Daily Gosho - A Warning against Begrudging One's Fief

Nichiren Daishonin's compassion is so apparent throughout this Gosho to Shijo Kingo. Guiding his young disciple to behave as a votary of the Lotus Sutra, no matter what persecutions may befall him. As his representatives in the Latter Day of the Law, let's summon up the courage of the warrior, Shijo Kingo!

"This life is like a dream. One cannot be sure that one will live until tomorrow. However wretched a beggar you might become, never disgrace the Lotus Sutra."

(A Warning against Begrudging One's Fief - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. I, page 824) http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=823 Selection source: "Kyo no Hosshin", Seikyo Shimbun, September 3rd, 2012


Background
This letter was written at Minobu, when the Daishonin was fifty-six years old, and sent to Shijo Kingo in Kamakura. Kingo served the Ema family, a branch of the ruling Hojo clan, and was well versed in both medicine and the martial arts.
In the sixth month of 1277, Shijo Kingo attended a religious debate at Kuwagayatsu in Kamakura at which Sammi-bo, a disciple of the Daishonin, defeated Ryuzo-bo, a protégé of Ryokan. Other retainers of Lord Ema, jealous of Kingo, reported falsely to the lord that Kingo had forcibly disrupted the debate. As a result, Lord Ema threatened to confiscate Kingo’s fief. When Kingo received an official letter from Lord Ema after the Kuwagayatsu Debate ordering him to write an oath forsaking his faith in the Lotus Sutra, he sent the letter to the Daishonin at Minobu, along with a letter of his own in which he pledged never to write such an oath.
Nichiren Daishonin wrote the present letter in reply to encourage Kingo and also sent him a petition addressed to Lord Ema in which he defended Kingo and praised the faithful service that he had rendered his lord. This petition is entitled The Letter of Petition from Yorimoto. (Yorimoto was part of Shijo Kingo’s full name.) Not long after that, Lord Ema fell ill. Eventually, he had no choice but to ask Kingo for help. He recovered under Kingo’s treatment and thereafter placed renewed trust in him. Later, Shijo Kingo received from him an estate three times larger than the one he already held.
In this letter, the Daishonin states, “However wretched a beggar you might become, never disgrace the Lotus Sutra,” and defines a basic attitude in faith: No matter what social position one occupies or adversity one faces, it is vital to continue in faith, never compromising one’s integrity as a votary of the Lotus Sutra.