India is called the country of the moon, where the Buddha appears shining in the world as brightly as the moon. Japan is called the origin of the sun. How can it be that no sage as bright as the sun appears in Japan? The moon moves from west to east. It is the omen of Buddhism in India spreading to the east. The sun orbits from east to west. This is a lucky omen of Buddhism in Japan returning to India. Moonlight is not as bright as sunlight, therefore the Buddha preached the Lotus Sūtra for only eight years of His lifetime. Sunlight is brighter than moonlight. This is an auspicious omen of Japanese Buddhism shining through the long darkness of the fifth 500-year period. The Buddha did not save slanderers of the Lotus Sūtra because there existed no slanderers during His lifetime. In the Latter Age of Degeneration, there will be many formidable enemies of the One Vehicle Lotus teaching everywhere. This is the time when we can reap the harvest of Never-Despising Bodhisattva’s aggressive propagation sowing the seed of Buddhahood. Each of my disciples should exert himself to spread the teaching of the Buddha even at the cost of life.

Kangyō Hachiman-shō, Remonstration with Bodhisattva Hachiman, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 279-280

Although scholars in the world often say that the Buddha preached according to the intelligence and faith of the audience, actually it is not so according to the Buddha. If great dharmas are to be preached for those with superior intelligence and faith, why is it that the Lotus Sūtra was not preached upon attainment of Buddhahood by Śākyamuni? Mahāyāna sūtras should have been spread during the first half (500 years) of the Age of the True Dharma. If great dharmas are to be preached for close relations, the Buddha should have preached the Lotus Sūtra instead of such quasi-Mahāyāna sūtras as the Meditation on the Buddha Sūtra and the Māyā Sūtra to his father, King Suddhodana, and mother, Queen Māyā. If secret teachings are not to be revealed to those evil people without close relation to and slanderers of the True Dharma, Monk Virtue Consciousness should not have preached the Nirvana Sūtra to those numerous violators of the precepts of the Buddha. Or, why did Bodhisattva Never-Despising preach the Lotus Sūtra to slanderers of the True Dharma? Therefore, I think it a great mistake to say that dharmas are preached taking the intelligence and faith of the audience into consideration.

Senji-shō, Selecting the Right time: A Tract by Nichiren, the Buddha’s Disciple, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 208

The honzon (most venerable one) established in the 16th chapter of the Lotus Sūtra is Lord Śākyamuni Buddha, who has been closely tied with us in this Sahā World by the bond of cause and effect ever since attaining Buddhahood “500 (million) dust-particle kalpa” ago, and who is equipped with the eternal three bodies (Dharma, Reward, Accommodative Bodies) of the Buddha. “The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter refers to this as “the Buddha’s secret lore and divine powers,” which were explained by Grand Master T’ien-t’ai in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra: “It is mysterious (pi) of one body being identical to a triple-body and confidential (mi) of a triple-body being identical to one body. It is mysterious because it has never been explained, and confidential because only the Buddha knew it. The Buddha has always been equipped with the three bodies attained in the eternal past throughout the past, present and future, but He has kept it confidential without ever revealing it in other sūtras. ”

Sandai Hiho Honjo-ji, The Transmission of the Three Great Secret Dharmas, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 289

The written words of the Lotus Sūtra express in a visible and tangible form the Brahma’s voice of the Buddha, which is invisible and intangible, so that we can see and read them with our eyes. The Buddha’s pure and immaculate voice, which had disappeared, is resuscitated in the form of written characters for the benefit of humankind. These are two fundamental reasons why people give utterance to speech. First, people utter sounds that deceive others though unintentionally. This is the voice produced in accordance with the minds of other people. Secondly, one utters a voice in order to express what one truly has in mind. In this case one’s own mind is revealed as voice. Mind is called the spiritual aspect while voice is the physical aspect. Therefore, the spiritual aspect reveals the physical aspect. But it is also possible to perceive the mind by listening to the voice. In this case the physical aspect (voice) reveals the spiritual aspect (mind). The physical aspect and the spiritual aspect were inseparable, yet sometimes they appear separately, revealing the intent of the Buddha as the letters of the Lotus Sūtra or the letters of the Lotus Sūtra as the mind of the Buddha.

