The world and the individual; the ideal and the actual

Nichiren’s fervor never declined, but in his quiet life as a recluse his mind was occupied, perhaps exclusively, with enthusiasm for his ideal. His method was no longer confined to vehement warnings to the nation, and fiery attacks upon other Buddhists; he reflected calmly and examined again and again the meaning of the ideal Kingdom of Buddha as the basis of the Buddhist Catholic Church of which his proposed Holy See [Kaidan] should be the center. He was always firm in the conviction that the Holy See was to be established in Japan, the land where the savior of the Latter Days was destined to appear, and where he, the man, was actually born and was doing the savior’s work. Yet, on the other hand, his work was not merely for the sake of a small country, composed of many islands. Just as he recognized in his own life two aspects, the actual and mortal, on the one side, and the ideal and eternal, on the other, so he saw in Japan a similar twofold significance, one, the physically limited, and the other, to be realized through transformation according to his high ideal. In this latter sense, Japan meant for him the whole world. He said once:

“The great master Myōraku says in his commentary on the [Lotus Sutra], ‘The children benefit the world by propagating the Truth of the Father.’ The children means here the Saints-out-of-earth; “the Father” is the Lord Śākyamuni; ‘the world,’ Japan; ‘benefit’ means the attainment of Buddhahood; and ‘Truth,’ the Adoration of the Lotus of Truth. Even now, this is not otherwise because ‘the Father’ means Nichiren; ‘the children,’ Nichiren’s disciples and followers; ‘the world,’ Japan; ‘benefit,’ the life (of these men) laboring to perpetuate (the Truth) and hasten the attainment of Buddhahood; and ‘Truth’ means the Sacred Title handed down to us from Viśiṣṭacāritra.”

What he meant was this: Buddhahood, or Truth, is eternal. It can be, and ought to be, made a fact in our own life. Nichiren is the man sent to lead all to that life, and he is now assisted by his followers, who are, therefore, the Saints prophesied in the [Lotus Sutra]. The attainment of Buddhahood is not a matter of individuals or of the aggregate of individuals, it is the embodiment of the all-embracing communion of all beings in the organic unity of Buddhahood which is inherent in them all. This realization is the Kingdom of Buddha, the establishment of the Land of Treasures, as Nichiren had declared in his Risshō Ankoku Ron and explained on many occasions. Now this Kingdom of Buddha is, properly speaking, immanent in the soul of everyone, but it can only be realized in the spiritual and moral community of those who are united in the Adoration of the Lotus, and in the worship of the Supreme Being as revealed by Nichiren. This community has been organized by Nichiren and is growing in the fellowship of his followers. It is to be further extended among their countrymen, and finally to the whole world. The individual, the nation, the world, and the Kingdom of Buddha – these terms stand for different aspects of the one ideal. The Holy Catholic Church of Buddhism is to have the world, the whole cosmos, as its stage; while the cosmos is not to be conceived as a mere universe in space, but essentially exists in the heart of every true Buddhist. Buddha is the Father and Lord of the Kingdom, and his children should strive for the realization of the Kingdom both in their own lives and in the community of all beings.

Nichiren’s thinking always aimed, as we have seen, to unite two opposites, and to explain either by reference to the other. This method was applied to the relation between the particular and the universal, between the world and the individual, between human nature and Buddhahood. So also with the Kingdom of Buddha. It is individual and universal at the same time; either aspect is incomplete apart from the other; individual perfection is inconceivable without the basis of the universal truth, while the universal community cannot exist apart from the spiritual enlightenment of every individual. The Kingdom means the complete working out of the harmonious relation of these two aspects of perfection – Buddhahood. Thus, we see that Nichiren’s mind was occupied as much as ever with his own mission and actual life, while at the same time he was thinking no less earnestly on the coming Kingdom of Buddha. He believed himself to be the savior of the coming ages and was therefore concerned for the future of his religion; but the future was foreshadowed in his present life, and he saw a “Land of Treasures” even in his own hermitage.

“Behold, the kingdom of God [Buddha nature] is within you!” This was the creed of Nichiren also, witnessed by his life, confirmed by the [Lotus Sutra], and supported by his metaphysical speculation. When he concentrated his thought on his own calling, he was in communion with the saints in the Lotus; when he expressed anxiety about his country, yet with confidence in its destiny, he was a prophet and an ideal patriot; when he reflected on his tranquil life among the mountains, he was almost a lyric poet, glorifying his surroundings by his religious vision; he was a scholastic philosopher when he interpreted the truths of existence and the nature of the religious community; and he was a mystic in his vision of the future realization of Buddhahood in himself and in the Kingdom of Buddha. Enough has now been said about his conception of his mission, and we shall presently see how he idealized his abode at Minobu; but before taking up this poetic side of his character, let us examine a piece of his scholastic mysticism.

