A Votary of the Lotus Sutra Will Meet Ordeals: The Role of Suffering in Nichiren's Thought (1) by Jacqueline I. Stone

r·~~~~1::-~i:;;~:=:::~::;~;:~;::;:=:~-~~:;:~;;;i~~~· ..~;;;:-=.~J This article is based on a paper presented at the International Lotus they his course of action,· .•. •. li:t~~.i~~};.utra·,· le,gltim~ted iden(ifi.e~ ~ --!/j Sutra Seminar held May 27-June 1, hi11J. fii~ .a person whose advent was foretold by the Bucfc(ha, \, ' ·~ j< 2013, near Tokyo by Rissho Kosei-kai on j endowed with a unique destiny to spread the Lotus Sutra in 1 the theme "Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra, ~ the evil latter age; and even served to establish the truth of and human suffering: classical, modern, l and contemporary approaches." l· (h~!:_~!~~.:~:::=~"~~e~~~~==·o~=-m•~==~o~k"~=-===~~<==d

In Japan, no name is more closely asso­ acknowledges the protracted, dislo­ Rissh6 Daigaku Nichiren Kyogaku ciated with the Lotus Sutra than that of cating grief that follows the loss ofloved Kenkyujo, 4 vols. [Minobusan Kuonji, Nichiren (1222-82). Known today as the ones. To a woman whose husband had 1952-59; rev. ed. 1988], 2:1762) founder of the sect that bears his name, died more than a year before, he wrote: Nichiren taught a doctrine of exclusive And, to a woman who had lost her six­ devotion to the Lotus Sutra, expressed A house without a man is like a teen-year-old son: in the chanting of its daimoku, or its person without a soul (tamashii). Japanese title: Namu Myoho Renge­ Whom can you consult about affairs? The wealth in your coffers and [the ky6. Nichiren had trained in the Tendai And to whom can you feed good service of] your family retainers Buddhist tradition, which takes the Lotus things? Even a day or two's separa­ were all for this child's sake. You Sutra as fundamental. He himself main­ tion would make you feel anxious, must have believed that, when you tained that the Buddha had intended but he departed on the twenty-first died, you would be carried to the the teachings in this one scripture spe­ day of the third month of last year, fields [for burial] and have no fur­ cifically for the present evil era. Other and though you waited out the year ther concerns [having left every­ teachings, he said, were no longer effica­ in anticipation of his return, he did thing in his hands]. But contrary to cious. Over the course of his preaching not come back. Now already it is the the proper order, he died before you. career, Nichiren's "Lotus only" stance and seventh month of this year. Though "How could this happen? Surely this his criticisms of other Buddhist forms he himself does not come, why does is a dream, an illusion! I will wake invited the anger ofleading prelates and he not at least send word? The blos­ up, I will wake up!" you must have government officials. Attempts were soms that once scattered now bloom thought. But you do not wake, and made on his life. He was exiled twice again, the fallen fruit forms again already another year has passed .... and experienced periods of great dan­ on the trees; the spring breezes are If told there was a place where you ger and physical privation. What did unchanged, the autumn scenery is could meet him, then surely without this Buddhist teacher, who endured so the same as it was last year. Why has wings, you would soar to the heav­ many trials for his convictions, have to this one matter alone altered, never ens, and without a boat, you would say about the nature of suffering? to be the same again? ... Heaven cross to China. ("Ueno-ama gozen Some of the most moving passages itself should resent and the earth gohenji;' Teihon 2:1859) in Nichiren's extant writings are let­ grieve that this man has gone and ters of condolence to his lay support­ does not return! ("Sennichi-ama Such passages suggest that Nichiren ers, in which-before offering any gohenji;' Showa teihon Nichiren was keenly aware of the sufferings of sort of encouragement in faith-he Shan in ibun [hereafter Teihon), ed. impermanence inherent in the human

30 DHARMA WoRLD January-March 2014 Jacqueline I. Stone received her PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, in East Asian Languages and Cultures, with a focus in Buddhist Studies. She is now Professor of Japanese Religions in the Religion Department of Princeton University. Her major research field is Japanese Buddhism. Her research interests include death in Buddhism; Buddhist eschatology; Buddhism and Japanese identity formation in the medieval and modern periods; and traditions related to the Lotus Sutra, especially Tendai and Nichiren Buddhism.

sense. Nor did he address true Dharma" occurs in a number of in any substantial way the Mahayana sutras, where it often means kind of suffering that can be to speak ill of Great Vehicle scriptures alleviated through ordinary and was evidently intended to deflect relief measures, such as car­ criticism from the Buddhist mainstream ing for the sick or feeding that the Mahayana was not the Buddha's the hungry, representative teaching (Mochizuki bukkyo daijiten forms of charitable work car­ 5:4327c-28d). The Lotus Sutra itself ried out by some Buddhist warns of the horrific karmic retribu­ priests in his day. But he tion awaiting those guilty of this offense, did reflect, write, and teach most famously in the verse section of the at length about the causes "Parable" chapter, which represents the and significance of suffering Buddha as saying: "One who, not believ­ connected specifically with ing, I maligns this scripture, I thereby the Lotus Sutra. This essay cuts off the seeds of Buddhahood in all will explore two intertwined the worlds .... I Such persons, at life's dimensions of suffering fun­ end, I shall enter the Av'ici Hell, I where Portrait ofNichiren painted by Fujiwara Chikayasu in damental to his thought: the they shall fulfill one kalpa. I When the 1282, owned by Kuonji, the head temple of the Nichiren suffering that comes from kalpa is ended, they shall be reborn there, sect ofJapanese Buddhism, in Yamanashi Prefecture. rejecting the Lotus Sutra, and I in this way, spinning around, I for kal­ the suffering that comes from pas without number" (Miaofa lianhua condition. To his followers he stressed upholding it-the latter being a cate­ jing, TaishO Tripitaka [hereafter T] no. that by chanting the daimoku of the Lotus gory of suffering that, without losing its 262, 9:15b22-cl; Leon Hurvitz, trans., Sutra one could "cross the sea of suffer­ quality as suffering, is also happiness. Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine ing" ("Shiiji Shiro-dono gosho;' Teihon Dharma, rev. ed. (Columbia University 1:227-28), establishing an inner free­ The Most Terrible Press, 2009), 71-72 (the quoted text is dom and security of mind that is inde­ of Sins slightly modified). The passage con­ pendent of whether one's circumstances tinues for numerous verses, detailing are favorable or adverse. "Recognize suf­ Nichiren took as given the law of kar­ how such wretched offenders, at last fering as suffering, enjoy pleasures for mic causality, according to which suf­ emerging from the Av'ici Hell, will be what they are, and whether in suffer­ fering is the consequence of one's prior born as wild dogs, scabrous and ema­ ing or joy, keep chanting Namu-Myoh6- misdeeds. However, his writings show ciated, or as monstrous snakes, "deaf, Renge-kyo;' he encouraged one follower. little concern with the karmic conse­ stupid, and legless:' At last ascending to "Then you will know the happiness of quences of such ordinary evils as ldll­ the human realm, they will repeatedly the Dharma for yourself" ("Shijo Kingo­ ing, theft, deceit, or sexual misconduct. be born poor, deformed, and afflicted dono gohenji;' Teihon 2:1181). Rather, they focus on what Nichiren with disease, never to hear the Dharma Yet Nichiren did not elaborate the­ understood as an evil of an altogether for kalpas (aeons) numberless as the oretically on samsaric suffering (sam­ different magnitude: maligning or slan­ sands of the Ganges River. Even this, sara being the cycle of death and rebirth dering the true Dharma (hihO shobo, or the Buddha declares, is a mere sum­ before attainment of nirvana) in a general simply hobo). The term "slander ofthe mary, for the evil recompense incurred

