Gosho 十八円満抄 On the Eighteen Perfect Doctrines

問うて云く今の文は上行菩薩等に授与するの文なり

Question: The passage you have just cited deals with the transmission to Bodhisattva Superior Practices and the others.

Question: This passage is written proof, which indicates that the essence of the Law had been transferred to Bodhisattva Jōgyō and the other bodhisattvas.

汝(なんじ)何(いか)んが故ぞ己心相承の秘法と云うや、

Why, then, do you speak about “the secret Law handed down to Nichiren himself and kept in his mind”?

On what grounds can you claim that you have inherited the secret Law in your mind？

答えて云く上行菩薩の弘通(ぐつう)し給うべき秘法を日蓮先(さ)き立つて之を弘む

Answer: I, Nichiren, am leading the way in propagating the secret Law that Bodhisattva Superior Practices has been entrusted to disseminate.

Answer: I, Nichiren, am taking the lead in propagating the secret Law, which is to be spread by Bodhisattva Jōgyō.

身に当(あた)るの意(こころ)に非(あら)ずや

Does this not mean that the transmission concerns myself?

It can be said that this person corresponds to Nichiren.


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