Upholders of Lotus Sūtra Are Envied by the King of Devils

Deer are killed by men because the meat is tasty, and tortoises lose their lives because of their good fat. Attractive women are envied by many others. Those who govern a country must worry about defending it against foreign forces, while property owners are susceptible to the dangers of life. Likewise, upholders of the Lotus Sūtra with the assurance of achieving Buddhahood are envied by the king of devils in the Sixth Heaven, who is the lord of the triple world of the unenlightened. It is preached in scriptures that this king of devils will haunt kings, parents, wives and children and envy the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the same way as how people fall victims to epidemics without seeing the disease or how old sake can make people dead drunk without them realizing it. This is exactly what is happening in the world today. I have done nothing wrong, but simply because I chant Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, I have been hated by people as well as the rulers of Japan for more than twenty years, and chased out of residences and exiled twice until, finally, I retreated to this mountain.

Shuju Onfurumai Gosho, Reminiscences: from Tatsunokuchi to Minobu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 45