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日蓮大聖人『御書』解説

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2020年 07月 29日

15. Nichiren Suffers the Banishment to Izu. (1)

           Japanese edition

 

道路を歩いている男性中程度の精度で自動的に生成された説明

 Hitatare (a kind of court dress in the old days) and a formal dress of the samurai.

Shimousa is the area around present-day North Chiba. There was a rural scene spreading out, unlike now.

Sunset dyed a hall of Toki Jonin.

Nichiren turned 40.

He declared establishing the sect in Seichoji Temple of his hometown, and eight years passed. How time flies. Nichiren watched the sun, which was going to sink into the edge of a mountain while meditating.

Disciples copy a scroll of sutras with a writing brush in the neighboring room. In addition, another monk drew water and got ready for the dinner with a servant of Toki. There were the disciples who argued about the doctrine of Buddhism.

Nichiren pushed forward propagation energetically in the land of this Shimousa. It is the territory of Toki Jonin, and there are many samurais of the relationship in Shimousa, too.

Nichiren began to preach a sermon 100 times in 100 days at once, in the hall of Jonin. Jonin invited acquaintances to this sermon. Ota Jomyo, Soya Kyoshin of the vassal of lord Chiba, and Akimoto Taro, who is the Shogunate vassal of the kinsman of Toki Jonin were converted into Nichiren by an opportunity of these 'Preaching a sermon of 100 times in 100 days'.

Ota Jomyo is an official of the Shogunate in the high court. It is said that he was the same age as Nichiren. He lived in Katsushika county Yawata Nakayamago of the Shimousa country and protected Nichiren around Shimosa-Nakayama with Toki Jonin, Soya Kyoshin, Kinbara Hokyo.

It is said that Jomyo Ota's grandfather was Yasunobu Miyoshi, the first steward of the courthouse, and that he took the family name of Ota from his son, Yasutsura Miyoshi. Jomyo was a child of Yasutsura, they were government officials of the High Court successively through three generations.
 On the other hand, because Soya lived in Shimousa county Katsushika county Soya, he called himself Soya Kyoshin. Kyoshin was 2 years younger than Nichiren. He was born as the eldest son of Ono Masakiyo of the landowner of Kokubu village Soya, in 1224. Soya had feudal tenure in north Shin’etsu (Nagano and Niigata), and it is said that he was a considerably wealthy person. The filial duty of Soya is famous. It is said that he read the verse (note) of the LifeSpan Chapter of the Lotus Sutra every morning for 13 years from the day of the death of the father.
 In addition, Taro Akimoto wrote to Nichiren. He said "I decided to become your disciple because I heard your sermon," and Nichiren wrote it down in 'the letter to Akimoto' as follows.


 "I have read your letter in detail. You wrote, 'I thought what kind of Law I must spread for 500 years of the beginning at the latter days of the Law, but I accepted the telling of the saint, and had heard that only the title of the Lotus Sutra must be spread and I decided to become as the one person of the disciples.'" 'Letter to Lord Akimoto'.


 Hoki-bo carried hot water to the wooden cup. Nichiren gulped down it as if he had waited impatiently.

Jonin, the head of the family, came in there.

Nichiren was smiling.

“Lord Jonin, I really appreciate all of your help.”

Jonin adjusted clothes and sat straight before Nichiren with politeness.

“I am grateful to have received my august words. My kinsman and co-worker converted into our sect by the sermon of shonin, and I could make friends with the Law. I am most grateful. By the way, it is presumptuous, but I have one thought.”

"Are you saying that about the propagation of the Buddha's Law?"

"Yes, sir. How about you base on the place of this Shimousa from now on? The enemy is not here, unlike Kamakura, and Lord Chiba of the governor is the influential vassal in the Shogunate. Even in the Hojo clan, they do not dabble carelessly. In addition, the hometown of shonin is near, too. The delicious food collected from the sea and mountain, these are superior unlike others. How do you like it, sir?"
 Nichiren answers.
 "Thank you for your kindness. But I, Nichiren, intend to spread Law to the last in Kamakura, the center of the power politics of Japan. Kamakura is the capital of Japan. It is the place where a Japanese ruler resides. I want to spread Law until the ruler holds the Lotus Sutra".
  “Since you, the priest, visited Lord Saumyoji the other day, I have received no information on the activities of the Shogunate. I have tried to find out whether Lord Saumyoji had seen it or not, but I have not been able to get anywhere."

Nichiren answered after he included a mouthful of hot water.