---

---

NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Table of Contents

---

Minobu, the place of retirement

The place whither Nichiren retired was surrounded on all sides by high mountains, and when his hermitage was finished in summertime, he doubtless enjoyed cool breezes rustling in the green trees on the slopes. “Like screens,” he wrote to a lady in the following winter, “steep peaks surround my abode. On the mountains trees and grasses grow luxuriantly; in the valleys are rolling stones and rocks. Wolves howl and monkeys cry, and the echoes of their voices resound through hill and dale; deer plaintively call the does, and crickets chirp noisily. Flowers that elsewhere bloom in spring, bloom here in summer, and fruits do not ripen till winter. Occasionally human figures are seen, but they are only wood cutters; or sometimes I have visits from some of my comrades in religion.”

His mind often turned to retrospection on his past; but what now occupied his quiet thought was rather the future destiny of his religion. As the one foreordained to fulfil the prophecies of the Lotus, he had gone through all perils, and was enjoying the tranquility of a hermit. A mere secluded life, however, was not his mission. What should he do for the consummation of his lifework, and for the perpetuation of his gospel? This was his question, and he formulated it immediately after his arrival at Minobu. The result was the essay referred to at the close of the last chapter, which was, in fact, intended to be the proclamation of Nichiren’s plan, for the accomplishment of which he was about to prepare.

---

---

NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Table of Contents

---

His retirement and his reason for retiring from the world

The clamorous prophet was now suddenly changed to a silent recluse or a voluntary exile. Five days’ journey brought him to his new abode, and the local chief of the place, Lord Hakiri, one of his warrior followers, welcomed him. A little hut was built in a deep valley in the midst of high peaks, and there the recluse began his new life with a few of his beloved disciples. This place, called Minobu, became Nichiren’s home for the last eight years of his life, and, as we shall see later, he regarded it as a paradise on earth because of his residence there.

The change was perhaps quite unexpected, even to his intimate followers, but was a premeditated plan on the part of Nichiren. Various motives have been conjectured for this sudden turn in his life, but he himself, better than anyone else, tells us why he made it. The simplest explanation of the matter is given in the words: “I had always resolved to repeat my remonstrance three times, and to retire if these attempts should prove a failure.” Now the “three times is in accordance with an old Chinese proverb, and Nichiren had delivered his message thrice: in 1260, when he had presented his Risshō Ankoku Ron; in 1268, when he had repeated the remonstrance as a kind of ultimatum; and now, when he had pressed his demands after the return from Sado. But when we read between the lines, the retirement meant a continuation of his life in exile. It had been his determination not to return to Kamakura, unless the Hōjōs should be completely converted, and now his return had proved a failure. How could he remain peacefully in Kamakura? If he should continue his protests, his fate was plain – another execution or another exile! He was not so blind as to expect anything better. Why should he not become a voluntary exile, instead of a compulsory one? The reception of his third and last remonstrance was the occasion of his retirement, but not its true cause. His motives lay deeper. Let us see what they were.

The first was negative, the idea of expiation. We have already seen that Nichiren conceived his suffering as expiation. His idea was, “Expiation of my sins is the fulfilment of my mission to perpetuate the Lotus of Truth to the coming ages. Sins are not extinguished until the aim be attained.” Since his triumphal entry had proved a failure, he must continue the expiation as he had been doing in Sado. Naturally, he associated with expiation a measure of suffering. Whenever he suffered from the extreme cold of Minobu, he must have reminded himself of his first winter in Sado; and he always rejoiced to liken his suffering with the self-castigation of Buddha during his years of self-training among the mountains. “The height of the hermitage is only seven feet, while the depth of snow is ten feet. Ice makes up the walls, and the icicles are like the beads of garlands decorating shrines.”

Whenever his followers at a distance sent him food or clothing, he wrote touching letters thanking them for the presents, and likened his benefactors to his parents or to those persons who supplied food to Buddha. His life at Minobu was one of extreme simplicity and austerity, and he never left the obscure spot. The uninviting place, a small piece of level ground, “as large as the palm of a hand,” surrounded by high peaks, was his abode for eight years. Here he constructed a hermitage and rejected Lord Hakiri’s offer to erect a larger edifice. It was only in the year before his death that he at last consented to the building of an assembly hall of moderate size; but he enjoyed his abode there as if it were a paradise.

