Our Compassionate Father, the Greatly Awakened and World Honored One, appeared in this world in Central India when the life span of human beings was 100 years and spent His life preaching the holy teachings for all living beings. All living beings during the lifetime of the Buddha were closely related to the Buddha due to the accumulated merit of their virtuous deeds in the past. Therefore, they were able to attain Buddhahood during the lifetime of the Buddha. For the sake of those living after the passing of the Buddha, however, the Buddha expressed His 84,000 holy teachings in writing, giving Hinayana sūtras to Honorable Kāśyapa and Mahayana sūtras including the Lotus Sūtra and Nirvana Sūtra to Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī to be spread among living beings after the passing of the Buddha.

However, the five characters of Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō, which are the essence of the 84,000 holy teachings and the primary object of the Lotus Sūtra, were entrusted neither to Kāśyapa nor Ānanda. They were not given to great bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Avalokiteśvara, Maitreya, Earth Repository, or Nāgārjuna. They were all anxious to receive the five characters from the Buddha but their request was denied. Śākyamuni Buddha in a Stupa decorated with the seven treasures instead called out an elder named Superior Practice Bodhisattva from the bottom of the earth and gave him the five characters of Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō before the Buddha of Many Treasures and Buddhas in manifestation coming from all the worlds throughout the universe.

Why did Śākyamuni Buddha do this? All living beings after the passing of the Buddha are considered the same dear children to Śākyamuni Buddha. According to the general practice of physicians, the Buddha prescribed medicine suitable to the condition of the patient. Therefore, the Buddha directed Kāśyapa, Ānanda, and others to prescribe the medicine of Hinayana sūtras to all living beings during the first half (500 years) of the Age of the True Dharma. For the second half of the Age of the True Dharma such bodhisattvas as Mañjuśrī, Maitreya, Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu, were directed to prescribe such Mahayana sūtras as the Flower Garland Sūtra, the Great Sun Buddha Sūtra, and the Wisdom Sūtra for all living beings. For the Age of the Semblance Dharma, the ten-century period beginning in the 1,000th year after the passing of the Buddha, Medicine King Bodhisattva and others were ordered to prescribe the Lotus Sūtra with the exception of the daimoku for all living beings.

However, in the Latter Age of Degeneration beginning 2,000 years after the passing of the Buddha, the Hinayana and Mahayana sutras given to Kāśyapa, Ānanda, Mañjuśrī, Maitreya, Medicine King, Avalokiteśvara and others were no longer useful as medicine for living beings. It is because they were no longer effective as cures for the severe ailments of living beings. While the Buddha considered what to do about this, Superior Practice Bodhisattva emerged from the earth. The Buddha then ordered the bodhisattva to give the five characters of Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō to all living beings throughout the Jambudvīpa.

Takahashi Nyūdō-dono Gohenji, A Response to Lay Priest Lord Takahashi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 74-75

And that, in a nutshell, is how we got here. Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.

This is an alternate ending to the story of the calligrapher Wu-lung and his son, I-lung, from Day 57 of 100. We pick up the story just after the son has violated his promise to his father never to copy the characters of the Lotus Sūtra, having copied just the titles of the eight scrolls.

He then went home, shed tears of blood in front of his father’s grave, and reported copying the titles of the eight scrolls of the Lotus Sūtra, disobeying his father’s will, because of the strict order of the Ssu-ma overlord. Overcome with sorrow and apologizing for being unable to escape the guilt of impiety to his parents, he stayed at his father’s grave, fasting for three days until he was on the verge of death.

On the morning of the third day, at about four o’clock, his body was close to death and his spirit in a dream. Then a heavenly being resembling Indra appeared in the air surrounded by numerous attendants on every side. Yi-lung asked, “Who are you?” The heavenly being answered:

“Don’t you know that I am Wu-lung, your father? When I was a human being in my previous life, I adhered to non-Buddhist scriptures and regarded the Buddha Dharma, especially the Lotus Sūtra, as my enemy, so I fell into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. My tongue was yanked out hundreds of times every day, and I died and was revived repeatedly. Whenever I had pain, I looked up towards the sky or put my forehead to the ground, feeling deep grief, but my prayers went unfulfilled. I wanted to inform those in the human realm about this pain in some way, but there was no way to do so. When you refused to copy the Lotus Sūtra saying that doing so would go against my will, your words scorched me in a blaze and they turned into hundreds and thousands of swords, which rained from the sky upon me. Though your action caused me unbearable misery, you were following my will. I had no one but myself to blame. Then a golden Buddha appeared in the Hell of Incessant Suffering and revealed that if sinful creatures filling the whole universe could hear the Lotus Sūtra even once, they would be sure to gain supreme enlightenment.

“When this Buddha appeared in the Hell of Incessant Suffering, it seemed as if fire was being doused by water and my suffering was eased a little. I put my hands together in prayer and asked the Buddha for His name. He told me that He was the Chinese character of Myō, one of the 64 characters of the title of the Lotus Sūtra which has just been written by my son, Yi-lung. The titles of the eight scrolls of the Lotus Sūtra consist of 64 characters because each scroll has the eight-character title. These characters represent 64 Buddhas, and they turned into 64 full moons, which brightened the darkness of hell. The Hell of Incessant Suffering then changed into the capital of eternal tranquil light just as it is written, ‘Everything is perfect as it is.’ Thus prisoners and I have become Buddhas on the lotus and are on the way up to the inner palace of the Tuṣita Heaven, which I wanted to share with you.”

Yi-lung responded: “It was I that wrote them, but how could they help you? Moreover, I did not write them from my heart so how did this save you?” His father answered:

What a fool you are! Your hands are my hands. Your body is my body. The characters that you copied are the characters that I copied. You did not have heartfelt faith in the Lotus Sūtra, but I was saved because you copied them. For example, when children play with fire, and though they don’t intend to burn anything, fire burns things. It is the same with the Lotus Sūtra. If you have faith in it, you are sure to become a Buddha even if this is not your intention. Keep this in mind and don’t slander the teaching. As you are a layman, it is easier for you to repent of your sins now even if they are especially serious.

Yi-lung reported this to Lord Ssu-ma, who was overjoyed that his prayer had been effective. Since then Yi-lung has increasingly understood the debt to his lord, and the people in that country have begun to believe in the Lotus Sūtra.

Ueno-ama Gozen Gohenji, Response to My Lady, the Nun of Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 59-61

The difference in the two endings I expect is a product of the needs of the letter. The first, which the introduction doesn’t date other than the document number, 175, was written at Minobu and is addressed to a man, Soya Jirō Hōren of Shimofusa Province. This version, which is dated 1281 (document number 415) was also written at Minobu and addressed to the mother of Lord Nanjō Tokimitsu of Ueno. When I finish my 100 days of study I want to return to these two stories and combine them into one short story.