AVANT PROPOS

With regard to the pronunciation of the names and other words that are not English throughout this book, the vowels should be pronounced as in Spanish, Italian, German or Latin. In other words a, e, i, o, u are read ah, ey, ee, or (the r is not trilled), oo. Long vowels are marked by a circumflex ^. The consonants are to be pronounced as in English. For typographical reasons as well as the convenience of the readers, the usual diacritic marks that accompany so many Sanskrit words and names have been entirely ignored. There are many ways of reading Chinese ideograms, whether it be the official language, Cantonese, Shanghai, Vietnamese or Korean. However since this book is dealing with the writings of a Japanese author and also because most people who follow the practice of the doctrine of Nichiren Daishônin are more familiar with the Japanese reading of Chinese names and technical terms mentioned in this text, I have given priority to the Japanese reading. Albeit in quite a number of instances the Chinese reading has been given after a name, either in brackets or in the glossary. For the romanization of Japanese names and words I have used the Hepburn system since it is the most used in newspapers and maps. For Chinese I have used the Hanyupinyin which is what the Chinese government now uses.

These translations are mainly concerned with ideas and not facts and are not intended to be an academic tour de force. Historical explanations and notes have been omitted or reduced to the minimum of indications in square brackets in the body of the text itself.

The source of these translations are a personal selection from the Nichiren Daishônin Goshô, Heisei Shimpen, edited by Taiseki-ji, 1994. The actual number of the page of each particular text is given after the indication Goshô Shimpen (New Edition of the Writings of Nichiren Daishônin).