大聖人様のお言葉 十六 Words of Daishonin. 16

　第一 普賢(ふげん)菩薩の事 　

　Point One, concerning Bodhisattva Fugen (Note)

　文句の十に云く「勧発(かんぱつ)とは恋法の辞なり」と。

　Words and Phrases, volume ten, says, “The word kambotsu, or ‘encouragement,’ is expressive of veneration for the Law.”

　御義口伝に云く、勧発とは勧は化他。発は自行なり。

　Orally Transmitted Doctrines says: In the compound kambotsu, the element kan, or “encouragement,” refers to the conversion of others, while the element botsu (or hotsu), or “initiate,” refers to one’s own practice.

　普とは諸法実相・迹門の不変真如の理なり、　

　In the name Fugen, or the element fu, “universal,” refers to the true aspect of all phenomena, the principle of eternal and unchanging truth as embodied in the theoretical teaching.

　賢とは智慧の義なり・本門の随縁真如の智なり。

　The element gen, or “worthy” or “wise,” expresses the idea of wisdom, the wisdom of the truth that functions in accordance with changing circumstances, as embodied in the essential teaching.

　

　然る間・経末に来たつて本迹二門を恋法し給えり。

　Hence we see that here, at the conclusion of the sutra, there is expressed a veneration for the Law as it is implied in the two teachings, the theoretical and the essential.

　所詮(しょせん)今日蓮等の類い・南無妙法蓮華経と唱え奉る者は普賢菩薩の守護なり云云。

　

　Generally speaking, now when Nichiren and his associates humbly chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, they enjoy the protection of Bodhisattva Fugen.

　第二 若法華経 行閻浮提(えんぶだい)の事

　Point Two, on the passage “If when the Lotus Sutra is propagated throughout the whole world there are those who accept and uphold it, they should think: This is all due to the authority and supernatural power of Fugen!”

　御義口伝に云く、此の法華経を閻浮提に行ずることは、普賢菩薩の威神の力に依るなり。

　Orally Transmitted Doctrines says: It is due to the authority and supernatural power of Bodhisattva Fugen that this Lotus Sutra will be propagated throughout the whole world.

　此の経の広宣流布することは普賢菩薩の守護なるべきなり云云。

　Therefore the widespread propagation of this sutra is under the protection of Bodhisattva Fugen.

　第四 是人命終 (ぜにんみょうじゅう） 為千仏授手(い・せんぶつじゅしゅ)の事

　Point Four, on the passage “If there are persons who accept, uphold, read, and recite the sutra and understand its principles, when the lives of these persons come to an end, they will be received into the hands of a thousand Buddhas, who will free them from all fear and keep them from falling into the evil paths of existence.”

　御義口伝に云く、法華不信の人は命終の時、地獄に堕在す可し。

　Orally Transmitted Doctrines says: When persons who do not have faith in the Lotus Sutra come to the end of their lives, they fall into hell.

　経に云く「若人不信・毀謗此経・即断一切・世間仏種・其人命終(ごにんみょうじゅう)・入阿鼻獄(にゅうあびごく)」と。

　Hence the sutra says, “If a person fails to have faith / but instead slanders this sutra, immediately he will destroy all the seeds / for becoming a Buddha in this world. / . . . When his life comes to an end / he will enter the Avīchi hell” (chapter three, Simile and Parable).

　法華経の行者は命終して成仏す可し、是人命終為・千仏授手の文是なり。

　But when practitioners of the Lotus Sutra come to the end of their lives, they will attain Buddhahood. Thus the text here says, “When the lives of these persons come to an end, they will be received into the hands of a thousand Buddhas.”

　千仏とは千如の法門なり。　

　The thousand Buddhas represent the doctrine of the thousand factors.

　謗法の人は獄卒来迎(ごくそつ・らいごう)し、法華経の行者は千仏来迎し給うべし。

　The wardens of hell will come to greet those who have slandered the Law, but a thousand Buddhas will come to greet the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra.

