Kazuo Kawai supplied this translation of "Reply to Hara Dono" (see extended entry for URL).
The Reply to Hara dono
I have just carefully read your letter. The origin that has caused
this situation is as follows. In November Mr. Nambu Yasaburo(*1)
came to this temple in order to listen to the lecture on the
teachings of this sutra. At that time he brought the lay priest's
words(*2) that he wanted to ask the reason why believers in Nembutsu
are doomed to the hell of incessant suffering and that he couldn't
think that the benevolent deities who lend their protection aren't
present in this country. I was very surprised to hear these words. I
was caught by a sudden suspicion that the lay priest had changed his
mind. The sage Nichiren told the three rulers(*3) of the Kamakura
shogunate minutely in his remonstrative work(*4) that great or small
benevolent deities have abandoned this country because of the
slanders by Nembutsu, True Word, Zen and Precepts, and that
therefore fierce demons came into the shrines which they left
behind, and that the three calamities of famine, epidemics and the
kingdom of the Mongols would continue in the land until it goes to
ruin. I said that it was the very teaching Acharya Nichiren held in
his mind. For the sake of the nation, for the sake of the Law, for
the sake of all living beings Acharya Nichiren told it, as a
messenger of the Buddha, with his great compassion and without
begrudging his life.
Yasaburo answered, "I have believed that Nembutsu is the cause of
falling into the hell of incessant suffering, but I can't yet clear
up my doubt about the teaching that benevolent deities have
abandoned this land. The disciple(*5) who is in Kamakura says that
benevolent deities are guarding this country and we should pay a
visit to their shrines. The disciple who is in Mt. Minobu firmly
insists that deities are absent in this country. Acharya Nichiren
has already passed away. Whom should we ask this question? How can
we decide which side is right?" Yasaburo told his suspicion like
this. I answered, "There is a means to decide who is right between
two disciples. The teacher has passed away but we have his will. It
is exactly Rissho Ankoku Ron. It is not a private document but was
given to the three rulers of Kamakura shogunate." But he didn't seem
to be satisfied with my words yet and went home.
The background of this meeting is as follows. I once heard that he
was planning to pay a visit to the Mishima Shrine(*6). So one night
I sent Echigobo(*7) to him with my words, "This teaching is what
Ankoku Ron exactly means. Why do you break the Sage Nichiren's great
vow? Don't you know it?" I made him give up his plan permanently
like this. But the lay priest heard this and asked Acharya Mimbu(*8)
about it. He answered that it was certainly said in Ankoku Ron that
the benevolent deities left this country, but Acharya Byakuren(*9)
read partially only non-Buddhist writings and didn't understand the
ultimate. When an upholder of the Lotus Sutra pays a visit to a
shrine, deities will come to meet him too. So you must pay a visit
to shrines. The Lay priest believed this firmly. When I, Nikko,
visited the Lay priest and made arguments with him, he said, as I
had guessed, it was the very teaching of Acharya Mimbu. I, Byakuren,
thought that this is already the invention of the heavenly devil. I
fearlessly told him that Acharya Mimbu would turn against his
teacher and commit the seven cardinal sins when he told that every
time the teacher's disciple Acharya Mimbu pay a visit they will come
back to see him. Because the teacher had told that the benevolent
deities had abandoned this country and wouldn't return. If Acharya
Mimbu would not change his thought and I, Nikko, would follow his
idea, I could not escape the grave sin either. I said that we had
immediately to banish the chief instructor of priests who was
committing such a slander of the dharma.
At next, not long from this meeting, the Lay priest made offering to
build the tower of Fukushi(*10) in the district of Nambu. This is a
very grave fault. On the whole for this twenty years and more, we
haven't seen any traces of upholders of the precepts here but the
Lay priest's faith appears to have weakened somehow. This is because
of Acharya Mimbu. For he is a priest who has a deep greed for the
secular world, curries favor with others and is fawning and devious.
He is a man who, far from establishing the Sage's teaching, would
destroy it exceedingly. Thinking like this, I have watched him these
two or three years. At times I warned him that his sermons were
wrong and without any correct grounds, but he didn't listen to me.
At the Taishi Ko (*11) in November of this year he offered a
prayer:
"May the heaven last eternally. May the earth last
perpetually. May the wish be realized(*12). May the wish of the
ministers of the left and right be realized. May the wish of the
hundred officials of the literary and the military be realized." I
had told him many times not to offer the prayer for now. But he
defied me saying why I didn't know the debt I owed to my country. So
I, Nikko, didn't give the Mondo Ko(*13) this year.
This is not the only fault he made. A few people have drawn the
image of the lord of teachings of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Shakyamuni
Buddha enlightened from remote ages past which is the reason for
Sage Nichiren's advent in this world. But no one has carved a wooden
statue yet. The Lay priest got an idea, "I want to do my bit to make
a formal wooden statue of Shakyamuni." Acharya Mimbu gave him an
unnecessary advice that he should make an wooden Buddha in the place
of the one which Acharya Daikoku robbed. Since then he has clung to
this idea. I, Nikko, told him that I dare not oppose him if he
wanted to enshrine the Buddha which the late Sage had and enshrined
(*14). The Buddha however didn't have the bodhisattvas like Superior
Practices as attendants. It was only the one who attained
enlightenment for the first time in this world. Moreover Acharya
Daikoku has already stolen it. I said to him, "For what reason do
you want a copy of the Buddha who attained enlightenment for the
first time and evanescent. If it is beyond your ability, you should
wait until someone appears among your ancestors and rightly builds
one(*15). Until then you should enshrine the one which the Sage had
built with letters. Why can you break so hastily the wooden statue
(*16) of the lord of teachings of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo which is the
reason for the Sage's advent in this world?" I told him like this
strongly but he might think I was making light of him.
I, Nikko, as a disciple of the Sage, told thus to him because I
highly regard him as an important person in Kai country which pays
honor and follows the successors of the Sage. The spirit of the Sage
may have come into me and made me act thus. I am praising myself for
I have not fawned on him but admonished him as sutras instruct and
the Sage told to do.
As a whole, there are three problems in this case. First, they broke
Ankoku Ron's very intention. Second, the wooden image of the Thus
Come One enlightened from remote ages past was broken in the first
place(*17). Third, they gave alms to slanderers of the right
teachings for the first time. I told the Lay priest, "These are not
the faults of you. They are entirely the mistakes of the fawning
priest. So you should change your mind and from now on you should
believe in the right teachings as Ankoku Ron tells and as you did
for the twenty years while the Sage was alive . You should write a
letter to promise sincerely to come back to the right teachings and
should offer it to the Sage's statue.(*18)" But he did not believe
in me and what is worse he seemed to think that I was making light
of him. I heard later that he was saying he had chosen Acharya Mimbu
Niko as his teacher. Hearing this I concluded that his belief in the
Lotus Sutra had been inverted. The teachings of the Sage Nichiren is
that for the inhabitants of the threefold world, the Thus Come One
Shakyamuni is the very true teacher who makes them set their mind on
enlightenment for the first time. If we abandon this true teacher
and rely on Amida Buddha, we should become a person of the five
cardinal sins and fall into the hell of incessant suffering. Isn't
it his teaching? (If we neglect the teaching -- the translator
inserted) for what reason can we tell that we believe in the Sage?
Nikko is the teacher who has made people in Hakiri, high and low,
set their mind on enlightenment. Thought I can't tell about people
in the future of two or three generations from now, I think that
everyone, high and low has not forgotten it yet.
I can't say how I am in disgrace and sorry about having got out of
Minobu Sawa(*19). But when we think deeply, wherever we are, it
seems to be the most important thing to succeed the Sage's true
teachings and establishing them in the world. Even saying so to
myself, I pondered a lot of things. The disciples all have gone
against their teacher. Nikko is the only person that is holding the
right teaching of the true teacher and will accomplish his original
intention. I think thus and don't forget the true intention. And I
am pleased that any of young men(*20) knows the correct teachings. I
think if you take pains to visit the lay priest, he would not stray
from the right path completely.
Acharya Mimbu's incorrect views are still strange to me. I heard
that when he went down to Awa, he visited the lay priest and
repetitively told that non-Buddhist writings were erroneous(*21).
