Prophecy of Foreign Invasions
Nichiren was always thinking of his country. His patriotism may be expressed well in his Moko-tsukai-gosho, in which he says. “The worst thing for us is the downfall of our country.”
For several years from 1257, Japan was frequently visited by various calamities. Great earthquakes and droughts took place in 1257; long rains, droughts, typhoons, floods, and pestilences came in succession in 1258 and 1259. Pestilences still raged in 1260.
In 1260, Nichiren wrote the Rissho-ankoku-ron, or “Establish the Right Teachings and Save Our Country,” in which he said that the disregard of the right teachings of the Buddha would bring not only more calamities, but also civil wars and foreign invasions. He presented this writing to the Ex-Regent Hojo Tokiyori through the hands of Yadoya Saemon-no-jo, a personal secretary to Tokiyori. Tokiyori resigned from regency in favor of his father’s cousin Hojo Nagatoki in 1256, but was still holding the reins of the government.
In this treatise, Nichiren first describes the calamities. Then he quotes from the Konkomyo-saisho-o-kyo Sutra, implying that the Hojo Government is responsible for the sufferings of the people. The quotation runs:
“(The four quarter kings said to the Buddha:) If a king does not wish to read this sutra or to respect the persons who keep this sutra, men will decrease in number because we will cease to protect him and his kingdom. All the gods including us will leave his country Then the king will be dethroned; all the people will be corrupt; pestilences will rage; the earth will quake; winds and rains will be untimely; famines will break forth; and the country will be invaded by a foreign army.”
Then he quotes from the Daijikkyo Sutra:
“When the teachings of the Buddha are forgotten in a country, the earth will quake; the waters will be dried up, and the people will be corrupt.”
He also quotes from the Ninno-hannya-haramitsu-kyo Sutra:
“A country, which is put into disorder, will be invaded by a foreign army; friction will be seen among the king, crown prince, other princes, ministers, and officials; the sun, the moon, and the stars will move irregularly; and civil wars will break out. Saints and sages will leave the country, and the seven bad things will take place.”
He says that, according to the Yakushi-nyorai-hongan-kudoku-kyo Sutra, the seven bad things for a king will be ”pestilences, foreign invasions, civil wars, irregularity of the movement of stars, irregularity of the eclipses of the sun and the moon, untimeliness of winds and rains, and droughts. In connection with this, he also quotes from the Ninnokyo Sutra:
“Every king is afraid of having seven dreadful things: irregularity of the change of the seasons, irregularity of the movement of stars, conflagrations, inundations, storms, droughts, and foreign invasions.”
The bad things may be three in number. He quotes from the Daijikkyo Sutra:
“The king who does not follow the teachings of the Buddha will see his country visited by three unhappy things: famines, fightings, and pestilences. Then the people will not obey the king; the country will be invaded by neighboring nations; conflagrations, storms, and inundations will follow one after another; and some relatives of the king will rise against him.”
Nichiren says that the people of today are suffering from many calamities because they give up the right teachings of the Buddha and follow Honen. Nichiren’s view may be summarized as follows:
“Honen says that the worship of any other Buddha than Amitabha and the reading of any other sutra than the canonical sutras of the Pure Land School are not the right practices. This teaching of his is so popular all over Japan that the people have forgotten Sakyamuni Buddha and the Lotus Sutra. It says in the Lotus Sutra, ‘Those who do not believe but slander the teachings of the Buddha expounded in this sutra will destroy the seeds of Buddhahood of all living beings in the world. They will go to the hell of incessant suffering in their next lives.’ Therefore, the followers of Honen will go to hell. The gods have already left this country, giving up protecting the people of Japan from famines and pestilences, because the people follow Honen and disregard the right teachings of the Buddha. In order to recover the right teachings of the Buddha, we should stop supporting the priests of the Nembutsu Sect. Now five of the seven bad things referred to in the Yakushikyo Sutra have already come out. The two other things, that is, civil wars and foreign invasions will soon take place. Two of the three unhappy things predicted in the Daijikkyo Sutra have already been seen. Why will the third one, that is, fightings, not come in the near future? If our country falls and our homes are destroyed, where shall we go? If you think of the safety of yourself, you should pray for your own country. It says in the Ninnokyo Sutra, ‘Those who violate the teachings of the Buddha will not be able to have obedient sons or the peace of their families. They will be ill in health, have many misfortunes, and go to hell or the world of hungry spirits or of animals in their next lives. Even if they come to the world of men again, they will be killed in action.’ It ways in the Nehangyo Sutra, ‘Those who avoid good friends and do not hear the right teachings of the Buddha will go to the hell of incessant suffering.’ Convert yourself to the One Good of the True Vehicle. Then the triple world will be the world of the Buddha. The world of the Buddha will be immune from decay. The worlds of the ten quarters will be the land of treasures. The land of treasures will be free from destruction.”