His last moments and his legacy

On the eighth of the ninth month, he left his beloved retreat at Minobu, where he had lived for more than eight years. His intention had been to go to a hot spring, but, probably because he was unable to proceed farther, he stopped at Ikegami, near the modern Tokyo, where he was welcomed by Lord Ikegami. The letter he wrote on his arrival at Ikegami, to Lord Hakiri in Minobu, was his last. This letter, dated the nineteenth, is full of delicate sentiment, and in it he again expresses his thanks for the protection extended to him by Lord Hakiri during more than eight years. He even gives thought to such details as the care of the horse that, with its harness, Lord Hakiri had presented him. Thenceforward, he lay on a sickbed. During nearly a month he lectured again on his old Risshō Ankoku Ron, with which he had launched upon his career of conflict and danger. The lectures were unfortunately not recorded, but we can imagine how the prophet reviewed and reinterpreted the most significant document of his whole life in the light thrown on it by his experiences through more than twenty years.

His disciples and followers flocked to his bedside, and the master charged them with the work to be done after his death. Six elders were appointed to be the leaders, and they took a vow to perpetuate the legacy of the master. Besides them, an important appointment was made, of a boy of fourteen [named Nichizō] to whom was committed the task of converting the Imperial family in Miyako. The motive of the selection is not clear, but whatever it may have been, the boy subsequently proved himself deserving of the Master’s confidence and became the pioneer of the propaganda in the Imperial capital.

When all had been finished, Nichiren’s last hour approached. Early in the morning of the thirteenth day of the tenth month, 1282, surrounded by his devout followers, and reciting with them the Stanzas of Eternity, the prophet passed away. The stanzas are:

Since I attained Buddhahood,
Aeons have passed, the number of which
Is beyond all measure, hundreds and thousands
Of millions of billions, and immeasurable.

During this time I have constantly been preaching truths,
And leading innumerable beings to maturity,
Taking them on the Way of the Buddhas;
Thus, innumerable aeons have passed, ever in the same way.

For the sake of awakening all beings,
I manifest the Great Decease, by the method of tactfulness;
And yet in reality I never vanish,
But reveal truths by being eternally present. …

I am the Father of the world,
The One who cures all ills and averts disasters.
Since I see the mass of men infatuated,
I appear to die, although I am really living.
For, if they saw me perpetually abiding among them,
They might grow slack,
Become careless, and being attached to the five passions,
Finally fall into the woeful resorts.

I am ever watching to see whether all beings
Are faithful to the Way or not;
And I preach to them various aspects of truth,
According to their capacities, and for the sake of their salvation.

Thus, my constant solicitude is,
How can all beings
Be led to the incomparable Way,
And ere long attain Buddhahood?

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NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

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