“Because there is Lord Daigaku Sabro of the official Confucianist or the Lord Yadoya of the Shogunate chief vassal, he must be hearing from them an important thing, even if lord Saimyoji does not look at it. In addition, people around must have been amazed. If lord Saimyoji is a wise man, he surely should understand.”

Jonin mutters in mind.

(What kind of difficulty befalls this person if Saimyoji is foolish?).


夕日と木々自動的に生成された説明

         By Wikipedia

A few days later, three unknown samurais suddenly came to the residence of Toki Jonin.

Three mounted samurais came to the house of Jonin.

“Is there anybody?”

Kyonin-bo kneeled at the entrance and received it.

“This is the residence of Toki Jonin, the retainer of the Shimousa country's governor. Is there something wrong?”

"Is there a priest, Nichiren here?"

Because the identity of the other party is unidentified for Kyonin-bo, the leader of a disciple, he answers carefully.

“The shonin Nichiren stays here certainly, what shall I do for you?”

"We are the messengers from Kamakura. Show us into the parlor.”

Nichiren who heard this entered the parlor alone and put hands together towards a higher seat.

Three people of the messenger enter the room without hesitation and sit down in the center and right and left on the higher side of the alcove.

Then, they pause a little, and the servant of the Toki house puts tea and a fruit up the low dining table and holds it out before a messenger respectfully.

The messenger who was thought to be the person in charge sitting midmost on the higher seat asked Nichiren as soon as they glanced at a carried low dining table.

"Are you a monk Nichiren?"

The messengers are arrogant under the authority of the Shogunate to the last.

“Sure, I am Nichiren.”

The messenger sitting down on the right and left takes out paper from a breast and takes notes of the conversation of two people.

 “This command is news that you should come to Kamakura. The place is the Shogunate government office in Kamakura. Did you understand it?”

“I have received your command. Well, when?”

“Immediately.”

“What kind of matter is it?”

“It is not for us to know. Be sure to come.”

Messengers left without attaching a hand to the low dining table as soon as they finished a duty.

Jonin and the disciples who waited in another room entered the parlor with a rush.

Nissho asks immediately.

"Shonin, are they messengers from lord Tokiyori?"

“It seems that they are.”

When Nichiren answered, he faced Jonin.

"Lord Jonin, thank you for everything. I will depart tomorrow to Kamakura".

All the members became tense.

Disciple Nichiro says with an uneasy mind.

"Shonin, isn't it a problem that you should think well? Kamakura is still dangerous. Now that we do not know how ruler Tokiyori will treat you, going out to Kamakura is like walking into the mouth of a tiger. The mate of Nembutsu may attack us again."

Daishin-bo, in a good mood, stopped him.

“Nichiro, the worry is useless. The messengers took the trouble to come here from Kamakura. The prayer of the shonin was answered. I will accompany the shonin. Must go with shonin if you are worrying that much.”

Nichiren chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo aloud towards the moon, which had begun to appear.

 The party of Nichiren went through the dug road of Asahina on May 12 in 1261 and entered Kamakura.

It is said that there were seven excavated roads in Kamakura. This is the road which is dug into the mountain and was constructed, because the three directions from Kamakura are surrounded on the mountain and people and horses were not able to go along.

With Nichiren in the lead, the group of the disciples goes ahead through the Wakamiya thoroughfare.

The people were equally surprised.

“He is probably Nichiren of the Lotus Sutra!”

Everybody was surprised that Nichiren was living.

“I wish a fuss should not happen again, for having been able to come back to Kamakura.”

The women stared at Nichiren in an uneasy mind.

The robust armored warriors protected the gate in the shogunate administrative building.

Nichiren looks up at the gate and enters.

It was a grand building with a large garden. There is nobody. A samurai of the guard only stood.

The official led and guided Nichiren.

Only one piece of poor straw mat is spreading in the garden. This is regarding Nichiren as a criminal. But Nichiren does not change an expression at all to think that an anticipated thing came.

The official pointed to the straw mat.

"Here, sit down."

Nichiren sat down slowly and crossed his legs for sitting with crossed legs, namely the full-lotus position.

Three government officials came out. And they looked down at Nichiren on the straw mat.

“We bring to you a verdict of guilty as Izu banishment.”

This is a hasty judgment.

Nichiren looked straight at the official.

The government official reads a matter-of-factly following sentence aloud.

