The Three Powerful Enemies

The Lotus Sutra has some interesting verses in it. These verses go as follows:

"There will be many ignorant people

Who will curse and speak ill of us

And will attack us with swords and staves,

But we will endure all these things.

In that evil age there will be monks

With perverse wisdom and hearts that are fawning and crooked

Who will suppose they have attained what they have not attained,

Being proud and boastful in heart.

Or there will be forest-dwelling monks

Wearing clothing of patched rags and living in retirement,

Who will claim they are practicing the true way,

Despising and looking down on all humankind.

Greedy for profit and support,

They will preach the Law to white-robed laymen

And will be respected and revered by the world

As though they were Arhats who possess the six transcendental powers.

These men with evil in their hearts,

Constantly thinking of worldly affairs,

Will borrow the name of forest-dwelling monks

And take delight in proclaiming our faults"

(Quotation in full is cited in Kaimoku Sho vol. II) ²

It also teaches and predicts the enlightenment of sentient beings of all kinds, shapes, sexes, and predispositions. This prediction is coupled with predictions of the enlightenment of people who practice the Lotus Sutra sincerely, insincerely, or even oppose the Lotus Sutra, as long as they eventually practice it correctly. Even so, the above passage can be taken as a prophesy of what will happen when people practice Buddhism correctly, but it also can be read in a more universal manner. The founder of my school, I believe saw it both ways, and I believe he intended us to do so as well and thus to not interpret this passage to literal-mindedly. When I read this passage from the viewpoint of Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra, I don't see it pointing an accusing finger at any particular person, but rather as a universal obstacle in the way of human beings of whatever faith and belief. My feeling, and I think I can demonstrate why, is that these "three powerful enemies appear as an "obstacle" for us, only because we are finally starting to see things and people for who and what they really are.

The Three Powerful Enemies grow out of Fundamental Darkness

Nichiren critiqued the major teachers of Japan, and found most of them wanting in their teachings. He came to believe that such teachers had mislead the Japanese people. Coming from the viewpoint of his country, he believed that the calamities and miseries that were being suffered by his people during his life-time were being caused by such teachers and their teachings. He also was coming from a Buddhist viewpoint, that views all life as dependently originated, and so it was natural for him to see that there couldn't possibly be good effects from teaching and believing erroneous things. Nichiren is quoted in "Reply to Sairenbo as saying:

"When I look at the situation in Japan, I find that the Devil of the Sixth Heaven has entered into the bodies of people of wisdom, transforming correct teachers into heretical teachers, and good teachers into bad teachers. This is what the sutra means when it says, 'Evil demons will take possession of others.'"³

But what I find fascinating is what he says next in the same Gosho:

Although I, Nichiren, am not a man of wisdom, the Devil of the Sixth Heaven has attempted to take possession of my body. But I have for some time been taking such great care that he now no longer comes near me. Therefore, because the power of the heavenly devil is ineffectual against me, he instead possesses the ruler and his high officials, or stupid priests such as Ryokan, and causes them to hate me.

Ryokan, was a priest who was trying to restore the Hinayana Precepts. His hypocrisy was obvious to those who were paying attention, but he seemed a wise and good priest until Nichiren, according to the lore, challenged him to a debate and won. Even though Nichiren won the debate, Ryokan refused to acknowledge that Nichiren had been right about anything and instead had him arrested. Nichiren is saying here, that Fundamental darkness was working on him, just as the rest of us, but that through his "taking such great care" of himself, his studies, teaching and practice, that Fundamental darkness didn't have a purchase on his heart. Since he criticized Ryokan, fundamental darkness appeared to be causing Ryokan to hate him. Indeed, the more that Nichiren investigated the literature, the more he realized that fundamental darkness was ruling the entire country. This was the genesis of his thesis about the "Three Powerful enemies" that informs his "Kaimoku Sho" and other writings such as "Repaying Debts of Gratitude" or "The Learned Doctor Shan Wu Wei".

Conclusion

President Harding at the onset of the Teapot Dome Scandal said:

"My enemies I can deal with. But it is my friends, my God Damned Friends who keep me pacing the floor at nights"²³.

The perpetrators of this scandal blamed the Courts for their downfall, but it really was only their own greed. We blame others for the conflict within our own organizations at our own risk.