Nichiren Daishonin—His Lifelong Vow and Great Compassion

I have been preaching this doctrine now for twenty-nine years. My body is worn out and my spirit suffers from the daily debates, monthly persecutions, and two exiles. That is why for the last seven or eight years illnesses of aging have assailed me yearly, though none has led to a crisis. This year, however, from the first month on my body has weakened considerably, and I have the feeling that my life is drawing to a close. Besides, I am already sixty years old. Even if there were a slight chance I might survive this year, how could I possibly live another year or two? (WND-2, 949) 

By the twelfth month of the same year, Nichiren was barely eating (see “Reply to the Lay Nun, Mother of Ueno,” WND-2, 973). While describing his suffering due to age and illness, his letters also convey his serene and composed state of life as an ordinary person facing pain and decline with dignity. 

Despite these difficulties, in the second month of 1282, Nichiren wrote a letter to encourage Nanjo Tokimitsu, who himself was gravely ill at the time:

Since you now appear certain to attain Buddhahood, perhaps the heavenly devil and evil spirits are using illness to try to intimidate you. Life in this world is limited. Never be even the least bit afraid!

And you demons,^[1] by making this man suffer, are you trying to swallow a sword point first, or embrace a raging fire, or become the archenemy of the Buddhas of the ten directions in the three existences? (“The Proof of the Lotus Sutra,” WND-1, 1109)

Nichiren harshly admonishes evil spirits for tormenting Tokimitsu and forgetting their vow to protect the votary of the Lotus Sutra. He signs the letter, “Nichiren, the votary of the Lotus Sutra” (WND-1, 1108). Among his known writings, this one alone bears such a signature. Conveying his conviction that he has lived his life as a “votary of the Lotus Sutra,” he encourages Tokimitsu to live fearlessly as a disciple of that votary and to fight and triumph over the “devil of illness.” After receiving Nichiren’s strict yet warm encouragement, Tokimitsu went on to live another fifty years.

At the Ikegami Munenaka Residence 

In 1282, on what is thought to be the eighth day of the ninth month, Nichiren left Mount Minobu to go to the hot springs in Hitachi Province^[2] to treat his illness. After staying at his disciples’ homes in various parts of Kai Province,^[3] he passed through Suruga Province^[4] and Sagami Province.^[5] On the eighteenth day of the same month he arrived at the residence of Ikegami Munenaka in Ikegami in Senzoku Village, Musashi Province,^[6] at noon. The next day, he sent a letter to Hakiri Sanenaga, the local steward oveseeing the Minobu area, written on Nichiren’s behalf by Nikko, his direct disciple and successor, called “Arrival at Ikegami” (WND-2, 994).

In that letter, Nichiren reports that he had made it safely to Ikegami thanks to Sanenaga’s sons, who accompanied him on the arduous journey. He also expresses his gratitude to Sanenaga for his support in Minobu, stating, “No matter where I should breathe my last, I would like my grave to be in the valley of Minobu” (WND-2, 994). Here we sense Nichiren’s heartfelt gratitude for the disciple who welcomed him to Minobu after he had long been driven from place to place by persecution.

On the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, despite his illness, it is said that Nichiren gave a lecture to his disciples on his treatise “On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land” (WND-1, 6). Until the end of his life, he sought to preserve and pass on the spirit of establishing the correct teaching. On the eighth day of the tenth month, Nichiren named six senior disciples (six senior priests), including Nikko, and entrusted them with responsibilities to be carried out after his passing.

On the thirteenth day of the tenth month of 1282, around 8 a.m., Nichiren passed away at Ikegami Munenaka’s residence. For 61 years, he led a noble life as the votary of the Lotus Sutra, persevering with his vow of deep compassion to enable all people to reveal the life state of Buddhahood. Ikeda Sensei says: 

Nichiren Daishonin passed away at around 8 a.m., during the hour of the dragon. Legend has it that the cherry trees were in bloom out of season at that time. This story no doubt arose because the Daishonin died on a warm, sunny, springlike day. 

Nichiren Buddhism is the “Buddhism of the Sun.” The sun was shining when the Daishonin first proclaimed his teaching, and it shone when he left this world. How appropriate this is for the Buddha who illuminates the darkness of the ten thousand years and more of the Latter Day of the Law. 

At the same time, the Daishonin was a great mentor who, until his final breath, showed his disciples what it means to dedicate oneself to kosen-rufu with an unflagging fighting spirit. … 

There is nothing greater than the life and death of one who embodies an inextinguishable spirit to fight for the sake of the Law and the happiness of the people across the three existences of past, present and future. This spirit itself is a manifestation of the eternity of Myoho-renge-kyo. ^[7] 

Nikko 

Nichiren Daishonin’s funeral service took place on the fourteenth day of the tenth month, the day after his passing. It is said that his ashes were carried from Ikegami on the twenty-first day and returned to Minobu on the twenty-fifth day.

Before his passing, Nichiren left instructions that six priests designated as his senior disciples should take turns attending to his gravesite and offering incense and flowers. On New Year’s Day 1283, to fulfill this wish, Nikko established a rotation system with the others. However, it appears the system was not maintained.

In the tenth month of 1284, Nikko wrote, “The sight of [Nichiren’s] grave in ruins in the valley of Minobu, trampled by the hooves of deer, is unbearable.”^[8] He also said, “While proclaiming the doctrine that states that one must not abandon one’s teacher, to abandon their true teacher [Nichiren] in no time [after his passing] is an act sure to arouse secular criticism and never to be justified.”^[9] Meanwhile, when Nikko wrote these passages at the time of Nichiren’s third memorial,^[10] it seems he had settled in Minobu and taken responsibility for managing the gravesite.