DHARMA WORLD January-March 2014 31 by those who malign the Lotus could disciples argued that the Lotus Sutra was Lotus Sutra. The nenbutsu, Nichiren never be explained in full, not even over too profound for people of this deluded argued, belonged to a lesser category the course of a kalpa (Miaofa lianhua age. Attempting to practice it was like of provisional Mahayana and did not jing, T9:15cl-16a9; Hurvitz, Scripture a small boy trying to wear his grand­ represent the Buddha's final intent. He of the Lotus, 72-75). Nichiren, however, father's shoes or a physically weak per~ likened it to the scaffolding erected in did not use the term Dharma slander son trying to use a stout bow and heavy building a large stupa: once the stupa simply to mean criticizing or maligning armor. They further insisted that such (the Lotus Sutra) has been completed, the Lotus Sutra but expanded the defi­ statements did not amount to malign­ the scaffolding (the nenbutsu) should be nition of this offense to include setting ing the Lotus Sutra but simply reflected dismantled ("Nenbutsu mugen jigoku aside the Lotus, for whatever reason or a realistic assessment of human short­ sh6;' Teihon 1:35). Precisely because motive, to embrace some lesser, provi­ comings: Those who attempted to prac­ the Lotus Sutra is profound, he said, it sional teaching. "To be born in a coun­ tice the Lotus were bound to fail in their could save even the ignorant and evil trywhere the Lotus Sutra has spread and efforts and fall after death into the evil persons of the last age. This same argu­ neither to have faith in it nor practice realms of rebirth. One would do bet­ ment underlies Nichiren's later criti­ it, is Dharma slander;' he wrote (Kaitai ter to set aside the Lotus in this life­ cisms, not only of the exclusive nenbutsu, sokushin jobutsu gi, Teihon 1:12). time, chant the nenbutsu instead, and but also of Zen, Ritsu, and the esoteric Nichiren redefined Dharma slander achieve birth in Amida's Pure Land. teachings (shingon). in this way very early in his career, in Then one could attain the awakening of We can identify at least three rea­ debate with followers of the "exclusive the Lotus Sutra there. It was in opposi­ sons why Nichiren held the Lotus Sutra nenbutsu" (senju nenbutsu) movement tion to such arguments that Nichiren to be superior to all others. First, only initiated byH6nen (1133-1212), founder redefined "slander of the true Dharma'' the Lotus Sutra, in his reading, enables ofJapan's independent Pure Land school. to mean, not merely speaking ill of the all people to become buddhas. Other H6nen and his disciples, like other peo­ Lotus Sutra, but setting it aside in favor Mahayana sutras teach the emptiness ple at the time, believed themselves to be oflesser teachings (for a more detailed and interpenetration of the dharmas, living in the Final Dharma age (mappo), treatment, see Jacqueline I. Stone, "The the ontological basis upon which all a degenerate era following the passing Sin of Slandering the True Dharma in can in principle realize buddhahood. of Salcyamuni Buddha, when his teach­ Nichiren's Thought;' in Sins and Sinners: But according to the Tendai classifica­ ings are filtered through an ever-more Perspectives from Asian Religions, ed. tion schema, this basis remains theo­ flawed understanding, and liberation Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara retical or incomplete in the provisional becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. [Brill, 2012], 113-52). Mahayana, which denies the possibility Honen had taught that now in the Final For Nichiren, Honen's focus on ofbuddhahood to followers of the so­ Dharma age, human religious capacity human limitations ignored what called Hinayana vehicles-sravakas and had declined to a point where most peo­ Nichiren understood to be the Buddha's pratyekabuddhas, who seek to escape the ple were no longer capable of achieving own distinction between true and provi­ wheel of samsaric suffering in personal liberation through the traditional disci­ sional teachings. The Lotus was the sutra nirvana-as well as to women and evil plines of precept observance, meditation, of which Salcyamuni himself had said, men. Only the Lotus Sutra fully sets and doctrinal study. Only by chanting the "In these forty years and more [before forth the nondual ground upon which nenbutsu, the name of Amida Buddha, preaching this sutra], I have not yet the realization of buddhahood takes and relying upon that Buddha's aid could revealed the truth'' and "Frankly dis­ place and extends this possibility to all. people in this evil age escape the mis­ carding expedient means, I will preach Nichiren developed this claim using the erable round of deluded rebirth and be only the unsurpassed way" (Miaofa Tendai concepts of the mutual posses­ born in Amida's Pure Land, where their lianhua jing, T 9:386b1-2; Wuliangyi sion of the ten realms (jikkai gogu) and enlightenment would then be assured. In jing, T no. 276, 9:10a19). These pas­ the three thousand realms in a single promulgating H6nen's "nenbutsu only" sages formed the basis of the tradi­ thought-moment (ichinen sanzen). The teaching, his followers were especially tiona! Tendai kyohan, or comparative perfect interfusion and mutual encom­ critical of Lotus Sutra devotion-prob­ classification of the Buddhist teach­ passing of the Buddha and ordinary ably because the Lotus was commonly ings, according to which the Buddha beings that these doctrines elucidate read, recited, and copied with the aim had first expounded a range of prepa­ was for him what made the Lotus Sutra of birth in Amida's Pure Land and was ratory, incomplete teachings, accom­ "true" and qualified it as the "wonder­ widely revered as the Buddha's highest modated to his hearers' capacity, and ful Dharma'' (myoho) (Kaitai sokushin teaching. By Nichiren's account, Han en's only then revealed the full truth in the jobutsu gi, Teihon 1:10).

