Your late husband resting beneath the shade of clumps of grass, where nobody visits him, must be anxious to know how his young children whom he left behind in the Sahā World are doing. In ancient China a man named Su-wu was detained in a northern barbarian country for 19 years. He is said to have fastened a letter to the leg of a wild goose addressed to his beloved wife and children at home. A Japanese man, Abe no Nakamaro, went to T’ang China to study. When he lost his way back to Japan, he looked at the moon rising in the east and composed a poem saying “It must be the moon over Mt. Mikasa in Kasuga (Nara).” Your late husband must be thinking of these things as if they were his own.

Nevertheless, because you faithfully chant the daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra, the character Myō of the Lotus Sūtra transforms itself into the messenger of the Buddha or such bodhisattvas as Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Superior Practice, or Never Despising. And these messengers of the Buddha will report the things in the Sahā World to your late husband in the other world just as the mirror pieces of Ch’ên-tzu in ancient China became birds to keep him informed, and the sound of Su-wu’s wife beating her husband’s clothes with a fulling block every autumn reached the ears of her husband detained by the northern barbarians.

Moreover, just as a flower becomes a fruit or a half moon becomes a full, the Chinese character Myō is transformed into the Buddha. Therefore, it is preached in the Lotus Sūtra, “Beholding the Stupa of Treasures” chapter, “He who is able to uphold this sūtra is upholding the Buddha’s body.” Grand Master T’ien-t’ai declares, “Every character is the true Buddha.”

Thus, the character Myō is none other than Śākyamuni Buddha who is perfectly equipped with the 32 marks of physical excellence and 80 minor marks of physical excellence of a Buddha. However, as we cannot see deeply enough, we see it merely as a character. For instance, an aged person with poor eyesight cannot see the new shoot of a lotus flower that sprouts in a pond. Though there may be a shadow, we cannot see it in the darkness of night. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that this character Myō is the Buddha’s body.

Moreover, the character Myō is the moon, sun, stars, mirrors, clothes, food, flowers, earth, and ocean. The merits of all of these are combined in the character Myō. And regarding treasures, it is the wish-fulfilling gem. Please understand this.

Myōshin-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Response to My Lady, the Nun Myōshin, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 106-107

Our Compassionate Father, the Greatly Awakened and World Honored One, appeared in this world in Central India when the life span of human beings was 100 years and spent His life preaching the holy teachings for all living beings. All living beings during the lifetime of the Buddha were closely related to the Buddha due to the accumulated merit of their virtuous deeds in the past. Therefore, they were able to attain Buddhahood during the lifetime of the Buddha. For the sake of those living after the passing of the Buddha, however, the Buddha expressed His 84,000 holy teachings in writing, giving Hinayāna sūtras to Honorable Kāśyapa and Mahāyāna sūtras including the Lotus Sūtra and Nirvana Sūtra to Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī to be spread among living beings after the passing of the Buddha.

However, the five characters of Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō, which are the essence of the 84,000 holy teachings and the primary object of the Lotus Sūtra, were entrusted neither to Kāśyapa nor Ānanda. They were not given to great bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, Avalokiteśvara, Maitreya, Earth Repository, or Nāgārjuna. They were all anxious to receive the five characters from the Buddha but their request was denied. Śākyamuni Buddha in a Stupa decorated with the seven treasures instead called out an elder named Superior Practice Bodhisattva from the bottom of the earth and gave him the five characters of Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō before the Buddha of Many Treasures and Buddhas in manifestation coming from all the worlds throughout the universe.

