island of Oki— a result, the Daishonin says, that came about because he placed his trust in the prayers and rituals of the fundamentally flawed True Word teaching. Around the time this letter was written, warrior leaders in Kamakura, like their imperial predecessors, were soliciting the prayers of True Word priests in an attempt to avert
the impending Mongol invasion. This course, the Daishonin warns, can only end in disaster.
The Daishonin concludes by expressing his gratitude for Takahashi’s sympathy and support. He also urges him to maintain strong faith so that he can recover from his illness.
1. According to ancient Indian cosmology, once every medium kalpa (15,998,000 years), the human life span undergoes a cycle of gradual decrease and increase, declining to ten years and then increasing again to eighty thousand years. Shakyamuni is said to have been born during a period of decrease, when the natural life span was a hundred years long.
2. In chapter 15of the Lotus Sutra, the Bodhisattvas of the Earth are described as being like venerable hundred-year olds.
3. According to The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, Mahakashyapa passed away at Eagle Peak.
4. According to The Record of the Western Regions, Ananda passed away on the Ganges River.
5. Bodhisattva Maitreya was believed to reside in the inner court of the Tushita heaven.
6. According to one tradition, having already entered nirvana, Manjushri dwells eternally on Mount Fragrant, where he has obtained an indestructible body.
7. Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds attends Amida Buddha, whose Pure Land of Perfect Bliss is said to be located in the western quarter of the universe.
8. According to the Universal Worthy Sutra, Bodhisattva Universal Worthy was born in the eastern quarter of the universe in a land called Pure and Wonderful.
9. Perhaps a summary of a passage in the Nirvana Sutra, which states, “If even a good monk sees someone destroying the teaching and disregards him, failing to reproach him, to oust him, or to punish him for his offense, then you should realize that
that monk is betraying the Buddha’s teaching. But if he ousts the destroyer of the Law, reproaches him, or punishes him, then he is my disciple and a true voice-hearer.”
10. Similar statements from the Nirvana Sutra, suggesting that slanderers of the Law should be put to death, are cited in On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land. In that treatise the Daishonin makes it clear that such statements are not meant to be taken literally; it is the slander itself, rather than the person who commits it, that must be eradicated. Located in Kamakura facing the Bay of Sagami, Yui Beach was evidently used as an execution ground.
11. Three ancient kingdoms on the Korean Peninsula.
12. Here, a ceremony of initiation into the esoteric teachings. The Daishonin refers to the use of horizontal mandalas depicting the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, which were spread out on a platform and used as the focus of the ritual.
13. Lotus Sutra, chap. 23.
14. The three requirements refer to the elements necessary for the fulfillment of one’s prayer, namely, the sutra, the Buddha, and the practitioner. Here the practitioner is the votary of the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren Daishonin.
15. Kakujo-bo was a priest-disciple of Nichiren Daishonin who lived near the area of Kajima in Fuji. One view identifies him with the priest Gakujo-bo who lived on Sado. Hoki-bo was the name Nikko Shonin, the Daishonin’s closest disciple and successor, had received from the Daishonin on becoming his disciple at age thirteen.