　今日蓮等の類い・南無妙法蓮華経と唱え奉る者は千仏の来迎・疑ひ無き者なり云云。

　Without doubt, therefore, a thousand Buddhas will come to greet Nichiren and his associates, who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo humbly.

　第五 閻浮提内(えんぶだいない) 広令流布(こうりょう・るふ)の事

　Point Five, on the passage “World-Honored One, I now therefore employ my transcendental powers to guard and protect this sutra. And after the Tathagata has entered extinction, I will cause it to be widely propagated throughout the whole world and will see that it never comes to an end.”

　御義口伝に云く、此の内の字は東西北の三方を嫌える文なり。

　Orally Transmitted Doctrines says: This word “throughout,” or literally “within,” implies that a world that has nothing to do with humans is not favored.

　広令流布とは法華経は南閻浮提計りに流布す可しと云う経文なり。

　The sutra passage is saying that the Lotus Sutra is to be propagated only within the continent of the whole world.

　此の内の字・之を案ず可し。

　One must give careful thought to the word “within.”

　今日蓮等の類(たぐ)い・南無妙法蓮華経と唱え奉る者は、深く之を思う可きなり云云。

　Now Nichiren and his associates who humbly chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo must ponder this matter deeply.

　第六 此人不久当詣道場の事

　Point Six, on the passage “Fugen, after the Tathagata has entered extinction, . . . if you see someone who accepts, upholds, reads, and recites the Lotus Sutra, you should think to yourself: Before long this person will proceed to the place of practice, conquer the devil hosts, and attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi [supreme perfect enlightenment].”

　御義口伝に云く、此人とは法華経の行者なり。

　Orally Transmitted Doctrines says: The words “this person” refer to the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra.

　法華経を持ち奉る処を当詣道場と云うなり。

　The place where the person upholds and honors the Lotus Sutra is the “place of practice” to which the person proceeds.

　此(ここ)を去つて彼(かしこ)に行くには非ざるなり。

　It is not that he leaves his present place and goes to some other place.

　道場とは十界の衆生の住処を云うなり。

　The “place of practice” is the place where the living beings of the Ten Worlds reside.

　今日蓮等の類い南無妙法蓮華経と唱え奉る者の住処は山谷曠野、皆寂光土なり。此れを道場と云うなり。

　And now the place where Nichiren and his associates chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo humbly, “whether . . . in mountain valleys or the wide wilderness” (chapter twenty-one, Supernatural Powers), these places are all the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light. This is what is meant by “the place of practice.”

　「此の因・易(あらた)むること無きが故に直至(じきし)と云う」の釈之を思う可し。

　A commentary the Annotations on “The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra,” volume ten says, “This cause is unchanging and never fails to bring about enlightenment, hence the text says, Proceeding directly to the place of practice’ [chapter three, Simile and Parable].” One should keep this in mind.

　此の品の時、最上第一の相伝あり。

　In this chapter Shakyamuni Buddha revealed the foremost point he wished to convey to us.

　釈尊八箇年の法華経を八字に留めて末代の衆生に譲(ゆず)り給うなり。

　The Buddha preached the Lotus Sutra over a period of eight years, and eight characters sum up the message that he has left behind for living beings in this later age, the Latter Day of the Law.

　八字とは「当に起って遠く迎ふべきこと、仏を敬うが如くすべし」の文なり。

　It is in the passage that reads, “Therefore, Fugen, if you see a person who accepts and upholds this sutra, you should rise and greet him from afar, showing him the same respect you would a Buddha” (chapter twenty-eight), particularly the eight characters that make up the end of the passage, “you should rise and greet him,” etc.　

　此の文までにて経は終はるなり。

　With this passage the words of Shakyamuni Buddha in the sutra come to an end, thus in effect ending the sutra.

　

　当の字は未来なり、

　The word “should” shows that these words refer to the future.

　当起遠迎(とうきおんごん)とは必ず仏の如くに法華経の行者を敬う可しと云う経文なり。　

　The words “should rise and greet him from afar” indicate that the sutra passage is saying that one should without fail show the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra the kind of respect one would show to a Buddha.

