The Tatsunokuchi Persecution and Hosshaku Kempon—Discarding the Provisional Identity and
Revealing the True Identity
2006 July Okyobi Sermon
Read by Rev. Shogu Kimura

1. Introduction

This month, I will talk about the Tatsunokuchi Persecution and hosshaku kempon - Discarding the Provisional Identity and Revealing the True Identity. The Tatsunokuchi Persecution occurred on the twelfth day in the ninth month of the eighth year of Bun’ei (1271). It was one of the most significant events of Nichiren Daishonin’s life. The Daishonin discarded his provisional identity as Bodhisattva Jogyo and revealed his true identity as the True Buddha of Intrinsically Perfect Wisdom of the Infinite Past of kuon-ganjo during this persecution. The term, hosshaku kempon here means to unveil the provisional identity of the common mortal and to reveal the true identity of the Buddha.

2. The events leading to the persecution

Nichiren Daishonin wrote the Rissho ankoku-ron, “The Treatise on Securing the Peace of the Land through the Propagation of True Buddhism” in the first year of Bunno (1260). The Daishonin admonished the most influential man in Japan, the Regent Hojo Tokiyori, and the Shogunate. He stated that if they refused to refute the heretical Buddhist sects and failed to follow the Buddha’s golden words, then two of the seven disasters mentioned in the sutras would definitely occur. The Daishonin said that the two disasters that were yet to appear were the “calamity of revolt within one’s own domain” and the “calamity of invasion from foreign lands.” They are described in a passage from the Sutra of Medicine Master (Yakushi-kyo) and the Sutra of the Benevolent King (Ninno-kyo).

Eight years after Nichiren Daishonin submitted the Rissho ankoku-ron, just as he had warned, a messenger from the Mongol Empire arrived in Japan in the first month of the fifth year of Bun’ei (1268) carrying a letter from the Emperor. The letter demanded that Japan agree to be a vassal state of the Mongol Empire, and carried an implied threat that if Japan refused to comply, the Mongols would invade. The “calamity of invasion from foreign lands,” which was predicted in the Rissho ankoku-ron, came to pass.      

Hearing about this turn of events, Nichiren Daishonin sent letters to the Shogunate and to eleven representatives of the major Buddhist sects on the eleventh day of the tenth month in the same year. The Daishonin proposed a public debate in order to determine right and wrong between his teachings and the doctrines of the other Buddhist sects. He admonished them to discard their erroneous doctrines and to uphold the correct Law.

However, the high-ranking officials of the Shogunate and the priests of the various sects not only ignored the Daishonin’s warnings; they began to plot in order to persecute Nichiren Daishonin.

3 The Daishonin challenges Ryokan in a prayer for rain

In the eighth year of Bun’ei (1271), there was a long drought throughout the nation. The Shogunate turned to Gokurakuji Ryokan of the Ritsu sect, who was the most eminent and widely respected priest at the time. He was even viewed by some as a living Buddha. The government ordered him to pray for rain. Hearing about this, the Daishonin decided that he would  teach the right and wrong of Buddhist Law to all the people through a challenge in a prayer for rain. The Daishonin dispatched the following message to Ryokan:

If rain falls during the next seven days, I, Nichiren, will stop teaching that Nembutsu leads to the Hell of Incessant Suffering and will become the disciple of the priest Ryokan. However, if no rain comes during these seven days, you should discard the Nembutsu teachings and uphold the Lotus Sutra.

(Summary; Gosho, p. 1131)

Together with several hundred disciples, Ryokan began his prayers in earnest. After seven days, however, no rain had fallen. They prayed for another seven days, but not a single drop of rain fell. Instead, the drought became even worse than before. Ryokan was completely defeated in this challenge in a prayer for rain.

4. The Attack at the Matsubagayatsu hermitage

Completely defeated, Ryokan not only broke his promise to uphold the correct Law. He joined together with a group of other priests and plotted against the Daishonin. They filed a petition of complaint with the government administrative tribunal, accusing the Daishonin of wrongful abuse. They repeatedly lied about the Daishonin’s supposed abuses and slanders. Because of this, Hei-no Saemon-nojo Yoritsuna, the Deputy Chief of the Office of Military and Police Affairs of the Kamakura government, summoned Nichiren Daishonin to appear in court for an investigation on the tenth day of the ninth month in the eighth year of Bun’ei (1271).

The Daishonin, however, strictly admonished Hei-no Saemon-nojo:

If you wish to maintain this land in peace and security, it is imperative that you summon the priests of the other sects for a debate in your presence. If you ignore this advice and punish me unreasonably, the entire country will regret your decision.

(Gosho, p. 1057; MW-1, p. 177)

           Two days later, the Daishonin admonished Hei-no-Saemon-nojo again in the form of a letter (“Issakujitsu Gosho”) sent on the twelfth day in the seventh month. Hei-no Saemon, an extremely powerful man at the time, felt animosity toward the Daishonin, who had strongly and fearlessly admonished him.

On the evening of that day, Hei-no Saemon-nojo and several hundred warriors attacked the Daishonin at his Matsubagayatsu hermitage. They acted as if they were arresting a dangerous criminal under suspicion of trying to overthrow the nation. The warriors who stormed into the hermitage behaved violently; they unrolled the sutra scrolls, wrapped them around their bodies, and trampled on them.

Sho’u-bo, Hei-no-Saemon's chief retainer, rushed up, snatched the fifth scroll of the Lotus Sutra from inside the Daishonin’s robe, and struck him on the face with it three times. The Fortitude (Kanji; thirteenth) chapter in the fifth scroll (volume) of the Lotus Sutra states that if a person propagates the Lotus Sutra in the Latter Day of the Law, “They will attack us with swords and staves” (Gosho, p. 481; MW-1, p. 18).

