On the Buddha’s Prophecy 顕仏未来記

On the Buddha’s Prophecy

Japanese

■Date of writing: May 11, Bun'ei 10 (A.D. 1273), in the 52nd year of Nichiren Daishonin's age.

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

■The text says, "If you have any doubts, ask your disciples about any matter. The author had already given "Opening of the eyes" to his disciples in Sado, where this book was written, at the same time, and so the text indicates that he is the true Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law as a deeply in-depth Dharma gate. This book is probably intended for supporters (secular believers who are not ordained), and is thought to present in a simpler manner that he is the true Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law as described in the Lotus Sutra.

■ The autograph: It was once in Kuon-ji Temple on Mt. Minobu. (Destroyed in the great fire of 1875)

[On the Buddha’s Prophecy. Text]

Nichiren of Shamon thought of this

　The seventh volume of the Lotus Sutra states, “After I have passed away, in the last five-hundred-year period you must spread it [the Lotus Sutra] abroad widely throughout the whole world and never allow it to be cut off.” It is deplorable to me that more than 2,220 years have already passed since the Buddha’s demise. What evil karma prevented me from being born in his lifetime? Why could not I have seen the four ranks of sages in the Former of the Law, or Tendai and Dengyo in the Middle of the Law?

　 On the other hand, I rejoice in whatever good fortune enabled me to be born in the last five-hundred-year period and to read these true words of the sutra. Even if I had been born in the Buddha’s lifetime, it would have served no purpose, for those who embraced the four flavors of teachings had not yet heard of the Lotus Sutra. Again, my being born in either the Former or the Middle would have been meaningless, for neither the scholars of the three schools of the south or the seven schools of the north in China, nor those of the Kegon, Shingon, or any other sects, had believed in the Lotus Sutra.

　The Great Teacher Tendai states, “In the last five-hundred-year period, the exquisite way will spread and benefit humankind far into the future.” Does this not describe the time of wide propagation? The Great Teacher Dengyo says, “The Former and Middle Days are almost over, and the Latter Day is near at hand.” These words reveal how much he longed for the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law. If we consider the merits of living in the different ages, it is clear that mine surpass those of Ryuju and Tenjin, and excel those of Tendai and Dengyo.

Question: You are not the only person living in this “last five-hundred-year period”; why are you in particular so overjoyed to be living now?

Answer: The fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra reads, “Since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the Tathagata is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing?” The Great Teacher Tendai states, “The propagation of the Lotus Sutra will become more difficult in the future. This is because it is difficult to preach the principles of the Lotus Sutra.”

The Great Teacher Myolaku explains, “The purpose of the phrase ‘be difficult to preach the principles’ is to let us know how hard it is to enable people to understand these principles.”

The Dharma Teacher Chi-do states: “It is said that good medicine tastes bitter. This sutra, which is like good medicine, dispels attachments to the five vehicles and establishes the one ultimate principle. It reproaches those in the ranks of ordinary beings and censures those in the ranks of saints, denies provisional Mahayana and refutes Hinayana. That is why all these types of people try to make hindrances for a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra.”

The Great Teacher Dengyo states: “Speaking of the age, the propagation of the true teaching will begin at the age when the Middle Day of the Law ends and the Latter Day opens. Regarding the land, it will begin in a land to the east of T’ang and to the west of Katsu. As for that person, he will be born stained by the five impurities at the era which is riddled with war and strife. The sutra says, ‘Since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the Tathagata is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing?’ There is a real reason for this statement!”

The Great Teacher Dengyo seems to be describing his own day, but actually he is referring to our present time. His words “The Former and Middle are over, and the Latter Day is almost at hand” have just such a meaning.

The sutra states, “Evil devils, the devils’ people, heavenly beings, dragons, yakshas, kumbhānda demons, and others will take news.” Another part of the sutra details these “others”: “Whether it be a yaksha, or a rākshasa, or a hungry spirit, or a pūtana, or a kritya, or a vetāda, or a skanda, or an umāraka, or an apasmāraka, or a yaksha kritya, or a human kritya . . .” These passages explain that those who in previous lifetimes embraced the four flavors and three teachings, non-Buddhist teachings, or doctrines concerning the realms of human and heavenly beings appear in this life as devils, or heavenly or human beings who persecute the practitioner of the true and perfect teaching when they see or hear of him.

Question: In comparing the Former and Middle with the Latter Day of the Law, the first two were far superior in terms of both the era and the people’s capacity. Why are these factors of the era and capacity ignored in the Lotus Sutra, which refers exclusively to this age?

