Ahner Eikaiwa

but never once did I die for the Lotus Sutra or suffer persecution for the daimoku.

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To mix other practices with this Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is a grave error.
Uncle Norman Tamura took us hunting many times in the California desert.
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My Favorite Photo of Howard Ahner
I placed these various articles before the Lotus Sutra
What happiness! What happiness!
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Whether or not your prayer is answered depends upon your faith
Can it be that Shakyamuni Buddha or the Bodhisattvas of the Earth have entered into your body?
How admirable, that you have read the entirety of the Lotus Sutra with both body and mind!
There is no greater happiness than having faith in the Lotus Sutra.
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you should singlemindedly chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo morning and evening, day and night
I can erase the grave offenses of my past and, for the first time, attain Buddhahood.
The character myo changes and becomes Shakyamuni Buddha seated on a lotus pedestal.
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However, you are increasingly demonstrating the depth of your faith and accumulating good deeds.
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And this is only the beginning: be convinced that your great reward is yet to come.
how wretched and meaningless it would be to fall victim to an epidemic or simply die of old age!
on the path of attaining Buddhahood, one is certain to meet some great trial that will demand of him
Ichiro Tamura
If master and disciple are not of the same mind, they cannot accomplish anything.
Rather it has come about as a response to the true words contained in the Lotus Sutra.
Be firmly convinced that the benefits from this offering will extend to your parents
A passage from the Lotus Sutra reads, "...difficult to believe and difficult to understand."
Tsukimaro must have chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with her very first cry at birth.
We common mortals can see neither our own eyebrows, which are so close, nor heaven in the distance.
"With easy labor they shall bear a fortune child."
Your own offerings were not made to me, Nichiren, but to the Lotus Sutra.
Nevertheless, I am an ordinary person dependent on other things for my existence.
When one comes to the end of his good fortune, no strategy whatsoever will avail.
The lion, king of beasts, is said to advance three steps, then gather himself to spring,
I can hardly find words to say how much I appreciate your sincerity
but never once did I die for the Lotus Sutra or suffer persecution for the daimoku.
Yet King Chou's army lost because of disunity
Seihou High
These offerings demonstrate your profound sincerity.
Doesn't a fire burn more briskly when logs are added?
Tientai construed the character myo [of Myoho-renge-kyo] to mean that which is beyond ordinary co
Some are swept away by the strong currents, some fall prey to eagles
Even those who are free from illness cannot escape the transience of life
But if we truly yearn for Shakyamuni Buddha, how could he ever fail to reveal himself to us?
This represents the two principles of object (kyo) and subject (chi), or reality and wisdom.
Another sutra passage says that children are a treasure.

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Persecution at Tatsunokuchi

Shijo Kingo-dono Go-shousoku (Letter to Shijo Kingo)

 

 

I cannot adequately express my gratitude for your frequent letters. At the time of my persecution on the twelfth of last month, you not only accompanied me to Tatsunokuchi but declared that you would die by my side. I was deeply moved!

 

How many are the places where I died in past existences for the sake of my family, lands and kin! I have given up my life on mountains, seas and rivers, on the seashore and by the roadside, but never once did I die for the Lotus Sutra or suffer persecution for the daimoku. Hence none of the ends I met enabled me to reach enlightenment. Because I did not attain Buddhahood, the seas and rivers where I died are not the Buddha's land.

 

In this life, however, as the votary of the Lotus Sutra, I was exiled and almost put to death-exiled to Ito and nearly beheaded at Tatsunokuchi. Tatsunokuchi in Sagami Province is the place where Nichiren gave his life. Because he died there for the Lotus Sutra, how could it be anything less than the Buddhaland? A passage from the sutra reads, "In all the Buddha lands of the universe there is but one supreme vehicle,..." Doesn't this bear out my assertion? The "one supreme vehicle" is the Lotus Sutra. There is no true teaching other than the Lotus Sutra in any of the Buddha lands throughout the universe. The Buddha's provisional teachings are excluded, as the sutra explains elsewhere. This being so, then every place where Nichiren meets persecution is the Buddha land.

 

Of all the places in this world, it is at Tatsunokuchi in Katase of Sagami Province where Nichiren's life dwells. Because he gave his life there for the sake of the Lotus Sutra, Tatsunokuchi may well be called the Buddha land. This principle is found in the Jinriki chapter, where it states, "Whether in a grove, in a garden, on a mountain, in a valley or in a broad field,...the Buddhas enter nirvana."

 

You accompanied Nichiren, vowing to give your life as a votary of the Lotus Sutra. Your deed is infinitely greater than that of Hung Yen, who tore open his stomach and inserted the liver of his dead lord, Duke Yi, to save him from shame and dishonor. When I reach Eagle Peak, I will first tell how Shijo Kingo, like Nichiren, resolved to die for the Lotus Sutra.

 

Secretly I learned that I am to be exiled to Sado by order of Regent Hojo. Of the three heavenly gods, the god of the moon saved my life at Tatsunokuchi by appearing as a shining object, and the god of the stars descended four or five days ago to greet me. Now only the god of the sun remains, and he is certain to protect me. How reassuring! The Hosshi chapter states, "[The Buddha] will send gods in various guises to protect the votary of the Lotus Sutra." This passage leaves no room for doubt. The Anrakugyo chapter reads, "Neither swords nor staves will harm him." The Fumon chapter states, "The sword will instantly be broken into pieces." There is nothing false in these quotations. Strong and steadfast faith is the vital thing.

 

With my deep respect,

Nichiren

 

The twenty-first day of the ninth month in the eighth year of Bun'ei (1271)

  

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