http://www.sgi-usa.org/buddhism/library/Nichiren/Gosho/TrueObjectWorship.htm

http://www.sgi-usa.org/buddhism/library/Nichiren/Gosho/bk_TrueObjectWorship.htm

1. Background and Toki Jonin, the recipient of this Gosho

The relationship of Nichiren Daishonin and Toki Jonin is a wonderful example of the mentor/disciple relationship. Toki Jonin protected the Daishonin and his followers and Nichiren Daishonin continued to teach Toki Jonin for 28 years. The Daishonin trusted Toki Jonin as can be seen through his letters.

The following is from The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism

Toki Jonin (1216-1299)

A lay follower of Nichiren who lived in Wakamiya, Katsushika District of Shimosa Province, Japan.

when he became a lay priest; later he was renamed Nichijoby his teacher, Nichiren.

He was also known as the lay priest Toki. He served as a retainer to Lord Chiba.

According to one account, he lost his wife and married Myojo, adopting her son who in 1267 became a disciple of Nichiren and took the name Nitcho. Nitcho was later designated one of the six senior priests by Nichiren.

Toki had a son and a daughter by Myojo. That son, Nitcho (written with different Chinese characters than the name of the adopted son), was appointed the first chief instructor of Omosu Seminary by Nikko, Nichiren's successor.

Toki became Nichiren's follower around 1254, the year after Nichiren first declared his teaching at Seicho-ji.

He was a man of considerable erudition, and Nichiren entrusted him with a number of his more important works including The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind, one of his five major writings.

In addition to The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind, Toki Jonin received many treatises and letters from Nichiren, including On Taking the Essence of the Lotus Sutra, On the Four Stages of Faith and the Five Stages of Practice, Letter from Sado, and A Sage Perceives the Three Existences of Life.

The Goshos listed here were written to Toki Jonin. The following material is from www.sgi-usa.org from the background on the Goshos and other sources.

On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime On Attaining Buddhahood in This Lifetime focuses most clearly on the tenets of the Daishonin's Buddhism; many of the other works of this period are aimed chiefly at refuting the erroneous doctrines of other schools and discussing theoretical questions. (p. 3 - 4) ?/?/1255

In 1260, after the Matsubagayatsu Persecution, the Daishonin had left Kamakura to stay at Toki Jonin's residence in Katsushika District of Shimosa Province. Here the Daishonin delivered the so-called hundred-day lecture at the Lotus hall built on Toki Jonin's estate.

In 1268 Nichiren sent eleven letters of remonstration to influential political and religious leaders, including the regent Hojo Tokimune, and demanded an opportunity to defend his teaching in a public religious debate. The following year, Toki Jonin was summoned to the Office of Legal Affairs of the Kamakura shogunate for questioning together with Ota Jomyoand Shijo Kingo, who were also Nichiren's disciples. Nichiren sent a letter instructing them on how to behave at the place of questioning.

While Nichiren was in exile on Sado from 1271 through 1274, Toki Jonin, with Shijo Kingo, served as a rallying point for his followers. In 1279, when Nisshu and Nichiben, former Tendai priests who had converted to Nichiren's teaching, had to flee the Fuji area in the aftermath of the Atsuhara Persecution,

Letter from Echi Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter immediately following the Tatsunokuchi Persecution(9/13) (p. 194) 9/14/1271

Ota Jomyo (1222-1283) Also known as Ota Kingo, the lay priest Ota, or Ota Saemon-no-jo. A follower of Nichiren who lived in Nakayama of Shimosa Province, Japan. His full name and title were Ota GoroSaemon-no-joJomyo. From the content of a letter sent to him by Nichiren, it appears that he and Nichiren were the same age. He was an official employed in the Office of Legal Affairs of the Kamakura shogunate and converted to Nichiren's teachings by Toki Jonin. With Toki Jonin and Soya Kyoshin, he was a pillar among the believers of Shimosa Province. ON CURING KARMIC DISEASE Background - This letter is a reply to Ota Jomyo’s report that he was suffering from a skin disease.

