Reply to Kuboama. 窪尼御前御返事

Reply to Nun Kubo.

Original Text.

■Writing date : Koan 2 (1279) December 27, age 58

■Location: In the thatched hut on Mt. Minobu.

■Background of writing: This writing was written on December 27 at the end of the year. Nun Kubo sent offerings to Daishonin for the New Year celebration. It supposes that Daishonin sent this letter soon.

Daishonin described as "I have written to you so many times in the past to thank you for your kindness that my writing brush is worn out and my fingers will no longer move" in the text, which shows how frequently the lay nun Kubo delivers offerings of memorial services in each season.

Furthermore, he writes at the end of the letter, "According to the Buddha, the merits by making offerings even to one word of the Lotus Sutra are truly hard to measure." and encourages her to keep her faith in the Lotus Sutra.

■Autograph: No longer exists. The old copy: written by Nikko Shonin, owned by Fuji Taisekiji Temple.

[The text]

I have received the fifty slabs of steamed rice cake, one string of dried persimmons, and one pail of starch syrup that you sent me. I have written to you so many times in the past to thank you for your kindness that my writing brush is worn out and my fingers will no longer move.

Someone may be able to know the number of raindrops that fall on three thousand worlds for seven days. There may be a person who knows the number of dust particles in the vast lands that make up the worlds of the ten directions. But The Buddha said, "It is hard to know the magnitude of the merits of an offering made to a single letter of the Lotus Sutra.” You should keep this in your mind.

Respectfully yours,

Nichiren

The twenty-seventh day of November

Reply to the nun Kubo

Original Text. 　Table of Contents.