　法師品には「此の経巻に於て敬ひ視(み)ること仏の如くす」と云えり。　

　Similarly, “The Teacher of the Law” chapter says, “Again if there are persons who embrace, read, recite, expound, and copy the Lotus Sutra . . . and look upon this sutra with the same reverence as they would the Buddha . . .”

　

　八年の御説法の口開きは南無妙法蓮華経方便品の諸仏智慧。終はりは当起遠迎・当如敬仏の八字なり。

　For eight years the Buddha preached the Law, beginning with what the “Expedient Means” chapter of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo calls “the wisdom of the Buddhas,” and then ending his preaching with the eight characters that read, “you should rise and greet him from afar, showing him the same respect you would a Buddha.”

　但此の八字を以て法華一部の要路(ようろ)とせり。

　With just these eight characters he summed up the message of the entire sutra.

　されば文句の十に云く「当起遠迎・当如敬仏よりは其の信者の功徳を結することを述す」と。

　Hence Words and Phrases, volume ten, says, “The section that begins with ‘You should rise and greet him from afar, showing him the same respect you would a Buddha,’ concludes the description of the merits gained by persons of faith.”

　法華一部は信の一字を以て本とせり云云。

　That is, the entire Lotus Sutra has its basis in this one word, faith.

　

　尋ねて云く、今の法華経に於て序品には首(はじ)めに如の字を置き、終はりの普賢品には去(こ)の字を置く。

　Question: In the present text of the Lotus Sutra, the “Introduction” chapter begins with the word nyo, “this” or “like this,” and the “Fugen” chapter, the last chapter, ends with the word ko, “departed.”

　羅什(らじゅう)三蔵の心地・何(いか)なる表事の法門ぞや。

　This arrangement was made on purpose by the Tripitaka Master Kumārajīva, but what doctrinal principle is he attempting to express thereby?

　答へて云く、今の経の法体は実相と久遠との二義を以て正体と為すなり。

　Answer: The essence of the teachings expressed in the Lotus Sutra lies in the two principles of the true aspect of all phenomena and Shakyamuni Buddha’s original enlightenment in the distant past. These constitute its essential doctrines.

　始めの如の字は実相を表し、終りの去の字は久遠を表するなり。

　The first word in the sutra, nyo, expresses the true aspect, while the last word, ko, expresses the event in the remotest past.

　其の故は実相は理なり、久遠は事なり。

　Hence the true aspect of all phenomena represents the theory or principle underlying the teaching, while becoming Buddha in the remote past represents the factual realization of the principle.

　理は空の義なり、空は如の義なり。

　The word ri, theory or principle, means the principle of emptiness, and the word “emptiness” means nyo, or “like,” or “equal to” something.

　之に依って如をば理空に相配するなり。

　That is why the word nyo was chosen to represent theory or principle and emptiness.

　釈に云く「如は不異に名く、即ち空の義なり」と。

　Thus a commentary Profound Meaning, volume two says, “The word nyo means ‘not different from’ and hence has the meaning of non-entity.”

　

　久遠は事なり。

　The event in the distant past is the factual realization (ji) of the nyo principle.

　其の故は本門寿量の心は事円の三千を以て正意と為すなり。

　Therefore, the core of the doctrine found in the “Life Span” chapter of the fundamental doctrine is summed up in the factual realization of the actuality or the perfect doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of mind.

　去は久遠に当るなり。　

　The word ko, or “departed,” corresponds to that which took place “long ago.”

　

　去は開の義、如は合の義なり。

　

　Ko means to be separated from something, while nyo means to be joined together.

　開は分別の心なり、合は無分別の意なり。

　Separation represents the mind that makes distinctions; joining together represents the mind that is without distinctions.

　此の開合を生仏に配当する時は、合は仏界、開は衆生なり。

　When these two principles of separation and joining together are applied to the relationship of living beings and Buddhahood, we may say that joining together stands for the world of Buddhahood, while separation stands for the various kinds of living beings.

　序品の始めに如の字を顕したるは生仏不二の義なり。

　The word nyo that appears at the beginning of the “Introduction” chapter, that is, nyo ze gamon, or “This is what I heard” expresses the idea that living beings and Buddha are not two different persons.

