of the Nembutsu and Zen schools will chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
The Lotus Sutra states that if there are men and women who have firm faith in this sutra the Buddha will support them on his shoulders and carry them on his back.8 The Tripitaka Master Kumarayana was carried by a wooden statue of Shakyamuni.9 When I was about to be beheaded, the World-Honored One of Great Enlightenment took my place. It is the same in the present as it was in the past. All of you are my lay supporters, so how can you fail to attain Buddhahood?
No matter whom you may marry, if he is an enemy of the Lotus Sutra, you must not follow him. Strengthen your resolve more than ever. Ice is made of water, but it is colder than water. Blue dye comes from indigo, but when something is repeatedly dyed in it, the color is better than that of the indigo plant.10 The Lotus Sutra remains the same, but if you repeatedly strengthen your resolve, your color will be better than that of others, and you will receive more blessings than they do.
Wood is vulnerable to fire, but sandalwood cannot be burned. Fire is extinguished by water, but the fire that cremated the Buddha’s remains could not be quenched. Although flowers are scattered by the wind, those that bloom in the heavens of purity do not wither. Water evaporates in a time of great drought, but not if it enters the Yellow River. The wicked king named Dammira did not incur punishment even when he cut off the heads of Indian monks. But when he beheaded the Venerable Aryasimha, his sword fell to the ground and his arm with it. When King Pushyamitra burned Kukkutarama Monastery to ashes, his head was split by the staves of the twelve gods.11
Likewise the people of Japan, by becoming enemies of the Lotus Sutra, have brought ruin on themselves and
their country. And because I proclaim this, I am called arrogant by those of little understanding. But I do not speak out of arrogance. It is simply that if I did not speak out I would not be the votary of the Lotus Sutra. Moreover, when my words prove later to be true, people will be able to believe all the more readily. And because I write this down now, the people of the future will recognize my wisdom.
[The Annotations on the Nirvana Sutra states,] “One’s body is insignificant while the Law is supreme. One should give one’s life in order to propagate the Law.” Because my body is insignificant, I am struck and hated, but because the Law is supreme, it will spread without fail. If the Lotus Sutra spreads, my mortal remains will be respected, and if my remains are respected, they will benefit the people. Then I will come to be revered as highly as Great Bodhisattva Hachiman is now. You should understand that, at that time, the men and women who supported me will be honored as greatly as Takenouchi and Wakamiya.12
The benefits that come from opening the eyes of even one blind person are beyond description. How then is it possible to describe the benefits that derive from opening the blind eyes of all the Japanese people, and from giving the gift of sight to all human beings throughout Jambudvipa and the other three continents?13 In the fourth volume of the Lotus Sutra it reads, “If after the Buddha has passed into extinction one can understand the meaning of this sutra, one will be the eyes of the world for heavenly and human beings.”14 Those who uphold the Lotus Sutra will be the eyes for all of the heavenly and human beings in the world. Therefore, those Japanese who are hostile to me are in effect gouging out the eyes of all the heavenly and human beings in the world. As a result, heaven is enraged and strange events
