His mother and his old master
In the autumn of the following year (1264), while Nichiren was thus carrying on his propaganda, both polemic and persuasive, the illness of his mother called him to his native place. When he arrived at home, his mother was seemingly dead. The pious son was, however, not disheartened, but went on to pray that her life might be restored. His prayer was heard, or his supernormal power proved efficacious, and gradually the aged mother recovered her health. Not only was his mother’s restored health a great joy to Nichiren, but the demonstration of his miraculous powers led him at once to take a step toward the fulfilment of a pious desire long since cherished by him, the conversion of his old master Dōzen, the abbot of Kiyozumi, who still remained a believer in Amita and practised Shingon mysteries. The three objects of reverence and gratitude in Nichiren’s religious ethics, as we shall see later, were a man’s parents, ruler, and master. Nichiren’s parents had long since been converted to his faith – the father had died six years before; but his efforts to convert the rulers were still unsuccessful, and his old master had never been subject to his influence, from the day of the first sermon in the assembly hall of Kiyozumi eleven years before. Nichiren now visited the abbot at a monastery in the country, explained his own conviction, expressed his pious desire for his master’s conversion, exposed the old man’s error, tenderly persuaded him to enter on the true way. But alas! the man was now too old and weak to abandon the religious practices to which he had long been accustomed and become his former pupil’s convert. He appreciated Nichiren’s kindly intention, thanked him for his zeal, and wept with conflicting emotions; but the meeting was, after all, a failure. This remained a great regret to Nichiren throughout his life. (After the old man’s death, Nichiren, in 1276, still tried to mitigate this sorrow, by dedicating to the dead master a writing of spiritual admonition.)
An Interlude and a Narrow Escape
His pugnacious spirit and his tender heart 46
His mother and his old master 47
The peril of the pine forest and the escape 49
His missionary journeys and converts 50
NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET