Reply to Lady Onichi-nyo
I had already received the three hundred coins that you sent by the hand of Ben-bo [Nissho], and now you
have again sent me two hundred coins.
The Buddha, being truly worthy of respect, never judges by the size of one’s offerings. In the past,
Tokusho Doji offered a mudpie to the Buddha, and was reborn as King Ashoka and ruled over all of Jambudvipa. A poor woman
cut off her hair and sold it to buy oil [for the Buddha], and not even the winds sweeping down from Mount Sumeru could extinguish
the flame of the lamp fed by this oil. Accordingly, your offerings of two and three strings of coins are far greater even
than those made by one who, ruling over the country of Japan, offers the entire nation and a pagoda he has constructed that
is adorned with the seven kinds of treasures and that towers as high as the Trayastrimsha heaven.
A single character of the Lotus Sutra is like the great earth, which gives rise to all things. A single
character is like the great ocean, which contains the water from all rivers. A single character is like the sun and moon,
which illuminate the four quarters.
This single character changes and becomes the moon. The moon changes and becomes a Buddha? Rice plants change
and become seedlings. Seedlings change and become stalks. Stalks change and become rice. Rice changes and becomes a person.
And a person changes and becomes a Buddha. A woman changes and becomes the single character myo. The character myo changes
and becomes Shakyamuni Buddha seated on a lotus pedestal. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
With my deep respect,
Nichiren
To Lady Onichi
