Gosho Reading (Nichiren Buddhism)12 Jan 2024

024 Lessening One's Karmic Retribution

Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter on the fifth day of the tenth month, 1271, only three weeks after he was nearly executed at Tatsunokuchi. It was sent to three of his leading disciples: Ōta Saemon, a government official, the lay priest Soya Kyōshin, and the Dharma Bridge Kanabara. One of them may have visited the Daishonin while he was being held in detention for exile at the residence of Homma, deputy constable of Sado Island, in Echi. Records indicate that the three disciples lived in Shimōsa Province, to the northeast of Kamakura; this letter may well have been an expression of gratitude for the visit and for their concern for the Daishonin’s safety.

Following the failure to behead the Daishonin, the government had difficulty deciding what to do with him, so he was temporarily detained at Homma’s residence. Just at that time, a wave of arson and murder swept Kamakura, and the Daishonin’s followers were blamed. The government then directed that the exile that had been ordered earlier be carried out.

The community of believers in Kamakura was deeply upset by this series of events, and the Daishonin sent a succession of letters to reassure them. In this letter, the Daishonin says that hardships allow one to purge oneself of accumulated evil karma in order to bring forth the state of Buddhahood.

https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/24

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(58)

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 Jun 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 Jun 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 Jun 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 Mai 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 Mai 202529min

072 The Problem to Be Pondered Night and Day

This letter was written to Toki Jōnin, a learned and dedicated disciple who lived in Shimōsa Province. In it Nichiren Daishonin stresses the extreme seriousness of the offense of slander and also the ...

26 Apr 202512min

096 The Workings of Brahmā and Shakra

This letter, written at Minobu in 1277, is entitled The Workings of Brahmā and Shakra, because it contains the passage, “The time will certainly come when, by the workings of Brahmā, Shakra, and other...

4 Apr 202515min

158 General Stone Tiger

This letter was written at Minobu in 1278 to Shijō Nakatsukasa Saburō Saemon, commonly called Shijō Kingo. Kingo was accomplished in both the practice of medicine and the martial arts. For nearly the ...

16 Feb 20256min