　迹門は不二の分なり、不変真如なる故なり。

　The theoretical teaching deals with the idea that living beings and Buddhahood are not two different things, since it expresses the eternal and unchanging truth or Thusness (nyo) of things.

　此の如是我聞の如をば不変真如の如と習うなり。

　Hence we can take the nyo of the sentence “This (nyo) is what I heard” to refer to the nyo of the term “eternal and unchanging truth (shinnyo).”

　空仮中の三諦には如は空、是は中、我聞は仮諦。　

　In terms of the three truths of non-substantiality, temporary existence, and the Middle Way, nyo, or “this,” represents non-substantiality, ze, or “is,” represents the Middle Way, and gamon, or “what I heard,” represents temporary existence.

　迹門は空を面(おもて)と為す故に不二の上の而二なり。

　The theoretical teaching deals principally with emptiness or non-substantiality. Therefore we may say that on top of the basic principle of oneness or non-differentiation there is the opposite principle, that of ‘twoness’ or differentiation.

　然る間・而二の義を顕す時、同聞衆を別に列ぬるなり。

　When the sutra is illustrating this principle of twoness or differentiation, it treats the members of the assembly, all of whom alike listen to the sutra, as separate individuals, listing their names.

　さて本門の終りの去は随縁真如にして而二の分なり

　The ko, or “departed” or “parted,” which is placed at the end of the essential teaching, represents the wisdom of the truth that functions in accordance with changing circumstances. It expresses the idea that living beings and Buddhahood are two different things.

仍(よ)つて去の字を置くなり。　

Hence the word “departed” or “parted” is used.

作礼而去(さらいにこ)の去は随縁真如と約束するなり。　

　Indeed, the “departed” of the words “they bowed in obeisance and departed” (chapter twenty-eight) is regarded as the wisdom of the truth that functions in accordance with changing circumstances.　

　本門は而二の上の不二なり。　　

　The essential teaching thus deals with the non-differentiation that is based on differentiation.

　而二不二(ににふに)・常同常別・古今法爾(ここんほうに)の釈之を思う可し。

　One should think of a commentary on this, which reads, “Two but not two, constantly the same yet constantly different—past and present, such is the Dharma.”

　此の去の字は、彼の五千起去の去と習うなり。

　Also the word ko, or “departed,” refers to the passage in the “Expedient Means” chapter that describes how five thousand arrogant members of the assembly “rose from their seats, bowed to the Buddha, and withdrew (departed).”

　其の故は五千とは五住の煩悩と相伝する間、五住の煩悩が己心の仏を礼して去ると云う義なり。

　Therefore, as has been stated earlier, the number five thousand stands for five types of worldly desires that are at all times a part of our makeup. The meaning of the passage then is that the five types of abiding earthly desires bow in obeisance to the Buddha in our own minds and make their departure.

　如・去の二字は生死の二法なり。　

　The two words nyo and ko also stand for the two factors of birth and death.

　伝教云く「去は無来之如来(むらいのにょらい)・無去之円去(むこのえんこ)」等と云云。

　As Dengyō says, “Ko, or ‘departed,’ is the Tathagata who never comes and therefore who never departs, the perfect departure that never departs.”

　如の字は一切法是心の義、去の字は心是一切法の義なり。

　The word nyo, or “thus,” represents the principle that all phenomena are the mind, while the word ko, or “depart,” represents the principle that the mind is all phenomena.

　一切法是心は迹門の不変真如なり、

　 The principle that all phenomena are the mind is the unchanging truth or Thusness (nyo) of theoretical teaching.

　心是一切法は本門の随縁真如なり。

　The principle that the mind is all phenomena is the truth or Thusness that functions in accordance with changing circumstances as expressed in the essential teaching.

　然る間、法界を一心に縮むるは如の義なり、法界に開くは去の義なり。

　For this reason, when the Dharma-realm is compressed into a single mind, this is the principle of nyo, and when a single mind is opened up and pervades the Dharma-realm, this is the principle of ko.

