8 March 1280 (Age: 59)
I have received your offering of one bundle of rice given to mark the anniversary of the passing of [your father] Lord Ueno. I shall offer it to the Buddha and recite the Jigage once.
The meaning of filial piety can best be understood by first learning about unfilial behavior. One example of an unfilial person is You-meng, who struck his father, and as a consequence was struck down by lightning. The person Ban-fu cursed her mother and was then swallowed by a venomous serpent. King Ajatashatru contracted white leprosy after murdering his father, and King Virudhaka, who also killed his parent, was consumed in the flames of a burning boat upon a river and, while still alive, fell into the Hell of Incessant Suffering. There have never been cases of people receiving such dramatic effects from killing strangers. By learning the consequences of unfilial behavior, we can grasp how wonderful the merit of filial conduct must be.
The more than three thousand volumes of non-Buddhist writings address no other themes, they solely teach the importance of caring for one’s father and mother. But the care they teach is limited to the current existence and can provide no aid after death. One’s debt of gratitude owed to one’s father and mother is as deep as the sea, but if he cares for them in this life alone, ignoring their lives after death, it is comparable to only a drop of water.
The more than five thousand volumes of Buddhist writings also address no other themes; they solely teach the merit of caring for one’s father and mother. Although the Buddha’s over forty years of teachings prior to the Lotus Sutra seem to be about filial conduct, in fact, they leave the teaching of true filial piety unrevealed, and because they are incomplete, they are, ultimately, unfilial.
The worthy Maudgalyayana set his mother free from her sufferings in the World of Hunger, but unable to lead her to Buddhahood, he only succeeded in providing her the salvation of the Worlds of Humanity and Heaven.
When he was thirty, Shakyamuni taught his father, King Shuddhodana, a doctrine that made it possible for him to attain the fourth and highest stage of Hinayana. At the age of thirty-eight, he enabled his mother, Lady Maya, to also reach the stage of Arhat. These acts of the Buddha would seem to be filial, yet they were anything but, for although he liberated his father and mother from the Six Paths, he led them down another path which, for all eternity. never reaches Buddhahood. It would be like demoting a crown prince to the rank of commoner or marrying a princess off to a man of low status,
This is why the Buddha stated, “I would be guilty of mean selfishness (were I to only teach the Lesser Vehicle) and that is unacceptable.” Providing his parents barley while withholding ambrosia and offering them raw sake while denying them refined sake, the Buddha was the most unfilial of men. For this, he deserved, like King Virudhaka, to fall alive into the great fortress of the Hell of Incessant Suffering or to fester with white leprosy like King Ajatashatru. But then, after forty-two years of unfolding his doctrines, Shakyamuni finally, out of filial devotion to his father and mother, disclosed the Lotus Sutra saying, “Although those of the Two Vehicles carried out austerities to eliminate their earthly desires and entered nirvana, they failed to attain Buddhahood. However, if they seek the Buddha wisdom and pursue the attainment of Buddhahood in their subsequent lives, they could attain enlightenment by hearing the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.”
Taho Buddha of the Treasure World of Purity extolled the genuine filial piety of Shakyamuni Buddha. Then the Buddhas from the ten directions concurred, reverently proclaiming Shakyamuni the most filial of all Buddhas. Seen in this light, the people of Japan are all unfilial. The Nirvana Sutra (Nehan-gyo) states that unfilial people are more numerous than the dust particles composing the earth. This is why the sun, the moon, and eighty-four thousand stars in the sky are outraged, glowering with stern eyes at the nation of Japan. This is the cause for the frequent appearance of unusual phenomena in the heavens that the court augurs are reporting to the emperor. And on earth, strange disasters occur daily making Japan as vulnerable as a dinghy adrift on a vast ocean. This is why all the children are lifeless and the women vomit blood.
But as for you, among all the people of Japan, you are the most filial. Bonten and Taishaku will come down from heaven to become your left and right wings, and the Gods of the Earth’s Four Directions will humbly support your feet, honoring you as their father and mother. There are still many things remaining to be said but I will set my brush down here.
With my deepest respect,
The eighth day of the third month in the third year of Koan
Nichiren
In reply to Lord Ueno