32 DHARMA WORLD January-March 2014 Second, for Nichiren, the Lotus the daimoku, the essence of the Lotus even, than the five heinous offenses, an Sutra -specifically its "origin teach­ Sutra, that acts as the seed of buddha­ act so appalling that he could convey its ing" (honmon), the latter fourteen chap­ hood. "At this time;' he wrote, "Namu magnitude only by analogy to exaggera­ ters-opened a perspective from which My6h6 Renge-ky6 of the 'Fathoming tions of the most reprehensible worldly buddhahood is not something to be the Lifespan' chapter, the heart of the crimes: slandering the Lotus Sutra was achieved as a distant goal exterior to origin teaching, should be planted for worse than killing everyone in all the oneself but is accessed in the very act the first time as the seed of buddha­ provinces of China and Japan or mur­ of practice: hood" in the hearts of the benighted dering one's parents a hundred mil­ persons of the mappo era (Kyogosho lion times (Kaimoku sho, Teihon 1:604; The merit of all other sutras is uncer­ gosho, Teihon 2:1480). This conviction "Kyodai sh6;' Teihon 1:920). tain, because they teach that one informed the assertive proselytizing must first plant good roots and only for which Nichiren is so well known. Rebuking afterward become a buddha. But in By declaring to others the unique truth Dharma Slander the case of the Lotus Sutra, when one of the Lotus, he believed, even if they takes it in one's hand, that hand at should malign or reject it, one enabled Such arguments were no mere scholastic once becomes Buddha, and when them to form a relationship to the true exercise on Nichiren's part but stemmed one chants it with one's mouth, that Dharma that would eventually allow from his understanding of the collective mouth is precisely Buddha. It is like them to realize buddhahood, whether suffering he saw around him. Nichiren the moon being reflected in the water in this life or a future one. first began to connect the problem of the moment it appears above the For Nichiren, identifying the Lotus as Dharma slander to actual human mis­ eastern mountains, or like a sound "superior" or "true" and all other teach­ ery in the wake of the massive Sh6ka-era and its echo occurring simultane­ ings as "inferior" or "provisional" did earthquake of 1257, which devastated ously. ("Ueno-ama gozen gohenji;' not represent a historically contingent much of Kamakura, where he was liv­ Teihon 2:1890) human evaluation but was grounded in ing. The earthquake was the latest in a a metaphysical principle that informed series of recent calamities, including And third, the Lotus Sutra functions the sequence of the Buddha's preach­ drought, famine, and epidemics. "Oxen as the "seed" or source ofbuddhahood. ing as set forth in the traditional Tendai and horses lie dead in the streets;' he Here Nichiren drew on the Tiantai patri­ kyohan. Because the Lotus is the true wrote, "and the bones of the stricken arch Zhiyi's (538-97) description of the and perfect teaching, encompassing all crowd the highways ... ; beggars are process by which the Buddha instructed the Buddha's virtues within itself, the everywhere in sight, and scenes of death his disciples by first sowing the seed of merit of embracing it overrides all lesser, fill our eyes" (RisshO ankoku ron, Teihon buddhahood through an initial teach­ worldly offenses and blocks the path to 1:209; Selected Writings of Nichiren, ing, nurturing its growth through sub­ rebirth in the lower realms. "Whether ed. Philip B. Yampolsky, trans. Burton sequent teachings, and finally enabling or not evil persons of the last age can Watson and others [Columbia University them to reap the harvest of enlighten­ attain buddhahood does not depend Press, 1990], 13-14). Observing that ment. Nichiren maintained that only the upon whether their sins are light or prayer rites and government relief mea­ Lotus Sutra plants the seed ofbuddha­ heavy but rests solely upon whether or sures had proved equally ineffectual, hood. People in prior ages might have not they have faith in this sutra;' he said Nichiren argued that the country's suf­ achieved liberation through provisional ("Hakii Sabur6-dono gohenji;' Teihon fering stemmed from rejection of the teachings such as the nenbutsu or Zen 1:749). But for that very same reason, Lotus Sutra in favor of inferior teach­ because they had already received the Nichiren asserted, to set aside the Lotus ings. Combing the Buddhist canon, he seed of buddhahood by forming a con­ in favor of some lesser teaching amounts found a number of sutra passages pre­ nection to the Lotus Sutra in previous to "slander of the Dharma:' For him dicting various disasters that will occur lifetimes (hon'i uzen). But people born this was no ordinary sin such as taking in a realm whose ruler fails to protect the in the Final Dharma age have not yet another's life or property, whose retribu­ true Dharma and instead allows it to be formed such a connection (honmi uzen) tion might cause one to suffer for only maligned or neglected. These scriptural and thus cannot benefit from the nen­ one or a few lifetimes, but an infinitely prophecies, Nichiren observed, exactly butsu or other provisional teachings, more terrible act that cut off the pos­ mirrored the state of Japan at present. no matter how earnestly they might sibility of buddhahood both for one­ "When prayers are offered for the peace practice them. In the Final Dharma self and for others and led to countless of the realm and still the three disas­ age, Nichiren taught, it is specifically rebirths in the Avid Hell. It was worse, ters occur within the country, then one

DHARMA WORLD January-March 2014 33 should know that it is because an evil rebellion led by the shogunal regent's rebirth in the Avici Hell. As Nichiren teaching has spread:' he wrote (Shugo halfbrother in 1271 and the emergence phrased it: "If a bad son who is insane kokka ron, Teihon 1:116). In a group of of the Mongol threat, culminating in with drink is threatening to kill his father essays written between 1258 and 1260, two invasion attempts in 1274 and 1281, and mother, shouldn't you try to stop Nichiren attributed these disasters and gave seeming credence to his words. The him? ... If your only child is gravely the grief they caused to the spread of RisshO ankoku ron directs its polemics ill, shouldn't you try to cure him with Honen's exclusive nenbutsu teaching. only at Honen's exclusive nenbutsu teach­ moxibustion treatment? To fail to do The most famous of these is his Rissho ing, but Nichiren's later works expand so is to act like those people who see ankoku ron (On bringing peace to the the same argument to include the Zen but do not try to put a stop to the Zen land by establishing the true Dharma), school, newly imported from China; and Nenbutsu followers in Japan. As submitted as a memorial to the Bakufu, the Risshu precept-revival movement; [Zhiyi's disciple] Guanding writes, 'If one or shogunate, in 1260. Here Nichiren and the esoteric teachings. befriends another but lacks the compas­ argued that the offense of slandering Nichiren's redefining of slander sion to correct him, one is in fact that the Dharma not only carries frightful of the Dharma as meaning not nec­ person's enemy"' (Kaimoku shO, Teihon consequences for the perpetrator but essarily verbal abuse but rejection of 1:608; Selected Writings ofNichiren, 146 also has repercussions for society at the Lotus Sutra in favor of some lesser [slightly modified]). large. Because the Lotus Sutra and the teaching meant that one could commit Spreading faith in the Lotus Sutra esoteric teachings had been set aside in this offense without malicious intent, was thus for Nichiren inseparable from favor of the nenbutsu, he said, the pro­ indeed, even without knowledge, simply denouncing slander of the Dharma. This tective deities, no longer able to hear by falling under the influence of a mis­ conviction underlay his choice of shaku­ the true Dharma on which they sub­ guided teacher. He alone, he believed, buku, a method of Dharma teaching that sisted, had abandoned the country, had come to see clearly how present directly rebukes another's attachment enabling demons to enter and wreak calamities had come about because the to provisional teachings, over the more havoc. In effect, the spread of Honen's people at large had been deceived into accommodating shOju approach oflead­ teaching was turning all of Japan into abandoning the Lotus Sutra for pro­ ing others gradually without criticizing a nation of Dharma slanderers. "With visional teachings and were therefore their present views. Nichiren saw him­ the power of faith that is in their hearts:' destined to "fall like rain into the Avid self as engaged in a great Dharma battle: Nichiren asked, "why must they reck­ Hell" ("Niiama gozen gohenji:' Teihon lessly give credence to distorted doc­ 1 :867). This insight, he believed, con­ When one must face enemies, one trines? If they do not shake off these ferred upon him a moral obligation to needs a sword, a staff, or a bow and delusions that they cling to but continue speak out. To see slander of the Dharma arrows .... When the time is right to harbor erroneous views, then they being committed and fail to speak out to propagate the teaching of the one will quicldy leave this world of the liv­ against it was to share in the same offense vehicle, the provisional teachings ing and surely fall into the Avid Hell!" and to receive the same karmic retri­ become enemies. When they are a (Rissho ankoku ron, Teihon 1:225; Selected bution. "Because I wish to avoid the source of confusion, one must refute Writings ofNichiren, 39 [slightly mod­ offense of complicity [in slander of the them from the standpoint of the ified]). Conversely, he argued that the Dharma], because I fear the Buddha's true teaching. Of the two types of spread of faith in the Lotus Sutra would rebuke, and because I understand my practice, this is shakubuku, the prac­ transform this world into a Buddha land. obligations and wish to repay the debt tice of the Lotus Sutra. (Nyosetsu Nichiren pointed out that violent I owe my country, I have made all this shugyo sho, Teihon 1:735-36; Letters storms, crop failure, starvation, dis­ known to the ruler and to the people;' he ofNichiren, ed. Philip B. Yampolsky, ease, and ominous celestial portents had wrote (''Akimoto gosho:' Teihon 2:1735; trans. Burton Watson and others already occurred, just as the sutras fore­ Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, trans. [Columbia University Press, 1996], tell. If the situation was not promptly Gosha Translation Committee [Soka 68 [slightly modified]) rectified, then, judging by these scrip­ Gakkai, 1999], 1:1019 [modified]). At tural predictions, two further disasters the same time, to speak out was an act Nichiren also represented this course might be expected: "revolt within one's of compassion toward all those suffer­ as something he had chosen in full own domain" and "invasion from for­ ing in consequence of an error they advance recognition of the consequences: eign lands:' Both would surely occur, he did not recognize as such. To rebuke "In Japan I alone have understood this warned, if the exclusive nenbutsu con­ another's slander of the Dharma was, [that is, how people are deceived into tinued to spread unchecked. In time, a potentially, to save that person from abandoning the Lotus Sutra for lesser

