-798 96 The Workings of Brahma and Shakra RECEIVED on the fourteenth day pounded in Magadha. A man named Iof the fifth month the horseload of Devadatta wished to prevent this by yams that you took the trouble to send any means possible, but all his attempts me. Considering the labor involved in ended in failure. After much thought, producing them, yams today are as pre- he spent several years befriending King cious as jewels or medicine. I will com- Bimbisara’s son, Prince Ajatashatru, ply with the request you made in your and gradually obtained his confidence. letter. Then he set out to estrange father and Once there was a man named Yin son. He deceived the prince into kill- Chi-fu.1 He had an only son, whose ing his own father, King Bimbisara. name was Po-ch’i. The father was wise, Now that Ajatashatru, the new king, and so was the son. One would have had become of the same mind as Deva- thought that no one would try to es- datta and the two had banded together, trange them, but Po-ch’i’s stepmother non-Buddhists and evil men from all frequently slandered him to her hus- five regions of India swarmed like band. However, Chi-fu would not lis- clouds or mist gathering into Magadha. ten to her. Undaunted, she continued Ajatashatru flattered them and won for several years to contrive a variety of them over by giving them land and plots against her stepson. In one such treasures. Thus the king of the state scheme, she put a bee into her bosom, became an archenemy of the Buddha. rushed to Po-ch’i, and had him remove Seeing this, the devil king of the the insect, making sure as she did so sixth heaven of the world of desire that her husband would observe the descended with his innumerable fol- scene. In an attempt to have her step- lowers to Magadha and possessed the son killed, she then accused him of bodies of Devadatta, Ajatashatru, his making advances to her.2 six ministers, and others. Therefore, A king named Bimbisara was a wor- although these people were human in thy ruler and the greatest lay supporter appearance, they wielded the power of the Buddha within the entire land of of the devil king of the sixth heaven. Jambudvipa. Moreover, he reigned over They were more boisterous, frightful, Magadha, the state where the Buddha and alarming than a high wind flatten- intended to preach the Lotus Sutra. ing the grasses and trees, a gale stirring Since the king and the Buddha were up waves upon the sea, a great quake thus united in mind, it seemed certain jolting the earth, or a huge fire devour- that the Lotus Sutra would be ex- ing one house after another. 798 -799 THE WORKINGS OF BRAHMA AND SHAKRA A king named Virudhaka, incited by Buddha himself did. Only one who has Ajatashatru, put hundreds of Shakya- met with great persecution can be said muni Buddha’s clan to the sword. King to have mastered the Lotus Sutra. The Ajatashatru unleashed a herd of drunk- great teachers T’ien-t’ai and Dengyo en elephants and let them trample to would appear to have been votaries death countless disciples of the Bud- of the Lotus Sutra, but they did not dha. He also had many other disciples meet persecutions as severe as the Bud- killed by concealing his soldiers in dha did in his lifetime. They encoun- ambush at the roadsides, defiling well tered only minor opposition—T’ien- water with excrement, or persuading t’ai from the three schools of the south women to bring false charges3 against and seven schools of the north, and them. Shariputra and Maudgalyayana Dengyo from the seven major temples were severely persecuted.4 Kalodayin of Nara. Neither of them was persecut- was buried in horse dung.5 The Bud- ed by the ruler of the state, attacked dha was forced to survive for ninety by sword-brandishing multitudes, or days, one whole summer, on horse abused by the entire nation. [Accord- fodder. ing to the Lotus Sutra,] those who be- People thought that perhaps not lieve in the Lotus Sutra after the Bud- even the Buddha’s power could match dha’s passing will suffer obstacles more that of those evil persons. Even those terrible than those of the Buddha. Yet who believed in him swallowed their neither T’ien-t’ai nor Dengyo met op- words and said nothing, and closed pression as harsh as what the Buddha their eyes so that they might not see. did, let alone persecutions that were They could only wave their hands help- greater or more numerous. lessly,6 speechless with dismay. Finally, When a tiger roars, gales blow; Devadatta beat to death the Thus Come when a dragon intones, clouds gather.9 One Shakyamuni’s foster mother, the Yet a hare’s squeak or a donkey’s bray nun Utpalavarna,7 and then caused the causes neither winds nor clouds to Buddha’s body to bleed. Under these arise. As long as the foolish read the circumstances, there was no one who Lotus Sutra and the worthy lecture on would side with the Buddha. it, the country will remain quiet and And yet somehow, despite all these undisturbed. But it is stated that, when many persecutions, the Buddha at a sage emerges and preaches the Lotus length managed to preach the Lotus Sutra exactly as the Buddha did, the Sutra. A passage from this sutra states, nation will be thrown into an uproar, “Since hatred and jealousy toward this and persecutions greater than those sutra abound even when the Thus during the Buddha’s lifetime will arise. Come One is in the world, how much Now I am not a worthy, let alone more will this be so after his passing?”8 a sage. I am the most perverse person This passage means that, even while in the world. However, my actions the Buddha was alive, the enemies of seem to be in exact accord with what the Lotus Sutra offered fierce opposi- the sutra teaches. Therefore, whenever tion; all the more will they harass those I meet great difficulties, I am more who, in the latter age, preach and be- delighted than if my deceased parents lieve in a single character or even a sin- had returned to life, or than one who gle brushstroke in the Lotus Sutra. sees the person one hates meet with In light of this passage, it would some mishap. I am overjoyed that I, seem that no one during the more than a foolish man, should be regarded as a , years since the Buddha expound- sage by the Buddha. Suppose there are ed the Lotus Sutra has lived it as the wise persons who strictly observe the 799 -800 THE WORKINGS OF BRAHMA AND SHAKRA two hundred and fifty precepts and are when, by the workings of Brahma, revered by the entire nation more than Shakra, and other gods, the entire the lord Shakra is by all heavenly beings. Japanese nation will simultaneously Yet what if, in the eyes of Shakyamuni take faith in the Lotus Sutra. At that Buddha and the Lotus Sutra, they are as time, I am convinced, many people sinister as Devadatta? They may appear will insist that they too have believed respectworthy now, but what horrors since the very beginning. await them in their next life! If your faith is firm, then you should If rumor spreads that you appear to single-mindedly resolve: “I maintain be a votary of the Lotus Sutra, both faith not for the sake of other people those who are close to you and those but for the benefit of my deceased who are not will unexpectedly admon- father. Others will not perform memo- ish you as if they were your true rial services for him; because I am his friends, saying, “If you believe in the son, I am the one who must pray for priest Nichiren, you will surely be mis- his repose. I govern one village. I will led. You will also be in disfavor with spend one half of my revenue mak- your lord.” Then, because the plots ing offerings for the sake of my de- that people devise are fearsome even to ceased father, and use the other half to worthy persons, you will certainly feed my wife, children, and clansmen. abandon your faith in the Lotus Sutra. Should an emergency arise, I will give So it is advisable that you do not care- my life for my lord.” Speak in a mild lessly let it be known that you are a manner, no matter what the circum- believer. Those possessed by a great stances. devil will, once they succeed in per- If people should try to weaken your suading a believer to recant, use that belief in the Lotus Sutra, consider that person as a means for making many your faith is being tested. Tell them others abandon their faith. sardonically, “I deeply appreciate your Sho-bo, Noto-bo, and the lay nun of warning. However, you should save Nagoe10 were once Nichiren’s disciples. your admonishment for yourselves. I Greedy, cowardly, and foolish, they know well that our lord does not ap- nonetheless pass themselves off as wise prove of my faith. The idea of your persons. When persecutions befell me, threatening me in his name is simply they took advantage of these to con- absurd. I was contemplating visiting vince many of my followers to drop you all and giving you some advice, out.