This letter was written at Minobu in the eleventh month of the fourth year of Koan (1281) to the lay nun Ueno, the mother of Nanjo Tokimitsu. The Daishonin was sixty years old when he sent this letter acknowledging the offerings she had made to commemorate the anniversary of the death of her father, the lay priest Matsuno Rokuro Saemon.
The lay nun Ueno’s husband was Nanjo Hyoe Shichiro, the steward of Ueno Village in Suruga Province. Her name, Ueno, derived from Ueno Village. She had nine children, including Tokimitsu.
In this letter, the Daishonin first teaches that, just as the lotus bears
flowers and fruit simultaneously, all who believe in the Lotus Sutra are certain to attain Buddhahood. Then, cit- ing the story of the renowned father and son calligraphers in ancient China, Wu-lung and I-lung, the Daishonin assures the lay nun that, when a son or daughter embraces faith in the Lotus Sutra, his or her parents will be able to attain Buddhahood. According to the story, though Wu-lung fell into the state of hell for his hatred of the Lotus Sutra, he was ultimately saved from his suffering by his son’s transcribing the titles of the eight volumes of the sutra. This story is found in The Lotus Sutra and Its Traditions, a work by the T’angdynasty priest Seng-hsiang.
1. Lotus Sutra, chap. 2.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid., chap. 11.
4. Ibid., chap. 21.
5. Tofu refers to Ono no Tofu (894– ), and Kozei to Fujiwara no Kozei (972–1027). They were among the most outstanding Japanese calligraphers of their time.
6. Ssu-ma was a ruler of Ping-chou in the northern part of China. Ssu-ma was probably his official title rather than his name.
7. This means that I-lung wrote the titles on separate pieces of paper to be used on the covers of the eight scrolls of the sutra.
8. The title of each volume of the Lotus Sutra comprises eight Chinese characters:
the five characters of the title, Myoho-renge-kyo, and the three characters indicating the volume number.
9. The Annotations on “The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra” states that living beings in all of the nine worlds can attain Buddhahood just as they are, that is, without changing their individual characteristics. The same principle applies to the insentient environment.
10. Nanjo Shichiro Goro (1265–1280), the fifth son of the lay nun Ueno and a younger brother of Nanjo Tokimitsu. He had shown great promise, but died at the age of sixteen.
11. Hoki-bo was the Buddhist name that Nikko Shonin received in 1258 when he became Nichiren Daishonin’s disciple.
