Gosho: The Treatment of Illness

The Treatment of Illness and the Points of Difference between Mahayana and Hinayana and Provisional and True Teachings

I have received the summer robe you sent me through the offices of Shijo Kingo. Please inform all those who sent me various offerings that I have received everything he listed. I also wish to acknowledge receipt of the various offerings from Ota Nyudo¹ shown on the list you made. The teachings I will be discussing in this letter have already been explained in part in one of my letters to Shijo Kingo.² I hope you will ask him to show it to you.

Your letter says that the epidemics are raging all the more fiercely. The illnesses of human beings may be divided into two general categories, the first of which is illness of the body. Physical diseases comprise one hundred and one disorders of the earth element, one hundred and one imbalances of the water element, one hundred and one disturbances of the fire element and one hundred and one disharmonies of the wind element,³ a total of four hundred and four maladies. These illnesses do not require a Buddha to cure them. Skilled physicians such as Jisui, Rusui,⁴ Jivaka⁵ and Pien Ch’ueh⁶ prescribed medicines which never failed to heal physical sickness.

The second category is illness of the mind. These illnesses arise from the three poisons of greed, anger and stupidity and are of eighty-four thousand kinds.⁷ They are beyond the healing power of the two Brahman deities, the three ascetics,⁹ or the six non-Buddhist teachers.¹⁰ Medicines prescribed by Shen Nung and Huang Ti¹¹ are even less effective.

Illnesses of the mind differ greatly in severity. The three poisons and their eighty-four thousand variations that afflict common mortals of the six paths can be treated by the Buddha of Hinayana and his teachings in the Agon sutras, or by the scholars and teachers of the Kusha, Jojitsu,¹² and Ritsu sects. However, if these Hinayana believers, in following their teachings, should turn against the Mahayana, [the people will suffer from various diseases.] Or, even though they may not oppose Mahayana Buddhism, if the Hinayana countries think themselves equal to the Mahayana countries, their people will be plagued by sickness. If one attempts to cure such illnesses with Hinayana Buddhism, they will only become worse. They can be treated only by the votaries of the Mahayana sutras. [Even within the Mahayana,] if many followers of the Kegon, Jimmitsu,¹³ Hannya, Dainichi and other provisional Mahayana sutras, confusing the inferior with the superior, insist that the teachings of their sects are equal to or even surpass the Lotus Sutra, and if the ruler and others in high positions come to accept their assertion, then the three poisons and eighty-four thousand illnesses will all arise. Then, if those followers should try to cure these illnesses with the provisional Mahayana sutras on which they rely, the sicknesses will become all the more serious. Even if they try to use the Lotus Sutra, their efforts will fail because, although the sutra itself is supreme, the practitioners are persons who hold distorted views.

Further, the Lotus Sutra itself is divided into two categories, the theoretical teaching and the essential teaching. One is as different from the other as fire is from water or heaven from earth. The difference is even greater than that between the Lotus Sutra and the sutras that preceded it. These sutras and the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra are certainly different, but still they have some points of similarity. Among the eight teachings expounded by the Buddha, the engyo or perfect teaching of the earlier sutras and that of the theoretical teaching are similar to each other.¹⁴ When the Buddha expounded the pre-Lotus Sutra and the theoretical teachings, he assumed different guises such as the inferior manifested body,¹⁵ the superior manifested body, the bliss body and the Dharma body, yet¹⁶ he invariably depicted himself as having attained enlightenment for the first time in this world.

The difference between the theoretical and the essential teachings, however, is exceedingly great. Whereas in the former the Buddha is described as having first attained enlightenment during his lifetime, in the latter he is the Buddha who attained enlightenment in the remote past. The difference is like that between a one-hundred-year-old man and a one-year-old baby. The disciples of these two teachings are also as different as fire is from water, to say nothing of the difference between their lands.¹⁷ One who confuses the essential teaching with the theoretical teaching would not have the sense to distinguish fire from water. The Buddha drew a distinct line between the two in his preaching, but during the more than two thousand years since his death, no one in the three countries of India, China and Japan--or for that matter, in the entire world--has clearly understood the difference. Only T’ien-t’ai in China and Dengyo in Japan generally differentiated between the two. And the precept of the perfect and immediate enlightenment, in which the essential teaching is distinguished from the theoretical, still remained to be clarified. In the final analysis, T’ien-t’ai and Dengyo perceived it in their hearts but did not reveal it for three reasons: first, the proper time had not yet come; second, the people had no capacity to accept it; and third, neither had been entrusted with the mission of expounding it. It is today, in the Latter Day of the Law, that the Bodhisattvas of the Earth will appear and propagate it.

