The Kalpa of Decrease is a period of cosmic change in which the individual life span decreases from 80,000 years to ten and human beings degenerate. The cause of this decrease in life span and degeneration of human life lies in the mind of human beings. Namely, as the three evil passions of human beings — greed, anger, and ignorance — grow rampant, the life span of human beings gradually decreases, and their height is diminished.
Before the transmission of Buddhism to China and Japan, non-Buddhist teachings of the Three Emperors, Five Rulers, and Three Sages were used to educate the people and govern the country. As a result, human hearts hardened and virtue declined while evil flourished.
Chie Bōkoku Gosho, Evil Wisdom Destroying the Country, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 84
In the first place, the “Wheel-turning Noble King” is the foremost among humans. When this king appears in the world, a huge tree called uḍumbara grows in the ocean, blossoms and bears fruits as an omen. There are four kinds of “Noble King” based on the different qualities of the wheel. When the “Golden-wheel King” appears, peace prevails throughout the Four Continents, the earth is as soft as cotton, the ocean is as sweet as nectar, and the seven treasures grow like plants and trees on golden mountains. This king can travel around the world in a moment as various heavenly beings protect him and demons come to serve him while the dragon king sends down rain when appropriate. Even lowly people can travel around the whole world in a moment by following this king. These wonderful merits of the “Wheel-turning Noble King” are all rewards for having practiced the “ten good acts” in the past lives.
Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 45-46
Zhiyi had taught that the Lotus Sūtra has the function of “opening and integrating” (J. kaie) the three vehicles within the one vehicle. … Nichiren understood this as opening the nine realms to reveal the buddha realm. But what did it mean in terms of practice? Nichiren’s contemporaries often freely combined copying and reciting the Lotus Sūtra with nenbutsu chanting, esoteric rituals, and other modes of Buddhist devotion. For many Tendai scholars of the day, the distinction between true and provisional teachings did not mean renouncing practices other than the Lotus Sūtra. It would indeed be a mistake, they said, to recite other sūtras or chant the names of the various buddhas and bodhisattvas thinking that these represented separate truths. But the one vehicle of the Lotus Sūtra integrates all other teachings within itself, just as the great ocean gathers all rivers. Therefore, they claimed, any practice — whether esoteric ritual performance, sūtra copying, or nenbutsu recitation — in effect becomes the practice of the Lotus Sūtra when carried out with this understanding. Others, however, disagreed, and none more vocally than Nichiren. To argue his point, he inverted the “rivers and ocean” metaphor. Once integrated into the Lotus Sūtra, he said, the nenbutsu, esoteric rites, and other practices lose their identity as independent practices, just as the many rivers emptying into the ocean assume the same salty flavor and lose their original names. Precisely because provisional teachings are integrated into the all encompassing principle of the one vehicle, they are no longer to be practiced as independent forms. At the same time, however, Nichiren insisted that the daimoku contains all truth and blessings within itself. Because the daimoku is all-encompassing, chanting it would confer all the benefits that the religious practices of his day were thought to produce: this-worldly benefits such as protection and healing, assurance for the afterlife, and buddhahood itself. His aim was not to eradicate the spectrum of religious interpretations, but to undercut their basis in other traditions and assimilate them to the Lotus Sūtra alone.
It is stated in the Expenses and Food for Bodhisattva Way by Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna: “The World Honored One expounds the five rebellious sins, sinners of which are destined to fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. … If someone does not understand with faith the profound dharma and harbors an evil opinion regarding it, the sin of this person, compared to the one who commits the five rebellious sins, is many times, even hundreds of times heavier.”
Toki-dono Gosho, A Letter to Lord Toki, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 116-117
Buddhist sūtras specify two approaches to teaching the dharma: shōju, or leading others gradually without criticizing their present stance, and shakubuku, or actively rebuking attachment to false views. The choice between them, Nichiren said, should depend on the time and place. In his view, in Japan at the beginning of the Final Dharma age — a time and place where the Lotus Sūtra was being rejected in favor of provisional teachings — the confrontational shakubuku method should take precedence over the more accommodating shōju approach.
