Answer: Insulting Nichiren is an offense even graver than those of Devadatta or Vimalamitra. My words may sound arrogant, but my sole purpose is to fulfill the Buddha’s predictions and reveal the truth of his words. In all Japan, who but Nichiren can be called the votary of the Lotus Sutra? By denouncing Nichiren, you would make lies of the Buddha’s prophecies. Are you not then an extremely evil man?
Question: You certainly fit the Thus Come One’s prophecies. But are there not perhaps other votaries of the Lotus Sutra in the five regions of India or the land of China?
Answer: Throughout the four continents of the world there are surely not two suns. So, within the four seas, how can there be two rulers?
Question: On what basis do you say that?
Answer: The moon appears in the west16 and sheds its light eastward, but the sun rises in the east and casts its rays to the west. The same is true of Buddhism. It spread from west to east in the Former and Middle Days of the Law, but will travel from east to west in the Latter Day. The Great Teacher Miao-lo says, “Does this not mean that Buddhism has been lost in India, the country of its origin, and must now be sought in the surrounding regions?”17 Thus, no Buddhism is found in India anymore. During the 150 years or so since barbarians from the north invaded the Eastern Capital in the time of Emperor Kao-tsung,18 both Buddhism and imperial authority became extinct in China. Concerning the collection of scriptures kept in China, not one Hinayana sutra remains, and most Mahayana sutras have also been lost. Even when Jakusho and other priests set out from Japan to take some sutras to China,19 no one was found there who could embrace these sutras and teach them to others. It was as though there were only wooden or stone
statues garbed in priests’ robes and carrying begging bowls. That is why Tsun-shih said, “It [Buddhism] came first from the west, like the moon appearing. Now it is returning from the east, like the sun rising.”20 These remarks make it clear that Buddhism is lost in both India and China.
Question: Now I can see no Buddhism exists in either India or China, but how do you know no Buddhism exists in the other three continents— in the east, west, and north?21
Answer: The eighth volume of the Lotus Sutra states, “After the Thus Come One has entered extinction, I will cause it [the Lotus Sutra] to be widely propagated throughout Jambudvipa and will see that it never comes to an end.”22 The words “throughout Jambudvipa” indicate that the other three continents are excluded.
Question: I have seen that the Buddha’s prophecy applies to you; now what do you yourself predict?
Answer: In the light of the Buddha’s prophecy, “the last five-hundred-year period” has already begun. I say that without fail Buddhism will arise and flow forth from the east, from the land of Japan. Omens will occur in the form of unusual disturbances in the heavens and terrible calamities on earth that will be greater in magnitude than ever before witnessed in the Former or Middle Day of the Law. When the Buddha was born, when he turned the wheel of the Law, and also when he entered nirvana, the omens, both auspicious and inauspicious, were greater than any ever observed. The Buddha is the teacher of all sages. The sutras describe how, at the time of his birth, light shone forth in five colors in all directions, and the night became as bright as noon. At the time of his passing, twelve white arcs crossed the sky from north to south, the sun’s light was extinguished, and the day became as dark as midnight. There followed the
