags; 2. beg for alms; 3. take a meal only once a day; 4. sit in the open; and 5. not take the five kinds of seasoning such as salt. Thus Devadatta publicized them saying, “The Buddha accepts the robes donated by people, but I wear a robe made of ragged pieces of cloth; the Buddha takes the food offered by people, but I have to beg for alms to feed myself; the Buddha has a meal three times a day, but I have it only once a day; the Buddha takes a rest in the shade of a rock or under a tree, but I, Devadatta, always sit in the open during the day; and the Buddha sometimes tastes the five kinds of flavors (sour, bitter, sweet, peppery, and salty), but I have never taken them.” As a result the people in the world were led to believe that Devadatta was incomparably superior to the Buddha.

While Devadatta was trying to demean the Buddha’s reputation, King Bimbisāra in Magadha, a follower of the Buddha, was sending 500 wagons full of donations to the Buddha and his disciples every day without fail for several years. Envious of this royal donation, Devadatta incited Crown Prince Ajātaśatru to murder his own father, King Bimbisāra, while he himself tried to kill the Buddha by hurling a rock at Him. His act of trying to kill the Buddha with a rock constitutes committing the sin of an evil physical act; while accusing the Buddha of deceiving people is an evil verbal act; and thinking of the Buddha as a loathsome enemy from a previous life is an evil mental act. The evil acts of Devadatta, consisting of physical, verbal, and mental acts, are the most serious sins ever to appear.

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 43-44

This tale, of course, underlines why it is so important that even Devadatta should be promised eventually to become a Buddha. But my ulterior motive for reprinting this is to consider the timeless message: “In the past as well as today, among sages as well as ordinary people, a breakdown of human relations arises more often from the dispute over women than anything else.”

With gratitude, I have received a piece of cloth for a clerical robe and an unlined kimono. …

A plant can increase in number when its seed is planted. A dragon can transform a small body of water into a lot of rain, and humans can turn a small flame into a fiery blaze. Likewise, although the piece of cloth for a clerical robe and an unlined kimono is limited to one each, their number will be 69,384 each when they are donated to the Lotus Sūtra consisting of 69,384 Chinese characters. As each Chinese character of the Lotus Sūtra represents a living Buddha, the offering to the sūtra is equivalent to the offerings to 69,384 Buddhas. These Buddhas of the Lotus Sūtra are equipped with the hearts of regeneration that enable the Two Vehicles to attain Buddhahood as if a rotten seed has been revitalized; their life spans are as eternal as that of the Original True Buddha revealed in the sūtra; their throats are made of the ever-lasting Buddha-nature; and their primary object is the practice of the One Vehicle teaching. The figures of Buddhas appearing in this world to save living beings are not that of the true Buddha. Rather than Buddhas of corresponding manifestation with 32 marks or 80 minor marks of physical excellence, those Buddhas represented by each character of the Lotus Sūtra are the true Buddhas. Of those who encountered the Buddha and became His followers during His lifetime, some were unable to become Buddhas. Nevertheless, according to the golden words of the Buddha, those who embrace the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra after the passing of the Buddha “will never fail to attain Buddhahood” (the “Expedients” chapter).

When I have this clerical robe tailored, put on upon the unlined kimono and recite the Lotus Sūtra, though Nichiren is a priest without observing a Buddhist precept, as the Lotus Sūtra is the golden words of the Buddha, the merit of your donation will reach you just as a poisonous snake spits out a gem or sandalwood trees grow among eranda.

Onkoromo narabini Hitoe Gosho, Thank-you Note for a Clerical Robe and an Unlined Kimono, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 8-9

69,384 Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō