Major Writings - Nichiren Daishounin

On Omens
Home
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

On Omens

 

Strange occurrences in the heavens frighten all people, and  calamities on earth disturb everyone. When the Buddha was about  to expound the Lotus Sutra, he caused the five omens and the six  omens to appear. Of these, the omen of the earth shaking indicates  that the earth trembled in six different ways. Interpreting these in the  third volume of his Hokke Mongu, the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai  states: "[One of the six is that] the east rises and the west falls. The  eastern quarter corresponds to the color green and governs the  liver, which in turn governs the eyes. The western quarter  corresponds to the color white and governs the lungs, which in turn  govern the nose. Hence, the east rising and the west falling  indicates that the benefit of the eyes appear, and in response, the  earthly desires of the nose disappear. Similarly, when the benefits of  the nose appear, in response, the earthly desires of the eyes  disappear. In like manner, the rise and fall of the other directions  signify the appearance of benefit and the disappearance of earthly  desires with respect to the other sensory organs."


Concerning this, the Great Teacher Miao-lo says: "The directions  signify the six sense organs. It is already established that the eyes  and the nose represent, respectively, east and west. It follows, then,  that the ears and the tongue correspond, respectively, to north and  south. The center corresponds to the mind, while the four directions  indicate the body. The body is endowed with the four sense organs,  and the mind is connected to all four. Hence the mind induces rise or  fall with respect to [the sensory functions of] the body."


The ten directions are "environment" (eho), and sentient beings are  "life" (shoho). Environment is like the shadow, and life, the body.  Without the body there can be no shadow. Similarly, without life,  environment cannot exist, even though life is supported by its  environment. The eyes correspond to the eastern quarter. From this  we also know that the tongue corresponds to the southern quarter,  the nose to the western quarter, the ears to the northern quarter, the  body to all four quarters, and the mind to the center. Therefore,  when the people's five sense organs are disordered, the four  quarters as well as the center will be startled and shaken, and as  signs of the consequent destruction of the land, mountains will  collapse, grasses and trees wither and rivers run dry. When the  people's eyes, ears and other sense organs are confused and  disturbed, extraordinary changes occur in the heavens, and when  their minds are agitated, the earth quakes.


What sutra was ever preached without the earth trembling in six  different ways? This phenomenon invariably occurred each time the  Buddha expounded a sutra. However, when the Buddha, about to  expound the Lotus Sutra, caused the earth to quake in six different  ways, the people were especially astounded. Bodhisattva Miroku  asked a question about this phenomenon and Bodhisattva  Monjushiri answered. This was because the omen was greater in  both magnitude and duration than when the other sutras were  preached, and the people's questions were therefore much more  difficult to resolve. Thus Miao-lo states: "No Mahayana sutra was  ever preached without multitudes of people gathering, without the  Buddha emitting a ray of light from his forehead, without flowers  raining down from heaven or without the earth quaking. However,  never before had the people been as greatly mystified as they were  now." This means that omens had heralded the preaching of all the  other sutras as well, but none had ever been as awesome [as those  which occurred when the Lotus Sutra was expounded]. For this  reason the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai states, "People say that when a  spider weaves its web, it means that some happy event is near, and  that if a magpie chatters, it foretells the coming of a guest. Even  such trifles are presaged by some sign. How then could great affairs  be without omens? By means of the near, the distant is revealed."  Thus the Buddha manifested great portents never before seen  during his more than forty years of preaching when he expounded  the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra.


However, the omens that heralded the essential teaching far  exceeded the signs preceding the theoretical teaching, even more  so than these had in turn surpassed the omens presaging the pre- Lotus Sutra teachings. A magnificent treasure tower sprang up from  the ground, and then multitudes of bodhisattvas emerged from  beneath the earth. The great quakes on these occasions were like  gales blowing over the ocean, creating waves the size of mountains  which toss a small ship about like a reed leaf, engulfing even its  sails. Therefore, while Miroku had inquired of Monju about the  omens that appeared in the Jo chapter, concerning those great  portents that occurred in the Yujutsu chapter he directly questioned  the Buddha himself. Miao-lo explains this by saying, "Since the  theoretical teaching concerns matters which are shallow and  comparatively recent, Monju could be relied upon to answer him. On  the other hand, the Buddha's original enlightenment in the remote  past was so difficult to comprehend that none but the Buddha himself  could be depended on for an explanation." The Buddha did not  trouble to explain the omens of the theoretical teaching, but Monju  knew generally what they signified. The omens of the essential  teaching, however, he could not even begin to fathom. And these  omens concerned only events occurring in Shakyamuni's lifetime.


