[A letter of explanation written by Nichiren Shōnin on behalf of Shijō Yorimoto on the 25th of the sixth month in the third year of the Kenji Period (1277) and submitted to the lord of the Ema Family.]
In your same letter to me, Your Lordship wrote also that to accept wholeheartedly the idea of one’s master or parents regardless of whether or not they are morally right would please the gods and Buddhas, and it would be exemplary of world propriety. Yet as this is a matter of prime importance, I hesitate to express my own opinions directly. Instead, I would like to explain by quoting some passages from the works of ancient sages.
The Classic of Filial Piety states: “A child should remonstrate with his father if the father is wrong, and retainers should remonstrate with their lords if their lords are immoral.” Cheng-hsüan, a scholar in Latter Han in China, said: “If retainers and children do not remonstrate with their lords and parents when their actions are not righteous, their countries and homes will be destroyed without fail.” In the Hsin-hsii it is asserted: “Those who do not remonstrate with their tyrannical lord are not loyal retainers. Those who do not speak up due to fear of death are not brave men.” Grand Master Dengyō also stated: “If injustice has been done by their fathers and lords, children will have to fight against their fathers and retainers against their lords. Those who do not remonstrate are neither loyal retainers nor filial sons. In the same way, a disciple must remonstrate with his teacher in cases when his master is wrong.”
In the Lotus Sūtra it is further stated: “I have no concern for my life and body; I have only concern for the unsurpassed way.” The Nirvana Sūtra states: “When a man, who excels in debate and discussion, is sent to a foreign country by the emperor on a diplomatic mission, he should never have the imperial order insulted even at the cost of his life. Sages should act likewise!” Grand Master Chang-an interprets this passage of the Nirvana Sūtra to mean that as the dharma is greater than life itself, we should not hesitate to spread the dharma even at the cost of our lives. He further states that what undermines Buddhism is antagonism within Buddhism, and that seeing someone acting immorally, if you have no compassion to remonstrate with him, you will in the end become his antagonist. “Sternly reprimanding him and helping him overcome his misconduct is an act of parents,” said Chang-an.
Perhaps my fellow workers consider me, Yorimoto, brazen and disrespectful. We should obey our parents and lord on anything of worldly matters, but seeing my lord to whom I owe much, being deceived by practicers of evil teachings and about to fall into hell, how can I not lament? In ancient India, ever since King Ajātaśatru upheld Devadatta and the Six Brahman Masters as his teachers and stood against Śākyamuni Buddha, all the people of the Magadha Kingdom as well as his 580,000 relatives all became enemies of Buddhism. Among them, Minister Jivaka alone remained a disciple of Śākyamuni Buddha. King Ajātaśatru, just as Your Lordship is to me, Yorimoto, was displeased that Minister Jivaka continued to be a disciple of the Buddha. In the end, however, the king abandoned the evil teachings of his six ministers and became a devotee of the true teaching of the Buddha in which Jivaka believed. Likewise, I, Yorimoto, hope to save Your Lordship in the end.
Yorimoto Chinjō, Yorimoto’s Letter of Explanation, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 107-108