Avarice (Greed), Anger, Foolishness (Stupidity or Animality)...The Three Poisons are the fundamental cause of disasters according to the Lotus Sutra

 

"In a country where the three poisons [of greed, anger, and foolishness] prevail to such a degree, how can there be peace and stability?

In the kalpa of decline, the three major calamities will occur, namely, the calamities of fire, water, and wind. And in the kalpa of decrease, the three minor calamities will occur, namely, famine, pestilence, and warfare. Famine occurs as a result of greed, pestilence as a result of foolishness, and warfare as a result of anger.

At present the people of Japan number 4,994,828 men and women, all of them different persons but all alike infected by the three poisons. And these three poisons occur because of their relationship with Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. So all of these people at the same moment set out to curse, attack, banish, and do away with Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions. This is what leads to the appearance of the three minor calamities." (King Rinda)

Nichiren teaches in The Two Kinds of Illness

"THE illnesses of human beings may be divided into two general categories, the first of which is illness of the body. Physical diseases comprise one hundred and one disorders of the earth element, one hundred and one of the water element, one hundred and one of the fire element, and one hundred and one of the wind element, for a total of four hundred and four maladies. These illnesses can be cured with the medicines prescribed by skilled physicians such as Water Holder, Water Carrier, Jīvaka, and Pien Ch’üeh.

The second category is illness of the mind. These are the three poisons and the eighty-four thousand illnesses. Only a Buddha can cure them; thus they are beyond the healing powers of the two deities and the three ascetics, not to mention those of Shen Nung and Huang Ti.

Illnesses of the mind differ greatly in severity. The three poisons and the eighty-four thousand illnesses that afflict ordinary people of the six paths can be treated by the Buddha of the Dharma Analysis Treasury, Establishment of Truth, and Precepts schools, which derive from the Tripitaka teaching of Hinayana. However, if one tries to use the Hinayana teachings to cure the three poisons and eighty thousand illnesses that arise from slandering the Mahayana sutras, such as the Flower Garland, Wisdom, and Mahāvairochana sutras, these illnesses will merely become worse and never be cured. They can be treated only with the Mahayana teachings. Moreover, if one attempts to use the Flower Garland, Wisdom, and Mahāvairochana sutras, or the teachings of the True Word and Three Treatises schools to cure the three poisons and eighty thousand illnesses that arise when the practitioners of the various Mahayana sutras oppose the Lotus Sutra, those sicknesses will become all the more serious. To illustrate, the flames emitted by burning wood or coal can easily be extinguished by water, but if one pours water over a fire produced by burning oil, it will only burn more intensely, the flames mounting still higher.

The epidemics that have been raging in Japan since last year cannot be categorized within the four hundred and four illnesses of the body. Thus they are beyond the healing powers of Hua T’o7 and Pien Ch’üeh. Nor do they correspond to any of the eighty-four thousand diseases that can be treated with the Hinayana or provisional Mahayana teachings. For this reason, the prayers offered by the priests of the schools based on those teachings not only fail to end the epidemics, but rather aggravate them all the more. Even if the epidemics should subside this year, p.920they will surely break out again in years to come. Probably they will come to an end only after something dreadful has happened.

The Lotus Sutra says, “Though he might practice the art of medicine and by its methods cure someone’s disease, the person would grow sicker from some other malady and perhaps in the end would die. . . . it would only make his condition worse.” The Nirvana Sutra states: “At that time King Ajātashatru of Rājagriha . . . boils broke out over his entire body. . . . [The king said to his mother], ‘These boils have their origin in the mind; they do not arise from the four elements. Though people say that there is a physician who can cure them, that could not possibly be.’” Miao-lo said, “Wise men can perceive the cause of things, as snakes know the way of snakes.”9

The present epidemics are like the virulent boils of King Ajātashatru that could not be cured by anyone but the Buddha. They can only be eliminated by the Lotus Sutra.

I developed diarrhea on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month of last year, and up until the third or fourth day of the sixth month of this year, it grew more frequent by the day and more severe by the month. Just when I was thinking that it must be my immutable karma, you sent me good medicine. Since taking it, my complaint has diminished steadily and is now a mere one-hundredth fraction of its former intensity. I wonder if Shakyamuni Buddha has taken possession of your body to help me, or perhaps the Bodhisattvas of the Earth have bestowed upon me the good medicine of Myoho-renge-kyo. Chikugo-bō will explain all this to you in more detail.