Why did Śākyamuni Buddha do this? All living beings after the passing of the Buddha are considered the same dear children to Śākyamuni Buddha. According to the general practice of physicians, the Buddha prescribed medicine suitable to the condition of the patient. Therefore, the Buddha directed Kāśyapa, Ānanda, and others to prescribe the medicine of Hinayāna sūtras to all living beings during the first half (500 years) of the Age of the True Dharma. For the second half of the Age of the True Dharma such bodhisattvas as Mañjuśrī, Maitreya, Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu, were directed to prescribe such Mahāyāna sūtras as the Flower Garland Sūtra, the Great Sun Buddha Sūtra, and the Wisdom Sūtra for all living beings. For the Age of the Semblance Dharma, the ten-century period beginning in the 1,000th year after the passing of the Buddha, Medicine King Bodhisattva and others were ordered to prescribe the Lotus Sūtra with the exception of the daimoku for all living beings.

However, in the Latter Age of Degeneration beginning 2,000 years after the passing of the Buddha, the Hinayāna and Mahāyāna sutras given to Kāśyapa, Ānanda, Mañjuśrī, Maitreya, Medicine King, Avalokiteśvara and others were no longer useful as medicine for living beings. It is because they were no longer effective as cures for the severe ailments of living beings. While the Buddha considered what to do about this, Superior Practice Bodhisattva emerged from the earth. The Buddha then ordered the bodhisattva to give the five characters of Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō to all living beings throughout the Jambudvīpa.

Takahashi Nyūdō-dono Gohenji, A Response to Lay Priest Lord Takahashi, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Pages 74-75

I am glad to hear that you greeted the New Year with the pleasure of seeing flowers in full bloom and feeling happy like the full moon.

But I still remember the late Gorō, your son. It is during this time of the year when the blossoms bloom again and the dry grass begins to sprout. Why can’t the late Gorō come back to this world? If he were the delicate and transient flower and grass, I would never leave the flower, like Kakinomoto Hitomaro, the poet, nor the grass, like a hitched horse.

It is written in the passage of a Buddhist scripture that children are enemies. I think that there is a reason for this. I hear that the owl eats its mother and a beast called hakyō devours its father. A man, An Lushan, was killed by his son, Shih Shih-ming. A warrior called Minamoto Yoshitomo killed his father, Tameyoshi. Therefore, there is some truth to the Buddhist scripture that states children are enemies.

It is also written in the scripture that children are treasures. King Wonderful Adornment was destined to fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering upon death, but he was saved by a prince named Pure Store. Saved from suffering in hell, he ultimately became a Buddha called Śāla Tree King Buddha. A woman named Moggaliya was sent to the realm of hungry spirits for the sin of malice and greed, but she was saved by her child, Maudgalyāyana, escaping the suffering mandated in the realm of hungry spirits. Therefore, it seems reasonable for the Buddhist scripture to claim that children are treasures.

The late Gorō was 16 years old and had a more pleasing nature than most. An able man, he was admired by everyone. Moreover, he was filial and obedient to his parents much as water takes the form of a vessel and a shadow follows its form. You must have deeply relied upon him as a pillar of your home and a cane for support on the road. The box of treasures must have been saved for him, and your retainers who have served your family must have been for him. You were hoping that when you died you would be carried on his back to your grave and if this were so you would have had no regrets. Nevertheless, that he left you first must seem like a dream or illusion. If only this were so, I would love for you to be awakened from it soon. But it was neither a dream nor an illusion, and at last the year has come to an end.

I don’t know how long you must wait to meet him again. If I were to tell you where to meet him, you would no doubt fly up to the sky in spite of having no wings or sail even to China in spite of having no ship. If you heard that he was buried deep below the earth, wouldn’t you use all your energy to dig him out?

There is a way, however, to meet him easily. It is to have Śākyamuni Buddha lead you to the Pure Land of Mt. Sacred Eagle. It is written that all who listen to this Lotus Sūtra shall become a Buddha. Thus, even if a finger pointed to the earth were to miss it, the sun and the moon did not rise, the tide did not ebb and flow, and the flowers failed to bloom in summer, the woman who chants “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō” will surely be able to meet her son. Devote yourself to your faith.

Ueno-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lord Ueno, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 56-57