Background

This is one of the many letters Nichiren Daishonin wrote to Shijō Kingo, his loyal disciple in Kamakura. Because of Kingo’s devotion to the Daishonin’s teachings, he was ordered in 1276 to move from his estate near Kamakura to the distant province of Echigo. The letter is not dated, but it is known to have been written in the third year of Kenji (1277).

The concept of the “eight winds” is described in works such as The Treatise on the Stage of Buddhahood Sutra. They advise people not to be swayed by their attachment to prosperity, honor, praise, or pleasure (the four favorable winds), or by their aversion to decline, disgrace, censure, or suffering (the four adverse winds).

The Daishonin cautions Kingo to remain in the good graces of his lord, reminding him that Lord Ema refrained from harassing him during the Daishonin’s exile to Sado, when the government was persecuting the Daishonin and his followers. Then the Daishonin tells Kingo that only by putting faith first and controlling his feelings of resentment against his lord can he expect to find a way out of this impasse. He also says that courts of lawand other expedients are secondary to faith and that, if Kingo is to win, he must proceed exactly as the Daishonin teaches.

https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/wnd-1/Content/95