　三諦三観(さんたいさんがん)の口決相承(ぐけつそうじょう)と意(こころ)同じ云云。

　The meaning of this is the same as the oral transmission regarding the three truths and the threefold contemplation or observation of the three truths unified in a single mind.

　一義に云く、如は実なり。去は相なり。　

　According to another interpretation, nyo stands for “true” of the true aspect or reality, while ko stands for “aspect” or form.

　実は心王。相は心数(しんじゅ)なり。

　Reality is the mind itself, while form is the workings of the mind.

　

　又諸法は去なり、実相は如なり。

　Or again “all phenomena” in the phrase “the true aspect of all phenomena” corresponds to ko, while the “true aspect” corresponds to nyo.

　今経一部の始終、諸法実相の四字に習うとは是なり。　

　This is why we learn that the entire Lotus Sutra from beginning to end deals with the four characters that represent the true aspect of all phenomena.

　釈に云く「今経は何を以て体と為(す)るや。諸法実相を以て体と為す」と。

　A commentary [An Essay on the Protection of the Nation], written by Dengyō says, “Now what constitutes the essence of the sutra? The words ‘the true aspect and all phenomena’ constitute the essence.”　

　今一重立ち入つて日蓮が修行に配当せば、如とは如説修行の如なり。

　Now if we delve more deeply into the matter and inquire how Nichiren goes about his religious practice, the word nyo is the nyo (“as”) of the phrase “practice it [the Lotus Sutra] as the sutra teaches” (chapter eighteen, Responding with Joy).

　其の故は結要(けっちょう)五字の付属を宣べ給う時、宝塔品に事起こり、声徹下方(しょうてつ・げほう)し、近令有在(ごんりょう・うざい)・遠令有在(おんりょう・うざい)と云うて有在の二字を以て本化・迹化の付属を宣ぶるなり。

　Therefore when the transmission of the five characters that represent the essence of the Lotus Sutra took place, the procedure began in the “Treasure Tower” chapter, when Shakyamuni Buddha spoke in a voice that penetrated to the lower regions, calling on those who are near to preserve the sutra and those who are far away to preserve it. “The Buddha wishes to entrust this Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law to someone so that it may be preserved” (chapter eleven, Treasure Tower). With these two words “be preserved,” he declared he would entrust the sutra to the bodhisattvas of the essential teaching and the bodhisattvas of the theoretical teaching.

　仍つて本門の密序(みつじょ)と習うなり。

　 Hence we traditionally refer to this passage as the secret or veiled sentence to the fundamental doctrine.

　

　さて二仏並座(びょうざ)・分身の諸仏集まつて是好良薬の妙法蓮華経を説き顕し、釈尊十種の神力を現じて四句に結び、上行菩薩に付属し給う。

　After the two Buddhas, Shakyamuni and Many Treasures, were seated side by side in the treasure tower and the Buddhas that were emanations of Shakyamuni had been gathered together, Shakyamuni proceeded to expound and make clear Myoho-renge-kyo, what the Buddha called “this good medicine” (chapter sixteen, Life Span). Then in the “Supernatural Powers” chapter, Shakyamuni Buddha demonstrated ten types of supernatural powers, summarized the teaching in the four pronouncements that begin with the words “all the doctrines possessed by the Tathagata,” etc. and in this way entrusted the teaching to Bodhisattva Jogyo, the leader of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth.

　其の付属とは妙法の首題なり。

　What was transmitted at that time was the Wonderful Law, the title of the sutra.

　惣別の付属・塔中塔外(たっちゅう・とうげ)之を思う可し。　

　You should keep in mind that there are distinctions between the general transmission of the sutra made outside the treasure tower as described in the “Entrustment” chapter and the specific transmission made within the tower as depicted in the “Supernatural Powers” chapter.

　之に依つて涌出・寿量に事顕れ、神力(じんりき)・属累(ぞくるい)に事竟(おわ)るなり。

　Thus the transmission ceremony that began in the “Treasure Tower” chapter, with the teaching to be transmitted and the person to whom it is transferred revealed in the “Emerging from the Earth” and “Life Span” chapters, is brought to a conclusion in the “Supernatural Powers” and “Entrustment” chapters.

