ALTHOUGH the sun and moon should fall to the ground and Mount Sumeru crumble, there can be no doubt that this woman will attain Buddhahood. It is certain, absolutely certain!
I have received the various items that you sent—one to of dried rice, the bamboo container of aged sake, the rice dumplings wrapped in leaves, the green-wheat cake,1 and the bamboo shoots.
No one who offers the flowers of the field or the incense of tree bark to the Buddha can fail to reach Eagle Peak. And how much truer is this of someone who offers white rice grown with bone-breaking labor by the people, or aged sake, which is like blood wrung from those who brew it. Could there be the slightest doubt that a woman who offers these things to the Buddha and the Lotus Sutra will gain Buddhahood and attain the way?
Nichiren
The first day of the fifth month
Reply to the lay nun Myōhō
Background
This letter is entitled Reply to Matsuno, but at the end the addressee is noted as the lay nun Myōhō. Matsuno refers either to the lay priest Matsuno Rokurō Saemon or to his son, and the lay nun Myōhō is thought to have been related to the Matsuno family. This letter is generally believed to have been written in 1278.
Compared with the benefit of offering easily obtained items to the Buddha, the Daishonin says, how much greater will be the benefit of offering painstakingly produced items such as rice and sake to the Buddha and the Lotus Sutra. He concludes that a woman who makes such offerings will never fail to attain Buddhahood.
Note
1. Confection made of unripe ears of wheat, which are roasted, ground in a stone mill, and then kneaded into thin sticks.