“Expiation” was the thought that constantly occupied his mind, but this idea was, after all, a negative one; the positive, and by far more important, reason of his retirement was his solicitude for the future of his religion. As we have had repeated occasion to note, Nichiren associated every step of his life with some feature of the [Lotus Sutra], and especially regarded his life in Sado as the chief part, the climax, of his life. Now the last stage was to be inaugurated and dedicated to the consummation of his mission and to the perpetuation of his religion, just as the last twelve chapters of the [Lotus Sutra] made up the consummation of the Truth. He had proclaimed the Sacred Title at the outset of his ministry; he had furnished the object of worship and spiritual introspection by the graphic representation of the Supreme Being [Gohonzon Maṇḍala]; one thing alone remained – to prepare for or establish, the central seat of his religion. These three instruments of his propaganda were called the “Three Mysteries.” Although there are some allusions to them in his writings before this time, Nichiren proclaimed this trinity for the first time in the first essay written after his retirement. This treatise is dated the twenty-fourth of the fifth month – just a week after his arrival at Minobu. The great plan which he had long been meditating, and the motive which led him to retire from the present world, and to work for the future, was the establishment of the “Kaidan,” or the Holy See of the Catholic Church of Buddhism.

In that essay he says:

“What, then, is that mystery which Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu, T’ien T’ai and Dengyō have not revealed during the more than two thousand years since Buddha’s decease? It is naught else but the Supreme Being (Honzon), the Holy See (Kaidan), and the five characters of the Sacred Title (Daimoku), all according to the truth of the primeval Buddhahood. …

“Behold the tribulations and commotions coming one upon another! They are, indeed, the signs heralding the appearance of the sages, Viśiṣṭacāritra and the others. They will appear and establish the Three Gateways to the truth of the primeval Buddhahood. Then, throughout the four heavens and the four quarters will prevail universally the Lotus of the Perfect Truth. Can there be any doubt about this?”

---

---

NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Table of Contents

---

His return to Kamakura and the last breach with the government

Nichiren had in various ways inspired awe in the Hōjōs, and their own troubles caused them to think again of the exile who had spoken like a prophet, and whose predictions seemed to be having their fulfilment. The opinions of the authorities were divided, and Nichiren still had many implacable enemies, but the Commissioner Tokimune finally decided to recall Nichiren to Kamakura. It seems that an intimation of this outcome had been given by Tokimori in the message accompanying the swords. The edict for his release was issued on the fourteenth of the second month, and reached Sado in the following month, two weeks after the letter above quoted was written, on the eighth of the third month. Nichiren complied with the order, bade farewell to his followers in the island, and left his abode of two years and a half, as signs of spring were appearing after a long winter, on the thirteenth of the third month. His religious opponents made attempts on his life at several points on the way, but the guards furnished by the government protected him, and brought him in safety to Kamakura, where he arrived on the twenty-sixth of the third month, after a journey of two weeks.

It was a triumphal entry for Nichiren. Not only did his old disciples and followers rejoice over the fulfilment of their long-cherished hope, but the government circles seemed to listen to Nichiren, and to seek his advice about the measures to be taken in view of the threatened Mongol invasion. Ten days after the return, on the memorable eighth of the fourth month, Nichiren was invited to the Commissioner’s office. It now became the duty of Hei no Saemon, his bitter enemy, to communicate the goodwill of the Commissioner and to make advances to Nichiren. Let Nichiren himself tell the story:

“All of them received me courteously – something quite different from their former attitude. Some asked me questions about Amita Buddha, others about the Shingon mysteries, others again about Zen. Hei no Saemon himself put questions concerning the efficacy of the teachings current before the revelation of the Lotus. I replied to them all by citing the Scriptures. Hei no Saemon, on behalf of His Excellence, the Commissioner, asked me when the Mongols would come over. I answered that they were to be expected within this year, etc.”

Thus the officials showed some readiness to yield to Nichiren’s propaganda. He, on his part, did not fail to take the opportunity to renew his strong remonstrances and warnings. His attitude was as aggressive as before, and he showed no disposition to compromise. Nothing would do but that the nation as a whole should at once adopt his religion, while all other religions should be prohibited, and their leaders severely punished. He commented on the many wrongs done by the Hōjō government, not only to himself, but to the religion of Buddha and to the country. Nichiren retired from the palace, and the government was put in a serious dilemma, whether to comply with the demands of the intransigent prophet or to ignore him. Either course seemed to them not only unwise but impracticable. Finally, they adopted a compromise, and offered the prophet a great donation, together with high ecclesiastical rank and a public grant for his propaganda. Although the document embodying these proposals which is preserved by the Nichirenites is certainly not authentic, there is little doubt that the authorities wished to see Nichiren’s polemics subdued, and to have him join in the prayers for the repulse of the Mongol invaders. Naturally, the prophet would hear to no compromise, but persisted in his demands.