The Latter Day of the Law is the proper time for the spread of the essential teaching, so the followers of the Hinayana, provisional Mahayana and the theoretical teachings will receive no benefit from their teachings, even though they are not guilty of any fault. These teachings can be likened to medicines compounded for use in springtime, which are ineffective if taken in the fall, or at least not as effective as they are in spring or summer. What is worse, these people are deluded as to the relative superiority of Hinayana and Mahayana or of the provisional and the true teachings. But the rulers of Japan in ancient times believed in the sutras they espoused, and erected temples and donated fields and farmland to their sects. Were these people to admit the truth of my assertion that their teachings are inferior, they would have no way to justify themselves and would in consequence lose the support of the ruler. For this reason, they become enraged, slandering the sutra of the true teaching and doing harm to its votary. The ruler, too, accepting the groundless accusations of these followers, persecutes the votary, because he wishes to side with the majority, because he cannot bear to abandon the teachings honored by the rulers of ancient times, because he is simply stupid and ignorant, or because he despises the votary of the true teaching. As a result, the gods who guard the true teaching, such as Bonten, Taishaku, the gods of the sun and moon or the Four Heavenly Kings, punish the country, and the three calamities and seven disasters occur on an unprecedented scale. Hence the epidemics which have broken out this year as well as last year and in the Shoka era.¹⁹

Question: If, as you have stated, the gods inflict punishment on this country because it does harm to the votary of the Lotus Sutra, then epidemics should attack only the slanderers. Why is it that your own disciples also fall ill and die?

Answer: Your question sounds reasonable. But you are aware of only one side of the situation and not the other. Good and evil have been inherent in life since time without beginning. According to the provisional teachings and the sects based on them, both good and evil remain in one’s life through all the stages of the bodhisattva practice up to the stage of togaku.²⁰ Hence the people at the stage of togaku or below have faults of some kind, [but not those at the highest stage]. In contrast, the heart of the Hokke sect²¹ is the principle of ichinen sanzen, which reveals that both good and evil are inherent even in those at the highest stage, that of myogaku or enlightenment. The fundamental nature of enlightenment manifests itself as Bonten and Taishaku, whereas the fundamental darkness manifests itself as the Devil of the Sixth Heaven. The gods hate evildoers, and demons hate good people. Because we have entered the Latter Day of the Law, it is natural that demons should be everywhere in the country, just like tiles, stones, trees and grasses. Benevolent spirits are few because sages and worthies are rare in this world. One would therefore expect to find more victims of the epidemic among Nichiren’s followers than among the believers of Nembutsu, teachers of Shingon or priests of the Zen and Ritsu sects. For some reason, however, there is less affliction and death among Nichiren’s followers. It is indeed mysterious. Is this because we are few in number, or because our faith is strong?

Question: Has there ever in the past been such a terrible outbreak of epidemics in Japan?

Answer: During the reign of Emperor Sujin, the tenth ruler after Emperor Jimmu, epidemics swept throughout Japan, claiming the lives of more than half the populace. But when Emperor Sujin had the people in each province worship the Sun Goddess and other deities, the epidemics ceased completely. Hence the name Sujin, which literally means "worshipping the gods." That was before Buddhism had been introduced to the country. The thirtieth, thirty-first and thirty-second rulers in the imperial line, along with many of their ministers, died of smallpox and other epidemic diseases. Prayers were once more offered to the same deities, but this time it was to no avail.