Answer: The Buddha’s intent is difficult to fathom. Indeed, I am still unable to grasp it. We may attempt to understand, however, by taking the Hinayana sutras as a point of reference. During the thousand years of the Former, the Hinayana was fully endowed with the three elements of teaching, practice, and proof. During the thousand years of the Middle, teaching and practice alone remained; proof no longer existed. In the Latter Day of the Law, teaching alone remains; neither practice nor proof exists.

On examining this from the standpoint of the Lotus Sutra, we find that in the thousand years of the Former persons who possessed all three had most probably formed ties with the Lotus Sutra during the Buddha’s time. They were born again in the Former and were able to obtain the proof of Hinayana through its teaching and practice. Those born in the Middle had not developed strong ties to the Lotus Sutra during the Buddha’s lifetime and were therefore unable to attain proof through Hinayana. They had instead to provisional Mahayana and thus were able to be born in the pure lands of the ten directions.

In the Latter Day of the Law, no merit is derived from either Mahayana or Hinayana. Hinayana retains nothing but its teaching; it has neither practice nor proof. Mahayana still has its teaching and practice, but no longer provides any proof of merit, either conspicuous or inconspicuous.

Furthermore, the schools of the Hinayana and provisional Mahayana established during the Former and Middle Days of the Law cling all the more stubbornly to their doctrines as they enter the Latter Day. Those who espouse Hinayana reject Mahayana, and those who espouse provisional teachings attack the true teaching, until the country is overrun with slanderers of the Law. Those who fall into the evil paths because of their mistaken practice of Buddhism outnumber the soil of the earth, while those who attain the Buddha way of practicing the correct teaching are fewer than the soil that can be placed on a fingernail. At such a time, various heavens and benevolent gods abandon the country, and only perverse heavenly beings and perverse demons remain, possessing the minds and bodies of the ruler, his subjects, and monks and nuns, and causing them to curse, revile, and heap shame on the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra.

If, however, in the time after the Buddha’s passing, a person renounces his attachments to the four flavors and three teachings, and converts to faith in the Lotus Sutra that is true Mahayana, various heavens and benevolent deities, as well as the Bodhisattvas numbers of as the dust particles of a thousand worlds who emerged from beneath the ground, will protect him as the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra. Under their protection, he will establish and spread abroad widely throughout the whole world as the object of devotion of the essential teaching, or the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo.

It was the same with Bodhisattva Fukyo, who lived in the Middle Days of the Buddha I'on King. He propagated widely throughout his land the teaching of twenty-four characters that begins, “I have profound reverence for you,” and was attacked with sticks of wood by the whole population. The twenty-four characters of Fukyo and the five characters of Nichiren are different in wording, but accord with the same principle. The end of the Buddha I'on King’s Middle Days and the beginning of this Latter Day of the Law are exactly the same method. Bodhisattva Fukyo was a person at the initial stage of rejoicing; Nichiren is a beginner at the stage of hearing the name and the words of the truth.

Question: How can you be certain that you are the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra prophesied to appear at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law?

Answer: 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 so after his passing?” Another passage reads, “There will be many ignorant people who will curse and speak ill of us and will attack us with swords and staves.” Another says, “Again and again we will be banished.” Another reads, “It [the Lotus Sutra] will face much grudge in the world and be difficult to believe.” Or read, “Some among the group would take sticks of wood or tiles and stones and beat and pelt him.” Also reads, “Evil devils, the devils’ people, heavenly beings, dragons, yakshas, kumbhānda demons, and others will get news.”

I have held up the bright mirror of these scriptural passages before the ruler, his subjects, and the four categories of Buddhists throughout Japan. But I can find none other than myself who has lived these passages. As for the time, now is most certainly the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, but had Nichiren not appeared, the Buddha’s words would be false.

Question: You are an extremely arrogant priest, even more arrogant than Mahādeva or Sunakshatra. Is this not so?

Answer: Insulting Nichiren is an offense even graver than those of Devadatta or Vimalamitra.

My words may sound arrogant, but my sole purpose is to fulfill the Buddha’s predictions and reveal the truth of his words. In all Japan, who but Nichiren can be called the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra? By denouncing Nichiren, you would make the Buddha’s prophecies lie. On the contrary, are you not an extremely evil man?

Question: You certainly fit the Tathagata’s prophecies. But are there not perhaps other practitioners of the Lotus Sutra in the five regions of India or the land of China?

Answer: Throughout the four continents of the world, there are not two suns. Within the four seas, how can there be two rulers?

Question: On what basis do you say that?

Answer: The moon appears in the west and sheds its light eastward, but the sun rises in the east and casts its rays to the west. The same is true of Buddhism. It spread from west to east in the Former and Middle Days of the Law, but will travel from east to west in the Latter Day. The Great Teacher Myolaku says, “Does this not mean that Buddhism has been lost in India, the country of its origin, and must now be sought in the surrounding regions?” Thus, no Buddhism is found in India anymore. During the 150 years or so since barbarians from the north invaded the Eastern Capital at the time of Emperor Kao-tsung, both Buddhism and imperial authority became extinct in China. Concerning the collection of scriptures kept in China, not one Hinayana sutra remains, and most Mahayana sutras have also been lost. Even when Jakushō and other priests set out from Japan to take some sutras to China, no one was found there who could embrace these sutras and teach them to others. It was as though there were only wooden or stone statues garbed in priests’ robes and carrying begging bowls. That is why Zyun-Shiki said, “Buddhism came first from the west, like the moon appearing. Now it has returned from the east, like the sun rising.” These remarks make it clear that Buddhism is lost in both India and China.

Question: Now I can see no Buddhism exists in either India or China, but how do you know no Buddhism exists in the other three continents—in the east, west, and north?

Answer: The eighth volume of the Lotus Sutra states, “After the Tathagata has entered extinction, I will cause the Lotus Sutra to be widely propagated throughout the whole world and will see that it never comes to an end.” The words “throughout the whole world” indicate that the other three continents are excluded.

Question: I have seen that the Buddha’s prophecy applies to you; now what do you yourself predict?

Answer: In the light of the Buddha’s prophecy, “the last five-hundred-year period” has already begun. I say that without fail Buddhism will arise and flow forth from the east, from the land of Japan. Omens will occur in the form of unusual disturbances in the heavens and terrible calamities on earth that will be greater in magnitude than ever before witnessed in the Former or Middle Day of the Law. When the Buddha was born, when he turned the wheel of the Law, and also when he entered nirvana, the omens, both auspicious and inauspicious, were greater than any ever observed.

The Buddha is the teacher of all sages. The sutras describe how, at the time of his birth, light shone forth in five colors in all directions, and the night became as bright as noon. At the time of his passing, twelve white rainbows crossed the sky from north to south, the sun’s light was extinguished, and the day became as dark as midnight. There followed the two thousand years of the Former and Middle Days of the Law; sages, some Buddhist and some not, were born and died, but there were not any omens of such magnitude.

From the beginning of the Shoka era (1257) through this year, however, tremendous earthquakes and extraordinary phenomena in the heavens have occurred, exactly like the signs that marked the Buddha’s birth and death. You should know from this that a sage like the Buddha has been born. A great comet crossed the sky, but for which ruler or subject did this omen appear? The ground tilted, and the great earthquake occurred three times, but for which saint or wise did this occur? You should realize that these great omens, both good and bad, are of no ordinary, secular significance. They are omens that the teachings of the great Law will be flourishing or declining.

Tendai states, “By observing the fury of the rain, we can tell the size of the dragon that caused it, and by observing the flourishing of the lotus flowers, we can tell the depth of the pond they grow in.” Myolaku says, “Wise men can perceive the cause of things, and snakes by themselves know the way of snakes.”

Twenty-one years have gone by since I, Nichiren, understood this principle and began propagating. During this period I have suffered difficulties day after day and month after month. In the last two or three years, among other things, I was almost put to capital crime. The chances are one in ten thousand that I will survive the year or even the month. If anyone questions these things, I must ask my disciples for details.

What fortune is mine to expiate in one lifetime the offenses of slandering the Law I have accumulated from the infinite past! How delighted I am to serve Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings, whom I have never seen! I pray that before anything else I can guide and lead the ruler and those others who persecuted me. I will tell the Buddha about all the disciples who have aided me, and before I die, I will present the great goodness deriving from my practice to my parents who gave me life.

Now, as if in a dream, I understand the heart of the “Treasure Tower” chapter! As the sutra states: “Even if you were to grasp Mount Sumeru and fling it far off to the measureless Buddha lands, that would still not be difficult. But if after the Buddha has passed away, in the time of evil, you can preach this sutra, that will be difficult indeed.”

The Great Teacher Dengyo said: “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 Shakyamuni and worked to uphold the Lotus school, spreading its teachings throughout China. We of Mount Hiei inherited the doctrine from Tendai and work to uphold the Lotus school and to disseminate its teachings throughout Japan!”

I, Nichiren of Awa Province, have probably inherited the teachings of the Law from these three teachers, and in this era of the Latter Day I uphold the Lotus school and disseminate the Law. Together we should be called the four teachers of the three countries! Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

Written by Nichiren, the priest of Japan.

　The eleventh day of the leap May in the tenth year of Bun’ei (1273)

Table of contents