二十一日拝読御文『王日殿御返事』
「昔の得勝童子は沙の餅を仏に供養し奉りて、阿育大王と生まれて一閻浮提の主たりき。貧女の我がかしらをおろして油と成せしが、須弥山を吹きぬきし風も此の火をけさず。されば此の二三の鵞目は、日本国を知る人の国を寄せ、七宝の塔を忉利天にくみあげたらんにもすぐるべし」（御書1545-6ページ）
御供養についての有名な一節です。徳勝童子の砂の餅、貧女の一灯の逸話が記されております。
御供養において、まず大切なことは、最勝の法に対して捧げるべきものであって、法が低次元なものであったり、あるいは悟りも得ていない煩悩まみれの個人や組織（新興宗教教祖教団はすべてこれにあたる）への金品の提供は、悪業のもととなるということです。
賽銭箱に金を投げ入れる、宗教的な土産ものを金銭で買うなども、悪業のもとですからやめましょう。それは衆生救済などするつもりもない宗教ビジネスを跋扈させるという社会悪に通ずるからです。御供養は最勝の法に対して捧げることが大切です。それが法界の浄化にもつながるからです。
そして、最勝の法への御供養は、金銭の多寡ではなく、志の有無が肝心です。金銭的価値が些少でも深い志で御供養すれば甚大なる功徳を賜る。その例が、砂の餅、貧女の一灯の教訓であります。
一方、巨額の供養をしても、志が希薄では功徳もまた希薄です。信仰姿勢を糺されて、「じゃあ、あの供養を返せ」と返還訴訟を起こすという創価学会などが悪き例です。最初から志が希薄であったということです。後日の果報が劣悪なものであることは最早紛れもありません。
また、御供養には財の供養に加えて、身の供養、法の供養がございます。文底下種の仏様を讃嘆することは法の供養に通じます。勤行唱題も声を通じての法供養であり、一文一句を語る下種折伏も、同志への激励も法供養のひとつと捉えて、日々、励んで参りましょう。
『妙密上人御消息』にいわく「法華経の功徳はほむれば弥功徳まさる。二十八品は正しき事はわずかなり。讃むる言葉こそ多く候へと思し食すべし」（御書969頁）と。
研鑽メモ：https://ameblo.jp/9thconsciousness/entry-12890386154.html...
On our Gosho passage for today (the 21st): Reply to Onichi (Onichi dono-gohenji)
“In the past, the boy Tokushō offered a mud pie to the Buddha and was reborn as King Ashoka, becoming the ruler of the entire continent of Jambudvīpa. The poor woman shaved her own head to make oil [for a lamp], and even the wind that blows across Mount Sumeru could not extinguish that flame. Therefore, these two or three coins [offered with sincerity] surpass even if Japan’s sovereign donating a country or building a stupa of the seven treasures reaching up to the Heaven of Trayastriṃśa.” (Gosho, pp. 1545-6)
This is a well-known passage on offerings. It records the parables of Tokushō boy’s sand cakes and the poor woman’s single lamp.
In making offerings, the most important principle is that they should be dedicated to the supreme Law. Offering money or goods to a low-level teaching, or to an individual or organization stained with earthly desires and without enlightenment (this applies to all founders and sects of new religions), becomes the cause of evil karma.
Putting money into a donation box or buying religious souvenirs with cash also creates evil karma, so we should stop such practices. They contribute to the social evil of allowing religious businesses that have no intention of saving living beings to flourish unchecked. What is crucial in offerings is to dedicate them to the supreme Law. This leads to the purification of the Law realm.
Moreover, when offering to the supreme Law, the amount of money is not what matters; the presence or absence of true aspiration (志) is the key. Even if the monetary value is small, if offered with deep aspiration, one receives immense merit (功徳). The lessons of the sand cakes and the poor woman’s single lamp illustrate this.
On the other hand, even enormous offerings, if made with shallow aspiration, yield only shallow merit. A bad example is the Soka Gakkai, which, when questioned about their faith, demands the return of past offerings through lawsuits. This shows that their aspiration was shallow from the beginning. It is beyond doubt that the future retribution will be inferior and evil.
In addition to offerings of wealth (財の供養), there are offerings of body (身の供養) and offerings of the Law (法の供養). Praising the Buddha who plants the seeds verbally corresponds to offerings of the Law. Practing Gongyō and chanting Daimoku is an offering of the Law through one’s voice. Speaking even a single phrase or sentence to plant seeds, encouraging fellow practitioners—all these are forms of offerings of the Law. Let us strive diligently in them day by day.
As stated in “Myōmitsu shōnin go shōsoku” (Message to Venerable Myōmitsu): “The merit of the Lotus Sutra increases all the more when praised. The twenty-eight chapters contain only a few passages of direct truth, but there are many words of praise.” (Gosho, p. 969)