While the question of Nichiren’s propaganda was being discussed, the government gave fresh evidence that it had undergone no change of heart but put its confidence as before in the Shingon mysteries. It was a time of a long drought, and the authorities called on the other Buddhists to pray for rain, as was customary. Nichiren was very indignant. He saw in the offers made to him a deceptive bait, and in the measures taken for rain an open dishonor done to himself. He protested again and again, but the government always vacillated, while his opponents were renewing their accusations and intrigues. The sequel of the triumphal entry was an irreconcilable breach. Nichiren left Kamakura, on the twelfth of the fifth month, and, taking only a few disciples and retainers, set out for a place among the mountains on the west side of Fuji.

---

---

NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Table of Contents

---

Nichiren’s attitude toward the government and the nation

Ever since Nichiren was exiled, his followers, especially the warriors connected with the government, had been trying to have him recalled. Nichiren disapproved their plan and bade them abstain from agitation of that kind. His idea seems to have been that the perils and sufferings heaped upon him were necessary as a means of strengthening the evidence of his mission; it had ever been his conviction that the more faithful the propagator of the Truth was, the stronger would be the opposition and the more severe the persecution. Another reason, as we have seen before, was the idea of expiation; his sufferings, as he conceived it, were all to be endured as the necessary means of expiating the sins accumulated from all eternity by estrangement from the Lotus of Truth.

These subjective reasons for opposing efforts for his release were reinforced by an external consideration. All the steps taken by him up to that moment had for their end the conversion of the government and the nation to his faith. He had done everything he could to bring this about, and finally was sentenced to death. His return to the main island would be useless unless something new should happen to hasten the accomplishment of his ideals and ends. His release would be acceptable only in case the government authorities should repent of the measures they had taken toward him and be converted. “I shall never return, until they are willing to yield to my proposals.” Judged from several of his own utterances, this seems to have been his determination.

In this frame of mind, Nichiren was watching current events, and looking for the possible repentance of the government. What he especially desired was the fulfilment of his prophecies about approaching dangers from internal disturbances and foreign invasion. And, indeed, events seemed more and more to confirm these predictions. While Nichiren’s case was pending, a Mongol ship with one hundred men arrived, causing a panic, although it finally proved not to be a warship. In the following years, 1272 and 1273, Mongol envoys came repeatedly and urged a reply to the messages of the Khan, and the Japanese government was busily engaged in plans for defense, as well as in offering prayers to Shinto and Buddhist deities. Beside the danger from the Mongols, a serious struggle broke out between two Hōjō brothers, which ended in a fratricide. It was after this event that the government, as has been related above, ordered the governor of Sado to give Nichiren a better abode, and to take good care of the exile. Nichiren regarded these occurrences as signs of his success, and at the same time rejoiced in his sufferings as being evidence of his mission. About this time, also, an influential member of the Hōjōs, of the name Tokimori, began to revere Nichiren, and often sent him presents and comforting letters. Although Tokimori seems to have had the superstitious motive of securing Nichiren’s intercession with Buddha, and his prayers to avert the threatened invasion, yet he gave progressive evidence of sincere conversion to Nichiren’s religion. This was another sign of Nichiren’s triumph.

The Hōjōs were not unanimously hostile to Nichiren. Tokimori, the elder, not only showed his goodwill toward him, but finally sent a precious sword as a token of the conversion of his Samurai soul to the Lotus of Truth. Nichiren thanked him heartily for it and advised the convert further to solidify his faith. The letter reads:

“I, Nichiren, am perhaps the most intractable man in Japan. I warned you that all manner of disasters would take place, because you worshipped Amita, Dainichi, and those Buddhas whom you held dearer than your parents and more precious than your sovereign; and that you were destined, in this world, to ruin yourselves and cause the fall of the country, and in the future life, to sink to the nethermost hell. Because I gave these warnings incessantly, I am suffering from persecutions. I am suffering from the perils heaped upon me by my adversaries, three in kind, simply because I am the one who lives the life of the Lotus of Truth. That you have become a follower of such a man is something beyond common expectation; there must be some significance in the fact. Be strenuous in your faith and prepare yourself to partake in the communion of the Paradise of Vulture Peak!

“You have sent one sword, with its mate, as your offering … to the Lotus of Truth. The swords were, while in your hands, weapons of malice; now, being offered to Buddha, they are weapons of good. … These swords will serve as staves in your journey beyond. Know that the Lotus of Truth is the staff for all Buddhas on their way to enlightenment! Especially rely on me, Nichiren, as the staff and pillar! … The Sacred Title will be your guidance and support on the journey after death. The Buddhas Prabhūtaratna and Śākyamuni, as well as the four chief Bodhisattvas, will surely lead you by the hand. If I should be there before you, I, also, will not fail to welcome you. …

“I cannot say all I have to say in this letter. Put your faith in all the deities (the guardians of the Truth)! March indefatigably on in the way of faith and reach your final destiny! Tell your ladies also of all this! Sincerely in reverence.”