Then, when the Buddha came to preach the Jinriki chapter, he  displayed ten mystic powers. They were incomparably more  wondrous than either the omens of the Jo chapter or those of the  Hoto and Yujutsu chapters. The beam of light which the Buddha had  emitted [from his forehead] at the time of the Jo chapter illuminated  only eighteen thousand worlds to the east, but that which he emitted  [from his entire body] at the time of the Jinriki chapter encompassed  all the worlds of the ten directions. While the quaking of the earth in  the Jo chapter was limited to the worlds of the major world systems,  in the Jinriki chapter the worlds of the Buddhas of the ten directions  all trembled in six different ways. And the signs which have  appeared in our own time are equally astounding. The great omens  of the Jinriki chapter foretold that the essence of the Lotus Sutra  would spread after the Buddha's death when the two thousand years  of the Former and Middle Days of the Law had passed and the  Latter Day of the Law had begun. A passage from the sutra states,  "Because [there will be those who] faithfully uphold this sutra after  the Buddha's passing, all the Buddhas rejoice and display their  limitless mystic powers." It also speaks of "[one who is able to  uphold this sutra] in the evil age of the Latter Day of the Law,..."


Question: All omens, whether good or bad, foretell something that  will occur in an hour or two, a day or two, a year or two, or in seven  or twelve years at the most. How could there be any omens that  foretell what will take place more than two thousand years later?


Answer: The event presaged by omens which appeared during the  reign of King Chao of the Chou dynasty became a reality after a  thousand and fifteen long years. King Kiriki's dream came true no  less than twenty-two thousand years later. How, then, can you doubt  that there are omens which portend something more than two  thousand years before it actually happens?


Question: Why were the omens presaging the time after  Shakyamuni Buddha's passing greater than those which concerned  his lifetime?


Answer: The earth trembles in response to the agitation of the  people's six sense organs. Depending on the extent of this agitation,  the six different ways in which the earth quakes will vary in intensity.  The pre-Lotus Sutra teachings seem to extinguish people's earthly  desires [associated with their six sense organs], but in reality they  do not. In contrast, the Lotus Sutra conquers the fundamental  darkness [from which all earthly desires originate]. Hence the earth  trembles violently. Moreover, there are many more evil persons in  this latter age than during the Buddha's lifetime. It was for these  reasons that, for the Latter Day, the Buddha caused far greater  omens to appear than those concerning his own time.


Question: What proof can you offer [that the number of evil persons  is greater in the Latter Day]?


Answer: The sutra states, "Since hatred and jealousy toward this  sutra abound even during the Buddha's lifetime, how much worse will  it be in the world after his passing?" Setting aside the seven reigns  of heavenly gods and the five reigns of earthly gods, in the more  than two thousand years of the ninety reigns of human rulers, the  great earthquake of the Shoka era and the extraordinary phenomena  which appeared in the heavens during the Bun'ei era were prodigies  unprecedented in Japan. If the people are filled with joy, auspicious  omens will appear in the heavens, and quakes caused by the god  Taishaku will shake the earth. On the other hand, if their minds are  obsessed with evil, there will be ominous changes in the heavens  and terrible calamities on earth. The magnitude of sinister  occurrences in the heavens varies according to the degree of the  people's anger; the same holds true of disasters on earth. Japan  today is filled with people, from the ruler on down to the common  citizens, whose minds are possessed by great evil. This evil is born  of their hatred for me, Nichiren.


There is a sutra entitled Shugo Kokkai, a scripture which came after  the Lotus Sutra. It relates how King Ajatashatru went to the Buddha  and asked, "Every year, my country has been beset by great  droughts, violent gales, floods, famine and pestilence. Moreover, we  have been attacked by another nation. Why should all these  disasters occur, when this is the very country in which the Buddha  made his advent?"


The Buddha replied, "Splendid, splendid! It is admirable of you, O  great king, to have asked this question. But you have committed  many wrongs and evils. Among them, you killed your own father and,  taking Devadatta as your teacher, you did me injury. Because these  two offenses are so serious, your country is beset by innumerable  disasters." The sutra goes on to quote the Buddha as saying, "After  my death, in the Latter Day of the Law, when monks like Devadatta  fill the land, a single monk will appear who embraces the True Law.  Those evil monks will exile and put to death this man of the True  Law. They will violate not only the kings's consort but the daughters  of the common people as well, thereby filling the country with the  seed of slanderers. For this reason, the nation will suffer various  calamities and will later be invaded by a foreign country."


The followers of Nembutsu in the world today are exactly like the evil  monks mentioned in the above sutra. Moreover, the conceit of the  Shingon teachers exceeds that of Devadatta ten billion times. Let  me briefly describe the bizarre conduct of the Shingon sect. Its  priests paint a picture of the nine honored ones seated on a eight- petaled lotus in the center of the Womb World. Then they climb onto  this picture and, stepping on the faces of the Buddhas, conduct their  ceremony of anointment. It is as if they were trampling on the faces  of their own parents or treading on the emperor's head. Such priests  as these fill the entire country, becoming the teachers of both high  an low. No wonder the nation faces ruin!


What I have stated earlier is the most important of my teachings. I  will explain it again on another occasion. I have written to you a little  about this matter before, but do not tell it to others indiscriminately.  You have sent me expression of your sincerity not only once or  twice but whenever the opportunity presented itself. I can find no  words [to express my appreciation].


 

  

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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