Mokue Nizō Kaigen no Koto, Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, Wooden Statues or Portraits, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 91

QUESTION: I was able to understand the comparative seriousness between the five rebellious sins and the sin of slandering the True Dharma. Could you explain what slandering the True Dharma exactly means?

ANSWER: Grand Master T’ien-t’ai explains in his Commentary on the Brahma-net Sūtra, “The term slander means to go against.” We may say slandering the True Dharma means to go against the teaching of the Buddha. Vasubandhu’s Treatise on the Buddha-nature preaches, “Hate means to go against principle.” It means that to slander the True Dharma equals to cause people to abandon it.

Ken Hōbō-shō, A Clarificaton of Slandering the True Dharma, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 115.

The doctrine preached in “The Life Span of the Buddha” chapter is not suitable for the capacity of those in the second 500-year period of the Age of the Semblance Dharma, not to speak of the first 500-year period. Those in the Age of the True Dharma were not ready for the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra, not to speak of the essential section. In the Latter Age of Degeneration, the pre-Lotus sūtras and the teaching of the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra, which were suitable in the Ages of the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma, no longer enabled the people to shed delusions of life and death and attain Buddhahood. The 16th chapter of the essential section preaches the single, indispensable teaching for extinguishing delusions and attaining Buddhahood.

Looking at it this way, I am sure that in providing guidance the Buddha never acts impartially; He just preaches the dharma suitable to the time and capacity of the people.

Sandai Hiho Honjo-ji, The Transmission of the Three Great Secret Dharmas, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 288

There is a land called China that lies across the ocean southwest from here. In that country some people believe in the Buddha without adopting a god. Others believe in a god without adopting the Buddha. I suppose that Japan was similar in its early history. Now there lived a calligrapher whose name was Wu-lung in China. He was the foremost expert in this field, and as famous as Ono no Tōfū and Fujiwara Yukinari of Japan. Wu-lung disliked Buddhism and swore that he would never copy the passages of a Buddhist scripture. When he was taken ill and was near the end, he expressed his last wishes to his son: “You are my successor and superior in ability to me. Whatever happens, you must never copy the Lotus Sūtra.” Immediately he began to bleed from his five sense-organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and the whole body) as if he were spurting water. His tongue split in eight parts and his body was broken to pieces. But not knowing the three evil realms of the Buddhist sūtras, none of the relatives present recognized this as a sign of going to hell.

Yi-lung, Wu-lung’s son, also became the foremost calligrapher in China. According to his father’s will, he made a vow never to copy the Lotus Sūtra. A certain Ssu-ma, who was the supreme ruler of China at the time, believed in Buddhism very deeply, especially in the Lotus Sūtra. He wanted to have the best calligrapher transcribe the Lotus Sūtra so that he could have his own personal copy. He summoned Yi-lung. Yi-lung said to the ruler, “Please pardon me for disobeying your order but I must abide by my father’s will.” Because it was his father’s wish, Lord Ssu-ma had another calligrapher instead copy the Lotus Sūtra. But dissatisfied with the work, he summoned Yi-lung again and told him,”I won’t compel you to copy the Lotus Sūtra because you insisted that it was your father’s will that you do not, but you must obey my order to copy the titles of the eight scrolls.” Yi-lung repeatedly refused to do this, which angered Lord Ssu-ma, who said, “Your father was my retainer, yet you tell me that it was your father’s will. If you won’t copy them for fear of disobeying your parents, you will be punished for disobeying my command.” The lord issued a strict order many times. Although he didn’t want to disobey his father, Yi-lung finally relented and copied the titles of the eight scrolls of the Lotus Sūtra to avoid the impending punishment, and gave them to the lord. He then went home, shed tears of blood in front of his father’s grave, and reported copying the titles of the eight scrolls of the Lotus Sūtra, disobeying his father’s will, because of the strict order of the Ssu-ma overlord. Overcome with sorrow and apologizing for being unable to escape the guilt of impiety to his parents, he stayed at his father’s grave, fasting for three days until he was on the verge of death.