But the Sage's Ankoku Ron was written using non-Buddhist writings.
The petition written in the eighth year of Bun-ei(*22) was also
written using non-Buddhist writings. What is more, the Lotus Sutra
was written by the person who knew the foreign books the best in
China and it is told to have the most excellent sentences and words
among the all collection of Buddhist scriptures. I am thinking we
must have an expert of non-Buddhist writings to establish and spread
our teachings. It seems difficult to bring peace to our country and
establish the right teachings without great scholarship on both
Buddhism and non-Buddhist knowledge. On the whole you should know
about Acharya Mimbu's idea as it is and bring it to light.
Another unusual thing. He shut himself up in a little house which is
in the residence of the Lay priest Morooka(*23) from the first day
of April of this year. He invited an painter and made him to draw a
mandara on the eighth day of the same month. He said that it was the
birthday of Buddha. Mimbu preached a sermon in the room of the Lay
priest all day. He received not only an offering but also enjoyed
sake. The Lay priest guessed his mind, he called his wife and
children and offered sake to him. He drank so much and uttered a
strange cry. All Morooka's family and retainers cast ridicule upon
him. I can't explain how vexing to hear that. Nothing is more
disgraceful to Nichiren than this. It is known to the public.
Everybody knows it. I have kept it from the Lay priest(*24) but now
that such a thing happened, it is obvious why the Acharya cannot
succeed the teachings of the great Sage. So I, Nikko, wrote this to
inform you that I would abandon the Acharya. How can I hide the
teachings of the sage because of the fear of a companion? The
Acharya will surely tell at the sermon, "You were once a child that
asked me about the meaning of a letter but now you criticize
me."(*25) In the first place if you don't abandon the teacher who
goes against the Sage Nichiren, it is rather an error of you. You
should know this is Nichiren's teaching. Above all I am thinking how
the statue(*26) is seeing over this matter. I cannot tell everything
in my mind without seeing you face to face.
Nikko
the sixteenth day of the twelfth month
Reply respectfully sent to Hara Dono
PS. I brought volume three and volume ninety-two of Nirvana Sutra
with me among my private things after I gave a lecture at Gosho
(*27). They are the sutras which the Sage used, so I sent them back.
The petition which was written when the disciples were ejected from
Shijuku-in temple is at a shelf in the north side of Mido(*28). Will
you please check and send it to me at your convenience? There is
something I want to see in the petition. I will write to you about
other things.
--------------------------------------------------------------
on The Reply To Hara dono -- by the translator [Kazuo Kawai]
This letter was written by Nikko and sent to Hara dono on the
sixteenth day of the twelfth month in the first year of Sho-ou
(1288). It was written probably just after he left Minobu. He was
forty-three years old. Not a long time had passed yet, only six
years, since his teacher's death.
We don't have much information about Hara dono. Here 'dono' is a
courtesy title used very generally those days. Hara is originally
the name of the area to the north of the district of Hakiri. So the
letter was given to someone who lived in the area. Hori Nichiko
wrote "Hara dono may be an important person of Hakiri Sanenaga's
family. He may be Nambu Yarokuro who was recorded in Deshi Buncho
(this is the document Nikko made about his disciples -- the
translator). Or he may be Kiyonaga. It was someone who left the
district of Hakiri and lived around Mimaki in Hara to the north of
Hakiri. But details are not known." (Fuji Nikko Shonin Shoden = The
detailed biography of Nikko Shonin of Fuji).
SGI's "The Lecture on Nichiren Daishonin Gosho, the extra volume"
says about Hara dono as follows. "It is said that Sanenaga had four
sons, Jiro(Sanetsugu or Kiyonaga), Yasaburo(Saneuji or Ienaga),
Saburo(Sukemitsu or Mitsutsune) and Yarokuro(Nagayoshi). Among them
the fourth son Nagayoshi was the only person that could be called a
young man('kindachi' -- the translator), as in this letter. So it is
highly possible that Nagayoshi might have been called 'Hara dono'.
But this is only a quess." We must however be more careful because
the word 'kindachi' seems to be used to direct not a young man but
young men in the letter.
