29 December 2001, 12:00am IST
DAISAKU IKEDA.
A profound sense of disillusionment makes many people question whether the 20th century was really a period of advancement. while the remarkable progress in science and technology brought with it many blessings, the ceaseless occurrence of war and the unprecedented horrors of the age have cast an indelible shadow over any perceived achievements. when i reflect upon these issues, i am reminded of my discussions with linus pauling, with whom i shared a long-standing belief that we must make the 21st century a ‘century of life’. extending his support to this concept, pauling defined the current century as one, ‘‘in which greater attention will be paid to human beings and to their happiness and health’’. a careful examination of the list of the century’s advances will reveal that these were primarily material and physical. humanity’s spiritual life seems to have followed a one-way path of shrinkage and atrophy, becoming trapped in what buddhism refers to as the ‘lesser self’ — a state of isolation that results when the ties among people and between people, and the cosmos are severed. how can this historical trend be reversed to bring about a true century of life? this was the historical and civilisational challenge that pauling and i together felt compelled to address. two of the specific indices that come to mind are creative co- existence and the autonomous functioning of the inner will. both of these are extremely close in meaning to the key words ‘life’ and ‘dependent origination’. at the same time, both have been conspicuously absent from the spiritual life of the 20th century. all ideologies share the inherent fault, that they establish barriers of discrimination based on perceived differences. these are then treated as fixed and unchanging; one’s own superior standing is asserted, justifying the marginalisation and oppression of others. i think we must recognise that the present movement towards globalisation contains within it the danger of becoming yet another ideological battle. specifically, i am concerned that the inflexible application of so-called ‘global standards’ can cause the logic of conflict, exclusion and pressure to be brought to bear on those societies and parts of the world, that do not follow a particular model of development. more than enough warning signs have already emerged to temper the enthusiasm of the most dedicated proponents of globalisation. by this, i mean the shocking disparity of wealth between and within societies as well as the purely speculative, non-productive global movements of money that are sometimes referred to as ‘casino capitalism’. i believe that we must carefully attend to the dearly-bought lessons of ideological domination. we must replace unrestrained competition with an ethos of co-existence, the application of external pressure and force with the autonomous decisions of people and societies. i believe, we must uphold these new values as we advance steadily toward our long-term goal of making the 21st century truly a century of life. the buddhist teaching of dependent origination, which places ultimate emphasis on inter-relatedness and inter-dependence, is essentially synonymous with creative co-existence. further, in buddhism, the workings of life — the realm of genuine reality reached, when we see past the false trappings of language and the tendency to see things as fixed, unchanging entities — are described as ‘the moment-to-moment spontaneous issuing forth’. indeed, this phrase describes the essentially inner-motivated, autonomous nature of the vital force of life. dialogue has the power to restore and revitalise our shared humanity by setting free our innate capacity for good. it is an indispensable lodestone around, which people are united and trust is fostered. it was the failure to make dialogue the foundation of human society that unleashed the bitter tragedies of the 20th century. the year 2001 was designated as the ‘year of dialogue among civilisations’. we must spread the spirit of dialogue to make it the current and flow of the 21st century — a century of life. in this way, we can together create an era in which all people enjoy the fruits of peace and happiness, and celebrate their limitless dignity and potential. if these values can be made into the driving spirit of the age, we will be able to put behind us the nightmares of the 20th century, and realise a century of life and of peace, a peace that is much more than a mere interlude between wars.
(the writer is president of the soka gakkai international, an organisation working towards worldwide peace)
No comments:
Post a Comment