Indeed, the persecution of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra that was predicted in the Fortitude chapter became a reality. Nichiren Daishonin, however, was pleased that he was putting the teaching of the Lotus Sutra into practice. Seeing the outrageous behavior by Hei-no Saemon, the Daishonin shouted:

See how insanely Hei-no-Saemon is acting! You all have just toppled the pillar of Japan!

(Gosho, p. 1058; MW-1, p. 178)

This was the Daishonin’s second remonstration against the Shogunate. In effect, it was a continuation of his first remonstration when he submitted the Rissho ankoku-ron.

5. The Tatsunokuchi Persecution

            Nichiren Daishonin was unreasonably arrested in spite of his innocence. He was treated like a criminal, as he was taken from the Matsubagayatsu hermitage to a court in Kamakura. Hei-no Saemon sentenced the Daishonin to exile to Sado. It was decided that the Daishonin would be held in custody at the residence of Lord Honma Rokuro Zaemon Shigetsura at Echi (Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture) for the time being. This sentence, however, was only an ostensible decision. The government secretly decided to execute the Daishonin at Tatsunokuchi on the way to Echi. When the Daishonin and the group of soldiers who were escorting him passed by the front gate of the Hachiman Shrine, the Daishonin alighted from his horse and reprimanded the Great Bodhisattva Hachiman:

      Where is your vow to the Buddha to protect the votary of the Lotus Sutra? Are you truly a god? Nichiren is now on the way to the execution site. Hurry up and carry out your mission vowed at Eagle Peak!

(Gosho, p. 1059)

As they passed through Yuiga-hama beach, the Daishonin dispatched Kumaoh-maru to inform Shijo Kingo, who lived nearby, of what was happening. Kingo immediately came to the Daishonin and accompanied him to Tatsunokuchi. He vowed that if the Daishonin were beheaded, he would take his own life. Arriving at the Tatsunokuchi execution site, Shijo Kingo burst into tears. However, the Daishonin instructed Kingo in a rather surprising manner stating:

How superficial is your understanding! You should laugh at such an enjoyable event as this. Why do you break the promise you made to me in the past?

(Gosho, p. 1060)

The Daishonin calmly seated himself at the execution site. Then at the very moment that the executioner drew his sword from its scabbard and positioned himself behind the Daishonin, a shinning object as large as the moon suddenly darted across the sky from the direction of Enoshima Island, from the southeast to the northeast. The executioner was dazed by the dazzling light and fell to the ground. The warriors who were surrounding the Daishonin ran terrified and some laid face down on the ground. As a consequence, they were unable to behead the Daishonin.

6. The Significance of the Tatsunokuchi Persecution and hosshaku kempon—Discarding the Provisional Identity and Revealing the True Identity

The Tatsunokuchi Persecution that befell Nichiren Daishonin signified hosshaku kempon—Discarding the Provisional Identity and Revealing the True Identity. During this persecution, the Daishonin discarded his provisional identity as the reincarnation of Bodhisattva Jogyo and revealed his true identity as the True Buddha of Intrinsically Perfect Wisdom of the Infinite Past of kuon-ganjo.

Nichiren Daishonin stated in the “Opening of the Eyes,” which he wrote in Sado:

On the twelfth day of the ninth month of last year, between the hours of the Rat and the Ox (11:00 P.M. to 3:00 A.M.), this person named Nichiren was beheaded. It is his soul that has come to this island of Sado.

(Gosho, p. 563; MW-2, p. 177)

Regarding the passage, “beheaded during the Hours of the Rat and the Ox,” Twenty-sixth High Priest Nichikan Shonin indicated that the “the Hour of the Rat” was the time the Daishonin was taken from Kamakura, and that the “the Hour of the Ox” was the time he was seated at the execution grounds at Tatsunokuchi.

These are the persecutions described in the Fortitude (Kanji; thirteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra as, “they will attack us with swords and staves” (Hokekyo, p. 375). The statement, “It is his soul that has come to this island of Sado” corresponds to the passage in the Fortitude chapter, “again and again we will be banished” (ibid. p. 378).

Therefore, the Daishonin is the votary of the Lotus Sutra, described in the passage that states, “I care not about my own life. I only cherish the supreme way” (ibid. p. 377).

           The above interpretation, however, is based on the surface meaning of the words. Nichikan Shonin concluded that the true intent of this passage from the Gosho is to reveal the true identity of the Daishonin. He is the True Buddha of the Infinite Past of kuon-ganjo, unveiling his twofold provisional identity as a common mortal at the stage of first hearing the name of the Law (myoji). Nichikan Shonin states that this passage is explicit proof of the Daishonin’s revelation of his true identity. “His soul” in the above passage from the “Opening of the Eyes” indicates the soul of the Buddha of Intrinsically Perfect Wisdom of the Infinite Past of kuon-ganjo.

After the Tatsunokuchi Persecution, Nichiren Daishonin began to teach from the standpoint of his identity as the True Buddha. He then went forward with his most important determinations, such as the inscription of the Gohonzon, in order to complete the establishment of the Three Great Secret Laws.

Nichiren Daishonin performed his hosshaku kempon—he discarded his provisional identity and revealed his true identity—at risk of his life. Because of this, we will be able to attain Buddhahood. We must repay our debt of gratitude to the True Buddha who revealed his true identity through his great mercy.

It is essential that we, the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood and laity, progress in our shakubuku efforts based on chanting Daimoku in itai doshin. Let’s actualize our great aspiration for Kosen-rufu in order to repay our gratitude to the True Buddha. I conclude my sermon today by praying for your ever-increasing faith and practice.

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