This letter is indeed significant as evincing Nichiren’s affection for a member of the Hōjōs, and as a sign that they were inclining more to him. It is dated the twenty-first of the second month, 1274, just when the sentence of release was on the way to Sado.

---

The revelation of the Great Maṇḍala and further thoughts on
his mission

Let me conclude this chapter by quoting another letter, written at the same time with the “Reality as It Is.” It is entitled “The Realization of Buddha’s Prophecies,” and is an additional witness to Nichiren’s firm conviction of his mission.

“What a great fortune it is to extinguish in this life the sins we have accumulated from eternity by degrading the Truth! What a joy to serve the Lord Śākyamuni, whom we had thought never to see or hear! Let these be my earnest desires, first of all, to persuade the rulers who have persecuted me, to announce to the Lord Śākya (the names of those) of my followers who have assisted me; and to recommend the highest good to my parents, who gave me birth, before they die.

“I have seen, as in a vision, the spirit of the ‘Apparition of the Heavenly Shrine.” The text says, “To grasp the world-mountain, Sumeru, and to throw it to the innumerable lands of Buddhas in various directions – even this is not a thing impossible; but a thing most difficult would it be adequately to preach the Scripture in the degenerate ages after Buddha’s decease,’ etc.

“The Great Master Dengyō said: ‘Śākyamuni has shown a clear distinction between the shallow, which is easy to grasp, and the profound, which is difficult to receive; and it should be the ambition of a great man, leaving the shallow, to take up the profound. The Great Master T’ien T’ai promulgated, in obedient faith in Lord Śākya, the doctrines of the Lotus of Truth in the land of Cathay; and our school, having its center at Hiei, is doing the same in Japan, in accordance with the tradition of T’ien T’ai, for the sake of the Lotus of Truth.’

“I, Nichiren, a native of Awa, am most probably the man whose mission it is, succeeding to the heritage of the three masters, to propagate the doctrines of the Lotus of Truth throughout the ages of the Latter Law. Now another is added to the three, and we shall be called the four great masters of the three countries.”

---

“The Reality as It is” and the personal realization of Buddhahood

This conception of the Buddha-nature, and of its realization in ourselves through worship, are consequences of the time-honored theory of the Threefold Personality (tri-kāya) of Buddha. But the characteristic feature in Nichiren’s ideas is that he never was content to talk of abstract truth, but always applied the truth taught to actual life, bringing it into vital touch with his own life. Ethics and metaphysics are never to be separated, but to be united in religion, and religion means a life actually embodying truth and virtue. Truths are revealed and virtues inculcated in the Lotus of Truth, and consequently the true religious life is equivalent to “reading the Scripture by person.” Thus, the essay, which begins with discussions of the metaphysical entity of Buddha-nature, proceeds naturally to a consideration of the Buddhist life, especially as exemplified in Nichiren’s own life. In it he says:

“I, Nichiren, a man born in the ages of the Latter Law, have nearly achieved the task of pioneership in propagating the Perfect Truth, the task assigned to the Bodhisattva Viśiṣṭacāritra. The eternal Buddhahood of Śākyamuni, as he revealed himself in the chapter on Life-duration, in accordance with his primeval entity; the Buddha Prabhūtaratna, who appeared in the Heavenly Shrine, in the chapter on its appearance, and who represents Buddhahood in the manifestation of its efficacy; the Saints (Bodhisattvas) who sprang out of the earth, as made known in the chapter on the Issuing out of Earth – in revealing all these three, I have done the work of the pioneer (among those who perpetuate the Truth); too high an honor, indeed, for me, a common mortal! …

“I, Nichiren, am the one who takes the lead of the Saints-out-of-Earth. Then may I not be one of them? If I, Nichiren, am one of them, why may not all my disciples and followers be their kinsmen? The Scripture says, “If one preaches to anybody the Lotus of Truth, even just one clause of it, he is, know ye, the messenger of the Tathāgata, the one commissioned by the Tathāgata, and the one who does the work of the Tathāgata.” How, then, can I be anybody else than this one? …

“By all means, awaken faith by seizing this opportunity! Live your life through as the one who embodies the Truth and go on without hesitation as a kinsman of Nichiren! If you are one in faith with Nichiren, you are one of the Saints-out-of-Earth; if you are destined to be such, how can you doubt that you are the disciple of the Lord Śākyamuni from all eternity? There is assurance of this in a word of Buddha, which says: “I have always, from eternity, been instructing and quickening all these beings.” No attention should be paid to the difference between men and women among those who would propagate the Lotus of the Perfect Truth in the days of the Latter Law. To utter the Sacred Title is, indeed, the privilege of the Saints-out-of-Earth. …