　此の妙法等の五字を末法・白法隠没の時、上行菩薩・御出世有つて五種の修行の中には四種を略して但受持の一行にして成仏す可しと・経文に親(まのあた)り之れ有り。

　These passages in the “Supernatural Powers” chapter are stating clearly and emphatically that, with regard to the five characters Myoho-renge-kyo, in the Latter Day of the Law, when the Pure Law of Shakyamuni Buddha has passed into extinction, Bodhisattva Jogyo will appear in the world to proclaim them and, of the five types of practice advocated by Shakyamuni, to accept and uphold, to read, to recite, to explain and preach, and to copy the Lotus Sutra, will explain that only the first, to accept and uphold the sutra, is to be practiced as the way to attain Buddhahood.

　夫(さ)れば神力品に云く「於我滅度後(おがめつどご)・応受持斯経(おうじゅじ・しきょう)・是人於仏道(ぜにんの・ぶつどう)・決定無有疑(けつじょうむうぎ)」云云。

　This is what the “Supernatural Powers” chapter means when it says, “Therefore a person of wisdom, / . . . after I have passed away / should accept and uphold this sutra. / Such a person assuredly and without doubt / will attain the Buddha way.”

　此の文・明白なり。

　The meaning of this passage is perfectly obvious.

　仍つて此の文をば仏の廻向(えこう)の文と習うなり。

　Hence we traditionally refer to this passage as the statement of the Buddha in which he transfers his merit to the upholders of the sutra.

　然る間・此の経を受持し奉る心地は如説修行の如なり。　

　For this reason, the attitude of mind of one who accepts and upholds this sutra is that of the nyo (“as”) of the phrase “practice it as the sutra instructs.”

　此の如の心地に妙法等の五字を受持し奉り、南無妙法蓮華経と唱え奉れば、忽ち無明煩悩の病を悉く去つて妙覚極果(みょうかくごくか)の膚(はだえ)を瑩(みが)く事を顕す故に・さて去(こ)の字を終りに結ぶなり。

　 If one uses this attitude of mind to reverentially accept and uphold the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo humbly, at once the illnesses of ignorance and earthly desires will all depart, and one will emerge clothed in the shining flesh of perfect enlightenment and the ultimate reward. That is why this word ko, or “departed,” has been placed at the very conclusion of the sutra.

　仍つて上に受持仏語と説けり。　

　It is in effect an explanation of the words that precede it, “Accepting and upholding the words of the Buddha” (chapter twenty-eight).

　煩悩悪覚の魔王も諸法実相の光に照されて一心一念遍於法界と観達(かんたつ)せらる。　

　Even the devil kings with their earthly desires and evil enlightenment, when the light of the true aspect of all phenomena shines on them, will gain the kind of penetrating insight that allows them to perceive that their bodies and minds at a single moment pervade the entire Dharma-realm.

　然る間・還つて己心の仏を礼す故に、作礼而去(さらい・にこ)とは説き給うなり。

　When that happens, they will, contrary to their usual practices, bow in obeisance to the Buddha who is in their minds. That is why the sutra says, “They bowed in obeisance and departed.”

　「彼彼三千互遍亦爾(ひひさんぜん・ごへんやくに)」の釈・之を思う可し。

　One must recall in this context the passage of commentary [volume five of The Annotations on “Great Concentration and Insight”] that reads, “All the three thousand conditions of this or that person permeate one another in this way.”

　秘す可し・秘す可し。　

　But treat all this as a secret. Treat this as a secret.

　唯受一人(ゆいじゅいちにん)の相承(そうじょう)なり。 口外す可からず。

　It is something to be transmitted from teacher to one disciple only, not to be talked of with outsiders.

　然らば此の去の字は不去而去の去と相伝するを以て至極と為すなり云云。

普賢品六箇の大事

　

　The ultimate view of the teachings handed down with regard to the word ko, or “departed,” then, is that ko represents the ko, or “departure,” of the “departure that never departs.”