34 DHARMA WORLD January-March 2014 '

' l Nichiren (center) and his followers are attacked by warriors led by the land steward Tojo Kagenobu (on I horseback), a follower of the Pure Land teachings. The attack, known as the Komatsubara persecution of 1264, took place near Nichiren's home village in Awa Province. Woodcut by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861),from his series Koso go-ichidai ryakuzu (Concise illustrated biography ofNichiren), ca. 1835.

teachings]. But ifi utter so much as lands confiscated, or in a few cases were by the world at large, will revile, per­ a word concerning it, then parents, put to death. Most painful of all to him secute, and oust Lotus devotees and brothers, and teachers will surely crit­ was that the authorities paid no heed induce the authorities to take action icize me, and the government author­ to his message. These experiences led against them. "We will endure all these ities will take steps against me. On the him to ponder a different ldnd of suf­ ordeals;' they vow. "We do not cherish other hand, I am fully aware that ifi do fering: that which one encounters in bodily life. We value only the unsur­ not speak out, I will be lacldng in com­ upholding the Lotus Sutra and declar­ passed way" (ibid., T9:36cl7-18). It passion .... If I remain silent, I may ing its unique efficacy for the present is difficult to know whether these pas­ escape harm in this lifetime, but in my age. In the course of his efforts, Nichiren sages represent the actual experience of next life I will most certainly fall into found deep soteriological meaning in the sutra's redactors as followers of the the Avid Hell. If I speak out, I am fully the hardships that his confrontational minority Mahayana movement in being aware that I will have to contend with stance elicited. The remainder of this ostracized by the Buddhist mainstream the three obstacles and the four devils. essay will consider his thinking in this or are simply the hyperbole of a small But of these two courses, surely the lat­ regard (see also Jacqueline I. Stone, and marginal community. Whatever the ter is the one to choose" (Kaimoku sha, "Giving One's Life for the Lotus Sidra case, the sutra casts these passages in Teihon 1:556-57; Selected Writings of in Nichiren's Thought;' Hokke bunka the form of predictions, and Nichiren Nichiren, 79 [slightly modified]). kenkyu 33 [2007]: 51-70). read them as foretelling both the slan­ The Lotus Sutra itself speaks of der of the Lotus Sutra that had spread The Sufferings the great trials that those who uphold in Japan in his own time and the hos­ of the Lotus Devotee it must undergo in an evil age after tility that he himself encountered in the Buddha's passing. The "Dharma rebuking it. Nichiren's outspoken criticism of the Preacher" chapter reads: "Hatred and About a year after he had submitted nenbutsu and other Buddhist forms jealousy toward this sutra abound even the Rissho ankoku ron, a mob attacked provoked the anger of influential cler­ during the Buddha's lifetime. How much Nichiren's dwelling, and shortly there­ ics and their followers, who eventually more so after his nirvaQ.a!" (Miaofa lian­ after, he was arrested and exiled to the prompted Bakufu officials to take action huajing, T9:31b20-21). And in the Izu peninsula, where he remained for against him. He was twice arrested and "Fortitude" chapter, numbers ofbodhi­ almost two years. It was around this time exiled, first to the Izu peninsula ( 1261- sattvas describe the hardships they are that he began to read the Lotus Sutra 63) and again to Sado Island (1271- resolved to meet in order to spread the as speaking directly to his own expe­ 74). He was physically attacked and Lotus Sutra at that future time: ignorant rience. In a letter to a lay follower, he once nearly executed, and some of his people will attack them with swords and wrote, "When I think that a base and followers were imprisoned, had their staves, while eminent monks, revered ignorant person like myself, a monk

DHARMA WORLD January-March 2014 35 without precepts, should be mentioned in Japan have not yet experienced these began to refer to the hero bodhisattvas in the Lotus Sutra, taught more than two scriptural passages [foretelling great of the Buddhist scriptures, like the boy thousand years ago, and that my trials trials]. I alone have read them. This is of the Snow Mountains (Sessen Doji), were foretold by the Buddha himself, the meaning [of the statement]: "We do Bodhisattva Medicine King (Yaku6 I cannot contain my joy" ("Shion sh6;' not cherish bodily life. We value only Bosatsu), Bodhisattva Ever Weeping Teihon 1:236). The coincidence of the the unsurpassed way" ("Nanj6 Hyoe (Jotai Bosatsu), and others who burned sutra's prediction of grave trials and his Shichir6-dono gosho;' Teihon 1:327). their bodies in offering, sacrificed their own experience of persecution solidified A votary of the Lotus Sutra, then, is flesh to learn the Dharma, or tore off for Nichiren the sense that h~ was kar­ one who practices the Lotus not only their skin to use as paper on which to micly destined to proclaim the truth of by having faith in and reciting it but record Buddhist teachings. On the one the Lotus Sutra in this age. Another of by living out its predictions. Having hand, Nichiren saw the acts of these his letters from the same period reads: been exiled, as he saw it, for the sutra's ascetic virtuosi as beyond the reach of sake, Nichiren wrote that even when not ordinary persons. But his willingness to In the Final Dharma age, a votary of engaged in actual recitation, he was in meet hardship for the Lotus Sutra's sake the Lotus Sutra will surely appear. effect practicing the Lotus Sutra at every had catapulted him into their exalted The greater the hardships confronting moment of the day and night, whether company. "I am a foolish ordinary world­ him, the more he rejoices, because walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. ling with a body of flesh and blood, who his faith is strong. Doesn't a fire "For one born human, what greater hap­ has not uprooted even the slightest part burn more brisldy when firewood piness could there be?" ("Shion sho;' of the three kinds of delusion;' he said. is added? All rivers flow into the Teihon, 1:236). Nichiren also described "But for the Lotus Sutra's sake I have ocean, but does the ocean reject the practice in this sense as "bodily read­ been reviled and slandered, struck with rivers? The many rivers of adversity ing" (shik.idoku) of the Lotus. On the swords and staves, and sent into exile. pour into the great sea of the Lotus eve of his second exile, while under In this light, I believe I may be compa­ Sutra and dash against its votary, arrest, he wrote to his disciple Nichir6, rable to those great saints who burned but he neither rejects nor finds fault who had also been arrested and impris­ their arms, broke their bones [to extract with them. Without the rivers, there oned, praising him for reading the sutra marrow], or offered their heads [as sac­ would be no sea, and without grave not only by verbally reciting its words rifice)" ("Shion sho;' Teihon 1:239-40). trials, there would be no votary of or mentally grasping and internalizing Nichiren's later followers have included the Lotus Sutra. ("Shiiji Shiro-dono their meaning but by personally under­ some serious ascetic practitioners, nota­ gosho;' Teihon 1:227; Writings of going this ordeal for the sutra's sake: bly those who train as healers and exor­ Nichiren Daishonin, 1:33 [modified]) cists (k.itoshi). But Nichiren devotees Tomorrow I leave for Sado Province. have rarely if ever engaged in the prac­ This represents an early occurrence In the cold tonight, it grieves me to tices of self-mutilation or self-immo­ of the term votary of the Lotus Sutra think of your sufferings in prison lation found in the ascetic strands of (Hok.ekyo no gyoja), by which term and my thoughts go out to you. How other Buddhist traditions. Rather, it is Nichiren designated himself and his admirable it is, that because you have those willing to give their lives for the disciples. ( Gyoja is translated variously as now read the entire Lotus Sutra with Lotus Sutra's sake, especially those who "practicer;' "practitioner;' "votary;' "dev­ both body and mind, you will be met persecution at the hands of worldly otee:' I have varied the translation in this able to save your parents and rela­ authorities, who have been celebrated as essay.) To my knowledge, it is Nichiren's tives and all living beings! ("Tsuchir6 the Nichiren sect's great heroes (Stone, coinage and has no precedent in the his­ gosho;' Teihon 1:509-10) "Giving One's Life"). tory of Lotus Sutra devotion. People in Japan's Heian (794-1185) and Kamakura "Bodily reading;' the willingness The Work of (1185-1333) periods who devoted them­ to give one's life if needed to propa­ Bodhisattva selves largely or exclusively to reciting gate the sutra and to endure the hard­ the Lotus Sutra as their personal prac­ ships it predicts, defines the practice Superior Conduct tice were known as jikyosha, literally, of the Hokekyo no gyoja. The somatic After his pardon from exile in 1264, "one who holds the sutra:' Nichiren, overtones of bodily reading also reso­ Nichiren traveled in the Kant6 provinces however, saw his experience of perse­ nate with widespread use of the term to preach and encourage followers. By cution as distinguishing him from this gyoja to denote especially ascetic prac­ 1268 he had returned to Kamakura. That category of practitioner. "The jikyosha titioners. In his Izu writings, Nichiren same year messengers had arrived from

36 DHARMA WoRLD January-March 2014 Kubilai Khan demanding that Japan sub­ account of the Lotus Sutra or who are Lotus Sutra with the task of Bodhisattva mit to Mongol overlordship; subsequent attacked with swords and staves? Were Superior Conduct (Skt., ViSi$taciiritra; envoys repeated these demands in 1269. it not for me, the prophecy made in Jpn., Jogyo), leader of a vast throng of A sense of crisis mounted as the Bakufu this verse of the sutra would have been bodhisattvas-Siikyamuni's disciples mobilized its defenses and the major sheer falsehood!" (Kaimoku sho, 1:559; from the inconceivably distant past­ temples and shrines conducted prayer Selected Writings of Nichiren, 83). At who emerge from beneath the earth in rites for the country's safety. Nichiren this point, Nichiren's "bodily reading chapter 15 of the Lotus. In the sutra's and his followers were emboldened by of the Lotus Sutra'' became what Ruben narrative, their appearance provides the seemingly imminent fulfillment of Habito has termed a "circular herme­ the occasion for Siikyamuni Buddha to the prophecy of"invasion from foreign neutic" in which sutra and practitio­ reveal his original awakening in the far lands" made in his Rissho ankoku ron. ner reflect, validate, and bear witness to distant past, and it is to them that he Nichiren repeated his admonitions to each other. The sutra's predictions that entrusts the task of propagation in an top officials, and Zen and the Shingon­ its devotees would meet with hardships evil age following his nirvana. At this Ritsu precept-revival movement now legitimated Nichiren's experience, and point, Nichiren began to speak of the joined the nenbutsu among his polem­ Nichiren's experience of persecution, in daimoku as the very teaching transmitted ical targets. His specific criticisms of that it fulfilled these predictions, legit­ from Siikyamuni Buddha to Bodhisattva shingon-by which term he designated imated the Lotus Sutra (Ruben L. F. Superior Conduct at the Lotus Sutra both Shingon and Tendai esoteric tradi­ Habito, "Bodily Reading of the Lotus assembly in open space above Vulture tions-also began around this time or Sidra," in Readings of the Lotus Sidra, Peak, and of himself as a forerunner perhaps shortly thereafter, in connec­ ed. Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline or an envoy of this bodhisattva ("Shoji tion with government sponsorship of I. Stone [Columbia University Press, ichidaiji;' Teihon 1:524; "Shijo Kingo­ esoteric ritual for protection from the 2009], 198...:99). Not only was his suf­ dono gohenji;' Teihon 1:637; "Shoho jisso Mongols. Again, Nichiren's attacks on fering valorized by the Lotus Sutra; that sho;' Teihon 1:725). Nichiren's identi­ other Buddhist traditions made ene­ suffering was necessary for the Lotus fication with the work of Bodhisattva mies. He and his followers may also Sutra to be true. Superior Conduct developed in tandem have been targeted by official measures During his exile to Sado, Nichiren with a growing conviction that he and aimed at readying the country against turned his attention increasingly to the his followers had been the Buddha's foreign attack by suppressing poten­ "origin teaching" (honmon), the latter disciples since the remotest past and tially disruptive elements on the domes­ fourteen chapters of the Lotus Sutra, must have been present at the Lotus tic front (Yutaka Takagi, Nichiren to which reveal that Sakyamuni Buddha has assembly. "When I think of things in sono montei [Kobundo, 1965], 189-90). been awakened since the inconceivably this waY:' he wrote, "I feel boundless In the autumn of 1271, Nichiren was remote past and ever since has remained joy, even though I am in exile" ("Shoho arrested and again sent into exile, this present and active in the world. Like jisso sho;' Teihon 1:727). time a "remote exile" to Sado Island in other Tendai thinkers of his day, Nichiren Because Nichiren's sufferings bore the North Japan Sea. associated the "origin teaching" portion out the predictions of the Lotus Sutra, On Sado, Nichiren deepened his con­ of the Lotus Sutra and its revelation of they legitimated his course of action; viction that his sufferings incurred on the Buddha's constant presence with the identified him as a person whose advent the Lotus Sutra's account were a proof view that buddhahood is not an external was foretold by the Buddha, endowed of his karmicly destined mission. Just goal to be achieved in the distant future with a unique destiny to spread the as his meeting with "hatred and jeal­ but can be accessed now, in the very act Lotus Sutra in the evil latter age; and ousy" established him in his own eyes of faith and practice. His writings from even served to establish the truth ofthe as the sutra's votary, his encounters with this period assert that all the practices Lotus Sutra itself. From this perspec­ persecution in turn confirmed the truth that the primordial Sakyamuni Buddha tive, suffering became the vehicle that of the Lotus, a point he now began to carried out over countless kalpas, and confirmed to Nichiren the transcen­ stress. "The sutra says, 'There will be the virtues and wisdom he consequently dent purpose of his life and thus became many ignorant people who will curse achieved, are perfectly contained within precious and meaningful. At the same and speak ill of us and attack us with the daimoku, the sutra's title, and are time, intertwined with this particular swords and staves, with tiles and rocks;" immediately accessible to those who strand of interpretation in his thought he noted. "Look around you in the world chant it. In this connection, Nichiren also was another, no less significant: that of today-are there any monks other than began to identify his heightened sense redemptive suffering. myself who are cursed and vilified on of personal mission as the votary of the To be continued

DHARMA WORLD January-March 2014 37 A Votary of the lotus Sutra Will Meet Ordeals: The Role of Suffering in Nichiren's Thought (2) by Jacqueline I. Stone

~"0f::l"3)"'""'"''f'""·;;;;;,;;z;;;;;s_,_-3~=--""--""~"""$~~~.:.;;;,'l'ii:"'.,.s::_>,...,.. -~-==u.,_.,.::;q:a;;m=='-"'<----""'""Z·v=-'iL~~~_,~ ~ L ,·· ~- :r- ~, .·.\.;,,·,:.: <,')n:.a(f.gr~ssing th~ question of why he and his followers had to ... .. This is the concluding part of an article r,~;,~~rJ.har~h t~ials,l\Jichiren did not fix on asfng{eexpi~QCili~n begun in the previous issue, based on ' b~t.~doptedmultiple perspectives. On the ci~e)ia~d,hi~ ·~·:·:~~, a paper presented at the International Lotus Sutra Seminar held May 27-June suffe;ings were necessary to prove the truth ofthe L~t~~~· ,? · 1, 2013, near Tokyo by Rissho Kosei­ Sutra and to verify his own status as its votary. Oh the kai on the theme "Buddhism, the Lotus hand, they were an act of expiation for past slanders Sutra, and human suffering: classical, modern, and contemporary approaches:' Dharma.

Suffering and Expiation an altogether different magnitude and Nichiren's second exile, on Sado Island, that he himself, in prior lifetimes, must proved a far worse ordeal than his ear­ have committed the very act of maligning lier banishment to Izu, and initially he the Dharma that he now so implacably suffered terribly from cold, hunger, and opposed. "From the beginningless past the hostility of the locals. He also wor­ I must have been born countless times ried about his followers in Kamakura, as an evil ruler who deprived practition­ several of whom had been arrested in ers of the Lotus Sutra, of their clothing his absence. Others had drifted away in and food, paddies and fields, much as the wake of his arrest and banishment. the people ofJapan in the present day go Some, not unreasonably, blamed the about destroying temples dedicated to Portrait ofNichiren painted by Fujiwara persecution on Nichiren's own intran­ Chikayasu in 1282, owned by Kuonji, the the Lotus Sutra;' he reflected. "In addi­ sigent stance. Had he been less aggres­ head temple of the Nichiren sect of Japanese tion, countless times I cut off the heads sive and uncompromising, matters might Buddhism, in Yamanashi Prefecture. of Lotus Sutra practitioners" (Kaimoku not have come to this pass. Knowing shi5, Showa teihon Nichiren Shan in ibun the survival of his community to be at did their persecutors receive no obvi­ [hereafter Teihon], ed. Rissh6 Daigaku stake, Nichiren struggled to encourage ous karmic retribution? Nichiren Kyogaku Kenkyiijo, 4 vols. ·his followers by letter. His writings from Nichiren detailed his struggles with [Minobusan Kuonji, 1952-59; rev. ed. the Sa do period also show him wres­ these doubts in several writings, most 1988], 1:602; Selected Writings ofNichiren, tling with his own doubts. If he was notably in his famous Kaimoku shi5 ed. Philip B. Yampolsky, trans. Burton indeed a true votary of the Lotus Sutra, (Opening of the eyes), completed dur­ Watson and others [Columbia University then why did he have to endure such ing the first winter of his exile on Sado Press, 1990], 139 [slightly modified]). hardships when the Lotus Sutra prom­ as a last testament to his followers in the Ordinarily, he said, the karmic retribu­ ises its devotees "security and peace in event of his death. In general, he wrote, tion for such offenses would torment the present life" (Miaofa lianhua jing, when people meet with contempt and a person over the course of innumer­ Taishi5 Tripi,taka [hereafter T] 9:19b19- hostility, it is because they have slighted able lifetimes. But thanks to his efforts 20)? Why were he and his followers or abused others in the past, in accor­ in denouncing slander of the Dharma, not protected by the Buddhist tutelary dance with the ordinary law of karmic that retribution was being summoned deities, who vow in the Lotus Sutra to causality. However, Nichiren concluded into the present so that it might be erad­ safeguard its practitioners? And why that his own past sins must have been of icated once and for all in his present life:

34 DHARMA WoRLD April-June 2014 Jacqueline I. Stone received her PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, in East Asian Languages and Cultures, with a focus in Buddhist Studies. She is now Professor of Japanese Religions in the Religion Department of Princeton University. Her major research field is Japanese Buddhism. Her research interests include death in Buddhism; Buddhist eschatology; Buddhism and Japanese identity formation in the medieval and modem periods; and traditions related to the Lotus Sutra, especially Tendai and Nichiren Buddhism.

"When iron is heated, if it is not strenu­ victim of others, but to repay a debt grave offenses that I have accumu­ ously forged, the impurities in it will not incurred by one's own prior acts. By lated over countless kalpas could become apparent. Only when it is sub­ the end of his period of exile on Sa do, be wiped out within the space of jected to the tempering process again and Nichiren began to represent himself as a single lifetime. Such, then, was again will the flaws appear.... It must be having deliberately courted his ordeals the great plan that I conceived; and that my actions in defending the Dharma as an act of expiation: it is now proceeding without the in this present life are calling forth retri­ slightest deviation. So when I find butions for the grave offenses of my past" Now if I, insignificant person myself thus sentenced to exile, I can (Kaimoku shO, Teihon 1:602-3; Selected that I am, were to go here and only feel that my wishes are being Writings ofNichiren, 139 [slightly modi­ there throughout the country of fulfilled. ("Kashaku hobo metsu­ fied)). From this perspective, Nichiren's Japan denouncing [slanders of the zai sho:' Teihon 1:781; Letters of sufferings not only validated his mis­ Dharma), ... the ruler, allying him­ Nichiren, trans. Burton Watson and sion but were also offered up as an act self with those monks who dis­ others [Columbia University Press, of repentance, to expiate his own past parage the Dharma, would come 1996), 285 [slightly modified)) sins of Dharma slander. to hate me and try to have me To attribute one's present suffering to beheaded or order me into exile. Banished and despised, Nichiren one's own past deeds is to claim agency; And if this sort of thing were to was in this way able to conceive of and one suffers, not meaninglessly or as the occur again and again, then the to represent himself, rather than his

This detail from Nichiren sh6nin chu ga san (An illustrated biography of Saint Nichiren) depicts Nichiren awaiting beheading at Tatsunokuchi, near Kamakura. Painted by Kubota Muneyasu in 1536. Owned by Honkokuji, Kyoto.

DHARMA WORLD April-June 2014 35 tormenters, as the agent of his own trib­ for having persecuted a practitioner of jing, T 9:30c21-26; Hurvitz, Scripture of ulations. In the same vein, he expressed the Lotus. In the sutra text, the phrase the Lotus, 160). gratitude toward the eminent clerics and "after expiating this sin" unmistakably Hiroshi Kanno, in an insightful government officials who had perse­ refers to those people who mocked and analysis of this passage, stresses the cuted him, calling them his "best allies" attacked Never Disparaging and who, empowerment to be gained by choos­ in attaining buddhahood (Shuju onfu­ after eradicating the grave offense of ing to regard one's sufferings as stemming rumai gosho, Teihon 2:973). their Dharma slander, were eventually not from one's past evil deeds but from In reading his sufferings as an expi­ able to reencounter him and achieve a vow compassionately undertaken for ation of his own past offenses against supreme awakening through the Lotus others' sake. This passage, Kanno argues, the Dharma, Nichiren identified with Sutra. But Nichiren deliberately read the "can cast a light which can change the another figure in the Lotus Sutra: passage so that the grammatical subject worldview of persons who really groan Bodhisattva Never Disparaging (Skt., of"after expiating this sin" was not those under the weight of suffering:' He sug­ SadaparibhUta; Jpn., Jofukyo), whose who persecuted Never Disparaging but gests that the Lotus Sutra aims at con­ story appears in chapter 20 and who, the bodhisattva himself. "Bodhisattva verting its followers from "persons to like Nichiren, had persevered despite Never Disparaging was not abused and be saved" to those who work actively opposition in spreading the Dharma. vilified, stoned and beaten with staves to save others (Hiroshi Kanno, "The This bodhisattva (eventually revealed without reason;' he suggested. "He had Bodhisattva Way and Valuing the Real to be Sakyamuni Buddha in a prior probably slandered the true Dharma World in the Lotus Siitra," Journal of life) was dubbed "Never Disparaging" in the past. The phrase 'after expiat­ Oriental Studies 17 [2007]: 182-87). because he bowed to everyone he met, ing this sin' means that because he met Nichiren certainly saw himself and his saying, "I profoundly revere you all! I persecution, he was able to eradicate disciples as those who save others, and dare not hold you in contempt. What his sins from prior lifetimes" ("Tenju he referred to himself and his followers is the reason? You are all treading the kyoju homon;' Teihon 1:507; Letters of as "envoys of the Tathagata;' citing this bodhisattva path, and shall succeed Nichiren, 161 [slightly modified]). In same sutra passage. But-judging from in becoming buddhas!" (Miaofa lian­ this way, Nichiren interpreted the scrip­ his extant writings-he himself never hua jing, T 9:50cl9-20; Leon Hurvitz, tural account of Never Disparaging in claimed to be a great bodhisattva who trans., Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of terms that reinforced his understand­ had voluntarily rejected "the reward due the Fine Dharma, rev. ed. [Columbia ing of his own experience of persecu­ his own pure deeds" for others' sake. University Press, 2009], 258). People tion as a form of atonement for his past Why, when confronted with the need mocked and reviled the bodhisattva, offenses against the Dharma and as a to explain his present sufferings to him­ beat him with staves, and pelted him guarantee of future buddhahood. self and his disciples, did he not avail with stones. Nonetheless, as a result of himself of so powerful a proof text but his practice, he was able to encounter Nichiren's "Nexus instead chose to represent his hard­ the Lotus Sutra and acquire the great for Salvation" ships as expiation for his own prior sins supernatural penetrations. Those who against the Dharma? mocked him suffered for a thousand The "Dharma Preacher" chapter of the One might suggest several reasons for kalpas in the Avici Hell, but after expi­ Lotus Sutra, in praising the merits of those this. First, Nichiren's claim that his pres­ ating this sin, they were again able to who can uphold the sutra in a future age, ent trials were the result of his own past ·meet Never Disparaging and were led by represents Sakyamuni Buddha as say­ enmity toward the Lotus Sutra enabled him to attain supreme enlightenment. \ ing that such a person is his envoy, sent him to use himself as an object lesson in Nichiren read the story of Never by him to carry out the Buddha's work: conveying the message that attachment Disparaging in a way that reflected-or "Let it be known that that person is a to provisional teachings brings immense perhaps even inspired-his understand­ great bodhisattva who, having achieved suffering. Here he referred to a period ing of his own ordeals as redemp­ anuttarasanmyaksarp.bodhi, [has] taken in his youth, before his commitment to tive suffering. In his reading, Never pity on the living beings, and vowed to be the Lotus Sutra, when he himself had Disparaging, like Nichiren himself, reborn here .... [Such a person,] rejecting chanted the nenbutsu as his teacher had had spread by means of shakubuku a the reward due his own pure deeds, out done: "Since I too slandered the Dharma teaching embodying the essence of the of pity for living beings after my passage in the past, I became a nenbutsu devotee Lotus Sutra and encountered hostil­ into extinction shall have been reborn in this lifetime, and for several years, ity as a result. Those who harassed the in the evil world, where he shall broadly whenever I saw those who practiced bodhisattva fell into hell for many kalpas preach this scripture" (Miaofa lianhua the Lotus Sutra, I mocked them, saying

36 DHARMA WORLD April-June 2014 that not a single person has ever attained buddha­ hood through that siitra, or that not even one in a thousand can be saved by it. Awakening from my slander, I am like a man who, while drunk on sake, felt pleasure in striking his parents but regrets it on sobering up" ("Sado gosho;' Teihon 1:615). Second, Nichiren seems to have felt that an awareness of one's own past acts against the Dharma was necessary to sustain one's resolve in the face of hardship. To two lay followers, the broth­ ers Ikegami, whose father was threatening to dis­ inherit them on account Nichiren is depicted walking in winter along his path to exile on Sa do Island. Woodcut by Utagawa Kuniyoshi of their faith, he wrote, (1798-186l),jrom his series Koso go-ichidai ryakuzu (Concise illustrated biography ofNichiren), ca. 1835. "Never doubt but that you slandered the Dharma in past lifetimes. offense of slandering the Dharma. framework of why Lotus Sutra practition­ If you doubt that, you will not be able to [But] the wonderful Dharma that you ers, contrary to the promise of"security withstand even the minor sufferings of now embrace surpasses the moon­ and peace in the present life;' should this life" ("Kyodai sh6;' Teihon 1:924- praising samadhi [gatsuai zanmai] meet with suffering. Nichiren's argu­ 25). Nichiren also occasionally applied [by which the Buddha cured King ment here is that personal conviction this principle to personal tribulations Ajatasatru of the foul sores result­ of past wrongdoing, and thus of a debt that did not take the form of external ing from his sins). How could your to be paid, enables one to embrace pres­ opposition and were seemingly unrelated disease not be cured and your life ent suffering, taldng it as an opportunity to the propagation of the Lotus Sutra. extended?" ("Ota Nyud6-dono to eradicate that offense in toto. Also, To another follower, the lay monk Ota gohenji;' Teihon 2:1117-18) by the power of one's faith in the Lotus J6my6, who was suffering from pain­ Sutra, one receives these karmic conse­ ful skin lesions, he wrote: Nichiren did not attribute all of his fol­ quences far more lightly and over a much lowers' personal sufferings in blanket fash­ shorter period of time than would oth­ Although you were not in the direct ion to past acts against the Dharma, and erwise be the case. lineage [of shingon), you were still why he did so in this particular case is not Third, in asserting that his present a retainer to a patron of that teach­ altogether clear. Perhaps it stemmed from sufferings were the result of malign­ ing. For many years you lived in a his assessment of what kind of interpre­ ing the Dharma in the past, Nichiren house devoted to a false doctrine, tation of Ota's illness would best encour­ was able to account for the puzzling and month after month your mind age him. Or perhaps the opportunity to fact that his tormentors received no was influenced by false teachers .... take aim at the defects of shingon esoteric obvious sign of karmic retribution. He Perhaps the relatively light affliction teachings-an issue then very much on argued that were a votary of the Lotus of this skin disease has occurred Nichiren's mind-may have also played Sutra to be unjustly charged with some so that you may expiate [your past a role. In this reading, not only persecu­ crime, even a minor one, his persecutors offenses] and thus be spared worse tion at the hands of others but even the would incur immediate karmic retribu­ suffering in the future .... These ordinary sufferings of devotees, such as tion-as long as that individual himself lesions have arisen from the sole illness, are drawn into the explanatory had not slandered the true Dharma in

