Sharing Our Mentor’s Commitment

“A blue fly, if it clings to the tail of a thoroughbred horse, can travel ten thousand miles, and the green ivy that twines around the tall pine can grow to a thousand feet. I was born as the son of the one Buddha, Shakyamuni, and I serve the king of scriptures, the Lotus Sutra. How could I observe the decline of the Buddhist Law and not be filled with emotions of pity and distress?” (“On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 17)

Background

In this work, a dialogue between a host and a guest, the host explains that to rid the nation of disasters, famine and epidemics, people must take faith in the correct teaching and reject erroneous ones. The guest, though beginning to understand, nevertheless raises an objection. He points out that even though there are many great and famous Buddhist priests in Japan, none of them had ever raised the points the host had. The guest says, “You, on the other hand, a person of humble position, think nothing of spewing out offensive accusations” (WND-1, 17). In other words, the guest believes that because the host is just an ordinary priest, there’s no way he can be right.

The host rejects this logic and displays the attitude of a genuine Buddhist. Using the analogies of a blue fly and green ivy, he proudly declares that even a “person of humble position” can experience immense benefit by studying the great philosophy of the Lotus Sutra. And he goes on to say that, though humble, he will not just watch as the correct teaching declines before his eyes; rather he, as an ordinary person, will strive to relieve the sufferings of all people.

One’s social status does not determine one’s value. What determines true greatness is the depth of one’s philosophy and the actions one takes based on that philosophy.