“You assumed the Lotus Sutra to be the foremost and you said that Nembutsu is the worst hell and the Zen Buddhism is the behavior of the evil spirit. Your slander in this way is not a light crime. In addition, you have been quarreling in various places in Kamakura, and it is clear that you have caused trouble for the monks of the various sects. Besides, you committed arson in Matsuba Valley of Kamakura last year, it is clear from many witnesses that you have confounded this world. Although capital punishment and decapitation are fair for such many serious offenses, we are blamed from the god Hachiman if we execute the people wearing the clothes of the priest at random. Thus, we order deportation to the Izu.”

The government official was going to stand up immediately when he declared the ruling, but Nichiren stopped it.
 "Please wait! It is not getting to the bottom of a matter about the cause of the crime. Is it not the top priority to command the priests of each sect and gather them, and to determine right or wrong? Otherwise, it is far from the right principles of politics. The rules of the Formulary of Adjudications are..."

The officials have left as if they cannot hear it.

Two samurais approached instead. Two people have icy stares together like watching a criminal.

Jonin and disciples had been waiting outside. Everybody wore troubled expressions on their faces.

Nichiren, who rode a horse before long appeared. He has a contorted facial expression.

While Nichiren was surrounded by samurais, he passed.

Jonin watched these samurai and muttered.

"They may be the officials in charge of the criminals."

 Nichiro comes running in, almost in tears.

"Our master received a peremptory deportation decree to the Izu!"

"What, does teacher Nichiren be banished?"

Usually, gentle Jonin shouts without even thinking.

Nichiren is riding on a horse and passes their very front.

 

Tokiyori Hojo walked the corridor of the administrative office slowly. Shigetoki followed after him.

Tokiyori stopped in front of a lattice window.

He saw a monk proceeding out horseback.

Shigetoki kneeled unwillingly.

Tokiyori asks like a mutter.

"What temple is that monk from?"

"That's the transport of criminals."

Tokiyori was slightly surprised.

"A criminal?"

"Yes. It is a person who is called Nichiren."

“Nichiren, that is the name that I have ever heard."

Shigetoki is an excuse-like and says,

“He is the monk who presented you with the book "Rissho Ankoku Ron" which says that Nembutsu will lead to an uninterrupted descent into hell, that is, he is the monk who presented you with the book "Rissho Ankoku Ron. This time we just started ordering to supervise a Buddhist priest of the broken commandment and Buddhist priests of negligence, in Kanto Province. Nichiren is that worst person.”

Tokiyori was remembering it slightly.

“Is he the one who prophesied that if we sit idly by, there will be civil war and invasion of other nations in Japan?"

"The crime to speak impossible things, and to confuse the Shogunate is heavier than capital punishment. Shigetoki owes the responsibility of these measures to myself. What does His Highness think?"

Tokiyori begins to walk as if nothing had happened.

Shigetoki thought that he had obtained the consent of Tokiyori, and grinned.

People put hands together at the gate of the Hachiman shrine. The horse surrounded by the soldiers goes there.

Jounin and his disciples walked along with Nichiren on horseback.

Curious spectators made noise on the street.

“He is a priest of which temple?”

"Don't you know? That is a priest called Nichiren.”

“You know. The guy who chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and Nam-myoho-renge-kyo aloud."

"Is the Buddhist priest banished to Izu?"

“This is what happens when he challenges Lord Kamakura.”

The crowd booed Nichiren who rode a horse freely.

"This is the punishment that you said that the person chanting the Nembutsu fell into hell! As you sow, so shall you reap!”

“It was fortunate for you that you did not get executed!”

Booing broke out from the curious spectators who surrounded the road one after another. Furthermore, a voice is sprinkled to Nichiren who rode a horse from a samurai knowing the circumstances.

"A monk Nichiren, when does the war happen?"

A crowd bursts into laughter.

“Please tell me which country attacks us.”

The crowd follows that voice and laughs more loudly.

Among them were the women who had tears in their eyes. They were Nichigen-nyo and Nichimyo. Nichigen-nyo and her husband Shijo Kingo rushed there hearing the news.

Kingo met Toki Jonin by chance and asked him strictly.

"How did this happen?"

“It was hasty. If we had known this, we wouldn't have the shonin come to Kamakura!”

Two people were grinding their teeth.

 

 The horse reached the Yui Beach.

It has begun to rain. The sea makes waves on the surface of the water and is rough too.

Nichiren goes down from a horse and gets on the small boat.

A samurai of the inspector and a rower of a ship waited.

Their eyes which watch Nichiren were the eyes which watch a criminal brutal. There were no eyes to respect a Buddhist priest.