Postscript: Your messenger arrived at the hour of the dog (7:00–9:00 p.m.) on the twenty-fifth day of this month. The things you have sent me are beyond counting. Please convey my appreciation to Toki for his offering of a summer robe. Also please tell your wife how saddened I am at the passing of her grandfather.

With my deep respect,

Nichiren

The twenty-sixth day of the sixth month

In the Embankments of Faith he writes:

"The Lotus Sutra reads, 'If in that fearful age one can preach this sutra for even a moment, [one will deserve to receive alms from all heavenly and human beings].' This passage explains that in the evil age of the Latter Day of the Law, when evil persons stained by the three poisons prevail, anyone who believes in and upholds the correct teaching, for even a short time, will receive offerings from heavenly and human beings."

We read in What it Means to Hear the Buddha Vehicle for the First time:

"What is the poison? It is the three paths of earthly desires, karma, and suffering that are our lot. What is the medicine? It is the Dharma body, wisdom, and emancipation. And what does it mean to change poison into medicine? It means to transform the three paths into the three virtues: the Dharma body, wisdom, and emancipation. T’ien-t’ai says, “The character myō is defined as being beyond ordinary comprehension.” And he also says, “Life at each moment... This is what we mean when we speak of the ‘region of the unfathomable.’”

This is what the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form means. In recent times the Flower Garland and True Word schools, having stolen this doctrine, treat it as their own. They are outrageous thieves, the most outrageous in the world!"

It is like the Soka Gakkai who stole Namu Myoho renge kyo to bolster the inferior teachings of Human Revolution, Soka pedagogy and mentor and disciple.

In the Opening of the Eyes we read:

"The seventh volume of On “Great Concentration and Insight” states: “‘Priests who concentrate on the written word’ refers to men who gain no inner insight or understanding through meditation, but concern themselves only with characteristics of the doctrine. ‘Zen masters who concentrate on practice’ refers to men who do not learn how to attain the truth and the corresponding wisdom, but fix their minds on the mere techniques of breath control. Theirs is the kind of [non-Buddhist] meditation that fundamentally still retains outflows. ‘Some Zen masters give all their attention to meditation alone’ means that, for the sake of discussion, T’ien-t’ai gives them a certain degree of recognition, but from a stricter viewpoint they lack both insight and understanding. The Zen men in the world today value only meditation [as the way to realize the truth] and have no familiarity with doctrinal teachings. In relying upon meditation alone, they interpret the sutras in their own way. They put together the eight errors and the eight winds, and talk about the Buddha as being sixteen feet in height. They lump together the five components and the three poisons, and call them the eight errors. They equate the six sense organs with the six transcendental powers, and the four elements with the four noble truths. To interpret the sutras in such an arbitrary manner is to be guilty of the greatest falsehood. Such nonsense is not even worth discussing.”

Soka members remind me of the Zen men.

"...You may question how it is that the Buddha can reside within us when our bodies, originating from our parents’ sperm and blood, are the source of the three poisons and the seat of carnal desires. But repeated consideration assures us of the truth of this matter. The pure lotus flower blooms out of the muddy pond, the fragrant sandalwood grows from the soil, the graceful cherry blossoms come forth from trees, the beautiful Yang Kuei-fei was born of a woman of low station, and the moon rises from behind the mountains to shed light on them. Misfortune comes from one’s mouth and ruins one, but fortune comes from one’s heart and makes one worthy of respect." (New Years Gosho)

Fortunately, thanks to the Lotus Sutra, Namu Myoho renge kyo, and the Gohonzon, "the three poisons of greed, anger, and foolishness can become the seeds of Buddhahood." Mahasattva Nagarjuna taught, "The Lotus Sutra is like a great physician who can change poison into medicine.” When we exhibit the World of Anger without reason, we later feel remorse. We go to the Gohonzon and chant Namu Myoho renge kyo and the anger turns to delight. Likewise, there is the concept of righteous anger. When we see the Soka Gakkai attempting to destroy the sublime teachings of the Lotus Sutra and we direct our anger towards them, we are performing the work of the Buddha and his Supreme Votary of the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren.