Good Fortune in This Life
At the beginning of spring, I
received your New Year's
greetings from your
messenger. I also send you
my heartfelt best wishes. I
have received your various
gifts, including seventy rice
cakes, a bamboo container
of sake, a horseload of
potatoes, one paper sack of
dried seaweed, two bundles
of radishes and seven yams.
These offerings demonstrate
your profound sincerity.
The eighth volume of the
Lotus Sutra reads, "His
wishes shall not be in vain,
and he will receive his
reward of good fortune in his
present life." It also states,
"Truly he will have manifest
reward in his present life."
The Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai
says, "The Son of Heaven
utters not a single word in
vain," and "The words of the
Dharma King contain no
falsehood." A wise ruler will
never lie, even if it should
bring about his ruin. How
much less would
Shakyamuni Buddha ever
speak falsely! When he was
King Fumyo [in a previous
existence], he returned to
the palace of King Hanzoku
[to be executed], because he
upheld the precept against
lying. When he met King Kali
[in another past existence],
he declared that those
people who speak but little
of the truth or who tell great
lies will fall into hell.
Moreover, the Lotus Sutra is
the sutra in which the
Buddha himself declares,
"[The World-Honored One
has long expounded his
doctrines and] now must
reveal the truth," and, in
addition, it was expounded
at the assembly where Taho
Buddha and all the other
Buddhas of the ten
directions had gathered like
the sun, the moon, and the
countless stars all ranged
side by side. If there should
be any falsehood in the
Lotus Sutra, what then can
people believe in?
A person who offers even a
flower or stick of incense to
so splendid a sutra has
served ten billion Buddhas in
his previous existences.
Moreover, in the Latter Day
of the Law of Shakyamuni
Buddha, when the world is in
chaos and the ruler, his
ministers and the common
people all hate the votary of
the Lotus Sutra with one
accord, so that he must live
like a fish in a small pond in
a time of drought or a deer
stalked by a throng of
hunters, one who visits this
votary will obtain far greater
blessings than he would
acquire by serving the living
Shakyamuni Buddha with his
mind, mouth and body for
the space of an entire kalpa.
All this is clear from the
Buddha's golden words.
The sun is bright and the
moon, luminous. The words
of the Lotus Sutra are also
bright and luminous,
luminous and bright, like the
reflection of a person's face
in a polished mirror or the
image of the moon on the
surface of clear water. This
being the case, could the
Buddha's decree, "He will
receive his reward of good
fortune in his present life," or
his edict, "Truly he will have
manifest reward in his
present life," possibly be
false for you, Nanjo Shichiro
Jiro, alone? The Buddha
declared that even in an age
when the sun should rise in
the west or even in a time
when the moon should
emerge from the ground, his
words would never prove
false. Judging from this,
there cannot be the least
doubt that the spirit of your
late father is now in the
presence of Lord
Shakyamuni, and that you
yourself will receive great
blessings in this life. How
wonderful, how splendid!
Nichiren
The nineteenth day of the
first month of the second
year of Kenji (1276)
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