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In the Latter Day of the Law of both Shakyamuni and the Buddhas before him, the rulers and people who despised the votaries of the Lotus Sutra seemed to be free from punishment at first, but eventually they were all doomed to fall. Among those who attacked Nichiren, there were at first no signs of punishment. During these twenty-seven years, the Buddhist gods who vowed to protect the votary of the Lotus Sutra--Bonten, Taishaku, the gods of the sun and moon, and the Four Heavenly Kings--did little to help Nichiren. But by now they have realized in terror that unless they fulfill the oath they swore before the Buddha, they will fall into the hell of incessant suffering. Consequently they are now earnestly carrying out their vow by punishing those who attacked the votary of the Lotus Sutra. The deaths of Ota Chikamasa, Nagasaki Tokitsuna and Daishin-bo, for example, who were all thrown from their horses, can be attributed to their treachery against the Lotus Sutra. There are four kinds of punishment: general and individual, conspicuous and inconspicuous. The massive epidemics, nationwide famines, insurrections and foreign invasion suffered by Japan are general punishment. Epidemics are also inconspicuous punishment. The tragic deaths of Ota and the others both conspicuous and individual.
Miao-lo writes: "Those who vex or trouble [the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra] will have their heads split into seven pieces, but those who give alms to them will enjoy good fortune surpassing the ten honorable titles." King Udayana behaved insolently toward the Venerable Pindolabharadvaja, and within seven years he had lost his life. The lord of Sagami condemned Nichiren to exile, and within a hundred days armed rebellion broke out in his domain.
The Lotus Sutra says: "If anyone shall see a person who embraces this sutra and try to expose that person's faults or evils, whether what he speaks is true or not, he will in his present life be afflicted with white leprosy...he will suffer various grave illnesses of a malignant nature." It also says: "In age after age he will be eyeless."
Myoshin and Enchi contracted white leprosy in their present lifetime, while Doamidabutsu lost his sight. The epidemics that afflict our nation are punishments of the kind described as "the head being split into seven pieces." And if we surmise the degree of benefit according to that of punishment, then there can be no doubt that my followers will enjoy "good fortune surpassing the ten honorable titles."
By way of analogy, let us consider the case of the military leader Taira no Kiyomori, the governor of Aki, who lived at the time of the eighty-first sovereign of Japan, Emperor Antoku. Kiyomori, engaging in one battle after another, overthrew the enemies of the nation and in time advanced to the highest post in the government, that of grand minister of state. Emperor Antoku was his grandson. All the members of his clan were permitted to enter the palace and were assigned to positions of great eminence. Kiyomori held the entire country of Japan, with its sixty-six provinces and two outlying islands, in the palm of his hand, and people bowed before him as plants and trees bow before a great wind.
But he became arrogant and puffed up with pride, and in the end treated the gods and Buddhas with contempt and attempted to dictate to the shrine keepers and the Buddhist priests. As a result, he aroused the enmity of the priests of Mount Hiei and of the seven major temples of Nara. Eventually, on the twenty-second day of the twelfth month in the fourth year of the Jisho era (1180), he went so far as to burn down two of those seven temples, Todai-ji and Kofuku-ii.
The retribution for this grave offense soon fell upon the person of the grand minister and lay priest himself. In the following year, the first year of the Yowa era, on the fourth day of the second intercalary month, [having contracted a fever,] he began to burn like a piece of charcoal, his body the fuel, his face the flames. In the end, tongues of flame shot out from his body and he perished from the heat.
The results of his grave offense then fell upon his second son, Munemori. Munemori was thought to have drowned in the western sea [at the battle of Dannoura, but he came floating up on the eastern horizon, where he was captured, bound and forced to kneel in the presence of the General of the Right, Minamoto no Yoritomo.
Meanwhile, Kiyomori’s third son, Tomomori, threw himself into the sea and ended up as the excrement of fish. And his fourth son, Shigehira, was taken captive and bound, and after having been dragged first through Kyoto and then through Kamakura, was in the end handed over to the seven Major temples of Nara. There a great multitude of a hundred thousand temple followers gathered and, declaring him to be the enemy of their Buddha, one by one slashed him with swords.