“When the Buddha Prabhūtaratna sat in the Heavenly Shrine side by side with the Tathāgata Śākyamuni, the two Buddhas lifted up the banner of the Lotus of the Perfect Truth, and declared themselves to be the Commanders (in the coming fight against vice and illusion). How can this be a deception? Indeed, they have thereby agreed to raise us mortal beings, to the rank of Buddha. I, Nichiren, was not present there in the congregation, and yet there is no reason to doubt the statements of the Scripture. Or, is it possible that I was there? Common mortal that I am, I am not well aware of the past, yet in the present I am unmistakably the one who is realizing the Lotus of Truth. Then in the future I am surely destined to participate in the communion of the Holy Place. Inferring the past from the present and the future, I should think that I must have been present at the Communion in the Sky. (The present assures the future destiny, and the future destiny is inconceivable without its cause in the past.) The present, future, and past cannot be isolated from one another.

“When I meditate on these things, my joy has no limit, in spite of the miseries of the life of an exile. Tears in joy, tears in afflictions. … I shed tears in thinking of the present perils and sufferings; my tears cannot be checked even in the midst of rejoicing over the destiny of Buddhahood that is before me. Birds and insects cry and weep, but shed no tears; I, Nichiren, neither cry nor weep, yet no moment passes without tears. These are shed, indeed, not on account of any worldly matter but for the sake of the Lotus of Truth. If this be so, these tears are drops of ambrosia. …

“In this document, the truths most precious to me are written down. Read, and read again; read into the letters and fix them into your mind! Thus put faith in the Supreme Being, represented in a way unique in the whole world! Ever more strongly I advise you to be firm in faith, and to be under the protection of the threefold Buddhahood. March strenuously on in the ways of practice and learning! Without practice and learning the Buddhist religion is nullified. Train yourself, and also instruct others! Be convinced that practice and learning are fruits of faith! So long as, and so far as, there is power in you, preach, if it be only a clause or a word (of the Scripture)! Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō! Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō! Sincerely, in reverence.

“Let me add: Herewith I have delivered to you the truths revealed to me, Nichiren. Precious truths are specially transmitted to you. What a mysterious dispensation! … O, may I, Nichiren, be a kinsman of the Saints-out-of-Earth, six myriads of Gangā-sands in number? All this I do with the sole aim of leading all men and women in this country, Japan (nay in the world), to the communion of those who utter “Namu Myōhō-renge-kyō.” Does not the Scripture say, “The one called Viśiṣṭacāritra … and he, (together with the three other leaders) is the leader in utterance?” That you have become my disciple is indeed the result of a remote connection. Keep this letter carefully for yourself! Know that I, Nichiren, have therein recorded the truths realized personally by myself! Good-by.”

The above essays were the introduction to the revelation of the Supreme Being in graphic representation. When he had thus expounded his thoughts, he undertook, in the summer of 1273, the work of the “revelation,” the climax of his life work. The design was as described above, and beneath were added two postscripts. On the right side, “This is the great Maṇḍala, which has never before appeared throughout the whole Jambudvipa (world) during the two thousand two hundred and twenty and more years elapsed since Buddha’s decease.” On the left side, “Having been sentenced (to death) on the twelfth day of the ninth month, in the eighth year of Brunei, and having been later exiled afar to the island of Sado, on the eighth day of the seventh month, in the tenth year of the same, Nichiren makes this representation, for the first time.”

Whatever Nichiren’s followers may claim about this Maṇḍala and the postscripts, and whatever criticism modem scholars may make, it remains an undoubted fact that Nichiren attached the greatest importance to this work, as being the pivotal point in his life. After this, begins the last part of his life, the consummation, and preparation for the perpetuation, of his religion, in accordance with the threefold division of the Scripture mentioned above.

---

---

NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Table of Contents

---

The Supreme Being; the union of the Truth and his Person

With these thoughts on the truth of mutual revelation, and with a special emphasis on the necessity of a simple and concrete representation of the Supreme Being, Nichiren composed the treatise on “The Spiritual Introspection of the Supreme Being, Revealed for the First Time in the Fifth Five Centuries after the Tathāgata’s Great Decease.” He describes the symbolic representation as follows:

“The august state of the Supreme Being (Svādi-devatā) is this: The Heavenly Shrine is floating in the sky over the Sahā world ruled by the Primeval Master, the Lord Buddha. In the Shrine is seen the Sacred Title of the Lotus of the Perfect Truth, on either side of which are seated the Buddhas Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna, and also on the sides, at a greater distance, the four Bodhisattva leaders, the Viśiṣṭacāritra and others. The Bodhisattvas like Mañjuśrī and Maitreya are seated farther down, as attendants of the former, while the innumerable hosts of the Bodhisattvas, enlightened by the manifestations of Buddha, sit around the central group, like a great crowd of people looking up toward the court nobles surrounding the throne.”