During the reign of the thirtieth ruler, Emperor Kimmei, Buddhist sutras, treatises and priests were sent from the state of Paekche on the Korean Peninsula to Japan, as well as a gilded bronze statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. Soga no Sukune²² urged that the statue be worshipped. But Mononobe no Omuraji²³ and other ministers, along with the common people, joined in opposing the worship of the Buddha, saying that if honor were paid to him, it would enrage the native deities who then would bring ruin upon Japan. The emperor was still trying to decide which opinion to follow when the three calamities and seven disasters struck the nation on a scale never known before, and great numbers of the populace died of disease.

Mononobe no Omuraji seized this opportunity to appeal to the emperor, and as a result, not only were the Buddhist priests and nuns subjected to shame, but the gilded bronze statue of the Buddha was placed over charcoal and destroyed, and the Buddhist temple was likewise burned. At that time, Mononobe no Omuraji contracted a disease and died, and the emperor also passed away. Soga no Sukune, who worshipped the Buddha’s statue, also fell ill.

Omuraji’s son, the minister Mononobe no Moriya, declared that three successive emperors as well as his own father had died in the epidemic solely because homage had been paid to the Buddha. "Let it be known," he declared, "that Prince Shotoku,²⁴ Soga no Umako,²⁵ and the others who revere the Buddha are all enemies of my father and of the deceased emperors!" Hearing this, the Imperial Princes Anabe and Yakabe,²⁶ along with their ministers and thousands of retainers, all joined forces with Moriya. Not only did they burn images of the Buddha and their temples, but a battle broke out, and Moriya was killed in the fighting. For a period of thirty-five years after Buddhism had first been brought to this country, not a year passed without seeing the three calamities and seven disasters, including epidemics. But after Mononobe no Moriya was killed by Soga no Umako and the gods were overpowered by the Buddha, the disasters abruptly ceased.

Outbreaks of the three calamities and seven disasters that occurred thereafter were for the most part due to confusion within Buddhism itself. But these would affect only one or two persons or one or two provinces, one or two clans or one or two areas. Such disasters occurred because of the anger of the gods, because Buddhism was slandered, or because of the people’s distress.

The three calamities and seven disasters of these past thirty years or more, however, are due solely to the fact that the entire country of Japan hates me, Nichiren. In province after province, district after district, and village after village, everyone from the ruler on down to the common people seethes in such anger against me as the world has never seen. This is the first time that the fundamental darkness has erupted in the lives of common mortals caught in the illusions of thought and desire.²⁷ Even if they pray to the gods, the Buddha or the Lotus Sutra, these calamities will only be aggravated. But it is different when the votary of the Lotus Sutra offers prayers to the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra. In the final analysis, unless we demonstrate that this teaching is supreme, these disasters will continue unabated.

The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai in his Maka Shikan described the ten objects of meditation²⁸ and the ten meditations, but no one after him practiced them.²⁹ In the days of Miao-lo and Dengyo some people practiced them to a certain extent but encountered few difficulties because there were no powerful opponents. The three obstacles and four devils described in the Maka Shikan will not arise to obstruct those who practice the provisional sutras. But now each and every one has risen to confront me. They are even more powerful than the three obstacles and four devils that T’ien-t’ai, Dengyo and others had to face.

There are two ways of perceiving ichinen sanzen. One is theoretical and the other, actual. The ichinen sanzen of T’ien-t’ai and Dengyo was theoretical, but that which I practice now is actual. Because the way that I practice is superior, the difficulties attending it are that much greater. The practice of T’ien-t’ai and Dengyo was the ichinen sanzen of the theoretical teaching while mine is that of the essential teaching.³⁰ These two are as different as heaven is from earth. You should bear this in mind when the time comes to face death.

With my deep respect,
Nichiren

The twenty-sixth day of the sixth month

Footnotes:

