ing” is that the heart of the Lotus Sutra is the universality of the Buddha nature in all living beings.
The brine in a tub or jar of pickled vines ebbs and flows in accordance with the brine of the sea.1 One who upholds the Lotus Sutra and is subjected to imprisonment is like the salt in a tub or jar, while the Thus Come One Shakyamuni who freed himself from the burning house2 is like the salt of the sea. To condemn one who upholds the Lotus is to condemn the Thus Come One Shakyamuni. How aston
ished Brahma, Shakra, and the four heavenly kings must be! If not now, when will the ten demon daughters’ vow to split the head of one who persecutes a follower of the Lotus into seven pieces3 be carried out?
Ajatashatru, who had imprisoned King Bimbisara, suddenly broke out in virulent sores in his present existence. How can one who has imprisoned an upholder of the Lotus not suffer from virulent sores in this existence?
The date and recipient of this letter are unknown, as are the reasons for its writing. The statements “One who upholds the Lotus Sutra and is subjected to imprisonment” and “To condemn one who upholds the Lotus” indicate that Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter at a time when he or his disciples were undergoing persecution. Several views exist concerning the year of its writing. One is that it was written in when the Daishonin was in exile in Izu; another, in 1271 when he was in exile on Sado Island; and a third, in , during the worst period of the Atsuhara Persecution. Of these, 1261 seems most likely.
In this letter, the Daishonin says that there are six kinds of flavors, of which salt is the most important. Without salt, any food will be bland. In employing
this simile, the Daishonin is indicating that none of the sutras assume their true significance unless they are based on the truth revealed in the Lotus Sutra. Then he cites the eight mystic qualities of the ocean enumerated in the Nirvana Sutra. But while the Nirvana Sutra actually applies these qualities to itself, the Daishonin asserts that it is using them to praise the superiority of the Lotus Sutra.
In the final section, the Daishonin compares the salt in a jar or tub of pickled vines to a follower of the Lotus Sutra, and the salt of the ocean, to Shakyamuni Buddha. The brine in a jar or tub ebbs and flows exactly as the ocean does, and by analogy, to imprison a votary of the Lotus Sutra is to imprison Shakyamuni Buddha.
1. In the pickling process, salt is added to a jar of vines to draw out their water. This salty water is said to increase and decrease in accord with the rise and fall of the ocean tides.
2. “Burning house” refers to the passage
from the “Simile and Parable” chapter of the Lotus Sutra that reads, “There is no safety in the threefold world; it is like a burning house.”
3. This vow is made in chapter 26 of the Lotus Sutra.