In his graphic representation of this scene, Nichiren makes place for all other kinds of beings, men and gods, spirits and demons, all surrounding the central Sacred Title. His idea was to represent adequately, from his point of view, the perfect union of the Truth and the Person, manifested not only in Buddhas and saints, but inherent even in the beings immersed in illusion and vice. The whole was intended to be a visible embodiment of the truth of cosmic existence, as realized in the all-comprehensive conception of “mutual participation” [Ichinen Sanzen] and illuminated by the all-enlightening power of the Truth.”

The universe is the stage of mutual participation and reciprocal interaction, which proceed according to the truths, or laws, of existence. Buddha, in his real entity, is nothing but another name for this cosmos of orderly existence. Seen from this angle, the Truth is fundamental and the Person is secondary; but the Truth and its laws cannot exist nor work without everlasting wisdom, the cosmic soul which is the source of all wisdom, which ordains all laws and causes all beings to exist. This is the personal aspect of the universe and is the real personality of the eternal Buddha. Buddha, the Lord of Truth, as he declares himself to be, in the second chapter of the Lotus, and the eternal Father of the world, as he reveals himself in the sixteenth chapter, is the Father and Master of all beings. This Buddha has appeared, as is made known in the chapter on the Apparition of the Heavenly Shrine, in the person of two Buddhas, Śākyamuni and Prabhūtaratna; and this celestial manifestation was meant to show the efficacy of Buddha’s wisdom to lead all beings alienated from it to the full enlightenment of the universal truths. The basic truth of existence and its everlasting laws are inherent in every being, while the personal manifestations of Buddhahood are working to bring all beings to full consciousness of their own real nature. In other words, all beings, participating in the primeval wisdom of the universe, are developing their proper nature in conjunction with the educative activity of the Buddhas. Taking this view of the cosmic movement, the Supreme Being is nothing but the union of the Truth and the Person, as realized in the person of Buddha and to be realized in each of us.

This union is now graphically represented in the Cycle, or Maṇḍala, in the center of which the Truth stands, surrounded by all kinds of existences. And the Cycle is the means to inspire our spiritual life with the truth of mutual interaction, and to induce us to full participation in the universal harmony. Seen in this light, the object of worship, the Supreme Being is to be sought nowhere but in the innermost recess of every man’s nature, because the final aim of worship is the complete realization of the Supreme Being in ourselves. Ethically speaking, Buddha is our Lord and Father, but metaphysically the Lord and Father is the means of perpetuating Truth and Life, which are to be made actual by us. These two sides are united in the act of religious worship, which is, on the one hand, adoration of the universal Truth embodied in the person of Buddha, and, on the other, the realization, in thought and life, of the Buddha-nature in ourselves. These principles of ethical, metaphysical, and religious teaching were formulated by Nichiren in a further exposition of the conception of the Supreme Being, in the essay on “The Reality as It Is,” written in the fifth month, that is, between the composition of the “Spiritual Introspection” and the revelation of the graphic representation in the Mandala.

---

---

NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Table of Contents

---

The Supreme Being and the doctrine of “mutual participation”

The fundamental teaching of the Lotus concerning the reality of the universe amounts to this, that every being exists and subsists by virtue of the inexhaustible qualities inherent in each. There are innumerable individuals, and also groups of beings, including Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, celestial beings, mankind, furious spirits, beings in the purgatories, etc. Their respective characteristics are unmistakably distinct, but their qualities and conditions are constantly subject to change, because in each of the beings are inherent the qualities manifest in others, the differences arising simply from the varying configuration of the manifest and the potential qualities. Moreover, even taking the existences as they are at a given moment, they cannot subsist but by mutual interaction and influence. To subsist by itself by no means signifies to be separate from others; on the contrary, to interact one with another is the nature of every particular being. These features of existence are the laws or truths (dharma), and the cosmos is the stage of the infinite varieties and interactions of the dharmas, in other words, the realm of “mutual participation” [Ichinen Sanzen].

