Gosho 光日房御書 Letter to Konichibo

ましていわ(況)うや日本国の人の父母よりもをも(重)く、日月よりもたかくたの(頼)みたまへる念仏を無間(むけん)の業(ごう)と申し、

To compound matters, I had denounced the Nembutsu—which the people of Japan revere more deeply than their own parents and more highly than the sun and moon—as the karmic cause that leads to the hell of incessant suffering.

In addition, I had denounced the Nembutsu which the people of Japan respect more deeply than their own parents and more highly than the sun and moon, and I said it is the cause that leads to the hell of incessant suffering.

禅宗は天魔の所為(そい)、真言は亡国の邪法、念仏者・禅宗・律僧等が寺をばや(焼)きはら(払)ひ、念仏者どもが頸(くび)をは(刎)ねらるべしと申す上、

I attacked the Zen school as the invention of the heavenly devil, and the True Word school as an evil doctrine that will ruin the nation, and insisted that the temples of the Nembutsu, Zen, and Precepts priests be burned down and the Nembutsu priests and the others beheaded.

I attacked them saying that the Zen sect is the acts of the devil and the Shingon is an evil doctrine that will ruin the nation, and I insisted that the Shogunate burn down the temples of the Nembutsu, Zen, and religious precepts priests and should behead the Nembutsu priests and the others.

故最明(さいみょう)寺(じ)・極楽寺の両入道殿を阿鼻(あび)地獄に堕(お)ち給ひたりと申すほどの大禍(だいか)ある身なり。

I even went so far as to assert that the two deceased lay priests of Saimyō-jiand Gokuraku-ji had fallen into the Avīchi hell.

Moreover,I picked Hojo Tokiyori and Shigetoki of the two deceased lay priest and expressed they had fallen into the Avichi hell. I am such a sinful human being.

此(これ)等(ら)程の大事を上下万人に申しつけられぬる上は、設(たと)ひそら(虚)ご(事)となりとも此の世にはう(浮)かびがたし。

Having voiced such serious charges to all people both high and low, whether or not I had spoken in error, I could never again rise in the world.

Because I had voiced such appeals to all people of the high rank and bottom, whether or not I had spoken it in error, I can never again appear to this world.

つづく　Continued

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