On the morning of the third day, at about four o’clock, his body was close to death and his spirit in a dream. Then a heavenly being resembling Indra appeared in the air surrounded by numerous attendants on every side. Yi-lung asked, “Who are you?” The heavenly being answered: “Don’t you know that I am Wu-lung, your father? When I was a human being in my previous life, I adhered to non-Buddhist scriptures and regarded the Buddha Dharma, especially the Lotus Sūtra, as my enemy, so I fell into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. My tongue was yanked out hundreds of times every day, and I died and was revived repeatedly. Whenever I had pain, I looked up towards the sky or put my forehead to the ground, feeling deep grief, but my prayers went unfulfilled. I wanted to inform those in the human realm about this pain in some way, but there was no way to do so. When you refused to copy the Lotus Sūtra saying that doing so would go against my will, your words scorched me in a blaze and they turned into hundreds and thousands of swords, which rained from the sky upon me. Though your action caused me unbearable misery, you were following my will. I had no one but myself to blame. Then a golden Buddha appeared in the Hell of Incessant Suffering and revealed that if sinful creatures filling the whole universe could hear the Lotus Sūtra even once, they would be sure to gain supreme enlightenment.

When this Buddha appeared in the Hell of Incessant Suffering, it seemed as if fire was being doused by water and my suffering was eased a little. I put my hands together in prayer and asked the Buddha for His name. He told me that He was the Chinese character of Myō, one of the 64 characters of the title of the Lotus Sūtra, which has just been written by my son, Yi-lung. The titles of the eight scrolls of the Lotus Sūtra consist of 64 characters because each scroll has the eight-character title. These characters represent 64 Buddhas, and they turned into 64 full moons, which brightened the darkness of hell. The Hell of Incessant Suffering then changed into the capital of eternal tranquil light just as it is written, ‘Everything is perfect as it is.’ Thus, prisoners and I have become Buddhas on the lotus and are on the way up to the inner palace of the Tuṣita Heaven, which I wanted to share with you.”

Yi-lung responded: “It was I that wrote them, but how could they help you? Moreover, I did not write them from my heart, so how did this save you?” His father answered:

“What a fool you are! Your hands are my hands. Your body is my body. The characters that you copied are the characters that I copied. You did not have heartfelt faith in the Lotus Sūtra, but I was saved because you copied them. For example, when children play with fire, and though they don’t intend to burn anything, fire burns things. It is the same with the Lotus Sūtra. If you have faith in it, you are sure to become a Buddha even if this is not your intention. Keep this in mind and don’t slander the teaching. As you are a layman, it is easier for you to repent of your sins now even if they are especially serious.”

Yi-lung reported this to Lord Ssu-ma, who was overjoyed that his prayer had been effective. Since then Yi-lung has increasingly understood the debt to his lord, and the people in that country have begun to believe in the Lotus Sūtra.

Ueno-dono Gozen Gohenji, Reply to My Lady, the Nun of Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers II, Volume 7, Page 59-61

Speaking of the “sanzen daisen sekai (1,000 worlds),” the four continents to the four directions of north, south, east, and west, and Mt. Sumeru, the six heavens of the realm of desire, and the Brahma Heaven make one shitenge, 10 billion shitenge make a small one-thousand world; a thousand of a small one-thousand world make a medium one-thousand world; and a thousand of a medium one-thousand world make a great one-thousand world. Because of this triple multiplication by a thousand, it is called the “triple-thousand great one-thousand world (sanzen daisen sekai). There are an incalculable number (four million, hundred million-nayuta) of these great one-thousand worlds in the universe. Suppose someone feeds all the unenlightened people in all these worlds for 80 years, enabling them to read and recite all the scriptures of Buddhism with the exception of the Lotus Sūtra to become arhats with “three supernatural knowledge” and “six supernatural abilities,” Pratyekabuddha, or bodhisattvas of the highest stage. Compared to the merit of such a person, the merit of a person who upholds merely one verse, phrase, or character of the Lotus Sūtra even though he or she does not offer any kind of alms is a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, and hundred million times superior.

