are a Thus Come One who is originally enlightened and endowed with the three bodies. You should chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with this conviction. Then the place where you chant daimoku will become the dwelling place of the treasure tower. The sutra reads, “If there is any place where the Lotus Sutra is preached, then my treasure tower will come forth and appear in that spot.”2 Faith like yours is so extremely rare that I will inscribe the treasure tower especially for you. You must never transfer it to anyone but your son. You must never show it to others unless they have steadfast faith. This is the reason for my advent in this world.
Abutsu-bo, you deserve to be called a leader of this northern province. Could it be that Bodhisattva Pure
Practices has been reborn into this world as Abutsu-bo and visited me? How wonderful! How marvelous! I do not understand how it is that you have such faith. I will leave it to Bodhisattva Superior Practices when he appears, as he has the power to know these things. I am not saying all this without good reason. You and your wife should worship this treasure tower privately. I will explain more later.
With my deep respect,
Nichiren
The thirteenth day of the third month in the ninth year of Bun’ei (1272), cyclical sign mizunoe-saru
To the Honorable Abutsu-bo
Nichiren Daishonin sent this letter in the third month of 1272 to his disciple Abutsu-bo Nittoku. One story has it that Abutsu-bo was a samurai who had accompanied the Retired Emperor Juntoku to Sado when he was exiled there as a result of the Jokyu Disturbance of 1221. It is more likely, however, that he was a native of Sado Island. In either case, he was a longtime resident of the island. He went to Tsukahara to debate with the Daishonin and was converted to the Daishonin’s teaching. He and his wife became loyal supporters of the Daishonin and brought him food and other necessities for much of the time he was on the island. After the Daishonin took up
residence at Mount Minobu, Abutsu- bo made at least three visits there, despite his advanced age. He died in 1279 at the age of ninety-one.
The treasure tower described in the Lotus Sutra is of awesome proportions, and its meaning puzzled Abutsu-bo. In this letter the Daishonin gives his aged disciple a striking glimpse into the reality of life. The ceremony depicted in the Lotus Sutra is not a historical event during which a colossal jewelencrusted stupa actually emerged from the ground. Rather, the appearance of the treasure tower symbolizes a ceremony of life; it is a metaphor for the emergence from deep within the human being of the highest state of life.
1. Reference is to the ultimate reality of Buddhahood innate in life and the wisdom to perceive that reality. These are represented, respectively, by the Buddhas Many
Treasures and Shakyamuni seated together within the open treasure tower.
2. A rephrasing of a passage in chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
