The Practitioner of the Lotus Sutra Will Meet Persecution. 法華行者逢難事

　　 Authentic text. The part of the postscript

　On the Practitioner of the Lotus Sutra will Encounter the Persecution

Original text

■Date of writing: The 14th day of the 11th year of Bun'ei (1274 A.D.), written at fifty-three year old.

■Place of writing: At the residence of Ichinosawa Nyudo, Ichinosawa, Sado Island.

■Daishonin wrote this book from Sado Island to Toki Jonin and other lay believers in the faith. Regarding the exile on Sado Island, Daishonin wrote, "If we compare this, then Tendai and Dengyo did not fulfill the Buddha's prophecy. In view of all this, it must be that a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra will appear in the world at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, just as the Buddha In view of all this, it must be that a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra will appear in the world at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, just as the Buddha predicted. In other words, Daishonin, who is in great danger of being exiled and beheaded twice, suggests that he is a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra alongside the Buddha, that is, the fundamental Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law.

In this book, Daishonin also added, "I will add and say to all of you" and "In this defiled age, all of you should always gather and talk together and never cease to pray for your next life" to the believers. In this book, he encourages the believers to unite with each other and keep the faith to pray for rebirth in the good place of their next life.

■Autograph: Collection of Nakayama Hokkekyo-ji Temple (Important Cultural Property)

[On the Practitioner of the Lotus Sutra will Encounter the Persecution. Text]

The fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra states, “Since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the Tathagata is in the world, how much more will this be hard after Buddha's passing?” The fifth volume says, “It will face much hostility in the world and be difficult to believe.” The thirty-eighth volume of the Nirvana Sutra states, “At that time there were countless non-Buddhists. . . . Their hearts gave rise to fury.” It also says, “At that time there were innumerable non-Buddhists who plotted together and went as a group to Ajase, the king of Magadha, and said: ‘At present there is a man of incomparable wickedness, a monk called Shakya. O King, you have ever examined him, and this arouses very fear in us. All sorts of evil people hope to gain profit and alms, and have flocked to him and become his followers. These people do not practice goodness, but instead use the power of spells and magic to gather their friends. They are Makakasho, Shariputra, and Mokuren.’” This well illustrates the meaning of the passage: “Hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the Tathagata is in the world . . .”

The Venerable Tokuichi reviled the Great Teacher Tendai, saying, “See here, Tendai, whose disciple are you? With a tongue less than three inches long you are slandering the teachings that come from the long broad tongue that can cover even Buddha’s face!” He also said, “Surely Tendai must be perverse and insane.” More than three hundred priests, including the prelates of the seven major temples in Nara such as the Supervisor of Priests Gomyo and the Discipline Master Keishin, hurled abuse at the Great Teacher Dengyo, saying: “Just as in a land west of China there was a Brahman named the talkative Demon, so now in this eastern realm of Japan, there is a bald-pated monk who spits out crafty words. Evil spirits invisibly invite such people to deceive and mislead the world.”

However, Dengyo states in his Outstanding Principles of the Lotus Sutra: “Shakyamuni taught that the shallow is easy to embrace, but the profound is difficult. To discard the shallow and seek the profound is the way of a person of courage. The Great Teacher Tendai trusted and obeyed with Shakyamuni and worked to uphold the Lotus Sect, spreading its teachings throughout China. We of Mount Hiei inherit the doctrine from Tendai and work to uphold the Lotus Sect and to disseminate its teachings throughout Japan.”

During the lifetime of the Buddha as well as the two thousand years of the Former and Middle Days of the Law that followed after his passing, there were only three practitioners of the Lotus Sutra. They were the Buddha himself, Tendai, and Dengyo. By contrast, Zenmui and Fukuh of the Shingon, Chigon and Tojun of the Kegon sect, and the monks of the Sanron and Hosso sects, all, twisted the sentences of the sutra of the true teaching so that they accorded with the meaning of the provisional sutras. Scholars such as Ryuju and Tenjin inwardly grasped the meaning of the Lotus Sutra, but had not spoken of it outside. Not even the four ranks of sages in the Former Days of the Law could compare with Tendai and Dengyo when it came to propagating the Lotus Sutra just as it teaches.

If the Buddha’s prediction is true, there must be a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra in the Latter day of the Law, and the great difficulties that he encounters will surpass those that occurred during the Buddha’s lifetime. The Buddha himself encountered the nine great persecutions. He was received scandal from Sundari; he was offered stinking rice gruel; he was forced to eat horse fodder; King Haruri massacred the greater part of the Shakya clan; he practiced the mendicancy but his bowl remained empty; the Brahman’s daughter Sensya slandered him; Devadatta dropped a boulder from atop a hill in an attempt to kill him; and the cold wind forced him to seek clothes. And in addition, he was denounced by all the non-Buddhists, as I mentioned earlier. If we compare this, then Tendai and Dengyo did not fulfill the Buddha’s prophecy. In view of all this, it must be that a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra will appear in the world at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, just as the Buddha predicted.

By the way, on the seventh day of the twelfth month in the tenth year of Bun’ei (1273), a letter from the former governor of Musashi reached the province of Sado. The letter, to which he had set his signature, read:

We have heard a rumor that Nichiren, the priest exiled to the province of Sado, is leading his disciples and others in plotting some evil action. His acts are nothing short of outrageous. From now on, those who follow that priest are to be severely punished. Should there be those who nevertheless still violate this prohibition, their names are to be reported. This is an official order.

The monk Kan’e

The seventh day of the twelfth month in the tenth year of Bun’ei

To Rokuro Saemon-no-jo, who is the agent of the Prefectural governor.

This letter reads that I am “plotting some evil action.” Non-Buddhists slandered the Buddha, saying that Gautama was an evil man. Buddha has personally suffered each of the nine great persecutions. Among them, those of his persecutions that correspond to Haruri massacring the Shakya clan, going begging but being left with an empty bowl, and being forced to seek robes for protection from the cold wind have been great trials that occurred during the Buddha’s lifetime. These are hardships that Tendai and Dengyo never met. Truly, you should know that, adding Nichiren to these three, there is now a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra in the Latter Day of the Law. How glad I am to fulfill the words of prophecy from the sutra; “How much more will this be hard after Buddha's passing?” I am sure that all the people of this country will fall into the Avi hell. How sad it will be! I will not go into detail here because this letter will become complex. You should ponder this in your heart.

Nichiren

January 14 in the eleventh year of Bun’ei (1274)

All people should read and listen to this letter. Those who are serious in their resolve should discuss it with one another.

　Table of Contents.