It has already been more than twenty years since I began speaking for this sūtra, and my troubles have been increasing day by day, month by month, and year by year. Small troubles are incalculable while severe ones are four in number. Not speaking of two of them, I have already been twice the target of royal persecution, and my life now is in jeopardy. Moreover, my disciples and lay supporters, including those laymen who had just come to hear me speak, were punished severely as though they had been rebels.

It is said in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle four (chapter 10, “The Teacher of the Dharma”): “This sūtra was the target of much hatred and jealousy even during the lifetime of the Buddha, not to speak of after His death.” It says in the second fascicle (chapter 3, “A Parable”): “Seeing a person who reads, recites, copies, or keeps this sūtra, some will despise and hate him, look at him with jealousy, and harbor enmity against him.” And in the fifth fascicle (chapter 14, “Peaceful Practices”): “Many people in the world will hate it and very few believe in it.” In the thirteenth chapter, “The Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra”: “Ignorant people will speak ill of him and abuse him;” “In order to speak ill of him and to slander him, they will say to kings, ministers, Brahmans, and influential householders that he has heretical views;” and “He will sometimes be driven out of his monastery.” It is also said in the seventh fascicle (chapter 20, “The Never-Despising Bodhisattva”): “They will strike him with sticks, pieces of wood and tile or stones.” The Nirvana Sūtra states:

“Thereupon numerous non-Buddhists gathered together and went to see King Ajātaśatru of the Magadha kingdom saying, ‘Now, there is a most wicked man, a wanderer, who is Gautama. For the purpose of making a profit, all wicked men in the world are gathering around him and becoming his followers, doing nothing good. With his occult power Gautama converted such men as Kāśyapa, Śāripūtra, and
Maudgalyāyana.’ ”

Explaining the hatred and jealousy against the Lotus Sūtra during the Buddha’s lifetime referred to in the fourth fascicle, T’ien-t’ai said in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 8: “Even during the lifetime of the Buddha it was difficult to spread the Lotus Sūtra. How much more so after His death? It is because people do not listen to the True Dharma that it is difficult to teach and guide them.”

Commenting on this, Miao-lê said in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 8: “Hatred means slavery to delusions, and evil passions and jealousy mean unwillingness to listen to the Lotus.”

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 53-54

When King Ajātaśatru was 50 years old he suffered from malignant boils appearing all over his body on the 15th day of the 2nd month. Even a great physician, could not control them. On the seventh day of the third month, he was on the verge of death and falling into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. It was as though the pleasures of a luxurious life of more than 50 years were extinguished at once and the sufferings of a lifetime were all concentrated in the 21-day period since contracting the disease.

Although the immutable karma of Ajātaśatru had reached its limit, when the Buddha again expounded the Lotus Sūtra, naming it the Nirvana Sūtra and gave it to the great king, the king’s illness was cured instantly, and the major sins in his mind also vanished at once like dew drops.

Kaen Jōgō Gosho, Writing About Lengthening the Life Span, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 113

A conflagration is mentioned in the Sūtra of the Benevolent King as the third of the seven disasters, and the Lotus Sūtra places it first in its list of seven disasters. As the sky cannot be cut by a sword and water cannot be burned by fire, sages, wise people, people of good fortune, and accomplished scholars cannot be burned by fire.

For instance, there was a large town called Rājagṛha in ancient India. It had as many as 900 million private homes [sic]. However, the town was reduced to ashes by a great fire seven times. Grief stricken, the people were ready to abandon the town. This devastating turn of events caused the great king grief that knew no bounds.

At that time a wise man told the great king, “A conflagration is among the seven disasters and occurs when a sage leaves the land and the good fortune of the king is spent. Nevertheless, these conflagrations that destroyed the homes of the people did not come close to the royal palace. Based on this we know that the king was not to blame for the destruction but the people. Therefore, if we call the houses of the people ‘Royal Palaces,’ the god of fire will fear the name and avoid destroying them.” Thinking that he may be right, the king renamed the town Ōshajō (the Town of the Royal Palaces). As a result, the town never again suffered from a fire. Based on this, we can say that fire will never destroy a man of good fortune.

In stark contrast, the palace at Kamakura was burned, which, we know, is a sign that Japan has exhausted its good fortune. What is more, priests who slander the True Dharma continue to insist on praying for the subjugation of Nichiren. Are they not simply inviting more disasters to occur?

Ōshajō-ji, Town of Rājagṛha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 127