While Chikugo-bo Nichiro, who became 16 years old, is crying, he chases after the ship of Nichiren.

“Sir samurai, I will accompany you. Please give me a lift in your ship!”

The official with whom there was near swung Nichiro with an oar and pushed him away.

Nichiren stopped Nichiro.

“Stop it, Chikugobo! Must not get into a boat! You will become a criminal too! This is the judgment of lord Kamakura, too. There are important things you should do in Kamakura!”

Nichiren has a severe facial expression. It was a face he has not shown until now.

The official soothed the disciples.

“Don't worry. Izu is near. We send Nichiren shonin safely. Everyone get out of here!”

Nichiren gets into a boat.

The ship advanced on the sea, and Kamakura became far.

Their location became an all sea.

A wave became rougher.

The rower and an official tie their bodies to the board of the ship with the rope which they prepared. For being not thrown out into the sea.

The two men looked at each other.

Nichiren closed eyes and continued murmuring "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" on a ship.

At this point, the boat suddenly shook violently.

Nichiren staggered for an instant, but opened his eyes immediately and clutched the edge of the ship firmly.

A rower man laughed unintentionally seeing that Nichiren was funny.

Chikugo-bo of the disciple was hit in the rain at the shore and continued running on the beach until a ship passed out of sight.

The ship with Nichiren greatly pitched.

The head of the boat inclines almost perpendicularly.

A wave attacked a whole body next.

Nichiren supports his body in a narrow ship while rolling over.

The rower laughed.

“This is a good wave. This is convenient for a criminal.”

“We may not arrive at Izu in this.”

The official who attached the rope of the lifeline laughs.

“Hey, a man called Nichiren! You should just become a piece of seaweed in the sea.”

Two people laughed aloud.

He is a sinner anyway. Because a wave was rough in the middle of escort, they are not blamed even if they reported that he was missing.

While Nichiren rolled around on the ship, he supported the body with all his might.

The acute pain to beat against the whole body seemed to be hit with a cudgel. Furthermore, the seawater to be hit directly soaked into the wound which got a blow and was a pain as if he burnt himself. Fatigue sapped his strength. Nichiren being born in Awa knows the fearfulness of the rough sea.

The ship arrived at the seashore of Kawana of Izu before long.

Nichiren was dumped on the beach as if thrown from a boat.

  

海に浮かぶ島自動的に生成された説明

Kigasaki Seashore, Ito City.


It is bad weather and there is nobody on the sandy beach.

Nichiren was exposed to the rain and he was utterly exhausted and put a hand to sand. He weakened so that he could not speak.

(I shouldn't die here).

He warned Tokiyori Hojo to save Japan from the Buddha land, but his answer was too cruel.

Fishermen gradually gathered from far away before long and surrounded him.

Nichiren is falling down to the sand.

Approaching timidly, fishermen whispered.

“Seems to be a criminal."

“How could a monk be swept away? He must be a very wicked man.”

"I cannot tell."

“What should we do? He dies as it is.”

“It is better not to help him. Let it go.”

The fisherman of Kawana, Funamori Yasaburo came over here carrying a net on his shoulder. He is tanning a deep black color.

“What's wrong? What are you doing?”

“Oh, Yasaburo, this is a sinner perhaps. He is weakening. What should we do?”

He got angry.

“You fool! Why do you not treat him?”

“But, the land steward is noisy.”

“Are you afraid of the landowner? We are fishermen. We are fishermen. The God of heaven gets rid of us if we do not help a sufferer!"

Yasaburo gives a net to the fisherman of his friend and wakes up Nichiren. And he carried Nichiren on his shoulder easily and transferred to his home.

"I returned."

Although the wife saw him with a smile, she was surprised to see a carried monk.

“He collapsed on the beach. Treat him.”

Yasaburo unloaded Nichiren slowly, letting him sit down on a dirt floor.

The wife poured hot water into the pail immediately and washed the feet of Nichiren respectfully.

Nichiren realized that he was saved for the first time while was dazed. And he put hands together unconsciously.

“I am very much obliged to you.”

Yasaburo answered curtly.

“I don't ask you why. Furthermore, although I do not know you, you should be able to feel relaxed slowly.”

 On the next morning, Yasaburo mends a net.

Nichiren was falling asleep.

The wife stews porridge of rice and vegetables. She occasionally looked at Nichiren.

“Is this monk a sinner? Also, we will be rumored by our neighbors.”