The greatest evil among evils produces consequences that not only affect the perpetrators personally, but extend to their sons, their grandsons and so on down to the seventh generation. And the same is true of the greatest good among good.
The Venerable Maudgalyayana put his faith in the Lotus Sutra, which is the greatest good there is, and thus not only did he himself attain Buddhahood, but his father and mother did so as well. Not only that, but all the fathers and mothers of the preceding seven generations and the seven generations that followed, indeed, of countless lifetimes before and after, were able to attain Buddhahood, amazing as it may seem. And in addition, all their sons, their wives or husbands, their retainers, supporters and countless other persons were not only enabled to escape from the three evil paths, but all attained the first stage of security and then Buddhahood, the stage of perfect enlightenment.
The Ninno Sutra states: "If persons destroy the teachings of the Buddha, they will have no filial sons, no harmony with their six kinds of relatives, and no aid from the heavenly deities and dragons. Disease and evil spirits will come day after day to torment them, disasters will descend on them incessantly, and misfortunes will dog them wherever they go. And when they die, they will fall into the realms of hell, hungry spirits and animals. Even if they should be reborn as human beings, they will be destined to become soldiers or slaves. Retribution will follow as an echo follows a sound or a shadow follows a form. Someone writing at night may put out the lamp, but the words he has written will still remain. It is the same with the effect of the deeds which we carry out for ourselves in the threefold world."
A woman who embraces the lion king of the Lotus Sutra need not fear the beasts of Hell, Hunger, and Animality. All the offenses committed by a woman in her lifetime are like dry grass, and the single character myo of the Lotus Sutra is like a small spark. When a small spark is set to a large expanse of grass, not only the grass but also big trees and large stones will all be consumed. Such is the power of the fire of wisdom in the single character myo. Not only will all offenses vanish, but they will become sources of benefit. This is what changing poison into amrita means. For example, black lacquer will turn white when white powder is added. A woman's offenses are like the lacquer, and the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, like the white powder.
When one dies, if he is destined to fall into hell, his appearance will darken and his body will become as heavy as a stone that requires the strength of a thousand men to move. But in the case of a devotee of true faith, even if she should be a woman seven or eight feet tall and of dark complexion, at the hour of death, her countenance will become pure and bright, and her body will be as light as a goose feather and as soft and pliable as cotton.
The Ninno Sutra states: "If persons destroy the teachings of the Buddha, they will have no filial sons, no harmony with their six kinds of relatives, and no aid from the heavenly deities and dragons. Disease and evil spirits will come day after day to torment them, disasters will descend on them incessantly, and misfortunes will dog them wherever they go. And when they die, they will fall into the realms of hell, hungry spirits and animals. Even if they should be reborn as human beings, they will be destined to become soldiers or slaves. Retribution will follow as an echo follows a sound or a shadow follows a form. Someone writing at night may put out the lamp, but the words he has written will still remain. It is the same with the effect of the deeds which we carry out for ourselves in the threefold world."
A woman who embraces the lion king of the Lotus Sutra need not fear the beasts of Hell, Hunger, and Animality. All the offenses committed by a woman in her lifetime are like dry grass, and the single character myo of the Lotus Sutra is like a small spark. When a small spark is set to a large expanse of grass, not only the grass but also big trees and large stones will all be consumed. Such is the power of the fire of wisdom in the single character myo. Not only will all offenses vanish, but they will become sources of benefit. This is what changing poison into amrita means. For example, black lacquer will turn white when white powder is added. A woman's offenses are like the lacquer, and the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, like the white powder.
When one dies, if he is destined to fall into hell, his appearance will darken and his body will become as heavy as a stone that requires the strength of a thousand men to move. But in the case of a devotee of true faith, even if she should be a woman seven or eight feet tall and of dark complexion, at the hour of death, her countenance will become pure and bright, and her body will be as light as a goose feather and as soft and pliable as cotton.
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