Letter from Teradomari On the way to exile on Sado they were forced to stop for several days at a harbor called Teradomari in Echigo and wait for the winds to abate before crossing to Sado Island. The day after arriving at Teradomari, the Daishonin wrote this letter and entrusted it to a lay priest whom Toki Jonin had sent to accompany him. The community of believers in Kamakura had been badly shaken by the events of the Tatsunokuchi Persecution and the Sado Exile, and many among the Daishonin's disciples and lay supporters succumbed to government pressures and gave up their faith, or began to have doubts when they saw the Daishonin persecuted. This letter is the first of the writings he wrote during his exile in order to help his followers dispel their doubts and persevere in faith.. (p. 206 - 210) 10/22/1271

Aspiration for the Buddha Land On the twentyeighth day of the tenth month, 1271, Nichiren Daishonin arrived at Sado Island. On the first day of the eleventh month, he was taken to Tsukahara, a desolate field used as a graveyard that was to be his dwelling place on Sado. He was given as lodging a small dilapidated shrine called Sammaido. Wind and snow blew in through gaping holes in its walls and roof. Perhaps because of the severe lack of food and shelter, the Daishonin soon sent back to the mainland some of the priests who had accompanied him. Just before their departure, he wrote this letter and entrusted it to them for his staunch follower Toki Jonin. It is believed to be the first letter he wrote from Sado Island. While the Daishonin was in exile on Sado, he relied on Toki to convey messages of encouragement to believers in the Shimosa area. This particular letter indicates that he had also asked Toki to look after his books and papers during his absence. .... In the last few lines of the letter, the Daishonin explains that, since life in this world is transient, one should dedicate oneself to the Law. Rather than fleeting satisfactions, one's ultimate goal should be to attain "the Buddha land," or enlightenment that state of boundless joy in which one realizes the eternal truth within one's life. (p. 213 - 214) 11/23/1271

Letter from Sado This letter was written on the twentieth day of the third month, 1272, some five months after Nichiren Daishonin had arrived on the island of Sado to begin his exile there. He addressed it to Toki Jonin, Shijo Kingo in Kamakura, and to other staunch followers. ...After a delay there caused by bad weather, the Daishonin finally arrived on Sado on the twentyeighth day of the tenth month. Nichiren Daishonin was housed at first in a dilapidated structure known as Sammaido, where he lived exposed to the wind and snow that blew in through gaps in the roof and walls. After five months he was able to move to more comfortable quarters at Ichinosawa. The Daishonin engaged in debates with Pure Land and other priests and actively propagated his own teachings. ________ From end of letter Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. Nichiren The twentieth day of the third month in the ninth year of Bun'ei (1272), cyclical sign mizunoesaru To Nichiren's disciples and lay supporters. There is very little writing paper here in the province of Sado, and to write to you individually would take too long. Nevertheless, if even one person fails to hear from me, it will cause resentment. Therefore, I want people with seeking minds to meet and read this letter together for encouragement. When great trouble occurs in the world, minor troubles become insignificant. I do not know how accurate the reports reaching me are, but there must surely be intense grieving over those killed in the recent battles. What has become of the lay priests Izawa and Sakabe? Send me news of Kawanobe, Yamashiro, Tokugyoji, and the others. Also, please be kind enough to send me The Essentials of Government in the Chenkuan Era, the collection of tales from the non-Buddhist classics, and the record of the teachings transmitted within the eight schools. Without these, I cannot even write letters. (p. 301 - 306) 3/20/1272

The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind Established in the Fifth Five-Hundred-Year Period after the Thus Come One's Passing (p. 354 - 377) 4/25/1273

The Votary of the Lotus Sutra Will Meet Persecution Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter on Sado in 1274 to all his priest disciples and lay followers, including Toki Jonin and Saburo Saemon-no-jo (Shijo Kingo). Although the government issued a pardon a month later, the Daishonin was still being treated as a criminal, a fact evident from the orders issued by Hojo Nobutoki, the constable of Sado, quoted toward the end of this letter. The postscript to this letter contains an early reference to the Three Great Secret Laws the object of devotion, the sanctuary, and the invocation or daimoku of the essential teaching. (p. 447 - 449) 1/14/1274

A Sage Perceives the Three Existences of Life Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter at Minobu and sent it to Toki Jonin. He received dozens of letters from the Daishonin, many of which contain significant revelations about teachings. (p. 641 - 642) ?/?/1275

