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Record
of the Orally Transmitted
Teachings of Nichiren Daishonin
- Ongi Kuden -
Chapter 20: Bodhisattva Never Disparaging [Jofukyo Bosatsu]
The sutra states, "This monk [Fukyo] whatever persons he happened to meet, whether monks, nuns, laymen, or laywomen, would bow in obeisance to all of them and speak words of praise saying 'I have profound reverence for you, I would never dare treat you with disparagement or arrogance. Why? Because you are all practicing the bodhisattva way and are certain to attain Buddhahood. When this monk was on the point of death, he heard up in the sky fully twenty thousand verses of the Lotus Sutra…and he was able to accept and uphold them." (LS p. 267, 3LS p. 290)
These twenty-four characters [spoken by Fukyo] and the five characters of the Mystic Law may differ, but their heart is the same. These twenty-four characters represent the Lotus Sutra in miniature. (Gosho Zenshu p. 764)
'Obeisance' means to take faith, free from doubt. 'Bowed to' means to defer to the Gohonzon. 'Accepted' means to entrust one's mind to the Gohonzon, and 'upheld' means to entrust one's body to the sutra. Now votaries [of the sutra] like Nichiren and his disciples who chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo are Bodhisattva Fukyo of the Latter Day of the Law. (Gosho Zenshu p. 765)
[Regarding such arrogant persons in the Latter Day of the Law.] They will fall into the hell of incessant suffering for a long time, and later they will meet Nichiren again and will be saved. (Gosho Zenshu p. 766)
[Regarding the relationship between the four groups of arrogant persons and Bodhisattva Fukyo] To set up distinctions between good and evil by regarding Bodhisattva Fukyo as a 'good' person and the arrogant ones as 'bad' persons is a sign of ignorance. But when one recognizes this and performs a bow of obeisance, then one is bowing in obeisance to Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the principle of the oneness of good and evil, and of true and false. (Gosho Zenshu p. 768)
The word 'I' [of since I attained Buddhahood] here refers to the Buddha when he was carrying out the true cause of his original enlightenment. This passage, concerning how the Buddha 'originally practiced the bodhisattva way,' indicates practices such as those of Bodhisattva Fukyo. (Gosho Zenshu p. 768)
There is a fundamental oneness of self and others. Therefore, when Bodhisattva Fukyo bowed in reverence to the four categories of people, the Buddha nature in them bowed back to him. This is the same as when one bows while facing a mirror, the reflected image bows back. The five characters of Myoho Renge Kyo mirror all things without a single exception. (Gosho Zenshu p. 769)
The sutra states, "When the people [four kinds of believers] heard this [prediction of enlightenment] they gibed [at Bodhisattva Fukyo], cursed and reviled him." (LS p. 269, 3LS p. 293)
The four kinds of arrogant persons abused and hated Bodhisattva Fukyo and denounced his predictions of their enlightenment as false. Yet, Fukyo did not harbor the least hatred because he established the practice of veneration on the basis of forbearance. (Gosho Zenshu p. 770)
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