The Three Powerful Enemies, Part 1—The Anatomyof Persecution Arising From Fundamental Darkness

It could be said that “Treasure Tower” and “Devadatta” represent the “decree of the mentor,” while “Encouraging Devotion” expresses the “vow of the disciples.”

In any case, to win over obstacles and devilish functions is the true path of mentor and disciple dedicated to accomplishing kosen-rufu in the Latter Day of the Law.

‘The Opening of the Eyes’ Is a Paean of Victory

Awed by the five proclamations of the Buddha [made in the “Treasure Tower” and “Devadatta” chapters], the countless bodhisattvas promised the Buddha that they would propagate the Lotus Sutra, as described in the “Encouraging Devotion” chapter. I will hold up this passage [twenty-line verse section] of the sutra like a bright mirror so that all may see how the present-day priests of the Zen, Precepts, and Nembutsu schools and their lay supporters are guilty of slandering the Law.

On the twelfth day of the ninth month of last year [1271, on the occasion of the Tatsunokuchi Persecution], between the hours of the rat and the ox (11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.), this person named Nichiren was beheaded. It is his soul that has come to this island of Sado and, in the second month of the following year, snowbound, is writing this to send to his close disciples. [The description of the evil age in the “Encouraging Devotion” chapter seems] terrible, but [one who cares nothing about oneself for the sake of the Law has] nothing to be frightened about. Others reading it will be terrified. This scriptural passage is the bright mirror that Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the Buddhas of the ten directions left for the future of Japan, and in which the present state of the country is reflected. (WND-1, 269)

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At the beginning of his discussion on the twenty-line verse section, the Daishonin explains the significance of his undergoing the Tatsunokuchi Persecution. In other words, he starts by revealing his state of life in having vanquished the three powerful enemies. It is a declaration of spiritual triumph. This important passage signifies that “The Opening of the Eyes” as a whole can be viewed as a paean of victory.

In writing “this person named Nichiren was beheaded,” he is declaring that his status up to that time—in which he conducted himself as an ordinary person—came to an end at Tatsunokuchi.

The Daishonin is indicating here that at Tatsunokuchi he cast off his transient status and revealed his true identity. He uses the word soul to refer to that true identity—the Buddha of limitless joy enlightened since time without beginning. His soul, he says, has come to Sado. This represents a declaration of his state of life, his towering resolve from his place of exile to henceforth, as the original Buddha of the Latter Day, take the lead for the widespread propagation of the Mystic Law.

He continues, “[Nichiren] in the second month of the following year, snowbound, is writing this to send to his close disciples” (WND-1, 269). The Daishonin began composing “The Opening of the Eyes” immediately upon arriving at Tsukahara on Sado Island in early November 1271, and completed it in February 1272. The “close disciples” to whom he sent this treatise specifically refers to Shijo Kingo, who, with the spirit of not begrudging his life, had accompanied Nichiren during the Tatsunokuchi Persecution, but in a broader sense, it refers to all who had followed and fought alongside him up to that point.

Next, the Daishonin says: “[The description of the evil age in the ‘Encouraging Devotion’ chapter seems] terrible, but [one who cares nothing about oneself for the sake of the Law has] nothing to be frightened about. Others reading it will be terrified” (WND-1, 269). The first sentence is a statement of encouragement that although what is described may appear frightening, there is in fact nothing to fear.

Certainly, the persecutions by the three powerful enemies predicted in “Encouraging Devotion” are frightening. But once we understand the essence of the devilish forces behind these persecutions, it becomes obvious that what is truly terrifying is the devilish nature inherent in human beings.

In this treatise, however, the Daishonin, having risked his life to fight for kosen-rufu and subsequently triumphing over all obstacles and devilish functions, displays an indomitable spiritual state. Thus, he says there is nothing to fear, not even amid the most terrible persecution or hardship caused by devilish functions.

The spirit to battle powerful enemies is the heart of the lion king. As long as we possess the readiness and courage to confront these negative forces, we can manifest our inherent Buddhahood and bring forth the necessary fighting spirit, wisdom and life force to achieve victory. For that reason alone, we have nothing to fear.

Accordingly, “there is nothing to be frightened about” (WND-1, 269) expresses the heart of the Daishonin (the lion king) and his disciples (the lion king’s cubs) who fight alongside him with the same selfless spirit.

“Others … will be terrified” (WND-1, 269), meanwhile, refers to the hearts of those who do not practice with an ungrudging spirit and who are in danger of abandoning their faith out of cowardice. In other words, Nichiren was concerned that people who lacked firm resolve and commitment in faith would read the passage about the three powerful enemies in “Encouraging Devotion” and be overcome by fear and apprehension.

Cowardice is a state in which people have succumbed to inner devilish functions. This can progress to such a profound level that they eventually lose their vitality and wisdom and even find their whole lives tumbling inexorably toward defeat. The Daishonin sternly warns that we should not let this happen to us.

Ultimately, unless we undertake the same resolve as our mentor in faith, we will be defeated by devilish functions. This is why the Daishonin’s call to his disciples to rise into action with a vow equal to his resonates throughout this treatise.

