Seven disasters
seven disasters
七難 (Jpn shichi-nan )
Disasters said to be caused by slander of the correct Buddhist teaching. In the Benevolent Kings Sutra, they are:
(1) extraordinary changes of the sun and moon,
(2) extraordinary changes of the stars and planets,
(3) fires,
(4) unseasonable floods,
(5) storms,
(6) drought, and
(7) war, including enemy attacks from without and rebellion from within.
The Medicine Master Sutra defines the seven disasters as:
(1) pestilence,
(2) foreign invasion,
(3) internal strife,
(4) extraordinary changes in the heavens,
(5) solar and lunar eclipses,
(6) unseasonable storms, and
(7) drought.
The seven disasters are often cited together with the three calamities in Nichiren's works as "the three calamities and seven disasters." The "Perceiver of the World's Sounds" (twenty-fifth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra also lists seven disasters from which people can be saved by the power of Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World's Sounds:
(1) fire,
(2) flood,
(3) rakshasa demons,
(4) attack by swords and staves,
(5) attack by yaksha and other demons,
(6) imprisonment, and
(7) attack by bandits.
See also; three calamities.
