A speculative short story of Nichiren, his exile on Sado Island, and the disciple who found him in the snow.

In the winter of 1272, the Buddhist teacher Nichiren was banished to a ruined death-hall at Tsukahara on Sado, left to freeze among the graves. This is the story of that winter, told through the eyes of Sairen-bo, the Tendai monk who became his disciple and, across the years of letters that followed, his friend. From the aborted execution at Tatsunokuchi to the meeting at the Tsukahara debate, from the heritage of birth and death to the true aspect of all phenomena, it is a meditation on awakening, friendship, and the practice of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, and on how a starving man in a graveyard could call himself the richest man in Japan and mean it.

A work of fiction grounded in the historical record, from Reflections in the Pond at twobuddhas.org. Written by Nichiryu Mark Herrick.