A Bright Mirror Reflecting the Present State of the Country 

The “Encouraging Devotion” chapter states: “We beg you not to worry. After the Buddha has passed into extinction, in an age of fear and evil we will preach far and wide. There will be many ignorant people who will curse and speak ill of us and will attack us with swords and staves, but we will endure all these things. In that evil age there will be monks with perverse wisdom and hearts that are fawning and crooked who will suppose they have attained what they have not attained, being proud and boastful in heart. Or there will be forest-dwelling monks wearing clothing of patched rags and living in retirement, who will claim they are practicing the true way, despising and looking down on all humankind. Greedy for profit and support, they will preach the Law to white-robed laymen and will be respected and revered by the world as though they were arhats who possess the six transcendental powers.^[4] These men with evil in their hearts, constantly thinking of worldly affairs, will borrow the name of forest-dwelling monks and take delight in proclaiming our faults … Because in the midst of the great assembly they constantly try to defame us, they will address the rulers, high ministers, Brahmans, and householders, as well as the other monks, slandering and speaking evil of us, saying, ‘These are men of perverted views who preach non-Buddhist doctrines!’ … In a muddied kalpa, in an evil age there will be many things to fear. Evil demons will take possession of others and through them curse, revile, and heap shame on us. … The evil monks of that muddied age, failing to understand the Buddha’s expedient means, how he preaches the Law in accordance with what is appropriate, will confront us with foul language and angry frowns; again and again we will be banished.” (WND-1, 269–70; see LSOC, 232–34)

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Nichiren Daishonin next cites principal extracts from the twenty-line “Encouraging Devotion” verse section that describes the three powerful enemies. The section begins with the bodhisattvas making a powerful pledge. Addressing Shakyamuni, they say: “We beg you not to worry. After the Buddha has passed into extinction, in an age of fear and evil we will preach far and wide” (LSOC, 232).

They then explain in detail the characteristics of those who will persecute them, as well as what form those attacks will take. Based on this verse section, the Great Teacher Miao-lo of China later classified the persecutors into three groups and named them the “three powerful enemies.”

The first enemy is arrogant lay people. Ignorant of Buddhism, they curse and speak ill of the practitioners and attack them with swords and staves, thus persecuting them through both verbal and physical violence.

The second enemy is arrogant priests. These are priests of an evil age who possess perverse wisdom and are fawning and crooked, who suppose they have attained enlightenment when they have not and who are attached to their own preconceived ideas and beliefs.

The third enemy is arrogant false sages. These are people who try to pass themselves off as sages. The sutra describes them as having the following traits:

• They live apart from others, don robes and make a show of religious authority.
• While claiming to practice the correct way of Buddhism themselves, they disparage others. In the words of the sutra, they “despise and look down on all humankind” (see LSOC, 232).
• Greedy and avaricious, they expound the Law to lay people in order to seek personal profit and gain.
• They are revered by people in society as if they were arhats possessing the six transcendental powers.
• They harbor malice toward practitioners of the Lotus Sutra and cause them to be persecuted in various ways.
• They use their religious authority to discredit practitioners of the Lotus Sutra.
• They make false allegations about the Lotus Sutra practitioners to the authorities and to influential people in society.
• They denounce the Lotus Sutra practitioners as people of “perverted views who preach non-Buddhist doctrines” (LSOC, 233).

The Daishonin called forth each of the three powerful enemies and overcame them all. His declaration of victory over them is the pronouncement cited earlier where he says, “I survived even the Tatsunokuchi Persecution” (GZ, new edition, 1176 [GZ, 843]).

Who, specifically, constituted the three powerful enemies that appeared during the Daishonin’s lifetime? The Daishonin discusses this in detail in “The Opening of the Eyes,” but for now here are his conclusions.

First, with regard to arrogant lay people—the first category—he says this refers to important lay believers who support priests in the second and third categories (see WND-1, 273). This indicates the key government figures who, in the Daishonin’s day, supported high-ranking priests of Kamakura’s main Buddhist temples.

Next, he says arrogant priests are people like the Pure Land (or Nembutsu) priest Honen^[5] who “disregard the precepts and hold perverse views” (WND-1, 274). This signifies the Nembutsu priests throughout Japan who draw their lineage from Honen.

As for arrogant false sages, from one standpoint he says this refers to people such as “Shoichi of Kyoto^[6] and Ryokan of Kamakura”^[7] (WND-1, 275), while from another he says it refers to “Ryokan, Nen’a,^[8] and others” (WND-1, 277). Of those whom the Daishonin specifically lists in this category, the name of Ryokan stands out. He no doubt wishes to underscore that Ryokan is the one person who most aptly fits the description of an “arrogant false sage.”

Indeed, both the Tatsunokuchi Persecution and Sado Exile can be traced to the maneuverings of this arrogant false sage. Ryokan along with Nembutsu priests such as Nen’a joined forces with the powerful government official Hei no Saemon^[9] and other authorities to do away with the Daishonin and destroy his community of followers.

