Reply to Lord Ueno

上野殿御返事

鵞目一貫文送給了。御心ざしの候へば申候ぞ。よく（慾）ふかき御房とおぼしめす事なかれ。

I have received your offering of one string of eyelet coins. Because you are so kindhearted, I want to tell you something. Please do not think of me as a greedy monk.

佛にやすくとなる事の候ぞ。をしへまいらせ候はん。人のものををしふると車は、車のおも（重）けれども油をぬればまわり、ふね（船）を水にうかべてゆきやすきゃうにをしへ候なり。佛になりやすき事は別のやう候はず。旱魃にかわ（渴）けるものに水をあたへ、寒氷にこごへ（凍）たるものに火をあたふるがごとし。又、二なき物を人にあたへ、命のたゆるに人のせ（施）にあふがごとし。

It is an easy thing to become a buddha. Let me teach it to you. To teach something to another is like oiling the wheels when a wagon is too heavy to move or to use a boat to travel over water. Therefore, the matter of becoming a buddha is no different. It is to give water to the drought-stricken or to provide fire to those chilled to the bone. Also, it is to give something irreplaceable to another person, saving the life of another by providing them with what they need even as you are dying from lack of it.

金色王と申せし王は其國に十二年の大旱魃あて、萬民飢死ぬ事かずをしらず。河には死人をはし（橋）とし、陸にはがいこつ（骸骨）をつか（塚）とせり。

In the past there was a king in India called King Golden. His kingdom was plagued by twelve years of drought and countless people died of starvation as a result. In the river, the corpses formed a bridge, while on land the skeletons piled up like burial mounds.

其時、金色大王、大菩提心ををこしておほきに施をほどこし絵き。せすべき物みなつきて、藏の中にただ米玉升ばかりのこれり。大王の一日の御くご（供御）なりと、臣下申せしかば、大王五升の米をとり出で、一切の飢たるものに、或は一りう（粒）二りう、或は三りう四りうなんど、あまねくあたへさせ絵てのち、天に向せ給て、朕は一切衆生のけかちの苦にかはりてうえじに候ぞ、とこえをあげてよばはらせ給しかば、天きこしめして甘露の雨を須臾に下給き。この雨を手にふれ、かを（顔）にかかりし人、皆食にあきみちて、一國の萬民、せちな（刹那）のほどに命よみがへりて候けり。

At that time, the Great King Golden, with the great awakening mind performed an expansive almsgiving campaign. Everything that could be given was given except for five measures [about nine liters] of rice in the warehouse. One of the retainers said, “There is only a single day’s meal for the great king.” The great king took out the five measures of rice to be distributed among the hungry, one or two grains or three or four grains each. After this, the king turned to the heavens and declared, “I am willing to die of hunger in place of all the people suffering from the famine.” Hearing this, the heavens immediately opened and a rain of amrita (the nectar of immortality) fell. Those who felt this rain upon their hands or their faces had their hunger assuaged, and all the people in the kingdom were revived in an instant.

月氏國にす（須）達長者と申せし者は、七度貧になり、七度長者となりて候しが、最後の貧の時は萬民皆にげ（逃）うせ、死をはりて、ただめおとこ（夫婦）二人にて候し時、五升の米あり。五日のかつて（糧）とあて候し時、迦葉·合利弗·阿難·羅睺羅·釋迦佛五人、次第に入せ給て、五升の米こひとらせ絵き。其日より五天竺第一の長者となりて、祇園精舎をばっくりて候ぞ。

In India, there was a wealthy man named Sudatta who experienced poverty seven times and also experienced becoming wealthy seven times. When he was stricken with poverty for the last time, all the people around him fled or died, leaving only Sudatta and his wife. The couple had five measures of rice left, only enough food for five days. At that time,  five people - Mahakashyapa, Shariputra, Ananda, Rahula, and Shakyamuni Buddha - visited them one by one for alms food. Sudatta offered all five measures of rice to them. From that day on Sudatta became the wealthiest person in the five regions of India. In the end, he was able to build the Jeta Grove Monastery.

これをもてよろづを心へ（得）させ給へ。貴邊はすでに法華經の行者に似させ給へる事、さる（猨）の人に似、もちる（餅）の月に似たるがごとし。あつはら（熱原）のものどものかくをしませ給へる事は、承平の將門、天喜の貞任のやうに、此國のものどもはおもひて候ぞ。これひとへに法華經に命をすつるゆへ也。またく主君にそむく人とは、天御覽あらじ。其上わづかの小郷にをほくの公事せめにあてられて、わが身はのるべき馬なし、妻子はひきかくべき衣なし。か~る身なれども、法華経の行者の山中の雪にせめられ、食ともしかるらんとおもひやらせ給て、ぜに一貫をく（送）らせ給へるは、貧女がめおとこ二人して一の衣をきたりしを乞食にあたへ、りだ（利吒）が合子の中なりしひえ（稗）を、辟支佛にあたへたりしがごとし。たうとしく。くはしくは又々申べし。恐々謹言。

Let this be the basis for your understanding of all other things. You already resemble a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra just as a monkey resembles a human being or a piece of rice cake resembles the full moon. Because of the incident in Atsuwara, people consider you a traitor like Taira no Masakado of the Shohei Period or Abe no Sadato of the Tenki Period. However, you simply dedicated your life to the Lotus Sutra. Heaven will never consider you to be a traitor to your lord. Moreover, your small village has been forced to bear a heavy burden of public works, so you do not even have a horse to ride, while your wife and children do not have enough clothing.

か~る身なれども、法華経の行者の山中の雪にせめられ、食ともしかるらんとおもひやらせ給て、ぜに一貫をく（送）らせ給へるは、貧女がめおとこ二人して一の衣をきたりしを乞食にあたへ、りだ（利吒）が合子の中なりしひえ（稗）を、辟支佛にあたへたりしがごとし。たうとしく。くはしくは又々申べし。恐々謹言。

Yet under such difficult circumstances, you sympathized with the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra assaulted by snow in the mountains, and in need of food. You kindly sent one kammon of coins to me. Your offering is like that of the poor woman who gave the only garment she and her husband wore to a monk begging for alms, , or Arita who gave a small amount of barnyard millet in a rice bowl to a privately-awakened one. It is valuable indeed. Allow me to write to you in detail later.

恐々謹言。

十二月二十七日

日蓮花押

Sincerely yours,

27th day of the 12th month

Nichiren (signature)

Lord Ueno in Response