Major Writings - Nichiren Daishounin

The Causal Law of Life
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The True Entity of Life
The One Essential Phrase
The Essence of the Juryo Chapter
The True Object of Worship
The Selection of the Time
The Problem to Be Pondered Night and Day
Reply to the Mother of Lord Ueno
The Bodies and Minds of Ordinary Beings
Teaching, Practice, and Proof
On Omens
On Persecutions Befalling the Buddha
The Votary of the Lotus Sutra Will Meet Persecution
Thus I Heard
The Izu Exile
The Origin of the Urabon
The Royal Palace
The Meaning of Faith
The Third Day of the New Year
Reply to the Followers
The Causal Law of Life
The Swords of Good and Evil
The Teaching for the Latter Day
The Unmatched Fortune of the Law
Easy Delivery of a Fortune Child
Letter to Konichi-bo
Letter to Misawa
An Outline of the Zokurui and Other Chapters
Consecrating an Image of Shakyamuni Buddha Made by Shijo Kingo
Curing Karmic Disease
Admonitions Against Slander
Bestowal of the Mandala of the Mystic Law
The Receipt of New Fiefs
The Unity of Husband and Wife
Letter to Ko-no-ama Gozen
Winter Always Turns to Spring
On Filial and Unfilial Conduct
A Father Takes Faith
A Warning against Begrudging One's Fief
The Mongol Envoys
Reply to Tokimitsu
Reply to Myoho Bikuni Gozen
Beneficial Medicine for All Ills
A Sage Perceives the Three Existences of Life
The Proof of the Lotus Sutra
Letter to Jakunichi-bo
Aspiration for the Buddha Land
Reply to Lord Shijo Kingo
The Universal Salty Taste
Good Fortune in This Life
The Wealthy Man Sudatta
Letter to Gijo-bo
New Year's Gosho
Persecution at Tatsunokuchi
Easy Delivery of a Fortune Child
Reply to Lord Matsuno's Wife
The Birth of Tsukimaro
Banishment to Sado
Great Evil and Great Good
Happiness In This World
Letter from Echi
Letter to Endo Saemon-no-jo
Letter to Priest Nichiro in Prison
On Flowers and Seeds
On Itai Doshin
Postscript to the Rissho Ankoku Ron
Reply to a Believer
Reply to Ko Nyudo
Reply to Lady Onichi-nyo
Reply to Lord Matsuno
Rissho Ankoku Ron
The Difficulty of Sustaining Faith
The Offering of a Summer Robe
The Property of Rice
The Wonderful Means of Surmounting Obstacles
Unseen Virtue and Visible Reward
Upholding Faith in the Gohonzon
The Drum at the Gate of Thunder

The Causal Law of Life

I hope you will read this letter over and over again together with Toshiro’s wife. The sun dispels darkness, no matter how deep. A woman’s heart may be likened to darkness, and the Lotus Sutra to the sun. A baby may not always recognize its mother, but a mother never forgets her own baby. Shakyamuni Buddha may be likened to the mother, and a woman to the baby. If two people long for each other, then they will never be parted. But though one person yearns for the other, if the other does not feel the same way, then they will be united at times but separated at others. The Buddha may be likened to the one who always longs for the other, and a woman to the one who does not. But if we truly yearn for Shakyamuni Buddha, how could he ever fail to reveal himself to us?

You may call a rock a jewel, but that does not make it one. You may call a jewel a rock, but it remains a jewel. In our age, the doctrines of the Nembutsu and other sects that are based upon the Buddha’s provisional teachings are all like rocks. People may say that the Nembutsu is equal to the Lotus Sutra, but that does not in fact make it so. And people may slander the Lotus Sutra, but that does not affect it any more than calling a jewel a rock affects the jewel.

In the past there was an evil ruler in China named Emperor Hui-tsung. Led astray by Taoist priests, he destroyed Buddhist statues and sutras and forced all the monks and nuns to return to secular life until not one remained in the religious calling. Among the monks was one named the Tripitaka Master Fa-tao who refused to be cowed by the imperial command. As a result, he was branded on the face and exiled to the region south of the Yangtze River. I was born in an age when the rulers put their faith in the Zen sect, which is as erroneous as the doctrine of Taoists, and I too, like Fa-tao, have met with great difficulties.

You two women were born as commoners and now live in Kamakura, [the seat of the government,] yet you believe in the Lotus Sutra without concern for the prying eyes of others or the danger it may pose for your lives. This is nothing short of extraordinary. I can only imagine your faith to be like the jewel that, when placed in muddy water, miraculously cleanses it. You are like someone who, when taught something new by a wise man, believes his every word and thus grasps the truth. Is this because Shakyamuni Buddha and the bodhisattvas Fugen, Yakuo and Shukuoke are dwelling in your hearts? This is what the passage of the Lotus Sutra means when it says that if in the land of Jambudvipa one is able to believe in this sutra, then that is due to the power of Bodhisattva Fugen.

A woman is like a wisteria, a man like a pine. The wisteria cannot stand for a moment if it is separated from the pine tree that supports it. And yet, in this turbulent age, when you do not even have servants you can rely on, you have sent your husband here [to Sado Island]. This shows that your sincerity is deeper than the earth, and the earthly gods must certainly realize this. Your sincerity is loftier than the sky, and the heavenly gods Bonten and Taishaku must also be aware of it. The Buddha taught that people from the very moment of their birth are accompanied by two messengers, Dosho (Same Birth) and Domyo (Same Name), who are sent by heaven and who follow them as closely as their own shadows, never leaving them even for an instant. These two take turns ascending to heaven to report the person’s offenses and merits, both major and minor, without overlooking the slightest detail. Therefore, heaven must know about your sincerity. How encouraging! How reassuring!

Nichiren (seal)

The Fourth Month, 9th year of Mon'ei (1272)

Reply to the wife of Shijo Kingo
 

  

Home
A Comparison of the Lotus Sutra and Other Sutras
A Ship to Cross the Sea of Suffering
Earthly Desires Are Enlightenment
Clear Sake Gosho
Letter to Niike
Letter to Domyo Zemmon
Letter to Akimoto
Letter from Sado
Reply to Nichigon-ama
Roots of Good Fortune
Reply to Jibu-bo
No Safety in the Threefold World - Nichiren Daishounin
Letter to Horen - Nichiren Daishounin
King Rinda - Nichiren Daishounin
Jozo and Jogen - Nichiren Daishounin
Bodhisattva Hachiman - Nichiren Daishounin
On Prayer - Nichiren Daishounin
The Opening of the Eyes Part I
The Opening of the Eyes Part II
Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man
Conversation between a Sage and an Unenlightened Man Part II
Establishment of the Legitimate Teaching for the Protection of the Country
How Those Initially Aspiring to the Way Can Attain Buddhahood Through the Lotus Sutra
The Learned Doctor Shan-wu-wei
The Entity of the Mystic Law
The Pure and Far-reaching Voice
Reply to Takahashi Nyudo
The Teaching, Capacity, Time, and Country
The Doctrine of Attaining Buddhahood in One's Present Form
Encouragement to a Sick Person
The Essence of the Yakuo Chapter
The Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra
The Supreme Leader of the World
The Treasure of a Filial Child
The Supremacy of the Law
Reply to Nii-ama
The Workings of Bonten and Taishaku
The Story of Ohashi no Taro
The Teaching in Accordance with the Buddha's Own Mind
The Treatment of Illness and the Points of Difference between Mahayana and Hinayana and Provisional
Repaying Debts of Gratitude
On Practicing the Buddha's Teachings
On the Urabon
Letter to the Priests of Seicho-ji
Letter to Nichimyo Shonin
Letter to Shomitsu-bo
Questions and Answers on Embracing the Lotus Sutra
Reply to Sairen-bo
Rationale for Submitting the Rissho Ankoku Ron
Persecution by Sword and Staff
Rebuking Slander of the Law and Eradicating Sins
Recitation of the Hoben and Juryo Chapters
Reply to Lord Hakiri Saburo
Reply to Yasaburo
Letter to Ichinosawa Nyudo
Letter to Myomitsu Shonin
Reply to Hoshina Goro Taro
Wu-lung and I-lung
White Horses and White Swans
The Sutra of True Requital
The Kalpa of Decrease
The Farther the Source, the Longer the Stream
The Third Doctrine
The One-eyed Turtle and the Floating Sandalwood Log
Letter to Nakaoki Nyudo
General Stone Tiger
The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life
Lessening the Karmic Retribution
Letter to the Brothers
Hell is the Land of Tranquil Delight
On Prolonging Life
On the Buddha's Behavior
On the Buddha's Prophecy
On the Treasure Tower
Propagation by the Wise
The Embankments of Faith
The Dragon Gate
Strategy of the Lotus Sutra
Reply to Kyo-o
The Person and the Law
The One Essential Phrase
The Gift of Rice
The Real Aspect of the Gohonzon
Letter of Petition from Yorimoto
Introduction and Preface to the Ongi Kuden: Namu Myoho Renge Kyo [Devotion to the Lotus Sutra]
Muryogi Sutra [Sutra of Innumerable Meanings]
Chapter 3: Simile and Parable [Hiyu]
Chapter 4: Faith and Understanding [Shinge]
Chapter 6: Prediction [Juki]
Chapter 7: Phantom City [Kejoyu]
Chapter 8: Prophecy of Enlightenment for Five Hundred Disciples [Gohyaku Deshi Juki]

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