Around 1285, Niko, another of the senior disciples, came to Minobu. Nikko was delighted to see him and appointed him the chief instructor of the priests residing at Minobu. This attests to Nikko’s consideration for the disciples for whom Nichiren had high expectations and his wish to help them excel. 

Niko, however, betrayed Nichiren’s spirit. Although Nikko repeatedly pointed out Niko’s errors in interpreting Nichiren’s teachings, Niko disregarded him.^[11] 

Niko influenced the local steward of Minobu, Hakiri Sanenaga, who violated Nichiren’s teachings by building statues of Shakyamuni, visiting Shinto shrines, making offerings to Pure Land stupas, and building a Pure Land hall.^[12]

Sanenaga had embraced Nichiren’s teaching around 1269, introduced by Nikko, and carried through with his faith for many years. Soon after Nichiren’s passing, however, he succumbed to the negative influences of Niko and others. 

Nikko sternly admonished Sanenaga about his violations of Nichiren’s teachings, to which he replied, “Niko allows this”^[13] and “I have decided to embrace Acharya Mimbu [Niko] as my teacher.”^[14]

Carrying on the Spirit of Nichiren Buddhism 

Nichiren had stated in his will, “If the lord of this region [of Minobu] should violate the correct teaching, my spirit will no longer dwell on this mountain.”^[15] At the end of 1288, Nikko decided to leave Mount Minobu. He said, “Words cannot describe the sense of shame and disappointment I feel at the prospect of departing from this mountain of Minobu. But it occurs to me that, no matter where one is, the most important thing is to carry on the correct teaching of the sage^[16] and establish it in society.”^[17]

In this way, Nikko describes his feelings of frustration and regret at having to leave the place where his mentor spent the final years of his life and where Nichiren chose to have his grave. He also expresses his genuine feelings about being unable to correct Sanenaga, someone he had personally introduced to Nichiren’s teaching. At the same time, he emphasizes that what is most important is to spread and transmit that teaching.

At Nanjo Tokimitsu’s invitation, Nikko moved his base of propagation to Ueno Village in Suruga Province.^[18] Subsequently, he moved to the neighboring village of Omosu^[19] to foster his disciples.

While Nichiren’s other disciples regarded him as a priest of the Tendai school and referred to themselves as Tendai priests, Nikko positioned Nichiren as the “teacher of the Latter Day of the Law” who fulfilled the function of Bodhisattva Superior Practices and propagated the great Law that was the essence of the Lotus Sutra. Nikko also made it clear that the Gohonzon, the mandala inscribed in characters Nichiren revealed, would be the object of faith. He also transcribed the Gohonzon himself and bestowed it on many disciples.

Furthermore, in addition to urging the Kamakura shogunate and imperial court to implement the points Nichiren made in “On Establishing the Correct Teaching,” he treasured Nichiren’s writings and letters, calling them “Gosho” (a highly honorific form for “writing” or “book”) and regarding them altogether as the key Buddhist scripture for the Latter Day of the Law. 

He also encouraged the study of Nichiren’s teachings and fostered many excellent disciples who devoted themselves to the two ways of practice and study that Nichiren emphasized.

Among the six senior priest-disciples, Nikko alone correctly upheld Nichiren’s Buddhist teachings and carried on his teacher’s selfless spirit and action to achieve kosen-rufu and establish the correct teaching for the peace of the land.

• • •

On November 18, 1930, some 650 years after Nichiren’s death, the Soka Gakkai (originally named the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai) was founded.

The three founding presidents—the first president, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi; the second president, Josei Toda; and the third president, Daisaku Ikeda—took Nikko as their model for putting Nichiren’s spirit and teachings into practice. Under their leadership, the Soka Gakkai has advanced kosen-rufu, spreading Nichiren Buddhism worldwide, as Nichiren envisioned in his writings, to 192 countries and territories.

In this time of deepening conflict and division, with the looming threats posed by nuclear weapons, climate change, natural disasters and environmental destruction, Soka Gakkai members are expanding their solid alliance for happiness and peace around the world while carrying on Nichiren’s vow and promoting a movement for human revolution to reveal and make the greatness in all people shine.

This concludes the series.

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Changing the Destiny of Humankind

Ikeda Sensei: Our chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is the ultimate sound of respect for the dignity of life and universal harmony. It is the fundamental driving force for achieving the security of the land and world peace. 

Looking toward the eternal future of the Latter Day, Nichiren taught us the great path of dialogue for realizing true peace and prosperity everywhere based on the life-affirming principles of Buddhism. The first three Soka Gakkai presidents and their disciples have followed this path with the hearts of lion kings. 

Now our youthful Soka Gakkai worldwide is a great movement to change the destiny of all humankind. Our members brim with the boundless life force of the sun of time without beginning, uphold the transformative principle of “three thousand realms in a single moment of life” and are unwavering in their conviction that “When great evil occurs, great good follows” (“Great Evil and Great Good,” WND-1, 1119). 

How wondrous that you, the youth of Soka who share my spirit and are connected by profound karmic ties, have chosen to be here at this time of fresh departure. I pray and am confident that, without fail, you will sound the bells of hope for the triumph of peace now and into the future.^[20]

From the December Living Buddhism