Venerable Mahā-Kāśyapa was the most honorable among the Buddha’s disciples. Concerning his lineage, he was the son of Nyagrodha, a millionaire in Magadha, India. The house of his millionaire father was as huge as 1,000 tatami mats, with each mat being seven feet thick and costing at least 1,000 ryō (gold coins). His house had as many as 999 ploughs, each costing 1,000 ryō. It is also said that his house included 60 warehouses each containing 340 koku (about 1200 metric tons) of gold. Nyagrodha was a very wealthy person.

The wife of Mahā-Kāśyapa had a golden body so brilliant that it illuminated an area 16 ri (about 80 km) around herself. She was more beautiful than Princess Sotoori of Japan or Lady Li of Han China. Having aspirations for enlightenment, Kāśyapa and his wife became disciples of the Buddha and were guaranteed by the Buddha to become the future Light Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra.

Looking into their Buddhist practices in their prior existences, the husband was reborn as Venerable Mahā-Kāśyapa due to his offering of a bowl of barley rice to a pratyekabuddha. His wife, a poor woman, paid one gold coin to a Buddhist sculptor for gilding a statue of Vipaśyin Buddha and thereby was reborn as a beautiful golden woman to be the wife of Mahā-Kāśyapa.

Tokimitsu-dono Gohenji, Reply to Lord Tokimitsu, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 25

The Great Concentration and Insight also lists the six causes of sickness: 1. lack of harmony among the four constituent elements of the material world (the earth element, the water element, the fire element and the wind element); 2. lack of moderation in eating and drinking; 3. inconsistent practice of sitting meditation; 4. problems caused by a demon; 5. actions of a heavenly demon; and 6. karmic retribution. It is preached in the Sūtra on the Great Extinction, “There are three categories of people with illness who are difficult to heal: in the first place are those who slandered the Mahāyāna sūtras; in the second place are those who committed the five rebellious sins; and in the third place are icchantika (those who do not have goodness in mind and therefore have no possibility of attaining Buddhahood). These three kinds of illnesses are the most serious of all types of diseases in the world.” The Nirvana Sūtra also preaches, “If one commits an evil act in this world, one will inevitably go to hell in the next world. However, if one gives offerings to the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha), one will receive a lighter form of retribution such as headaches, sore eyes, and backaches in this world instead of going to hell in the next world.” Interpreting this, the Great Concentration and Insight states, “Even if one committed a serious sin, for which one is destined to go to hell, one may be able to atone for the sin by enduring a lesser form of suffering in this world. This is the case when one becomes ill as it is due to a past sin being atoned for in this world.”

Ōta Nyūdō-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lay Priest Lord Ōta, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 33

Mastering Buddhism … remains impossible without enough time to absorb it. And if you are to devote enough time to studying Buddhism, it will be nearly impossible to obey one’s parents, masters, and the sovereign as well. Those who aim at attaining Buddhahood cannot afford to be obedient to parents, masters, and sovereign until they reach the ultimate way to cut the chain of birth and death.

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 2.

QUESTION: How do you know that you are a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration?

ANSWER: The following statements in the Lotus Sūtra attest it to be the truth: “Many people hate this sūtra with jealousy even in the lifetime of the Buddha, not to say after His death” (chapter 10, “The Teacher of the Dharma”). “Ignorant people will speak ill of us (who propagate this sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration), abuse us, and threaten us with swords and sticks. … We will be driven out of our monasteries from time to time” (chapter 13, “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra”). “Many people in the world will hate this sūtra and few will believe it” (chapter 14, “Peaceful Practices”). “People struck him (a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra) with sticks, pieces of wood, pieces of tile, and stones” (chapter 20, “The Never-Despising Bodhisattva”). “King of devils, his subjects, gods, dragons, yaksa demons, and kumbhāṇḍa demons will take advantage of the time (the first 500-year period in the Latter Age of Degeneration)” (chapter 23, “Previous Life of the Medicine King Bodhisattva”).

In order to see that these words of the Buddha are not false, when we see the faces of all the people in Japan, the king and his subjects, monks and nuns, and laymen and laywomen, reflected upon these clear mirrors of the Lotus Sūtra, there is nobody but I, Nichiren, who fits them perfectly. As for the time, we certainly are at the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration. Should there be no Nichiren today, these words of the Buddha would all be proved false.

Kembutsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 175

Compared with the Lotus Sūtra, the Amitābha Sūtra is a star after the sun rose and dew in heavy rain.

Therefore, Grand Master Dengyō asserted in his Clarification of the Precepts: “It is nonsense to give a cart pulled by sheep, deer or cows, after giving a great cart pulled by a white ox. It is needless for a wealthy man to clean the toilet after succeeding to the family business. Therefore, it is said in the Lotus Sūtra, ‘Honestly discarding the expedient teachings, the Buddha explains only the unsurpassed way.’ ” The Grand Master also said, “When the sun appears, stars disappear, and when one understands the proficiency of the Lotus Sūtra, he is able to see the deficiencies in the other sūtras.”

Shimoyama Goshōsoku, The Shimoyama Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 90

In the Lotus Sūtra it is guaranteed that Śāriputra would be Flower Light Buddha, Subhūti would be Beautiful Form Buddha, and the 1,200 śrāvaka disciples would all be Universal Brightness Buddhas. This was a great surprise that they had never dreamed of. They must have felt as though they entered a mountain of treasures upon the crumbling of Mt. Kun-lun. Thus it is stated in the passage of understanding by the Two Vehicles, “We were able to gain the supreme gem of treasures without seeking it.” Therefore, there is no doubt that all those in the realms of the Two Vehicles will protect the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. Even lowly beasts and birds remember the favors they owe and try to repay them. It is said that a bird called wild goose never fails to take care of the mother goose on the verge of death. A fox is said to die facing toward the hill where it lived. Even beasts do not forget the favor they owe, how much more so with human beings?

Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 57-58

QUESTION: How can anyone escape the three evil realms just by hearing the daimoku, the title of the Lotus Sūtra, without understanding its meaning?

ANSWER: It is due to the meritorious acts of past lives that anyone happens to be born in a land where the Lotus Sūtra is known, hears the title of the sūtra and has faith in it. Even though he is ignorant and wicked in this life, because of the meritorious acts in previous lives, he can believe in this sūtra upon hearing its name. As a result he will not fall into evil realms.

Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 65

QUESTION CLOSELY: You are more self-conceited than Mahādeva of ancient India, who caused the first great schism in the community of Buddhist monks and nuns, or Shizen Biku, a disciple of the Buddha who believed himself to be an arhat and ended up in the Hell of Incessant Suffering. What do you say about this?

ANSWER: The grave sin you have committed in accusing me, Nichiren, is more serious than what was committed by Devadatta, who fell in hell alive, or by Vimalamitra, the Hinayāna master who died a mad man for slandering Mahāyāna Buddhism.

My words may sound self-conceited, but they were solely to show the infallibility of the Buddha’s prediction. Suppose they were self-conceited, then whom can you name among all the people in Japan, except me, Nichiren, to be the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra? In order to slander me, Nichiren, you are saying that the Buddha’s prediction is false. Is it not you who are very wicked?

Kembutsu Mirai-ki, Testimony to the Prediction of the Buddha, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 175