es for happiness in one’s next existence, one should renounce one’s desire for fame and fortune and respect the priest who teaches the Lotus Sutra as one would a living Thus Come One, no matter how humble that priest’s station. Thus it is written in the sutra.
The Zen school today generally violates the five constant virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and good faith. To honor the wise and virtuous, to respect the elderly, and to protect the young are recognized universally as humane conduct in both Buddhist and non-Buddhist scriptures. But the Zen priests were until yesterday or the day before no more than uneducated rabble, unable to distinguish black from white. But now that they have donned priestly robes, they have become so conceited that they belittle the learned and virtuous priests of the Tendai and True Word schools. They observe none of the proper manners and think they rank higher than all others. These people are so insolent that even animals are better behaved. The Great Teacher Dengyo states that the otter shows its respect by offering up the fish it has caught,14 the crow in the forest carries food to its parents and grandparents, the dove takes care to perch three branches lower than its father, wild geese keep perfect formation when they fly together, and lambs kneel to drink their mother’s milk. He asks: if lowly animals conduct
themselves with such propriety, how can human beings be so lacking in courtesy? Judging from the words of Dengyo, it is only natural that the Zen priests should be confused about Buddhism when they are ignorant even of how people should behave. They are acting like Papiyas, the heavenly devil.
Understand clearly what I have taught you here, and continue your practice without negligence, reverently believing in the single sutra consisting of eight volumes and twenty-eight chapters. When you long to see me, pray to the sun every day, and once a day my image will be reflected there. Have the priest who is my messenger read this letter to you. Trust him as a teacher with enlightened wisdom, and ask him any questions you may have about the doctrines. If you do not question and resolve your doubts, you cannot dispel the dark clouds of illusion, any more than you could travel a thousand miles without legs. Have him read this letter again and again, and listen attentively. In anticipation of speaking with you at our next meeting, I will conclude here.
The second month in the third year of Koan (1280)
Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter in the second month of 1280 to Niike Saemon-no-jo, an official in the Kamakura shogunate. Niike was from Niike Village in Iwata District of Totomi Province. He and his wife had been converted to the Daishonin’s teachings
by Nikko Shonin and had maintained their faith despite government pressure.
First, Nichiren Daishonin tells Niike what great fortune it is to have been born in the Latter Day of the Law with the mission to spread the correct teaching of Buddhism throughout the