Ota Nyado (1222-1283): Ota Jomyo. A follower of Nichiren Daishonin and an official employed by the Office of Legal Affairs of the Kamakura government. He lived in Shimosa, and was converted to the Daishonin's teachings around 1260 by Toki Jonin. Nyudo means one who is tonsured as a priest but continues to live as a layman.
One of many letters to Shijo Kingo: "The Two Kinds of Illness," dated June 26, 1278.
Earth, water, fire and wind were regarded as the constituent elements of all things, according to ancient Indian belief. In the case of the human body, earth corresponds to flesh, bone, skin and hair; water, to blood and sweat; fire, to body temperature; and wind, to the function of breathing. "One hundred and one" in each case here does not necessarily indicate an exact number but simply a great many.
Jisui and Rusui: (Sanskrit unknown) A father and son, both excellent physicians, mentioned in the Konkomyo Sutra. According to that sutra, they lived countless aeons ago. At one time, an empidemic broke out and spread throughout their country. Jisui was too old to perform medical treatment, but Rusui masterred the medical arts and, in his father's place, saved the people.
Jivaka: An Indian Physician and a devout buddhist. He treated King Bimbisara and Shakyamuni himself, and thus won renown. Jivaka served as a minister to King AAjatashatru, and when the king broke out in virulent sores, he succeeded in pursuading him to reflect on his evil conduct and to seek the Buddha's Teaching.
Pien Ch'ueh: A physician of the Spring and Autumn period (722-
481 B.C.) in China. In his boyhood he learned the medical arts and is
said to have been skilled in treating almost all kinds of diseases.
Eighty-four thousand kinds: Here, not an exact number but a great many.
Two Brahman deities: Shiva and Vishnu.
Three ascetics: Kapila, Uluka (Kanada) and Rishabha. Kapila was a legendary figure said to be the.founder of the Samkhya school, one of the six major schools of Brahmanism in ancient India. Uluka was the founder of the Vaisheshika school, another of the six schools. Rishabha 's teachings are said to have prepared the way for Jainism.
Six non-Buddhist teachers: influential thinkers in India during ShakyaMuni's lifetime who openly broke with the old Vedic tradition and challenged Brahman authority in the Indian social order. They are: Purana Kassapa, Makkhali Gosala, Sanjaya Belatthiputta, Ajita Kesakambala, Pakudha Kacchayana and Nigantha Nataputta.
Shen Nung and Huang Ti: Two of the Three Rulers, legendary ideal rulers of ancient China. They were also said to have been skilled in medical matters and were revered as patron deities and the inventors of certain medicines, according to the Shih Chi (Records of the Historian).
Kusha and Jojitsu sects: Two of the six sects of Nara. The Kusha sect is based upon Vasubandhu's Kusha Ron; and the Jojitsu sect is based upon Harivarman's treatise, Jojitsu Ron is said to be the pinnacle of Hinayana philosophical achievement.
Jimmitsu Sutra: Also called Gejimmitsu Sutra. The basic text of the Hosso sect, which deals with such topics as the characteristics of the dharmas, alaya-consciousness and so forth.
The perfect teaching of the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings and the perfect teaching of the theoretical teaching both explain the concept of attaining Buddhahood in one's present form as a common mortal. However, the former amounts to a mere statement with no example of it ever having occurred, or else draws various distinctions and exceptions. The latter teaches that all people can without exception attain enlightenment, using examples.
Inferior manifested body and the superior manifested body: Two different aspects manifested by the Buddha who displays the property of action. The Buddha in the superior property-of-action aspect manifests himself for the sake of bodhisattvas at or above the first stage of Development, the forty-first of the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice. The Buddha in the inferior propertyof-action aspect manifests himself for the sake of common mortals, men of the two vehicles and bodhisattvas below the first stage of development.
Bliss body and the Dharma body: Two of the three bodies of the Buddha. The bliss body means the Buddha who embodies the enlightened property of wisdom. The Dharma body means the Buddha as ultimate truth. See also Three properties in Glossary.
In the theoretical teaching which the Buddha expounded in his transient capacity, concealing his original enlightenment in gohyaku- jintengo, the Buddha and is held to be in a realm apart from the saka world, and the Buddha is said to have appeared in the saka world only temporarily in order to expound the Law and save the people. In contrast, the Juryo (16th) chapter of the essential teaching clarifies that the saha world is itself the land in which the Buddha has always dwelt since his original enlightenment.
