Tuesday 26 February 2013

Daily Gosho - On the Buddha's Prophecy


Nichiren Daishonin reminding us again about the importance of our debt of gratitude - to our fellow practitioners, to our parents, and to him by way of our sincere efforts to propagate the  Mystic Law...

"I pray that before anything else I can guide and lead the ruler and those others who persecuted me. I will tell the Buddha about all the disciples who have aided me, and before I die, I will transfer the great blessings deriving from my practice to my parents who gave me life."

(On the Buddha's Prophecy - The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Volume 1, page 402) http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=398&m=0&q= Selection source: SGI President Ikeda's guidance, Seikyo Shimbun, November 4th, 2012


Background
Nichiren Daishonin was fifty-two years old when he wrote this letter during his exile at Ichinosawa on the island of Sado in 1273. It is addressed to his disciples and lay supporters in general.
The title, On the Buddha’s Prophecy, points to two prophecies: One is Shakyamuni Buddha’s prediction that the votary of the Lotus Sutra will appear at the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law and spread the sutra’s teachings despite great persecutions. The other is the Daishonin’s own prophecy that in the Latter Day and on into the eternal future his teachings will spread throughout the world to benefit humankind.
This letter can be divided into seven sections according to content: (1) Nichiren Daishonin relates that it is a greater blessing to be born in the Latter Day of the Law and to have faith in the Lotus Sutra than to have met Shakyamuni Buddha or the great sages who appeared in the Former and Middle Days of the Law; (2) he cites statements and prophecies made by Shakyamuni and other Buddhist teachers concerning the Latter Day of the Law, the greatness of the Lotus Sutra, and the persecutions that will surely befall its votary; (3) he outlines the decline of Shakyamuni’s Buddhism and proclaims that the correct teaching of Buddhism will spread throughout the world in the Latter Day; (4) he identifies himself as the votary of the Lotus Sutra, that is, the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law; (5) he shows that Buddhism is no longer alive in India or China, and that the correct teaching of Buddhism will arise in the eastern land of Japan; (6) he expands on his prophecy by comparing the omens that have appeared in his age with those that appeared in Shakyamuni’s; and (7) he declares that the supreme Law is now arising and warns his followers that carrying out widespread propagation will be difficult.


1 comment:

  1. thank U all for sharing experience and word of wisdom on this blog, wish U all the best!
    carlo

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