In “The Opening of the Eyes,” the Daishonin ends his discussion in this section by indicating that the appearance of the three powerful enemies offers conclusive proof that he is the votary of the Lotus Sutra in the Latter Day of the Law (see WND-1, 278).

As we have seen, the bright mirror of the “Encouraging Devotion” chapter not only depicts those who will carry out the persecution but also describes the future votaries of the Lotus Sutra. That is why the Daishonin calls it a bright mirror that reflects the country’s present state, while also indicating that it is a prophecy made by Shakyamuni, Many Treasures and other Buddhas (see WND-1, 269).

Persecutions Arise From Ignorance, Perverse Wisdom and Malice

Considered in that light, how significant this mirror, this prophecy is. The Lotus Sutra predicts that persecution will befall its votaries in the evil age to come, even describing in detail that it will be carried out by arrogant lay people, arrogant priests and arrogant false sages. And the Daishonin in fact underwent persecutions that perfectly matched the sutra’s descriptions.

The next chapter will discuss the significance of the concordance between the sutra and the Daishonin’s practice. Here, let’s address the question why this close symmetry is possible. There are two main points we should consider. One is that the Lotus Sutra offers a detailed explanation of the workings of the devil king of the sixth heaven that are activated by the fundamental darkness inherent in life. And the other is that the Daishonin, in exact accord with the Lotus Sutra and without begrudging his life, actually strove to spread the teaching of universal enlightenment in the Latter Day.

As he describes in “The Opening of the Eyes,” the Latter Day of the Law is undoubtedly an age when “conditions in the world decline, and people become increasingly shallow in wisdom” (see WND-1, 226), and when “sages and worthies gradually disappear from the scene, and deluded people increase in number” (WND-1, 238). The true crisis of the Latter Day lies in the fact that people, subserviently adhering to authoritarian teachings or beliefs, reject the Lotus Sutra’s profound religious philosophy, causing their minds to grow increasingly distorted.

It is even more difficult, therefore, for people of the Latter Day, an age of unceasing human conflict and mistrust, to accept the Lotus Sutra—a teaching of universal enlightenment conveying the message that all living beings are equal and worthy of respect. They shun it simply because they have difficulty understanding it. Further, they even come to bear animosity toward Lotus Sutra practitioners who courageously spread this profound teaching and earnestly endeavor for the genuine enlightenment of all people.

This is analogous to how someone whose eyes have become accustomed to the darkness cannot look directly at the sun’s rays. People consumed by hatred and jealousy despise and resent both the Lotus Sutra, which expounds the infinite potential of all human beings, and those who propagate it. This is the frightening reality of people whose lives are steeped in slander of the Law.

The “Encouraging Devotion” chapter states that persecution of the Lotus Sutra’s votaries is initiated by arrogant lay people out of “ignorance,” by arrogant priests out of “perverse wisdom,” and by arrogant false sages out of “evil in their hearts” or malice. This indicates that when fundamental darkness manifests itself in the world, it does so in three phases: ignorance, perverse wisdom and malice. 

In other words, ignorant people are readily swayed and incited by those of perverse wisdom and malice (the second and third enemies). That is why it is most often lay people who directly attack the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra through verbal abuse and even physical violence.

Next are those hostile people in whom fundamental darkness manifests as perverse wisdom. While they leave secular life in order to pursue the Buddha way, they regard only the limited teachings they can understand as absolute and erroneously conclude that these alone are correct. In particular, when it comes to the Lotus Sutra with its promise of enlightenment for all, they cannot accept it, believing it undermines the absolute status of the particular provisional Buddhas in which they have misguidedly placed their faith. As a result, in various ways they try to demean the Lotus Sutra’s significance. Such priests come to harbor strong enmity toward the practitioners correctly spreading the Lotus Sutra.

Finally, there are those in whom fundamental darkness manifests as malice, similar to the devilish nature inherent in power and authority. It could also be described as the great arrogance of those who employ religious authority to fulfill their personal desires and ambitions.

The Lotus Sutra states that arrogant false sages, proud of their authority, “despise and look down on all humankind” (see LSOC, 232). This is the exact opposite of the spirit of the Lotus Sutra, which teaches respect for all people. Not surprisingly, false sages bear bitter hatred toward the sutra’s votaries, fabricating outrageous accusations to discredit them. As the ultimate expression of this malice, these false sages incite influential secular leaders to persecute the Lotus Sutra’s practitioners.

Because their fundamental darkness is so deep, people of malice, with evil in their hearts, become the devilish nature personified. They stop at nothing to achieve their ends and therefore become the root cause of persecution of the Lotus Sutra practitioners.

Genuine practitioners correctly spread the teaching of universal enlightenment and fight without retreating against the devilish forces that seek to fundamentally distort the spirit of Buddhism. When we understand the true nature of this struggle, we can naturally foresee that ignorance of the correct teaching—namely, fundamental darkness—will manifest in the form of arrogant lay people, arrogant priests and arrogant false sages who will persecute the votaries of the Lotus Sutra.

From the July 2025 Living Buddhism