These teachings are stated in the Lotus of Truth, and have been explained and elucidated by many a great master of the past; but they remain simply doctrines, so long as they are merely understood, and not personally experienced. Vain is all talk and discussion concerning existences and reality unless the virtues of existence are realized in one’s own person. Noble and sublime may be the conception of the Supreme Being, but it is but an idol or image, a dead abstraction, if we ourselves do not participate in its supreme existence and realize in ourselves its excellent qualities. Thus, worship or adoration means a realization of the Supreme Being, together with all its attributes and manifestations, first, through our own spiritual introspection, and, second, in our life and deeds. The practice of introspection is carried on in religious meditation. This, however, does not necessarily mean intricate and mysterious methods, such as are employed by many Buddhists; the end can be attained by uttering the Sacred Title, and by gazing in reverence at the graphic representation of the Supreme Being as revealed by Nichiren. The truths of universal existence and “mutual participation” [Ichinen Sanzen] remain abstractions if detached from the true moral life; but any morality, however perfect it may seem, is vain apart from the profound conviction in the truth of the “mutual participation” [Ichinen Sanzen], and from an apprehension of our primeval relation to the Lord of the Universe [, the Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha of chapter 16].

Thus, to participate in the virtues of the Supreme Being is the aim of worship; but that participation means nothing but the restoration of our primeval connection with the eternal Buddha, which is equivalent to the realization of our own true nature. In other words, the true self of every being is realized through full participation in the virtues of the Supreme Being, who, again, reveals himself – or itself – in the perfect life of every believer. The relation between the worshipped and the worshipper exemplifies most clearly the truth of “mutual participation” [Ichinen Sanzen], because the worshipped, the Supreme Being, is a mere transcendence if it does not reveal itself in the believer’s life, while the worshipper realizes his true being and mission only through the elevating help (adhiṣṭāna) of the Supreme Being[, the Eternal Śākyamuni Buddha of chapter 16]. Thus, mutual participation is at the same time mutual revelation – realization of the true being through mutual relationship, to be attained by us through spiritual introspection and moral living. Religious worship, in this sense, is at the same time moral life; and moral relationships in the human world are nothing but partial aspects of the fundamental correlation between us and the Supreme Being. The point to be emphasized in regard to this conception of the religious relation is that the Supreme Being alone, without our worship of it in enlightenment and life, is not a perfect Being, just as, without a child, “father” is but an empty name, if not a contradiction in terms.

---

---

NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Table of Contents

---

Peace in exile; the object of religious worship

A peaceful summer had passed, the short days of autumn followed one another, and the dreary winter was nigh. The exile continued to ponder on his mission, now more deeply and calmly than ever before. His faith in his mission was firmly established, and his aggressive propaganda was bearing fruit, not only in winning many converts, but even in inspiring awe in his opponents. Toward the end of the year in which he was banished, the Mongols caused fresh alarm by sending a number of ships, which were followed in the next year by another embassy. Family strife broke out among the Hōjōs, and members of the clan killed one another. All these events were interpreted by Nichiren and his followers as the results of the injustice done the prophet, and also as a fulfilment of his warning predictions. This was a triumph for Nichiren, but what concerned him more was the future of the nation and of the religion. In the Sacred Title he had given his religion a standard and a form of worship suitable to every people in the Latter Days; he had also explained who Buddha is, and the relation between Buddha and ourselves. But the object of worship had not yet been clearly defined. What should it be? How should it be presented to men’s physical and spiritual vision? The next task, the consummation of his activities hitherto, was the solution of this problem, the revelation of the Supreme Being, and a preparation for the complete fulfilment of his great mission.

The thought had occupied him, as he tells us, since the autumn (eleventh month) of 1272. The way in which he solved the problem was quite characteristic of his philosophical cast of mind; as well as of his practical nature – philosophical, because Nichiren always emphasized the Truth, the metaphysical basis of existence, and was never content to worship a personal god, whether Buddha or any other deity, merely as a being existing beside ourselves; practical, because his special endeavor was to seize the very quintessence of Truth, and to present it in a way so simple and concrete that even the least intelligent might be inspired and moved by it.

Surely, the Lord Śākyamuni, when understood as the primeval Tathāgata, is the ultimate entity of the universe, and consequently the object of worship. Yet, when he is simply represented, as he is represented by other Buddhists, in an image, or in any other manner suggesting a particular person, the erroneous conception immediately arises, that the person is different from the Truth that he embodies. On the other hand, Nichiren’s religion was not the worship of an abstract truth, but a life to be lived by every being, human, or other. Thus, the thing to be done was to unite the Truth and the Person in a concrete representation, and to regard it as the embodiment of the Supreme Being. This had been partly accomplished in the formula of worship symbolized in the Sacred Title. But this latter means of religious worship, chiefly intended for oral utterance, was to be supplemented by providing the soul with a representation of the Supreme Being which symbolized a perfect union of the eternal Truth with the primeval person of Buddha. The result was set forth in the “Spiritual Introspection of the Supreme Being,” an essay finished on the twenty-fifth of the fourth month; and a tangible symbolic representation was made on the eighth day of the seventh month, 1273. Now let us see what the idea and representation were.

---

---

NICHIREN: THE BUDDHIST PROPHET

Table of Contents

---