1
You have written a letter to me concerning Iya, the serving woman. There is still no place for her to live, and she is undergoing much hardship; it is indeed a pity. I cannot manage to find a solution, and do not know what to do.
Respectfully.
Third month, 28th day
To: Ogozen
Shinran
[written seal]
2
I have carefully read your letter of the first day of the intercalary tenth month. I am truly sad to hear about Kakunen-bo. I had expected that I would go first [to the Pure Land], but I have been left behind; it is unutterably saddening. Kakushin-bo, who left us last year, has certainly gone [to the Pure Land] and is awaiting us there. Needless to say, I will surely meet him there; it is beyond words. Kakunen-bo's words did not differ at all from what I have said, so we will certainly go to the same place [the Pure Land]. If I am still alive in the tenth month of next year, it will undoubtedly be possible to meet again in this world. Since your mind of entrusting also does not differ at all from my own, even if I go first, I will await you in the Pure Land.
I wish to acknowledge the gifts from the people there. As long as I am alive, I will continue to write you about everything, and hope to hear from you. It is especially moving to receive this letter of yours. I express this poorly; my words are inadequate. I shall write again without fail.
Respectfully.
Intercalary tenth month, 29th day [1259]
Shinran
[written seal]
Reply to the Lay-monk of Takada
3
Please show this letter to the people of Hitachi. There has been no change. Since nothing would be more effective than this letter, if you show it to the people there, they will come to share the same feelings.
Respectfully.
Eleventh month, 11th day
To: The Mother of Imagozen
[written seal]
4
The mother of Imagozen has no one to depend on; if I had property, I would bequeath it to her. I am sure that after my death the people there will deeply sympathize with her. Since I rely on the people of Hitachi to whom I write, I am asking you all to treat her with compassion. Please heed this letter. Concerning Sokusho-bo also, since he has no means of livelihood, I cannot ask him to take care of her. Regarding this matter, I feel equally powerless and distressed about both of them. I am not asking Sokusho-bo to help her. It is the people of Hitachi who must show compassion for these two. With sympathy, the people there should feel concern for them. On reading this letter, the people should share the same feelings.
Respectfully.
Eleventh month, 12th day
To: The People of Hitachi
Zenshin
[written seal]
To: The People of Hitachi
[written seal]
5
Enbutsu-bo is returning from Kyoto. Because of his deep aspiration, he came here without informing his master. Bearing this in mind, please speak to his master. On the night of the tenth, there was a fire. Enbutsu-bo did well in managing to come and visit. His aspiration is wonderful. He will certainly speak of these events; please hear about them from him. I am extremely busy, and cannot write fully of all the various matters.
Respectfully.
Twelfth month, 15th day
To: Shinbutsu-bo
[written seal]
6
I have heard in detail what you have been saying. It is above all incomprehensible that someone called Aimin-bo has been saying that he has received a letter from [me in] Kyoto. To say that he has gotten a letter from me, although I have never met such a person, never received a letter from him, and never communicated with him, is appalling.
Further, I have never heard and do not know such statements concerning the teaching as you are making or even the terminology you use. Nevertheless, you have been telling others that I taught them to you privately one night, and so, concerning me also, the people of Hitachi and Shimotsuke are all saying that I have lied to them. Therefore, there shall no longer exist parental relations with you.
Further, it is inexpressibly shocking that you are making groundless accusations about your mother, the lay-nun. The woman of Mibu came bringing a letter that she said she received from you; she left the letter here. I have this letter of yours. In this letter as it stands, it is written that you have been deceived by your "stepmother"; it is indeed deplorable. It is a shocking falsehood to say, while she is still alive, that your mother - whom you call "stepmother" - has been deceiving you.
Further, in the letter to the woman of Mibu you make statements about your birth without knowing anything about it; these are utterly incomprehensible falsehoods. I lament this deplorable matter.
It is distressing that you have spoken such lies and that you have petitioned the Rokuhara and Kamakura magistrates concerning them. Falsehoods of this kind are worldly matters and thus may be dismissed as such. Even so, telling lies is wretched, and how much more grievous is it to mislead others regarding the great concern of birth in the land of bliss, casting the people of the nembutsu in Hitachi and Shimotsuke into confusion, and to make groundless accusations about your father.
I have heard that you likened the Eighteenth Primal Vow to a withered flower, so that all the people have abandoned it. This is truly the offense of slandering the dharma. Further, to favor the five grave offenses and to harm people by misleading them is lamentable.
The offense here of disrupting the sangha is one of the five grave offenses. To make groundless accusations about me is to murder your father; it is among the five grave offenses. I cannot fully express my grief at hearing these things. Hence, from now on there shall no longer exist parental relations with you; I cease to consider you my son. I declare this resolutely to the three treasures and the gods. It is a sorrowful thing. It rends my heart to hear that you have devoted yourself to misleading all the people of the nembutsu in Hitachi, saying that [what they have been taught] is not my true teaching. Rumors have reached as far as Kamakura that I have instructed you to denounce the people in Hitachi who say the nembutsu. It is deeply deplorable.
Fifth month, 29th day
[written seal]
Reply to Jishin-bo
Arrived: Sixth month, 27th day
Copied for reference: Kencho 8 [1256], sixth month, 27th day
Copied: Kagen 3 [1305], seventh month, 27th day
1997 copyright Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha
