Nichiren Daishonin—His Lifelong Vow and Great Compassion

On the twentieth of the same month, the Mongols made landfall on the Kyushu mainland at Momochibaru in Hakata Bay. They engaged in fierce battles with Japanese defenders on the beach and a short distance inland at Sohara, Torikai, Befu and Akasaka.^[5]

The Japanese defense forces there were led by Shoni Tsunesuke, deputy secretary-general of the Dazaifu office,^[6] and Otomo Yoriyasu, defense commissioner of the west, with Tsunesuke’s younger brother, Kagesuke, commanding the front lines. The Mongols used weapons never before seen in Japan, including hand-thrown bombs,^[7] and employed unfamiliar battle formations and tactics that forced the Japanese defense to retreat to the Dazaifu.

Before the battle’s outcome could be decided, the invading forces suddenly withdrew to their ships in Hakata Bay, and by the following day, according to some accounts, they had vanished.^[8]

No one knows for certain why the invaders withdrew. Speculation includes troop fatigue; a shortage of provisions, bows, arrows and gunpowder; an inability to effectively command a diverse force; and the Goryeo-built warships, which were less expensive but more prone to capsizing than Chinese warships. One theory suggests that the Mongols retreated because they accomplished their mission of ascertaining the Japanese military’s strength in preparation for a future, larger invasion.^[9]

Known as the Battle of Bun’ei, for the name of the Japanese era in which it occurred, it was the first of two Mongol invasions of Japan.

Afterward, the Kamakura shogunate conferred rewards to the warriors who had fought in battle. At the same time, it implemented a rotational coastal guard system in preparation for a possible second invasion.

In addition, the government constructed a series of defensive stone walls, believed to have spanned some 12.5 miles around Hakata Bay. They even planned to launch a preemptive strike against the Korean Peninsula.

To prepare for battle with the Mongols, the Japanese placed great importance on prayers to the gods and Buddhas. People believed that prayer was just as important as military force in determining the outcome of battle. For the Battle of Bun’ei, the shogunate had commissioned various temples and shrines to pray for the enemy’s defeat and rewarded those whose rituals they credited with military victories. In preparation for another invasion, religious interests united in collaborating with the rulers.

Nichiren’s Sympathy for Affected People

As the shogunate prepared for the next attack, Nichiren Daishonin wrote of the sorrows of those the government had dispatched to Kyushu to fight the invaders:

In the tenth month of the eleventh year of Bun’ei, the people on Iki and Tsushima islands were slaughtered at one stroke. How can we say that this is no concern of ours? The soldiers who … [have now gone] off to confront the invaders—how forlorn they must be! They had to leave behind their aged parents, small children, young wives, and cherished homes to go out and defend a sea to no avail. If they see clouds on the horizon, they imagine them to be the enemy’s banners. If they see fishing boats, they think them Mongol warships and are paralyzed with fear. Once or twice a day they climb the hills to look out over the sea. Three or four times in the middle of the night they saddle and unsaddle their horses. Though still alive, they feel as if they were in the world of asuras. (“Letter to the Brothers,” WND-1, 497–98)

Amid such tumult, in which so many were dragged into combat, Nichiren always looked out for ordinary people, empathizing with their grief. We can sense in this spirit a profound compassion to enable all people to achieve genuine happiness.^[10]

While at Minobu, the Daishonin must have received detailed reports about the Mongol invasion from his disciples because he offers a graphic description in “Letter to the Lay Priest Ichinosawa” in the fifth month of 1275, the year after the Battle of Bun’ei (see WND-1, 526).

A month after the attack, he mentions it in a letter to his young disciple Nanjo Tokimitsu called “On the Offering of a Mud Pie”:

I, Nichiren, had profound hopes of aiding the country of Japan, but the people of Japan, high and low alike, all seemingly bent on the destruction of the nation, not only did not heed my advice, but again and again treated me with animosity. Powerless to do otherwise, I retired to this mountain forest [of Minobu]. And now word has come of an attack by the forces of the great kingdom of the Mongols. I am deeply grieved, pondering how things might have been had they only listened to my advice. When I think that they must all suffer as the people of Iki and Tsushima have suffered, my tears flow without end. (WND-2, 500)

Intensifying Criticism Against Esoteric Teachings

Nichiren identifies the slander committed by various Buddhist schools as the primary cause of the nation’s destruction. In particular, he denounces the True Word school—which had attracted many followers, including people in power—calling the situation “an error of the first magnitude” (WND-2, 500). He strongly refutes the school’s teachings, citing examples from history that point to them as a cause for defeat. Which, he argues, will be inevitable if priests of the “evil True Word doctrine” (WND-2, 500) are permitted to offer prayers for victory.

In the same month (the eleventh month of 1274), the Daishonin sent the letter “Distinguishing the Lotus Sutra from the True Word Sutras” to Soya Kyoshin, a disciple in Shimosa Province, in which he writes: “Everyone will be in the same situation as the residents of Iki and Tsushima find themselves in now. This is entirely due to erroneous views of the Buddha’s teachings” (WND-2, 503).

The following month, he wrote in “Making Clear the Meaning of Establishing the Correct Teaching” that, with the arrival of the official letter from the Mongol Empire in 1268 and the occurrence of the civil rebellion known as the Disturbance of the Second Month^[11] in 1272, the calamities of foreign invasion and internal strife Nichiren had warned of had come to pass. Therefore, he urges “persons of discernment … to believe my words” (WND-2, 506).

He laments the state of the country for failing to turn to him despite the invasion: “It would almost seem as though the heavenly devil had taken possession of our country, making it drunk or mad. It is a cause for weeping, for sorrow, for fear, and for loathing!” (WND-2, 506).

The Daishonin then cites his treatise “On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land,” where he wrote, “If they do not shake off these delusions that they cling to but continue to harbor erroneous views, then they will quickly leave this world of the living and surely fall into the hell of incessant suffering” (WND-1, 24).

He continues: “In view of the fact that my other predictions have come true, in the future we may expect that all the people in this country of Japan, in the ranks of both high and low, will fall into the great citadel of the Avichi hell. This is as certain as that someone aiming at the great earth cannot fail to hit the mark” (WND-2, 507). With this declaration, Nichiren urges his disciples to strengthen their faith.

With his warning of foreign invasion having proved accurate, the Daishonin increasingly appealed for the establishment of the correct teaching, systemized his teaching into the core principles of the Three Great Secret Laws and doubled down in his criticism of the esoteric teachings—including those now dominating the Tendai school—as leading the country to ruin.

The Mongol invasion fulfilled Nichiren’s prediction and thus proved the correctness of his teachings, which in turn spurred on the activities of his disciples around Japan. In response, schemes arose to bring about the downfall of the Daishonin’s disciples. United with their mentor, however, they refused to retreat a single step and continued to raise the banner of the Buddhism of the people.

(To be continued in an upcoming issue)

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Instructing the Future 

Ikeda Sensei: The letter we are studying [“On the Offering of a Mud Pie”] was written right after Nichiren Daishonin had received news of the Mongol invasion. He was filled with deep sorrow and concern at the prospect that people throughout the land might in the future “all suffer as the people of Iki and Tsushima have suffered.”

In light of the troubled and turbulent times, he took this opportunity to instruct Tokimitsu that the fundamentally flawed teachings of the established Buddhist schools in Japan were the root cause for why the country found itself on the brink of destruction.^[12]

Sambyeolcho Resistance Forces

In the ninth month of 1271, Japan received an official letter that purported to be from the Goryeo kingdom.

This letter informed Japan of the Mongol Empire’s intent to attack. It also expressed opposition toward the Mongols, criticizing their manners and customs, and requested provisions and reinforcements.

Previously, in 1268, a Goryeo envoy had delivered an official letter to Japan on behalf of the Mongols and a letter from the Goryeo government urging Japan to form a tributary relationship with the Mongol Empire. Repeated discussions took place at the imperial court on the seemingly contradictory message of the most recent letter.

In reality, the 1271 letter had not been sent by the Goryeo government but in the name of Goryeo by the last group of forces resisting the Mongol incursion into the Korean Peninsula, the Sambyeolcho.

Starting in 1231, Goryeo had been raided repeatedly over a period of 30 years by the Mongol Empire, suffering significant losses and damage. The Sambyeolcho had been the private army of the Choe family, who ruled the state. Formed of three fighting groups, the name Sambyeolcho means three elite or special patrols. The Sambyeolcho were responsible for protecting Goryeo’s capital, Kaesong. When the Choe family’s power collapsed in 1258 and Goryeo yielded to the Mongols, the Sambyeolcho refused to surrender, eventually retreating to Jindo Island and later to Jeju Island, where it was crushed by the Mongol-Goryeo alliance in 1273.

Including the Sambyeolcho Resistance, Goryeo had opposed the Mongols for over 40 years. Since the Mongol Empire invaded Japan in 1274, the year after the Sambyeolcho were defeated, their resistance could be seen as ultimately delaying the Mongol invasion of Japan.

There are no records of any Japanese response to the Sambyeolcho letter. However, in the ninth month of 1271, the shogunate ordered retainers with territory in Kyushu to prepare for a Mongol invasion. Some suggest that this was based on the reports listed in the Sambyeolcho letter.^[13]

From the October 2024 Living Buddhism