Yasaburo mends a net silently as usual without answering what the wife says.
 It heard only the sound of the wave.

The living room of Funamori Yasaburo is lined with fishing implements.

In the afternoon of this day, there was Yasaburo with a face as hard as always.

The wife dried the clothes of Nichiren in the sun.

Nichiren is still sleeping.

His disciple, Hokibo Nikko, squeezed a piece of cloth in a tub of water and placed it on Nichiren's forehead. Hoki-bo was in the Jisso-ji Temple when the riot of banishment occurred.at the time of banishment disturbance. He heard the banishment of Nichiren later and searched for Nichiren in Izu. He had just finally arrived at the house of Yasaburo.

Nichiren wakes from sleep.

“Where am I?”

 Hoki-bo smiled unconsciously hearing the voice of Nichiren.

“Did you wake up, sir?”

Nichiren was in pain and got up.

Yasaburo and the wife sit straight and lower their heads. The married couple had heard Nichiren from Hoki-bo in detail.

Hoki-bo introduced them.

“Their name is Lord Yasaburo Funamori, a married couple. Fortunately, Mr. Yasaburo helped you suffer at the beach.”

Nichiren looked at the couple and bowed his head.

“I thank you both for your kindness. While everybody hates and is jealous of Nichiren, it is mysterious that you helped me. What kind of destiny is this? Are you a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra in the past world? You are probably reborn as the Lord Funamori Yasaburo in the Latter Days of the Law and you feel pity for Nichiren.”

The wife of Yasaburo smiled hearing Nichiren was praising her husband and she put hands together to Nichiren.

“I am ready for the meal.”

The wife put the unpolished rice and vegetables in a wooden bowl and held it out.

Nichiren was surprised.

“Is this rice? The rice is very precious now. I am sorry to trouble you.”

Yasaburo said.

“Please don't hesitate. Please eat.”

The shore of Kawana is a long sandy beach.

Nichiren is held in Hoki-bo and goes to the sandy beach.

Nichiren separated from Hoki-bo before long.

“Enough. I can walk alone.”

Nichiren continued walking the sandy beach that spread out endlessly leaving foot-marks step by step alone. Hoki-bo goes anxiously from behind.

Approximately one month after, Nichiren sent the letter of thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Yasaburo, from the mansion of Ito Saemonnojo of the land steward of Izu Ito whom he had moved to.

“When, on the twelfth day of May, having been exiled, I arrived at that beach where I had never even heard, and I was suffering after leaving the boat. You took me into care kindly. What kind of fate has brought us together? Can it be that, because in the past you were a votary of the Lotus Sutra, now, in the Latter Day of the Law, you have been reborn as Funamori-no-Yasaburo and have taken pity on me? Though a man may do, your wife has given me food, brought me water to wash my hands and feet with, and treated me with great concern, I can only call it wondrous." Letter to Funamori Yasaburo'


Yasaburo married couple felt both the dignity and virtue of Nichiren while they took care of Nichiren, and they became believers naturally.

In addition, Nichiren prayed for it in response to a prayer request of the disease recovery from Ito Hachiro-zaemon, the land steward, and the illness recovered wonderfully. Hachiro-zaemon is converted to Nichiren by this affair, and he contributed the Buddha statue, which a fisherman of Ito found from all over the sea to Nichiren. Nichiren carries about this Buddha statue through lifetime and he leaves a will to Nikko, "You must put it inside of the cemetery of me."

The reason why Nichiren had a standing statue of Shakyamuni was described by Nichikan Shonin in the "Practices of Buddhism that are Suitable for the Latter-Days of the Law" in the Books of Six Volumes as follows.

"Because this time was the beginning of the propagation of one religion, therefore, as the first reason, it is thought he used a Buddha statue according to the utility of times.

As the second reason, the whole people of Japan think of an object of worship with Amida. However, the then believer accidentally made Shakyamuni. Why can one not help admiring it?

The third reason is because when the saint Nichiren of our sect founder uses it, that statue of Buddha is the three thousand realms in one mind and is the Buddha having the intrinsically perfect wisdom really.

In addition, Hoki-bo (Nikko) spread their religion in Usami and Yoshida of Izu while serving Nichiren Shonin constantly and faithfully, and he converted Kongoin Gyoman of the Shingon monk of Atami to the sect of Nichiren. Gyoman changed his name Nichigyo and changed his own residence to the Daijoji Temple.

In the midst of this great hardship, Nichiren wrote the following.