The term "essential teaching" has two meanings: the essential teaching of Shakyamuni's lifetime, or the latter fourteen chapters of the Lotus Sutra as contrasted with the theoretical teaching, or first fourteen chapters; and the essential teaching of the Latter Day of the Law, 0, Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. When the "essential teaching" is defined in this latter sense, the entire twenty-eight chapter Lotus Sutra is regarded as the theoretical teaching. Both here and in the following parapgraph, the Daishonin uses the term "essential teaching" to indicate Nam-myoho-renge-kyo of the Tgree Great Secret Laws. As explained in "The Selection of the Time" Dengyo established the precepts of the perfect and immediate enlightenment; based on Shakyamuni's Lotus Sutra. In speaking of the precept which "still remained to be clarified," the Daishonin indicates the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Le., in 1259.
Togaku: The fifty-first of the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice.
Hokke sect: See p. io3, n. 92.
Soga no Sukune (d. 570): Soga no Iname. See p. 2.31, n. 7.
Mononobe no Omuraji: Dates unknown. Mononobe no Okoshi, an official of the Yamato court period (300-71o). He criticized his rival at court, Otomo no Kanamura, also a member of a prominent family, for his handling of Korean affairs and overthrew the entire Otomo family. Later, he opposed Soga no Iname, another important minister of the court, who converted his home into a temple and paid homage to the Buddha image and other sacred articles.
Shotoku: See 102, n. 83.
Soga no Umako: See P. 232, n. 12.
Anabe (d. 587) and Yakabe (d. 587): Anabe, also called Anahobe, was a son of Emperor Kimmei, and his mother was the daughter of Soga no Iname. According to the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan) and other sources, he could not ascend the throne upon the death of Emperor Bidatsu, and made another attenipt to seize power at the death of Emperor Yomei, conspiring with Mononobe no Moriya. However, he is said to been killed by Soga no Umako, who supported another crown prince, Hatsusebe (Emperor Sushun). Yakabe, one of Prince Anahobe's closest friends, was also killed along with Anahobe.
Illusions of thought and desire: See p. 164, n. 261.
Ten objects of meditation: Part of T'ien-t'ai's meditational system for perceiving ichinen sanzen. They are: (1) the phenomenal world which exists by virtue of the five components, the relationship between the six sense organs and their six objects, and the six consciousnesses arising from this relationship, (2) earthly desires, (3) sickness, (4) karmic effect, (5) diabolical functions, (6) [attachment to a certain level of meditation, (7) distorted views, (8) arrogance, (9) [attachment to] the two vehicles and (10) [attachment to] the state of Bodhisattva. Through meditation on these ten objects, one realizes the limitations of the nine worlds.
Ten meditations: A way to observe the truth of life, or ichinen sanzen. They are: (1) meditation on the region of the unfathomable, which means the truth of ichinen sanzen. This meditation is interpreted as the threefold contem plation in a single mind, and underlies the other nine. The other nine are medi tations (2) to arouse compassion; (3) to enjoy security in the realm of truth; (4) to eliminate attachments; (5) to discern what leads to the realization of the true entity of life and what prevents it; (6) to make proper use of the thirty- seven conditions leading to enlightenment; (7) to remove obstacles to enlightenment while practicing the six paramitas; (8) to recognize the stage of one's progress; (9) to stabilize one's mind; and (10) to remove the last barrier to enlightenment.
Ichinen sanzen revealed in the Hoben (2nd) chapter of the theoretical teaching. It is called theoretical because it explains Buddhahood as a potential inherent in common mortals of the nine worlds, while the ichinen sanzen of the Juryo (16th) chapter of the essential teaching is called actual because it presents Buddhahood as a reality manifested in Shakyamuni's life. However, even ichinen sanzen of the Juryo chapter is explained only from. the standpoint of effect, that is, as something the Buddha attained in the remote past. Thus it is still incomplete. The Law or cause which enabled Shakyamuni to attain this enlightenment is the ultimate truth without beginning or end. Nichiren Daishonin defined it as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo of the Three Great Secret Laws. When contrasted with this Mystic Law, ichinen sanzen of both the theoretical and essential teaching, is regarded as theoretical ichinen sanzen. When Nichiren Daishonin says that his is ichinen sanzen of the essential teaching, he uses the term "essential teaching,, in the second sense mentioned in n. 18 , that is, as the essential teaching of the the Latter Day.

Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 3.

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