The letter is difficult to read for a modern Japanese. One of the
reasons of difficulty is the style of the writing of Nikko. Long
sentences and a lot of omissions torment the translator. Another
reason is that it is a private letter. We don't have a common
background with the sender and the receiver, and we know very little
about the latter. But the letter is important for studying the
history of the Fuji group of Nichiren's sect because it tells the
reason why Nikko had to leave Minobu which was his old supporter
Hakiri's domain and where his teacher sleeps.
For the translation I used the source text contained in "The Lecture
on Nichiren Daishonin gosho, the extra volume", Seikyo
Shinbunsha,2003.
K.K
2005.11.29
footnotes:
(1) Nambu Yasaburo is assumed to be the second son of Hakiri
Sanenaga. The assumption is based on "The Lecture on Daishonin Gosho
the extra volume", Seikyo Shinbunsha, 2003. The book will be
referred to as "The Lecture" hereafter. All the footnotes below are
based on The Lecture if not otherwise specified.
(2) The person who is called "the Lay priest" here is assumed to be
Hakiri Sanenaga, the Lay priest Nichien, Nikko's old supporter.
(3) Hojo Tokiyori, Hojo Nagatoki, Hojo Tokimune
(4) "Rissho ankoku ron"
(5) The disciples of Nichiren who were in Kamakura at that time were
Nissho, Nichiro,etc. Niko (be careful!! Not Nikko) was also in
Kamakura before but he had already come to Minobu when this letter
was written. But Nikko seems to indicate Niko by "the disciple who
is in Kamakura" in this letter. Perhaps Nikko wanted to indicate
that Niko's idea was the same as that of the disciples in Kamakura.
(6) The Mishima Shrine is located in Mishima city, Shizuoka pref. In
1180, Minamoto Yoritomo, the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate,
offered a prayer for the victory against Heike. Since then the
Kamakura Shogunate and its warriors worshiped it.
(7) Echigobo Nichiben was one of Nikko's direct disciples.
(8) Acharya Mimbu Niko.
(9) Acharya Byakuren Nikko.
(10) The tower of Fukushi was a stone tower built for Amida Buddha
or Nembutsu faith located at Fukushi village in Yamanashi pref. It
doesn't exists any more.
(11) The commemorative lecture meeting for the great teacher T'ien-
t'ai was called "Taishi Ko." "Taishi" means 'a great teacher' and
indicates T'ien-t'ai here, "Ko" means a lecture or a meeting for a
lecture. "Taishi Ko" was held on the twenty-fourth day of the
eleventh month, i.e. T'ien-t'ai's deathday, every year. Nichiren
himself started this lecture.
(12) "The wish" here means Emperor's wish. The prayer which Niko
gave is the one for the peace and security of the nation. The
Lecture tells, based on Hori Nichiko's book "the historical study of
Nikko's departure from Mt.Minobu", such a prayer for the nation
wasn't been given while Nichiren was alive and Niko broke the
precedent.
(13) The Mondo Ko was a lecture in the form of Mondo i.e. questions
and answers. It seems to have been held as a part of "Taishi Ko".
(14) "The Buddha which the late Sage had and enshrined" indicates
the wooden statue of Buddha which Nichiren had received from Ito
Hachiro-zaemon when he was exiled to Ito in Izu. Nichiren had the
statue by his side through his life. He directed the disciples that
they should put it at the side of his tomb after his death. But
after Nichiren passed away Acharya Daikoku took away the statue.
(15) Here, Nikko seems to admit to build a wooden statue in the
future. Perhaps he said so in order to make Hakiri give up his idea.
(16) "the wooden statue" cannot literally mean the Honzon written on
paper. However,following the context, Nikko meant the Honzon written
by Nichiren by this words.
(17) It is because Hakiri Sanenaga, one of the biggest supporter of
Nichiren's sect, wanted a wooden statue of Buddha who attained
enlightenment for the first time in this world.
(18) The statue of Nichiren. We know from this passage that there
was a statue of Nichiren in Minobu at that time. But the details
about it are unknown. The Lecture introduces a story about it from
Nichikan's "Toke Sanne Sho(About our priest's three clothes)". It
tells that Priest Nippo wanted to make a statue of Nichiren for
people in the future. He made a four-inches-tall statue of Nichiren
as a trial. Nichiren saw it and gave him a permission with a smile.
