There are thousands of fish eggs but few become fish. Hundreds of mango blossoms bloom but few become fruit. It is the same with human beings because most people are turned aside by evil distractions. …

Offering for The Object of Devotion
The Lotus Sutra is made up of 69,384 characters. Though in our eyes, each individual character may appear to be no more than a character in black ink; in the …

Although the twenty-four characters of Jofukyo Bodhisattva differ in wording from the five characters which I, Nichiren, spread, they are the same in meaning. We both appeared in the world under the same conditions: he …

Read the Sutra with Mind and Body
Spreading the Sutra
If I, Nichiren, had not been born in this country, the twenty-line verse of the thirteenth chapter, “The Encouragement of Keeping This Sutra,” in the fifth fascicle …

Sacrifice One’s Life
Royal Persecution
It has already been more than twenty years since I began speaking for this sutra. My troubles have been increasing day by day, month by month, and year by year. Small troubles …

Komatsubara Persecution
Faith Deepened
On November 11 of this year, 1St year of Bunei, I, Nichiren, and my entourage came across a big thoroughfare known as Komatsubara in Tojo. Around the hour of sunset, several hundred Nembutsu …

True Practitioners of Buddhism
Hardships Understood
Our Lord Sakyamuni Buddha aggressively propagated the Lotus Sutra for eight years during His lifetime; Grand Master T’ien-t’ai did it for some thirty years, and Grand Master Dengyo for more than …

Death Bed
Mt. Sacred Eagle
It is important for laymen like you to chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo wholeheartedly and make offerings to priests. If you want to follow the sutra, you should teach other people the …

A Real Practitioner of the Lotus Sutra
Rare and Precious
Exactly as the Buddha predicted, there are “three kinds of enemies of the Lotus Sutra” all over Japan. Nevertheless, we do not see any practitioners of the …

Heavenly Protection
An Age of Uncertainty
It has been over 200 years since the beginning of the declining latter age of the dharma. I have not been allowed to meet opponents in a controversial discussion; instead, I …