The Lotus Sutra is a supreme sutra. Those who punish Nichiren who spreads the Lotus Sutra to the Latter Day of the Law will be rewarded.

“To forbid one who upholds the Lotus Sutra is to forbid Tathagata Shakyamuni. How astonished Brahma, Teishaku, and the four heavenly kings (note) must be! If it is not now, when will the vow of 10 ogre daughters to divide the skulls of those who persecute the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra into seven?

Ajatashatru, who had imprisoned King Bimbisara of father, early suffered bad diseases such as smallpox and measles. How can a person who has confined the ascetic of the Lotus Sutra not suffer from a bad disease in his present life? " The Same Salty Flavor’.

The ten ogre daughters of the demon are children of Kishimojin, and they are the style of the fiends or evil spirit. It is said that they will protect a person keeping the Lotus Sutra together with Brahma and Teishaku and torment an enemy.

Bimbisara was the King of the ancient Indian big power Makadha. Though he had respected Shakyamuni Buddha thick, his prince Ajase received the temptation of Devadatta (note) and killed the king. Ajase received the reward and produced a bad disease to his whole body, and it is said that he became a serious condition.

 


 Note.


 Devadatta

 Devadatta was an evil person who became a disciple of the Buddha during the Buddha's lifetime, but retreated, committing treason and persecuting the Buddha. There are different theories about his birth according to various sutras, but in the Sutra on the Origin of the World, he is said to be the son of King Ganro and the younger brother of Ananda, and in the Treatise on the Great Wisdom, Book 3, he is said to be the son of the King Kokubon and the elder brother of Ananda, making him a cousin of the Buddha. He was hostile to the Buddha from an early age, killing the white elephant given to him, and losing a marriage battle with Princess Yashodala. He later became ordained as a disciple of the Buddha, but his haughty nature led him to retreat and commit the Five Treasons, including founding a new cult and attempting to kill the Buddha. He also seduced King Ajase to kill his father, but Ajase later took refuge in Sakyamuni, and Devadatta is said to have fallen into an interminable hell while still alive. In the twelfth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, it is said that while Sakyamuni was practicing in his past life, he was a good teacher of Sakyamuni's as the Ashi hermit.


Jiga verse (The rhyme of the self and oneself.)

 The sentence from the 16th LifeSpan Chapter of the Lotus Sutra, from "After I become a Buddha" to "Promptly attain Buddhahood. The first two characters of "After I have attained Buddhahood '' in Japanese are called the Jiga-gatha.

A gatha (Sanskrit: gāthā) is a rhyming text of a Buddhist scripture. In the Lotus Sutra, after the detailed description, the summary is repeated in the form of a chorus. It is assumed that this rhyming style was used to memorize the outline of the sutra and pass it on orally to sentient beings.

The Myōhō Renge-kyō is the essence of the Buddha's fifty years of preaching, but the rhymes of the self and oneself of the sixteenth Life Span Chapter is the most fundamental of all. The 16th chorus of the Life Span Chapter, "rhymes of the self and oneself," is the most excellent of all the chapters. It describes the Buddha's unimaginably long life span, in which he attained Buddhahood at the infinite past, and how he has always taught sentient beings since then; the depth of his wisdom in being able to bring back all the memories of the past; and his constant concern for how to bring sentient beings to the Pure Land. The vast and limitless merits and compassion of the Buddha are explained in a verse of five hundred and ten Chinese characters.


 The twenty-seven important points of the Life Span Chapter. The twenty-first, the rhyme of the self and oneself.                               

 In the oral tradition of the Buddha's teachings, "Oneself" refers to the nine realms of confusion, "Self" refers to the Buddha's body, and "rhyme" refers to an explanation. The rhymes are the chants that explain the true nature of the Buddha. You must be deeply concerned about this. The form of explaining is revealed by chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo.


 Four Heavenly Kings 

 The great kings who live in the east, west, south, north, and south of the 3,000 great worlds (the universe) and protect the Buddha Dharma. Jikoku Heaven resides in the east, Zocho Heaven in the south, Koumoku Heaven in the west, and Bishamon Heaven in the north. In the Daishonin's Gohonzon is depicted as follows: Jikoku Heaven on the upper right, Bishamon Heaven on the upper left, Koumoku Heaven on the lower right, and Zocho Heaven on the lower left.



Continued


Life of Nichiren. Vol. 1. Contents



by johsei1129 | 2020-07-29 10:31 | LIFE OF NICHIREN | Trackback | Comments(0)


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