　Chapter Twenty-eight: Encouragements (Kanbotsu) of the Bodhisattva Fugen. Six important points

　　　　　　　鳩摩羅什　Kumarajiva

　第二 量の字の事

　Point Two, concerning the character ryō

　御義口伝に云く、量の字を本門に配当する事は、量とは権摂(はかりおさむる)の義なり。　

　Orally Transmitted Doctrines says: The character ryō, “to measure” or “to estimate,” pertains to the essential teaching, because ryō has the meaning of “to weigh” and “to include.”

　本門の心は無作三身を談ず。

　The heart of the essential teaching is the exposition of the eternally endowed three bodies of the Buddha.

　此の無作三身とは仏の上ばかりにて之を云わず。

　 This concept of the eternally endowed three bodies does not refer to the Buddha alone.

　森羅万法を自受用身(じじゅゆうしん)の自体顕照(じたいけんしょう)と談ずる故に、迹門にして不変真如の理円を明かす処を改めずして己が当体無作三身と沙汰するが本門事円三千の意なり。

　It explains that all the ten thousand things of the universe are themselves revealed to have Buddha bodies which are not made and mended. Therefore, while the theoretical teaching makes clear the theoretical perfection of the unchanging truth, the essential teaching takes over this explanation without change and deals with the eternally endowed three bodies present in each individual thing itself, setting forth the actual perfection of three thousand realms in a single moment of mind as it is revealed in the essential teaching.

　是れ即ち桜梅桃李(おうばいとうり)の己己の当体を改めずして無作三身と開見すれば是れ即ち量の義なり。

　When one comes to realize and see that each thing—the cherry, the plum, the peach, the damson—in its own entity, without undergoing any change, possesses the eternally endowed three bodies, then this is what is meant by the word ryō, “to include” or all-inclusive.

　今日蓮等の類(たぐ)い・南無妙法蓮華経と唱え奉る者は無作三身の本主なり云云。

無量義経六箇の大事

　Now Nichiren and his associates, who humbly chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, are the original possessors of these eternally endowed three bodies.

第二 不断煩悩 不離五欲 得浄諸根　滅除諸罪の事

　Point Two, regarding the passage “How, without cutting off earthly desires or separating themselves from the five desires, can they purify their senses and wipe away their sins?”

　御義口伝に云く、此の文は煩悩即菩提・生死即涅槃を説かれたり。

　Orally Transmitted Doctrines says: This passage states that worldly desires are enlightenment as they are, and that the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana without change.

　法華の行者は貪欲(とんよく)は貪欲のまま、瞋恚(しんに)は瞋恚のまま、愚癡(ぐち)は愚癡のまま、普賢菩薩の行法なりと心得可きなり云云。

　

　For the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra, greed is greed and remains just as it is; anger is anger and remains just as it is; foolishness is foolishness and remains just as it is. And yet they are carrying out Bodhisattva Fugen’s practice of the Law. One should understand this clearly.

　第五 正法治国 不邪枉(ふじゃおう)人民の事

　Point Five, regarding the passage “The third act of repentance is to use the correct Law to order the country and not to lead the people astray with erroneous views.”

　御義口伝に云く、末法の正法とは南無妙法蓮華経なり。　

　Orally Transmitted Doctrines says: The “correct Law” in the Latter Day of the Law is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

　此の五字は一切衆生を・たぼらかさぬ秘法なり。

　These five characters are a secret Law that does not deceive any living being.

　正法を天下一同に信仰せば此の国安穏ならむ。

　If all those under heaven join together in believing in it, then this country will be peaceful and calm.

　されば玄義に云く「若し此の法に依れば即ち天下泰平」と。

　Thus [volume eight of] Profound Meaning says, “If one relies upon this Law, then all under heaven will be at peace.” The words “this Law” refer to the Lotus Sutra.

　此の法とは法華経なり。

　The words “this Law” refer to the Lotus Sutra.

　法華経を信仰せば天下安全たらむ事・疑ひ有る可からざるなり。

　So there can be no doubt that, if one believes in the Lotus Sutra, then all under heaven will be peaceful and secure.

つづく　to be continued