So Nippo made a life-size statue. This story is connected with the
building of the famous DaiGoHonzon of the second year of Koan in the
document. But we don't have any reliable data to confirm the story.
(19) From these words we can guess Nikko wrote this letter after he
left Minobu. But Japanese as a language doesn't have such a rigid
sense of the tense as some of European languages do. So we can also
translate this part of the text as follows. "I can't say how I am in
disgrace and sorry about going out of Minobu Sawa." The Lecture
doesn't give any definite comment on this point. However when we
read the postscript of this letter together, we can judge that Nikko
had already left Minobu and he was writing this letter somewhere
else.
(20) The original Japanese word is 'kindachi'. And it is obvious
that in the text he was mentioning more than one young man, because
following the word, the pronoun 'izuremo' is used. The pronoun is
used in Japanese when the free selection from more than one thing or
person is possible.
(21) Nikko was well informed about non-Buddhist writings.
(22) Here the petition indicates the letter written to Hei-no-Saemon-
no-jo Yoritsuna. Nichiren quoted the Chinese historian Shi-ba-sen's
Shiki, Records of the Historian in the letter.
(23) The Lay priest Morooka was a believer who lived in the district
of Hakiri in Minobu. Hakiri is originally a place name. The details
about him is unknown.
(24) Here the Lay priest means Hakiri Sanenaga.
(25) This part of the letter is the most difficult to understand. In
the original text the subject of the sentences was omitted. This
happens very often in Japanese. So in the original text it is
ambiguous like " was once a child that asked me about the meaning of
a letter and now criticizes me." The Lecture interprets this
sentence as "Nikko was once a child that asked me about the meaning
of a letter and now he criticizes me." But I doubt this
interpretation is very persuasive. Nikko was born in 1246 and seven
years older than Niko. He became a disciple of Nichiren in 1258, six
years earlier than Niko. So, however arrogant had Niko been, he
couldn't have called Nikko a child. Therefore I interpret the
omitted subject of the sentence is Hara dono, the receiver of this
letter. So the sentence reads as follows. (If Hara dono opposed Niko
as I(Nikko) instruct, ) he would say "You(Hara) were once a child
that asked me about the meaning of a letter but now you(Hara)
criticize me". If we interpret this sentence like this, the
sentences following it are also interpreted easily.
(26) see (18)
(27) Hakiri's residence. The Lecture interprets this word as Hara
dono's house. But a scholar points out that the interpretation is
doubtful. 'Go' is the Chinese letter that means in this
usage 'belonging to someone important or respectable'. 'sho' is also
the Chinese letter meaning 'a place'. So 'Gosho' means the residence
of highly ranked people. For example, Japanese have called the
Emperor's residence 'Gosho' for a long time. Nichiren himself
referred to Hakiri's residence or Hakiri himself with this word in
some letters. And in the letter we know the Nirvana Sutra which
Nichiren used existed there. It isn't easily supposed that such
important sutras existed in an place other than Hakiri's residence
or the Kuonji temple. So the scholar says that it meant Hakiri's
residence.
(28) 'Mido' seems to mean the hall of the Kuonji temple. 'Mi' is the
same Chinese letter as 'Go' explained in (27). 'Do' is the Chinese
letter that means 'a hall'. The Lecture interprets the word as the
image hall attached to Hara dono's house. But the same scholar in
(27) points out that this interpretation is doubtful,too. The
document referred to here was the one written by Nikko under the
Nichiren's direction and submitted to the Kamakura Shogunate.
Perhaps Nikko had a copy of it with him. Thinking like this, it is
somewhat strange that such an important official document existed in
a young layman's house. Therefore 'Mido' should be interpreted as
the hall of the Kuonji temple he had just left behind. If we
interpret the word like this, we understand the reason why Nikko
could point out the place of the document so closely as we read in
this letter. We also know from this postscript how hastily Nikko
left the Kuonji Temple in Minobu.
Letter: http://tinyurl.com/afxaz
Starting Post:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/irgosho/message/11541
or
http://tinyurl.com/ba93k
26 Admonitions:
http://tinyurl.com/cu5as