him. At one point, he even threatened to transfer Kingo to the remote province of Echigo on the Sea of Japan if he did not renounce his faith in the Lotus Sutra. It took three years for the samurai to regain his lord’s trust.
In this letter, Nichiren Daishonin
explains that “not to kill” is first among all Buddhist precepts. In one sense, however, slander of the Lotus Sutra is an even worse offense than killing, for one who opposes the sutra in effect denies the Buddha nature eternally inherent in all living beings.
