Daily Gosho - Reply to Yasaburo

Great rallying call by Nichiren Daishonin! Later on in this Gosho, he writes "This is where you will cross the Uji River. This is where you will ford the Seta. This will determine whether you win honor or disgrace your name. This is what is meant when it is said that it is difficult to be born as a human being, and that it is difficult to believe in the Lotus Sutra." So I think of this as meeting a crossroads - are we going to win or fail? It's up to us and our determined spirit...

"You must be firmly resolved. Do not begrudge your fief; do not think of your wife and children. And do not depend on others. You must simply make up your mind."

(Reply to Yasaburo - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol.1, page 829) http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=827 Selection source: Kyo no Hosshin, Seikyo Shimbun, September 20th, 2012


Background
This letter was written at Minobu to the believer Yasaburo. One explanation identifies Yasaburo with a man named Saito Yasaburo, who lived at Numazu in Suruga Province. The wording of the last paragraph suggests that he may have been a samurai.
Yasaburo had evidently sought the Daishonin’s advice in preparation for an upcoming debate with a priest of the Pure Land school. This letter is the Daishonin’s reply. It can be roughly divided into two parts. The first and longer part outlines the general argument that the Daishonin suggests Yasaburo should present in debating with a follower of the Pure Land school. The second, beginning from “Now if that priest objects . . . ,” instructs Yasaburo in how to press his opponent on specific points and urges him to muster up a resolute spirit.
The letter states that only Shakyamuni possesses the three virtues of sovereign, teacher, and parent with respect to the people of this saha world. In the Daishonin’s day, due to the growing influence of the Pure Land school, people tended increasingly to place their trust in Amida Buddha of the Western Paradise, hoping to win rebirth in his Pure Land after death. But the Daishonin stressed the importance of reverence for Shakyamuni, the historical founder of Buddhism who actually appeared in this world. Here he asserts that to worship Amida and slight Shakyamuni is an act of utter disloyalty. Thus, though the believers in Amida may seem to be devoted to pious acts, they are in fact guilty of an offense far worse than that of impious men with no religious awareness whatsoever. Their grave error, the Daishonin says, is bringing disaster on the country in the form of famine, epidemics, and the impending Mongol invasion.