DHARMA WoRLD April-June 2014 37 prior lifetimes. But because he had com­ Hell for countless kalpas. But because individual involved; he or she is no longer mitted this evil in prior lives, Nichiren they have formed a "reverse connec­ the passive victim of events but actively maintained, his enemies went unscathed tion" (gyakuen) to the Lotus Sutra by embraces adversity to benefit others. for the present while he himself had to slandering its votary, after expiating this Nonetheless, there exists the potential for endure their hostility, just as Bodhisattva sin they will eventually encounter the a false sense of superiority, even spirit­ Never Disparaging was attacked "with Lotus Sutra again and be able to become ual arrogance, in defining oneself as "one swords and staves" because he had buddhas. By a similar logic, the practi­ who saves others:' Whether deliberately slandered the Lotus Sutra in the past tioner who suffers their harassment must or not, in identifying himself as some­ (Kaimoku sho, Teihon 1:600). encounter this ordeal precisely because one guilty of slandering the Dharma in Fourth and most important, in he maligned the Lotus Sutra in the past, the past, Nichiren rejected this possi­ regarding his present sufferings as expi­ just as his tormenters do in the present. bility, placing himself on the same level ation for past slanders of the Dharma, But because of his efforts to protect the as those who opposed him and repre­ Nichiren in effect placed himself on the Lotus by opposing Dharma slander in senting himself, together with them, as same level as the people he was attempt­ the present, his own past offenses will sharing in the same causal nexus. In that ing to save and identified a karmic bond be wiped out, and he will not only attain spirit, he wrote: "The NirVii(W Sfltra says: between them. We see this especially buddhahood himself in the future but 'The various individual sufferings of all in his reading of Bodhisattva Never also enable his persecutors to do so. living beings are all the Tathagata's own Disparaging as meeting abuse because The Lotus practitioner and those who sufferings: I say: This one common suf­ of the Dharma slander that he him­ oppose him are thus inseparably linked fering of all living beings [resulting from self had committed in prior lifetimes. via the sutra in the same "nexus for sal­ slander of the Dharma] is entirely my Nichiren wrote: vation:' or web of causes and condi­ own suffering" (Kangyo Hachiman shO, tions, 'that will ultimately enable both Teihon 2:1847). The past events described in the to realize buddhahood. The term nexus Nichiren did not claim that he could "Never Disparaging" chapter I am for salvation has been used in reference take upon himself all individual suffer­ now experiencing, as predicted in to the Pure Land movements ofJapan's ings of all beings, something perhaps the "Fortitude" chapter; thus the Heian (794-1185) and Kamakura (1185- only the Buddha could do. But he did present foretold in the "Fortitude" 1333) periods, in which all who placed see himself as participating in the suf­ chapter corresponds to the past of faith in Amida Buddha were thought fering that arises from having rejected the "Never Disparaging" chap­ to be connected, and forming a kar­ the true Dharma, and he committed his ter. The "Fortitude" chapter of mic tie to anyone deemed certain to life to the task of freeing others from the the present will be the "Never achieve birth in Amida's Pure Land was consequences of that same error. Disparaging" chapter of the future, believed to assist one's own realization and at that time I, Nichiren, will be of that goal (Frederic Kotas, "Oj 6den: Conclusion its Bodhisattva Never Disparaging. Accounts of Rebirth in the Pure Land" ("Teradomari gosho;' Teihon 1:515; [PhD diss., University of Washington, In addressing the question of why he Letters of Nicheren, 170 [slightly 1987], 35, 303). We find something sim­ and his followers had to endure harsh modified]) ilar in Nichiren's teaching, in his idea trials, Nichiren did not fix on a single that all of those who form a bond with explanation but adopted multiple per­ The "Never Disparaging" chapter tells the Lotus Sutra are karmicly connected spectives. On the one hand, his suffer­ of a Lotus practitioner who met great and that whether they embrace the Lotus ings were necessary to prove the truth trials in spreading the sutra in the past, or oppose it, they shall by virtue of that of the Lotus Sutra and to verify his own while the "Fortitude" chapter predicts bond eventually "succeed in becoming status as its votary. On the other hand, the trials of practitioners who will spread buddhas" (Nichiren characterized the they were an act of expiation for past it in the future. Based on his reading of mappo era as a time when people were slanders of the Dharma, an expiation these two chapters, Nichiren saw himself most likely to form a karmic bond with made possible within a radically reduced and his opponents as linked together by the Lotus Sutra through "reverse con­ time frame by his efforts to defend the the Lotus Sutra in a vast soteriological nection:' that is, by slandering it). sutra. Nichiren similarly advanced mul­ drama of sin, expiation, and the realiza­ To shift one's perspective-using tiple explanations for related questions, tion ofbuddhahood. Those who malign Professor Kanno's terms-from "some­ such as why he and his disciples were a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra must one needing to be saved" to "someone not protected by the gods and why their undergo repeated rebirth in the Avid who saves others" restores agency to the enemies incurred no obvious karmic

38 DHARMA WoRLD April-June 2014 backlash. For example, he argued, as he juncture, for one's own suffering. What Nichiren's own hermeneutical frame­ had in the Rissho ankoku ron, that the these multiple explanations all share, work, is there anything more broadly protective deities, unable to hear the true however, is Nichiren's absolute refusal to applicable to be drawn from his atti­ Dharma of the Lotus Sutra on which regard his ordeals as arbitrary or mean­ tude toward suffering? they rely for sustenance, had abandoned ingless, or himself as their hapless vic­ Nichiren has long been admired, the country, or that when people per­ tim. Whether as an inevitable part of even outside his own following, for his form acts so evil as to merit rebirth in his sacred task or as an act of expiation, perseverance in the face of opposition the Avici Hell, they will not necessarily he actively embraced them not only for and his defiance of worldly authority. exhibit any sign of retribution in this life­ his own sake but for others'. This atti­ But there is more to his stance than mere time (Kaimoku sho, Teihon 1:600, 601). tude enabled him to find happiness, pur­ courage or perseverance. The suffer­ Some passages in his writings suggest pose, and at times even an awed sense ing that Nichiren addressed was, in his a deep conviction that, appearances to of privilege amid the harshest adver­ understanding, not something remedi­ the contrary, he was indeed under the sity. It prompted him to describe him­ able by wealth, technology, or political protection of the buddhas: self during the first winter of his exile power. In confronting unavoidable suf­ to Sado-cold, hungry, isolated, and in fering, he demonstrated an attitude that Practitioners born in the Final danger for his life-as "the richest man wastes little energy in railing against it Dharma age who spread the Lotus in Japan today" (ibid., 589). but unflinchingly embraces it, interpret­ Sutra will encounter the three ldnds Nichiren's Lotus exclusivism rested ing it in whatever way appears mean­ of enemies and be exiled, perhaps on an interlocldng set of hermeneutical ingful at the moment so as to use that even put to death. But Sakyamuni premises concerning the soteriological suffering for one's own development Buddha will enfold in his robe those powers inherent in the Lotus Sutra; the and to offer it on behalf of others. In who persevere in propagation .... distinction between "true" and "provi­ Mahayana terms, this is the commit­ Sakyamuni Buddha, Many Jewels, sional" teachings as something grounded ment of the bodhisattva. To quote again and the buddhas and bodhisattvas in metaphysical reality; and the work­ from Professor Kanno's analysis of the of the ten directions will praise them ings of karmic causality over past, pres­ "Dharma Preacher" chapter: "Followers as persons of great good roots and ent, and future lifetimes. This essay has of the Lotus Sutra do not seek to attain as teachers for all living beings .... attempted, as an act of historical imag­ enlightenment through their own efforts, Thus praised, I have been able to ination, to enter into these premises in nor do they seek to be saved by an abso­ -- _l withstand immeasurable ordeals. order to understand Nichiren's view of lute savior. They strongly bear in mind ("Shoh6 jisso sho;' Teihon 1:726. suffering-his own and that of the peo­ their true identity that they have been Nichiren probably refers to the "robe ple around him. But today, apart from born into this evil world of their own of the Tathagata" mentioned in the the more literalist contingent among will to propagate the Lotus Sutra for "Dharma Preacher" chapter of the his followers, there are many people, the sake of all living beings, and thus Lotus Sutra [T 9:31c24, 26], which including sorrie Lotus practitioners, feel satisfied by fulfilling their mission" represents great forbearance.) for whom such assumptions no longer (Kanno, "Bodhisattva Way;' 186). This resonate, making Nichiren's view of well describes the stance that Nichiren Yet in other passages, he voices a suffering hard to translate into a contem­ adopted. In so doing, he also showed conviction that seeks no guarantee of porary idiom. His attributing of major the value of abandoning the false and protection, simply a resolve to carry on disasters to rejection of the Lotus Sutra ultimately frustrating expectation that with his mission, no matter what may and attachment to other teachings runs happiness should mean an absence of happen. "Let Heaven forsake me. Let counter to modern pluralistic sensibil­ suffering. "Don't doubt because heaven ordeals confront me. I will not begrudge ities and is apt to appear naive and dis­ does not lend you protection:' he told bodily life .... Although I and my dis­ tasteful, even dangerous, in an age when his followers. "Don't lament that your ciples must endure many trials, so long the brutal consequences of religious present life is not 'secure and peaceful"' as we do not have a mind of doubt, strife are sharply evident. His elevated (Kaimoku sho, Teihon 1:604). For him, we will naturally arrive at the state of sense of personal mission, too, easily the Lotus Sutra's promise of "security buddhahood" (Kaimoku shO, Teihon appears as delusive self-righteousness, and peace in this life" came to mean, 1:601, 604). and his attributing of one's present tri­ not freedom from suffering, but a hap­ This plurality of perspectives speaks als to past slanders of the Dharma can piness to be found even in the midst of perhaps to the fact that no single expla­ seem to be a potentially insidious form it, because of the commitment he had nation will adequately account, at every of victim blaming. Viewed from outside made. 0

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