The Problem to Be Pondered Night and Day This letter was written to Toki Jonin. In it Nichiren Daishonin stresses the extreme seriousness of the offense of slander and also the importance of embracing the supreme Buddhist teaching. The letter is dated simply the twenty-third day of the eighth month, and though it is generally thought to have been written in the first year of Kenji (1275) at Minobu, no firm conclusion has been reached in this regard. Other opinions are that the Daishonin wrote it in 1276 or even in 1273 while he was still on Sado Island. In the Daishonin's teaching, rather than adherence to a specific code of conduct, one's fundamental posture toward the Mystic Law, or ultimate reality, determines one's happiness or unhappiness in life. ... "You had better cut short your sleep by night and curtail your leisure by day, and ponder this!" This passage, from which the letter takes its name, suggests that the most important task of our human existence is to seek out and uphold the correct teaching leading to enlightenment (p. 620 - 622) 8/23/1275

On the Four Stages of Faith and the Five Stages of Practice This work is one of Nichiren Daishonin's ten major writings. It is thought to have been written on the tenth day of the fourth month in the third year of Kenji (1277). In the previous month, Toki Jonin, one of the Daishonin's most learned and devout disciples, had sent him a letter via Nissho, one of the six senior priests. Toki had expressed concern about how he might carry out a correct practice and appended a list of specific questions. This work is the Daishonin's reply. In it he stresses that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with faith in the Mystic Law is the correct practice for the Latter Day of the Law and contains the merit of all other practices within it, leading directly to Buddhahood. (p. 783 - 790) 4/10/1277

The Third Doctrine This letter was written at Minobu to Toki Jonin, a leading figure among the believers in Shimosa Province, in response to Toki's report of his encounter in debate with Ryosho-bo, a prominent local priest of the Tendai school. In his reply, the Daishonin comments on the points raised in the debate and provides additional clarification for future reference. Evidently, Toki had gained an unexpected advantage in the debate when his opponent proved himself ignorant of a passage in Miao-lo's Annotations on "The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra" to the effect that one cannot attain true liberation through the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings. (p. 854 - 856) 10/1/1277

The Treatment of Illness This letter was originally thought to have been written in 1282, but it now seems more likely that it was 1278. The month and the day of the letter is exactly the same as that on a letter written to Saemon, commonly known as Shijo Kingo, which may very well be the letter mentioned in the first paragraph. This letter was a reply to Toki Jonin, who had anxiously written about the rampant epidemic. In the Latter Day of the Law, he says, evil demons prevail, attacking the votaries of the Lotus Sutra. "One would therefore expect," the Daishonin tells Toki Jonin, "to find more victims of the epidemic among Nichiren's followers than among" the believers of the other schools. "However," he adds, "there is less affliction and death among Nichiren's followers." In closing, the Daishonin points to the way to end the epidemic. The only way to do so is to demonstrate clearly that "this teaching" of Nam-myohorenge-kyo is supreme. By this, he means participating in and winning public debate on the relative superiority of the Buddha's teachings. Then he clarifies the difference between the three thousand realms in a single moment of life expounded by T'ien-t'ai and Dengyo and what he himself expounds. He identifies this doctrine as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. (p. 1111 - 1115) 6/26/1278

On Establishing the Four Bodhisattvas as the Object of Devotion The first part of this letter deals with a question Toki Jonin had asked about when the object of devotion composed of Shakyamuni Buddha who attained enlightenment in the remote past, flanked by the four bodhisattvas, would be established. The Daishonin had referred to this object of devotion in The Object of Devotion for Observing the Mind, which he had addressed and sent to Toki in the fourth month of 1273. (p. 976 - 978) 5/17/1279

In 1279, when Nisshu and Nichiben, former Tendai priests who had converted to Nichiren's teaching, had to flee the Fuji area in the aftermath of the Atsuhara Persecution, Toki Jonin and his wife, Myojo, also known as the lay nun Toki, protected them.

A Comparison of the Lotus and Other Sutras Nichiren Daishonin explains to Toki the meaning of the passage from the "Teacher of the Law" chapter of the Lotus Sutra that describes the sutra as "the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand." (p. 1037 - 1039) 5/26/1280

2. Meaning of the Title

http://www.sgi-usa.org/buddhism/library/sgdb/lexicon.cgi?tid=1639

http://www.sgi-usa.org/buddhism/library/SokaGakkai/Study/SelLectGosho/Object01.htm