"But the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo, the heart of the eighty thousand sacred teachings and the core of the Lotus Sutra, he neither entrusted to Mahākāshyapa or Ānanda, nor transferred to great bodhisattvas such as Manjushrī, Universal Worthy, Perceiver of the World’s Sounds, Maitreya, Earth Repository, or Nāgārjuna. Even though these great bodhisattvas hoped that he would do so and requested it of him, the Buddha would not consent. He summoned forth a venerable old man called Bodhisattva Superior Practices from the depths of the earth,2 and then, in the presence of the Buddha Many Treasures and the Buddhas of the ten directions, from within the tower adorned with the seven kinds of treasures, the Thus Come One Shakyamuni entrusted the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo to him.
The reason for this was as follows. All the beings who would live after the Buddha’s passing would be the children of the Buddha, and he felt compassion for all of them equally. But, just as it is customary for a physician to prescribe medicine according to the particular ailment he is treating, so for the first five hundred years after his passing, the Buddha decreed that Mahākāshyapa, Ānanda, and others should give all living beings the medicine of the Hinayana sutras. For the following five-hundred-year period, he decreed that the bodhisattvas Manjushrī, Maitreya, Nāgārjuna, and Vasubandhu should bestow upon all living beings the medicine of Mahayana sutras such as the Flower Garland, Mahāvairochana, and Wisdom sutras. And for the period of the Middle Day of the Law, a thousand years after his passing, he decreed that Bodhisattva p.606Medicine King, Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds, and others should bestow upon all living beings the medicine of the remaining teachings, with the exception of the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra.
Once the Latter Day of the Law has begun, however, with regard to the Hinayana sutras, the Mahayana sutras, and the Lotus Sutra that were entrusted to Mahākāshyapa, Ānanda, and others; to the bodhisattvas Manjushrī, Maitreya, and others; and to Medicine King, Perceiver of the World’s Sounds, and others, though the words of these sutras will remain, they will no longer serve as medicine for the illnesses of living beings. That is to say, the illnesses will be grave, and the medicine, weak. At that time, Bodhisattva Superior Practices will make his appearance in the world and bestow the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo upon all the living beings of Jambudvīpa.
Then the people will all look upon this bodhisattva as an enemy. They will be like so many monkeys faced with a dog, or like demons eyeing human beings with spite. They will treat him as if he were Bodhisattva Never Disparaging of the past, who was not only cursed and hated by all people but was attacked with staves, rocks, and tiles, or as if he were the monk Realization of Virtue, who was nearly put to death.
At that time, Mahākāshyapa and Ānanda will hide on Eagle Peak3 or disappear into the Ganges River, and Maitreya and Manjushrī will withdraw to the inner court of the Tushita heaven5 or retire to Mount Fragrant.6 Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds will return to the western region, and Bodhisattva Universal Worthy, to the eastern region.8 Although there will be persons who practice the various sutras, since no one will be there to guard or protect them, they will be unable to benefit themselves or others. Although there will be persons who chant the names of the various Buddhas, the heavenly gods will be unable to protect them. Instead they will be as helpless as calves separated from their mothers, or pheasants sighted by hawks.
At that time, the great demons from the worlds of the ten directions will come crowding into the continent of Jambudvīpa and will take possession of the four categories of Buddhists, causing them to inflict injury on their parents or to do away with their brothers and sisters. In particular, these demons will enter into the hearts of those monks and nuns throughout the nation who appear to be wise or seem to be diligent in observing the precepts, and through them will practice deception upon the ruler of the nation and his ministers.
At that time, when under the protection of Bodhisattva Superior Practices a person bestows just the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra, the five characters of Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, upon all the people, those four categories of Buddhists and other prominent monks will hate him as if he were their parents’ enemy, a foe from a previous existence, a sworn enemy of the imperial house, or a person bent on revenge.
At that time, great changes will take place in the heavens. Eclipses of the sun and moon will occur, great comets will streak across the sky, and the earth will quiver and shake as if it were a waterwheel. After this will come the disaster of domestic rebellion, in which the ruler of the nation, his brothers, and the other great men of the nation will be attacked and killed. Next will come the disaster of invasion from abroad, in which the land will be attacked by a neighboring nation, the people will be taken prisoner or commit suicide, and all the people throughout the country, whether high or low, will suffer great tribulation.
All of this will come about solely because the person who is propagating the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra under the protection of Bodhisattva Superior Practices is abused, struck, exiled, and threatened with execution. We read in the sutra that Brahmā, Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, and the four heavenly kings inscribed an oath in the presence of the Buddha at the assembly where the Lotus Sutra was being preached, vowing that if anyone should show enmity toward the votary of the Lotus Sutra they would chastise that person with even greater vehemence than if he were the sworn enemy of their own father and mother.
Now when I, Nichiren, having been born in this country of Japan, hold up the bright mirror of both the Lotus Sutra and all the other sutras to the faces of all the persons in Japan, I see that matters differ not in the slightest from what the sutras predict. Just as the Buddha foretold, great changes are taking place in the heavens and disasters are occurring on earth.
For some time now I have known that this nation is destined for destruction. I knew that, if I reported this to the ruler, and if it were still possible that the nation might be preserved in peace and safety, then he would surely ask me to clarify the meaning of my words; but if the nation were indeed doomed, then the ruler would refuse to heed my advice. And if he refused to heed my advice, I knew that I would most likely be condemned to exile or execution. Yet the Buddha has warned us, “If, while understanding this matter, you still hesitate to risk your life and therefore do not declare it to the people, then you are not only my enemy but the deadly enemy of all living beings and are bound to fall into the great citadel of the Avīchi hell.”
At this point I became troubled as to how to proceed. If I spoke out with regard to this matter, there was no telling what might become of me. My own safety was of little concern, but suppose that my parents, siblings, and perhaps even one other person out of a thousand or ten thousand should follow me. They, too, would surely be hated by both the ruler and the common people. And if they were so hated, then, not having a full understanding of the Buddhist teachings, they would find it difficult to endure the attacks of others. Though they had supposed that, by practicing the Buddha’s teachings, they would gain peace and security, in fact they would find that, because they had embraced this teaching, they were beset by great hardships. In that case they would then slander this teaching as a distorted one and therefore fall into the evil paths. How pitiful that would be!
But if, on the other hand, I failed to speak out on this matter, then I would not only be going against the vow I made to the Buddha, but I would become the deadly enemy of all living beings and be condemned without fail to the great Avīchi hell. Thus, though I had pondered which course of action to take, I made up my mind to speak out.
I felt that, once I had begun to speak out, it would not do to falter or desist along the way, and so I spoke out with ever increasing vigor. Then, just as the Buddha’s words in the sutra predict, the ruler grew hostile and the common people began to attack me. And because they treated me with enmity, heaven grew enraged, the sun and moon displayed great changes in their behavior, and huge comets appeared. The earth shook as though it would turn over, internecine strife broke out, and they were attacked by a foreign country. All happened just as the Buddha had predicted, and there is no doubt that I, Nichiren, am the votary of the Lotus Sutra."
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