close of that period there comes the "great rain of divine flowers," and the ray of light travels from S'akyamuni eastward. The first "Millennium," the period of the Upright Law (Sho Ho), was over, the activities of As'vaghosha and Nagarjuna represent a kind of Pentecostal shower of Buddhist revival, and Buddhism travels to China. When the Lord awakes from his trance, he explains the meaning of the shower and ray. The wheel of the Law is to receive a fresh turn, a higher form of Buddhism is to be preached, and the idea of the twofold Vehicle of Salvation is enforced by many parables. The early Apostles of Buddhism, Kas'yapa, Ananda, Rahula, etc., whose labours had kept Buddhism alive during the first Millennium of its existence, are praised and thanked, and the reward prepared for them is announced. A number of discontented monks leave the assembly in anger on hearing of the impending changes in Buddhist doctrine (Nichiren explains this as referring to the discontented Hinayanists who opposed the Mahayana at its first inception), but eighty thousand remain faithful, and S'akyamuni turns to Bhaishajyaraja (Jap. Yaku-O) as the representative of the new order of preachers. The period of Image Law (zo ho) has begun; a stupa, or

tabernacle, descending out of Heaven, reveals to the worshipping multitude the image of S'akyamuni fusing itself into that of his predecessor, whom the Japanese know as Taho Butsu; and crowds of smaller Buddhas, partial manifestations (bunshin) of S'akyamuni the One and Eternal, sit on lotus-thrones around the throne. The great preachers of the New Law are the Bodhisattvas, Manjus'ri, Avalokites'vara, Yakuo, etc., whom Nichiren treats as having been historical personages, and the work before them is to prepare for the third Millennium, the Period of the Destruction of the Law (Mappo), which Nichiren places about the middle of the eleventh century A.D. Thanks to Chisha Daishi, Dengyo, and other labourers in the field of the Mahayana, the true meaning of S'akyamuni's teaching was gradually being brought out during the whole of this second period. The author of the Hokekyo had spoken of it as the period of the "Destruction of the Upright Law;" with the Mongol terror lying thick and gloomy over two continents, the phrase must have been a significant one.

But Nichiren had a word of comfort for this period of gloom. In chap. xiv. of the "Saddharma pundarika"