Grand Master Dengyō praises his own sect in his Outstanding Principles of the Lotus Sūtra, “The superiority of the Tendai (T’ien-t’ai) Lotus Sect to other Buddhist schools stems from the superiority of its basic sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra. I am not praising our own and slandering other schools. Wise gentlemen, please study the sūtras before choosing your sect.” He also declares in this writing, “The person who upholds the Lotus Sūtra is foremost among all the people. This is what the Buddha preached. How can it be my own fanciful words of self-praise?”
Ōta-dono-gari Gosho, A Letter to Lord Ōta, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 201-202.
In the contemporary world, where the violence and suffering brought about by religious conflict are so starkly evident, Nichiren’s emphasis on the exclusive truth of the Lotus Sūtra and his assertive mode of proselytizing sometimes provoke antipathy, as they fly in the face of ideals of tolerance and religious pluralism. Both traditional temple organizations and long-established lay groups of Nichiren Buddhism tend to be more accommodating and to take a milder approach in spreading their teachings, in keeping with Nichiren’s admonition that the method of propagation should accord with the times. Nichiren, however, lived in a very different world, where his conviction of the Lotus Sūtra’s sole efficacy in the age of the Final Dharma demanded resolute opposition to other Buddhist forms. This stance sharply differentiated him from the Buddhist mainstream of his day. Though it drew hostility, it may well have enabled his fledgling community to survive beyond his lifetime by carving out a unique religious identity.
The only way seemingly that leads to Buddhahood is the “3,000 in one thought” doctrine of T’ien-t’ai. However, we in the Latter Age of Degeneration do not possess the intelligence to understand it; nevertheless, among all the sūtras preached by Śākyamuni during His lifetime, only the Lotus Sūtra embodies the gem of the “3,000 in one thought” doctrine. Doctrines of other sūtras may look like gems, but in actuality they are merely yellow rocks. Just as, no matter how hard you squeeze sand, you will not get oil, or barren women will never have children, even wise men will not be able to attain Buddhahood by means of other sūtras. As for the Lotus Sūtra, even ignorant persons will be able to plant the seed of Buddhahood.
Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 108-109
For Nichiren, preaching the exclusive truth of the Lotus Sūtra was not only about leading individuals to enlightenment, but also about saving the country and establishing an ideal buddha land in this world, a task he came to see as his personal mission and responsibility. In declaring the supremacy of the Lotus Sūtra, he found it necessary to rebuke attachment to other, provisional teachings; in consequence, he encountered repeated antagonism. Nichiren was often beset by danger and privation. Out of this experience, he developed what might be called a soteriology of undergoing persecution. The Lotus Sūtra itself speaks of the hostility that will confront its devotees in a latter evil age. Nichiren and his followers therefore understood the persecutions they faced as both fulfilling the sūtra’s prophecies and confirming the veracity of their mission to propagate it. Nichiren also taught that to endure hardships and opposition in spreading faith in the Lotus Sūtra is to repay one’s debt to the Buddha, eradicate one’s past evil karma, fulfill the bodhisattva’s mandate to sacrifice even one’s life, if need be, to save others, and guarantee one’s future buddhahood. Indeed, one could say that Nichiren’s teaching on buddhahood has two temporal modes: immediately manifesting the all-encompassing buddha realm in the act of chanting the daimoku, and realizing buddhahood as an unfolding process in devoting oneself to the daimoku’s propagation.
On the eighth day of the fourth month I met with Hei no Saemonnojō Yoritsuna. I was prepared to withdraw into the mountains and forests as my warnings to the government that would save Japan from destruction went unheeded three times. I left Kamakura on the twelfth day of the fifth month and entered Mt. Minobu. Before coming to Minobu I wanted to return to my hometown and visit my parents’ grave. However, as an edict in Confucianism and Buddhism stipulates that one should return home in glory, it would have been unfilial of me to return home without successfully remonstrating with the government. However, just as I was able to return to Kamakura from exile on Sado Island, where I never imagined it possible to leave alive, I hope that the government might someday heed my warnings. I will visit my parents’ grave then, not under the present circumstances. Even so, I miss my hometown and long to return such that whenever winds and clouds come from the east, I go outside of my hermitage just to feel the wind and see the cloud.
Kōnichi-bō Gosho, A Letter to Nun Kōnichi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Biography and Disciples, Volume 5, Pages 50