Tayūsakan-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ikegami Munenaka, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 107

Once upon a time, there was a king called Rinda, who was the master of the Jambudvīpa. It is said that the king’s food was the neighing of a white horse. Whenever the king heard the neighing of a white horse, he was rejuvenated, regaining his complexion, becoming refreshed in mind, and revitalized in power. Moreover, it enabled him to govern the country with justice. For these reasons, many white horses were raised in his country. He was like a king called Weiwang, who gathered many cranes, or the Emperor Te-tsung, who loved lightning bugs. As whenever the swans sang, the white horses neighed, many swans were brought to this country. One day, the swans all disappeared, and the white horses all became silent. As a result, the great king missed his meals; and it appeared that he would pass away at any moment just as flowers in full bloom wither from frost or the full moon is lost when covered by clouds. Everyone in the country, beginning with the queen, crown prince, and ministers, didn’t know what to do; they were grief-stricken and shed tears just like children who lost their mother.

There were many non-Buddhists in this country, just as today in Japan there are many followers of Zen, Pure Land, Shingon, and Ritsu Buddhism. However, there were also the Buddha’s disciples, just as today in Japan there are people of the Lotus (Nichiren) Sect. Buddhists and non-Buddhists did not get along with each other as though they were fire and water or Mongolia and Yüeh, one in the north and the other in the south. Then the great king issued an imperial edict: “If a non-Buddhist monk can make the white horse neigh, I will abandon Buddhism and put sole faith in him, who would be like Indra revered by all gods. If a disciple of the Buddha can make the horse neigh, I shall behead all non-Buddhist monks and deprive them of their residences, which will all be given to the Buddha’s disciples.” Both non-Buddhist monks and the Buddha’s disciples were startled by the edict, which they greatly deplored.

Unable to ignore the imperial order, non-Buddhist monks tried praying first for seven days. No swans, however, came back, nor did the white horse neigh. Next, it was the turn for a disciple of the Buddha. An unknown monk named Aśvaghoṣa prayed for the next seven days to the Lotus Sūtra, which Buddhas worshipped as the Most Revered One. Then a swan came flying over the altar. When it cried once cheerfully, the white horse loudly neighed once. When the king heard it, he got up from his sick bed, while the queen and many others all paid homage to Aśvaghoṣa. One, two, three . . . 10 and 100 swans came back flying, filling the entire land. As a result, hundreds and thousands of white horses neighed without interruption; and the king’s countenance was rejuvenated by as much as thirty years. His mind became as bright as the sun, and he ruled his country with justice. A rain of nectar fell from heaven with all the people swayed by the great king, and his reign continued peacefully for ages to come.

The same can be said of the Buddhas. The Buddha of Many Treasures enters Nirvana where the Lotus Sūtra is not spread, and He appears where the sūtra is spread. So do Śākyamuni Buddha and all the Buddhas in the entire universe. The Lotus Sūtra is so marvelous. How can Goddess Amaterasu, Great Bodhisattva Hachiman, and Great Bodhisattva Sengen of Fuji abandon those who believe in the sūtra? It is reliable indeed.

Ueno-dono Haha-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady the Nun, Mother of Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 181-182

Now, regarding the rank of Grand Master T’ien-t’ai, Grand Master Chang-an cites from his biography of T’ien-t’ai in the “Preface” to the Great Concentration and Insight stating:

“(T’ien-t’ai) entered the state of spiritual meditation and passed away peacefully. His rank is the stage of the five kinds of meritorious acts of meditation and other practices preached in the ‘Variety of Merits’ chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, it is preached in the ‘Variety of Merits’ chapter, ‘Compared to the merit of giving seven kinds of treasures to each person in incalculable number of countries and to educate them all to attain the six supernatural powers, the merit of the first of the five kinds of meritorious acts, rejoicing at hearing the Lotus Sutra, is a hundred, a thousand and ten thousand times superior. Let alone the merit of the fifth of the five kinds of meritorious acts, six kinds of practice leading to Buddhahood.’ It is preached also in the ‘Teacher of the Dharma’ chapter of the Lotus Sutra, ‘that is to say, he is My messenger sent out among the people to perform My work.’ ”

Grand Master Dengyō has only the highest of praises for T’ien-t’ai in his Effects of T’ien-t’ai on Buddhist Schools, “The interpretation of the Lotus Sūtra by Grand Master T’ien-t’ai is incomparable. No one in T’ang China can compare to him.” He also states, “Grand Master T’ien-t’ai is clearly a messenger of the Buddha. Those who praise him will accumulate happiness as high as Mt. Sumeru, and those who insult him will fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering.”

Tayūsakan-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Ikegami Munenaka, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 106