Our guide to reunite with a deceased child

The late Goro was sixteen years old. Not only did he surpass others in his disposition and handsome appearance, but he was fully endowed with a man’s strengths and was praised by all. Moreover, his obedience to his parent’s will was like water taking the shape of its container or a shadow following a body. You relied upon him as the pillar of your household; you thought of him as your staff upon the road. All the wealth in your family coffers existed for this child; so did the family retainers. You must have been firmly convinced that when you died you would be carried by him on his back to the graveyard, and that there would be nothing left for you to worry about. But lamentably, he has preceded you in death. “Why? Why did this happen? It must be a dream, an illusion! I will wake up; I will wake up!” you must have thought. But without your having awakened, already one year has given way to the next. You do not know how long you will have to wait. You must feel that, if only he had left word where you could go to meet him, then without wings, you would soar to the heavens, or without a boat, you would cross over to China. If you heard that he was in the bowels of the earth, then how could you fail to dig into the ground?

And yet there is a way to meet him readily. With Shakyamuni Buddha as your guide, you can go to meet him in the pure land of Eagle Peak. The sutra states, “If there are those who hear the Law, then not a one will fail to attain Buddhahood.” This means that, even if one were to point at the earth and miss it, even if the sun and moon should fall to the ground, even if an age should come when the tides cease to ebb and flow, or even if flowers should not turn to fruit in summer, it could never happen that a woman who chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo would fail to be reunited with her beloved child. Continue in your devotion to faith, and bring this about quickly!

With my deep respect,
Nichiren

The thirteenth day of the first month

Reply to the lay nun Ueno