Folks often confuse the doctrine of karma with fatalism, as if karma is unchangeable and as though folks who accept karma are ‘blaming the victim’ for their misfortunes. This isn’t actually what karma really says. Nichiren is specifically addressing a woman questioner, here (bearing in mind the culture of Japan in the middle ages, this is an amazingly egalitarian perspective), but it applies to everyone.
In this age, it is as natural for a woman to change her fixed karma by practicing the Lotus Sutra as it is for rice to ripen in fall or chrysanthemums to bloom in winter. When I prayed for my mother, not only was her illness cured, but her life was prolonged by four years. Now you too have fallen ill, and as a woman, it is all the more timely for you to establish steadfast faith in the Lotus Sutra and see what it will do for you.
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, page 955
On Prolonging One’s Life Span
Written to the lay nun Myojo in 1279
http://www.sgi-usa.org/encouragement/dw.php?m=11&d=19&y=2011
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