Gosho Reading (Nichiren Buddhism)16 Heinä 2023

165 The Proof of the Lotus Sutra

This letter was written at Minobu to Nanjō Shichirō Jirō, commonly known as Nanjō Tokimitsu, in the second month, 1282, when Nichiren Daishonin himself was seriously ill.

When he was in his teens, Tokimitsu had assumed his deceased father’s duties as steward of the Ueno district, which covered a vast area on one side of Mount Fuji. Particularly during the Atsuhara Persecution, Tokimitsu had made many sacrifices in order to defend the Daishonin’s followers who lived in his domains. For his courage, the Daishonin had honored him by naming him “Ueno the Worthy” in a letter written on the sixth day of the eleventh month, 1279, and entitled The Dragon Gate.

On first hearing of Tokimitsu’s grave illness, the Daishonin had apparently asked a disciple to write a letter of encouragement on his behalf since he himself was too ill to write. Deeply concerned, however, about the youthful believer, he forced himself to take up his writing brush and sent this letter through Nikkō to help Tokimitsu overcome his illness.

The Daishonin declares that Tokimitsu is a person who, according to the Lotus Sutra, has made offerings to a hundred thousand million Buddhas in his past existences. He then strictly warns the demons causing Tokimitsu’s illness that, if they do not cure him, they will suffer in the great Avīchi hell.

The letter is traditionally called The Proof of the Lotus Sutra because it points out that all the Buddhas gave credence to the truth of the Lotus Sutra. However, it is also known as Prayer for a Return to Life from Fatal Illness because Tokimitsu was then battling a serious illness.

https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/165

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(61)

093 The Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra

This work is an autobiographical account covering the events of an important period in Nichiren Daishonin’s life—from the time shortly before the Tatsunokuchi Persecution through his two-and-a-half-ye...

20 Syys 1h 14min

059 The Royal Palace

This letter was written in reply to a report from Shijō Kingo that fires had broken out at both Gokuraku-ji temple and the palace of the shogun, the military ruler. Gokuraku-ji, a temple of the True W...

20 Elo 9min

140 The Dragon Gate

This letter was written at Minobu in the eleventh month of the second year of Kōan (1279) to young Nanjō Tokimitsu, the steward of Ueno Village in Suruga Province. Tokimitsu embraced the Daishonin’s t...

10 Heinä 6min

021 The Origin of the Service for Deceased Ancestors

This letter was written to Shijō Kingo, a samurai and one of Nichiren Daishonin’s most loyal followers, in the seventh month of the eighth year of Bun’ei (1271). Shijō Kingo had sent various offerings...

10 Kesä 11min

139 The Strategy of the Lotus Sutra

In the tenth month of the second year of Kōan (1279), this letter was written in reply to a letter to Nichiren Daishonin from Shijō Kingo, informing him that Kingo had been ambushed by enemies among h...

30 Kesä 20254min

130 The One-eyed Turtle and the Floating Log

This letter was written at Minobu to the wife of the late lay priest Matsuno Rokurō Saemon who lived at Matsuno in Ihara District of Suruga Province. Their daughter had married Nanjō Hyōe Shichirō, an...

16 Kesä 202516min

032 Letter from Sado

This letter was written on the twentieth day of the third month, 1272, some five months after Nichiren Daishonin had arrived on the island of Sado to begin his exile there. He addressed it to Toki Jōn...

24 Touko 202530min

006 The Four Debts of Gratitude

Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter while he was in exile in Itō on the Izu Peninsula. It was addressed to Kudō Sakon-no-jō Yoshitaka, known also as Kudō Yoshitaka, the lord of Amatsu in Awa Province...

2 Touko 202529min