Essay on Recompense of Indebtedness

Nichiren’s compassion is boundless and therefore “Namu Myoho Renge-kyo” will spread forever beyond the ten thousand year-period. It has the merit of curing the blindness of all people and blocks the way to hell. This merit is superior than those of Dengyō, Tendai, Ryūju and Kashō. The practice for a hundred years in the Pure Land is not worth the merit of chanting the Odaimoku for one day in this defiled world. Propagation of the Odaimoku in the two thousand Year-period after the death of the Buddha is not worth as much as spreading the Odaimoku for a while in the Latter Age of the Declining Law. This is not due to my wisdom; it is solely due to the time in which I live.

(Explanatory note)

Nichiren Shonin always called himself Nichiren. In this writing he said that his compassion to save people and lead them to salvation is so great that the Lotus Sutra would spread not only during the ten thousand years of the Latter Age of the Declining Law but also forever thereafter. His spreading of the Lotus Sutra today has the merit of opening the eyes of all the people of Japan, who had been blinded by the wrong religions to the true religion. This merit has also blocked the road to hell for those who unknowingly slandered the true jaw. This great merit, he claims, is greater than those of the great masters of true Buddhism such as Great Masters Dengyō and Tendai, the Bodhisattva Ryūju and the Venerable Kashō. Is it not logical that the merit accumulated in this world of suffering is much greater than the merit accumulated through the practice of a hundred years in the peace and tranquility of the Land of Paradise? Perhaps we could say that the merit of spreading the true law in the age of two thousand years following the death of the Buddha, when it was relatively easy though it is of course precious, could be said to be less than the merit of spreading the true teaching even for a short while in these dangerous and decadent days of the Latter Age. Nichiren Shonin said that this was not because his wisdom was greater than others, but it was because of the time in which he lived — Latter Age of the Declining Law — that he had the opportunity to accumulate greater merits.