When Śākyamuni Buddha was about to pass away, He lamented, “I will die soon. My only worry concerns King Ajātaśatru.” Upon hearing this, Kashōdōji Bodhisattva asked the Buddha, “The compassion of the Buddha should extend equally to all. Your life should be considered precious for the sake of all living beings. Why do You only think of King Ajātaśatru?” The Buddha answered, “Suppose a couple has seven children, one of whom falls ill. Although the children are equal in the hearts of the parents, they worry most about the sick child.”

Grand Master T’ien-t’ai interprets the above scriptural passage in his Great Concentration and Insight, “As the Buddha answered: ‘Although the love of parents for their seven children is not biased, they worry especially about the sick one,’ thus even if parents have many children they pay special attention to the one who is ill.”

All living beings are children of the Buddha. Among them, the sinful ones who kill their parents or become enemies of Buddhism are like the sick child. As the Buddha approached death, he worried that “Ajātaśatru was the King of the Magadha Kingdom. He killed King Bimbisāra, who was My great supporter; thus becoming an enemy of the Buddha. As a result, heavenly beings abandoned him, a crisis among the sun and moon arose, the god of the earth shook in anger; the people turned against the Buddha Dharma, and foreign troops approached to attack the Magadha Kingdom. All of this happened because the king followed the wicked Devadatta as his teacher. As a result, the king will suffer a malignant rash and fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering on theth day of th sevene third month. This saddens Me and makes it difficult for Me to pass away.” Thus the Buddha lamented, “If I were able to save King Ajātaśatru now, all sinners would be saved as in the same way.”

Myōichi-ama Gozen Goshōsoku, A Letter to My Lady, the Nun Myōichi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 133-134