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日蓮大聖人『御書』解説

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2022年 05月 21日

103. One who conveys justice.


Nikko asked Hakiri Sanenaga to reflect on his past, and recommended that he sign a confession of repentance and present it before his master Nichiren’s image.

However, Sanenaga did not hear him.

In a fit of anger, he said loudly that he had taken Minbu Nikou as his master. Whether it was because of his arrogance as a landowner, his pride as a landowner, or his belief that he understood Buddhism, Sanenaga could not hear Nikko's admonition.

Nikko, however, did not blame Sanenaga. He was a supporter who had protected his teacher Nichiren for nine years. Nikko was indebted to Sanenaga too. He may wake up one day and reform.

On the contrary Nikko severely criticized Minbu Nikou and the other five elderly priests. What is it that a man who is supposed to lead others should be hostile to his teacher?

Nikko now reflected on his master's words.


“The evil people of the outside world find it difficult to break the true Law of the Buddha. The disciples of the Buddha should break the Law of Buddha without fail.” ‘Writings at Sado.’


Minobu became a mountain of slander. Nichiren's Buddhism is being destroyed by Nichiren's disciples.

Nikko realized that he could no longer stay in the area. Refusing to receive the offerings from the landowner and leaving meant that hardship awaited him, but he could not compromise. He could not compromise in order to preserve the Law of Nichiren for future generations.

In later generations, there are those who criticized Nikko for his obstinacy, but their words are on the same level as those of the Five Elder Priests. They lack the responsibility to uphold the Law.

Those five monks became corrupt.

After Nichiren passed away, they first changed their names. They did not call themselves Nichiren's disciples, but Tendai monks. This is similar to how Sanmi-bo changed his name because of his pride.

Secondly, they compromised with the world instead of using the method of shakubuku. He joined other sects together and prayed for the safety of the nation. This is the same as the disciples who, at the time of Tatsunokuchi persecution , said, "We must softly propagate the Lotus Sutra.”

All of this was for their own safety. Nichiren's teachings are still criticized by the world. The Five Elder Priests were not like the stubborn Nichiren, and they avoided criticism. They abandoned Nichiren's righteousness in order to protect themselves and receive offerings of the slander. In this way, he prayed for the nation and tried to make a name for himself. Just as Minbu Nikou prayed for the longevity of the nation.

Nikko is indignant.


“The act of praying for one's country is suspicious. Why? Our Master's intention has already been made clear by the behavior of the saint when he was pardoned in the Bun'ei era. Why do you sit with false saints and arrogant priests and pray for the longevity of the heavens and the earth?” ‘Document Criticizing the Five.’


When Master Nichiren was pardoned from his exile on Sado Island, he was asked by the shogunate to pray for the extermination of the Mongols. At that time, Nichiren offered to cut off the heads of monks of various sects as a condition. This was because a prayer for the extermination with the evil sects would destroy the country. When Nichiren realized that he would not be allowed to exterminate the various sects, he left Kamakura and entered the mountains of Minobu. This is the spirit of Nichiren.

The five elderly monks prayed for the country together with the arrogant priests. The spirit of Rissho Ankoku was trampled on.

Their ignorance is unbelievable.

The five monks said that there were no writings of Nichiren. These are words that we could not believe our ears.


“The five of them all said in their own words, ‘There is no such thing as a book written by Saint Nichiren. Even though there are a few such works, some of them are for the benefit of those who are still living in Japan, and they roughly describe the cause and effect of Buddha Dharma using kana characters, while others are for the benefit of lay men and women, and they are for the benefit of those who are teaching by writing their names on the front of the bills of offerings made to them. However, Nikko called it the holy scripture of the saint and discussed and recited it, thus revealing the disgrace of his predecessor.’ Therefore, the calligraphy scattered throughout the land was sometimes scraped off and returned, and sometimes burned in a fire. As such, they destroy the legacy of their predecessors, so they should be noted down in detail and used as a mirror for future generations to come.” ‘The Matters known to the Fuji Sect's Congregation.’ 


The five men do not recognize the kana script that Nichiren left behind for his disciples.

This was a time when Buddhist teachings were expressed in Chinese characters. The five elderly monks believed that the letters written in kana script were not only worthless but also brought shame to the master, as they were letters sent to the faithful who did not have enough wisdom and were only a token of gratitude for his offerings. Nevertheless, Nikko read them gratefully and debated with them. The five men despised Nikko's treatment of the common man and the common woman. In other words, it was a disrespectful attitude toward master Nichiren, who was aiming to spread his teachings throughout the whole world.

The five men are scraping Nichiren's letters back to its original blank form, or burning it. For the disciples of later generations, this was a disastrous practice.

The five were not always by Nichiren's side. They were too far away from Nichiren to hear the teachings of their master. It was a poor environment for learning the essence of Buddhism. They may have their own reasons. However, even if we accept their arguments, after Nichiren's death, the five should have followed Nikko's example and continued to follow the path of righteousness. There was no spirit of "respect for the Buddha" in their hearts. If they had even a trace of a desire to seek the truth, they should have studied Buddhism with Nikko as their teacher.

On the other hand, Nikko, fearing the destruction of Buddha Law, left behind a list of his writings, including Rissho Ankoku-ron. Without this inventory, Nichiren's writings would have been lost, as the five priests have stated. The existing books would have been considered forgeries, and there would have been no trace of Nichiren's teachings. And of course, there would be no this novel. The gap between Nikko and the five is so great. This is the difference between Nikko and the five monks. Isn't this what 'there is a world of difference' means?

It is said that a person who slanders the Law first falls into the three evil paths.

As a witness to this, Nikko described the actions of Minbu Nikou, who had turned Minobu into a mountain of slander.


