KYODAI SHO

To be a woman is to be obedient, and consequently she will have her way.

(Background : April 16, 1275, 53 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon p.932)

TOKI AMA GOZEN GOSHO

An arrow is directed by the power of its bow. The clouds move with the power of wind. The works of man (husband) are seeded by woman (wife).

(Background : March 27, 1276, 54 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon p.1147)

Explanatory note

The above two letters are often quoted at wedding ceremonies addressed to the brides. They are not only beneficial for women but also for everyone. The quotation means not to push one’s desire or plan disregarding others, rather to see reality and to follow the reality, then one’s desire or plan will be materialized.

Nichiren Daishonin is telling us that husband and wife should demonstrate individual ability in their union and that any partnership is the same. It is the wife’s skill that helps the husband to be successful in his work and his faith.

Rev. Kanai

UENO DONO GOHENJI

A wife treasures her husband while he sacrifices his life for her.

(Background : January 3, 1279, 56 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.1621)

SENNICHI AMA GOZEN GOHENJI

A husband is like a pillar of a house and his wife its beam. When the pillar falls, the beam collapses. Man is like legs and woman is like body. A bird’s body being the wife and its wings her husband, when the wings fail, the bird cannot fly. Likewise, you must feel that you have lost your own soul after the death of your husband.

(Background : July 2, 1280, 58 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.1762)

Explanatory note

Nichiren Daishonin often sent letters to his followers who lost their loved ones. He taught them how to overcome their sadness through faith. These letters were always warm-hearted.

When Sennichi Ama lost her husband, Abutsubo, Nichiren sent her a long letter. The quotation above is a part of the letter which explains the important close relationship between husband and wife.

What is the ideal relationship between husband and wife? What is a good family? These questions have been answered in many ways throughout our history. However, all thinkers agree that the most essential factor is to strengthen the union of husband and wife as well as to fortify their families with respect and trust for each other.

Even though our family system and life style have been changed so much, the fundamental and affectionate relationship within a small circle of intimate associates like a family has not changed. Love and trust between a husband and his wife are the basis for all human relations, because the essence of the family is not only physical closeness but consciousness of joint interaction.

Our lives have become very comfortable through the development of science and technology, and at the same time, we live in an age when we are easily influenced by desire for instant gratification, which could often destroy a wonderful relationship in a family. Therefore, we must have strong will and determination not to fall to temptations around us. But if we do not have thoughts of mutual understanding and a spirit of compassion within our family life, it is difficult to have such a strong will and determination.

By affirming love and affection for each other, we cultivate the spirit of a strong will and determination from within.

Nichiren taught us that a harmonious family with the spirit of strong will and determination will be present when we live truthfully everyday by chanting “Namu Myoho Renge Kyo” with faith in the eternal Buddha.

Rev. Matsuda

BO JIKYO Jl

You (Jonin Toki) brought your mother’s ashes to Minobu and placed it at the altar where the Buddha Sakyamuni, our original teacher, is enshrined. Prostrating yourself in front of the altar, holding your hands together in gassho, you paid homage to the Buddha. You have overcome your sorrow at your mother’s death and firmly believed your mother being saved by the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Thus, you were released from your sorrow.

All of your body – your head, hands, legs, and mouth – are all inherited from your parents. This kinship between your parents and you is like the relationship between seed and fruit. Therefore, as your mother is saved, you are also saved by the teachings of the Lotus Sutra.

(Background : March 1276, 54 years old, at Minobu, Showa Teihon, p.1151)

Explanatory note

Blinging with them the ashes of their deceased par. ents, many followers from all over Japan came to Nichiren Daishonin on Mt. Minobu. It was because they wished their parents’ memorial services conducted by Nichiren himself, and have the ashes buried in the sacred grounds of Mt.Minobu, where Nichiren made his residence. Tokuro Moritsuna of Sado, for example, buried the ashes of his father, Abutsubo, after a service by Nichiren there.

Nichiren Daishonin’s words presented here were addressed to Jonin Toki. According to this letter, Lord Toki came to Minobu with the ashes of his deceased mother, and held a memorial service, buried the ashes, and went home. He felt so relieved upon completion of the burial that he left his personal belongings including his sutra book behind, prompting Nichiren to make a joke saying, “You are the most forgetful person in Japan.”

Nichiren was greatly moved by Jonin Toki’s devotion to his mother and explained to him that his mother’s attainment of Buddhahood and his own attainment, while still in the flesh, were one and the same.

The late mother of Jonin was a woman of strong faith who had looked up to Nichiren. She often sent him robes which she herself sewed. Nichiren knew well how grieved Jonin was to have lost his mother.

Each of us has to experience the same grief. We realize that our bodies are inherited from our parents. so are our souls. As Nichiren has often pointed out to us, the Lotus Sutra is the teaching of a lotus: when the lotus blooms, its pedestal is already prepared, and a seed is already in the flower. Likewise, when a parent receives salvation in the world of the Lotus Sutra and has attained Buddhahood, the child is also assured of his own attainment of Buddhahood while still in the flesh. The relationship between parents and children is like that of a seed and its fruit or a body and its shadow.
This indicates the oneness of parents and children, and symbolically shows that the salvation of the Lotus Sutra extends not only to one person but to the world as a whole encompassed by the Lotus Sutra, the world of oneness of self and others.

Let us all seek the salvation in the world of the Lotus Sutra, where our original teacher, the Buddha Sakyamuni is. It is attainable through our earnest faith and prayer for the attainment of Buddhahood for our parents and ances-
tors.

Rev. Ikuta