There is a land called China that lies across the ocean southwest from here. In that country some people believe in the Buddha without adopting a god. Others believe in a god without adopting the Buddha. I suppose that Japan was similar in its early history. Now there lived a calligrapher whose name was Wu-lung in China. He was the foremost expert in this field, and as famous as Ono no Tōfū and Fujiwara Yukinari of Japan. Wu-lung disliked Buddhism and swore that he would never copy the passages of a Buddhist scripture. When he was taken ill and was near the end, he expressed his last wishes to his son: “You are my successor and superior in ability to me. Whatever happens, you must never copy the Lotus Sūtra.” Immediately he began to bleed from his five sense-organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and the whole body) as if he were spurting water. His tongue split in eight parts and his body was broken to pieces. But not knowing the three evil realms of the Buddhist sūtras, none of the relatives present recognized this as a sign of going to hell.

Yi-lung, Wu-lung’s son, also became the foremost calligrapher in China. According to his father’s will, he made a vow never to copy the Lotus Sūtra. A certain Ssu-ma, who was the supreme ruler of China at the time, believed in Buddhism very deeply, especially in the Lotus Sūtra. He wanted to have the best calligrapher transcribe the Lotus Sūtra so that he could have his own personal copy. He summoned Yi-lung. Yi-lung said to the ruler, “Please pardon me for disobeying your order but I must abide by my father’s will.” Because it was his father’s wish, Lord Ssu-ma had another calligrapher instead copy the Lotus Sūtra. But dissatisfied with the work, he summoned Yi-lung again and told him,”I won’t compel you to copy the Lotus Sūtra because you insisted that it was your father’s will that you do not, but you must obey my order to copy the titles of the eight scrolls.” Yi-lung repeatedly refused to do this, which angered Lord Ssu-ma, who said, “Your father was my retainer, yet you tell me that it was your father’s will. If you won’t copy them for fear of disobeying your parents, you will be punished for disobeying my command.” The lord issued a strict order many times. Although he didn’t want to disobey his father, Yi-lung finally relented and copied the titles of the eight scrolls of the Lotus Sūtra to avoid the impending punishment, and gave them to the lord. 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-dono Gozen Gohenji, Reply to My Lady, the Nun of Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 59-61