"Never be
discouraged!"
Hard though isn't it…when the
victory hasn't taken place yet. When you've chanted and chanted and nothing
seems to have changed…
The important thing is keep on pushing, to keep on
chanting. As Nichiren tells us, our prayers cannot go unanswered. The important
thing is our faith in the certainty of our victory. It all depends on our unshakeable
faith in the power of Nam-myoho-renge kyo. Let's win together!
"And yet,
though one might point at the earth and miss it, though one might bind up the
sky, though the tides might cease to ebb and flow and the sun rise in the west,
it could never come about that the prayers of the practitioner of the Lotus
Sutra would go unanswered."
(On Prayer - The
Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 345)
Selection source:
Kyo no Hosshin, Seikyo Shimbun, July 14th, 2012 http://www.sgilibrary.org/view.php?page=336&m=0&q=
Background
Prayers
based upon the Lotus Sutra will definitely be answered, writes Nichiren
Daishonin. In contrast, he emphasizes, prayers based upon mistaken teachings not
only will go unanswered, but will create suffering both for those who offer them
and for those on whose behalf they do so.
This
is the theme of On Prayer, written by Nichiren Daishonin in the ninth year of
Bun’ei (1272), when he was in exile on Sado Island. The writing is thought to
be a reply to questions raised by Sairen-bo, a disciple of the Daishonin and
former priest of the Mountain [Jikaku] branch of the Tendai school, who at the
time was also living in exile on Sado Island.
Sairen-bo
and the Daishonin exchanged a number of letters concerning various important
Buddhist doctrines. In this letter, the Daishonin distinguishes between the
efficacy of prayer based on schools that prevailed in Japanese society of the
day— including the Flower Garland, Dharma Characteristics, Precepts, True Word,
and Tendai schools— and prayer based upon the Lotus Sutra. The authorities of
the contemporary imperial court and shogunate relied to a great degree upon the
teachings and prayers of the True Word, Tendai, Zen, and Nembutsu schools.
It
was because the prayers offered by priests of the True Word and Tendai schools
were ineffectual, the Daishonin declares, that the imperial forces were
defeated in the Jokyu Disturbance— a struggle for power between the imperial
court and the Kamakura shogunate in 1221. Placing their trust in these schools,
the court had requested that prayers be offered for its protection and victory.
Ultimately,
however, despite such prayers, not only were the imperial forces defeated in
battle, but three retired emperors were exiled to distant islands. Thus,
concludes the Daishonin, such prayers do not simply go unanswered; they
actually bring about misfortune.
On
the other hand, prayers based on the Lotus Sutra are true prayers, the
Daishonin says. He then states the reasons: all Buddhas, bodhisattvas, people
of the two vehicles (voice-hearers and cause-awakened ones), and human and
heavenly beings present in the assembly of the Lotus Sutra feel a great sense
of gratitude because they attained Buddhahood through the sutra. To repay these
debts of gratitude, they will certainly protect those who uphold the Lotus
Sutra.
The
Daishonin mentions the dragon king’s daughter and the evil Devadatta in
particular, noting that because their attainment of Buddhahood was considered
an especially remarkable achievement their debt of gratitude is correspondingly
great; thus, he assures Sairen-bo, they, too, will never fail to guard the
practitioners of the Lotus Sutra.
The
Daishonin also firmly refutes the statement made by Kobo, the founder of the
True Word school in Japan, who claimed in his work The Treatise on the Ten
Stages of the Mind that the Mahavairochana Sutra ranks first, the Flower
Garland Sutra second, and the Lotus Sutra third. To support his contention that
True Word doctrines are misleading, the Daishonin cites this statement made by
the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra, “I have preached various sutras, and among those
sutras the Lotus is the foremost!”
The
letter’s heading, “Nichiren, the shramana of Japan,” expresses his conviction
that he is truly a shramana, or seeker of the way, and that he is the votary of
the Lotus Sutra. Shakyamuni achieved enlightenment as a seeker of the way in
India. In this sense this designation can also be said to convey the
Daishonin’s conviction that he is the true shramana of Japan, and that he is
the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law.
In
conclusion, the Daishonin urges Sairen-bo to offer prayers based upon the
correct doctrines of the Lotus Sutra and to fulfill his true potential as a
human being by aspiring to attain Buddhahood.