“In particular, since the first day of April, he had been staying in a small house under the invitation of Morooka Nyudo, and had invited a painter to draw a mandala, which he called the eighth day of April, the day of the birth of Buddha. The fact that he raised his strange voice in a fit of drunkenness, and the ridicule he received from his supporters, was nothing more than the shame of Nichiren.”


A person claiming to be a disciple of Nichiren is ridiculed by the world for his drunkenness and his unsightly carrying of offerings. For Nikko, to whom Nichiren entrusted him, there could be no greater humiliation.

Nikko said that Minbu Nikou's abomination would soon be heard by the land steward. Landowner would soon abandon Minbu Nikou.


 By the way, how did Nichiren, who appointed the six elderly priests from among his direct disciples, think about the fate of his deceased disciples after his own demise? In the "Writing of Honinmyo," a book written in the form of a blood vein extract, which was handed down orally to Nikko at the Ikegami residence two days before the transition, Nichiren expresses his extremely strict views as follows.


“The method of practice expounded by Shakyamuni Buddha during the final eight years of his lifetime has been transferred over as the standards of practice to be carried out after the Buddha’s passing, during the Latter Day of the Law. However, Shakyamuni Buddha is the teacher of the Buddhism of maturing and harvesting. I, however, am the master of the Buddhism of sowing seeds. The one chapter and two halves taught by Shakyamuni Buddha signify the observation of the mind for Shariputra and others, and constitute the doctrinal aspect for us, common mortals. However, the observation of the mind of common mortals, filled with earthly desires, namely, those at the stage of not yet hearing the Law, must chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo without conducting other practices.

This is how a foolish person who is ignorant of profound righteousness can come to think that my righteousness is outside the scope of the teachings. This is the ultimate result of those who receive the consequences of poor deeds.

The great Tendai master had 3,000 disciples, but only one, Shoan, was well-understood. The great teacher Dengyo Daishi had 3,000 disciples, but after Gishin, there were none. This is still the case today. There are many disciples, but those who convey justice without doubt are rare, like the one or two pebbles. This is a doctrine that must be kept secret.”


It is strongly inferred that the one or two pebbles in this extract are Shonin Nikko and Shonin Nichimoku. Before his death, Nichiren Daishonin had already declared that the five elderly priests, with the exception of Nikko, could not be "those who convey justice.”

As a proof of this, Nichiren-affiliated schools that follow the lineage of the Five Elder Priests to the present day do not follow the Dai-Gohonzon of the fundamental precept platform, which was created in the second year of Koan, and most of them use a statue of the Buddha as their principal image. Even if they display the main image of the Buddha, such as the mandala in Nichiren's own handwriting, the main image of the Buddha is the statue of the Shakyamuni.

Furthermore, none of the priests or lay believers had any way of knowing that Nichiren had entrusted the construction of the fundamental precept platform to his few disciples, as he had written in "Receiving the Three Great Secret Laws."


“The most fitting site will be sought out like the pure land of Spirit Eagle Mountain. And the precept platform will be built there. We must wait for that moment. This is the very meaning of the practice of the precept. This will be a sanctuary not only were the people of the three countries of India, China, and Japan, and the whole world, will come to receive the Law of the precept that enables them to repent and wipe out offenses, but also where the heavenly kings Bonten and Teishaku will descend to take part in the ceremony. (omitted). Up until now I have kept this doctrine secret within my heart. But if I do not leave behind me a written record of it, the future disciples of my teachings will perhaps criticize me by saying that I was without pity or compassion. And at that time, no matter how much I might regret it, I will have no way to refute their charges. For that reason, I write this and send it to you. When you have finished reading it, you must keep it secret and not show it to others. It would also become useless to talk about this matter.”



To be continued.


Note

 

One chapter and two halves.

 The second half of the fifteenth part of the Myōhō Rengekyō, the first half of the sixteenth part of the Life Span, and the first half of the seventeenth part of the Segregated Merits and Demerits. In the Object of Worship, Nichiren declared that these one and the two half chapters are the most extreme teachings of the Myōhō Renge-kyo, and that the rest are minor sutras, even though they are called the Lotus Sutra.

 

“In the essential teaching when viewed from the depths of the LifeSpan chapter there are three divisions: preparation, revelation, and transmission.

Shakyamuni Buddha preached the Lotus Sutra in the past as the sixteenth son of Daitsuu Chisho Buddha. When he appeared in his present life in India, he also preached teachings for some fifty years, from the Kegon to the fourteen chapters of the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra and the Nirvana Sutra. All these sutras as well as the countless sutras of the Buddhas of the ten directions and the three existences are preparation for revealing the heart of the “Life Span” chapter.

All of these sutras, which do not contain the one chapter and two halves, are in effect Hinayana Buddhism. They are erroneous doctrines, teachings that do not clarify the cause for attaining Buddhahood, and sutras that do not reveal true Buddhism,

When we consider the capacity of those who practice these teachings, we can see that these people are similar to beasts. They have little virtue and harbor deep earthly desires. They are immature, poor, and lonely, and they receive no protection.” ‘Object of Worship’


 Gishin

 Ten'ou first year (781) - Tencho tenth year (833).

 Tendai priest of the early Heian period. He studied Dharma at Kofukuji Temple in Nara, and received precept by a disciple of Ganjin. He then studied under Saicho, and in 23 Enryaku (804), he accompanied Saicho to Tang China, as a Chinese interpreter, and like Saicho, he received the Lotus Sutra precept from Dozui and returned to Japan. After Saicho's death in the 13th year of Konin, he became the first preceptor to confer the precepts at the Mahayana Precept Platform on Mount Hiei. He is the author of "Book of teachings in the Tendai Lotus Sutra Sect".

     




by johsei1129 | 2022-05-21 11:37 | LIFE OF NICHIREN | Trackback | Comments(0)


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