Radicalism Reconsidered

Discipline and Dialogue

To be worthy of the name dialogue, our efforts for dialogue’s sake must be carried through to the end. To refuse peaceful exchange and choose force is to compromise and give in to human weakness; it is to admit the defeat of the human spirit. Socrates encourages his youthful disciples to train and strengthen themselves spiritually, to maintain hope and self-control, to advance courageously choosing virtue over material wealth, truth over fame. …

Incidentally, Shakyamuni, who is often mentioned with Socrates as one of the world’s great teachers, spent the last moments of his life exhorting his grieving disciples to engage him in dialogue. To the very end he, also, continued to urge them to question him on any subject, as one friend to another. …

Character and Human Wholeness

Almost contemporaneous with the establishment of Claremont McKenna College, my mentor in life and second president of the Soka Gakkai, Josei Toda, emerged from a two-year imprisonment imposed by the forces of Japanese militarism to initiate a new humanistic movement in Japan. In his efforts, he always focused on raising people of character, one person at a time, from among the populace. I have many fond memories of this compassionate man, whose love for youth knew no bounds and who encouraged us to be great actors on the stage of life. Indeed, the power of character is like the concentrated energy of an actor who has given himself or herself entirely over to the performance. A person of outstanding character will always, even under the most difficult circumstances, retain an air of composure, ease and even humor, like an accomplished actor playing a part. This is nothing other than the achievement of self-mastery or self-control. …

One of the central teachings of Buddhist philosophy bears directly on the question of character formation. Buddhism classifies the states of life that constitute human experience into ten worlds or realms. …

Within each of these ten states or worlds is likewise to be found the full spectrum of the Ten Worlds. In other words, the state of hell contains within it every state from hell to Buddhahood. In the Buddhist view, life is never static but is in constant flux, effecting a dynamic, moment-by-moment transformation among the states. The most critical point, then, is which of these ten states, as they exist in the vibrant flow of life, forms the basis for our own lives? Buddhism offers a way of life centered on the highest states, those of bodhisattvas and Buddhahood, as an ideal of human existence. Emotions—joy and sorrow, pleasure and anger—are of course the threads from which life’s fabric is woven, and we continue to experience the full span of the Ten Worlds. These experiences, however, can be shaped and directed by the pure and indestructible states of bodhisattvas and Buddhahood. Nichiren Daishonin, whose Buddhist teaching is the basis of our SGI organization, did more than merely preach this doctrine; he lived it, providing a remarkable model for the future. When, for example, he was about to be executed by the iniquitous authorities of the time, he reproached his lamenting disciples saying, “What greater joy could there be?” (“The Actions of the Votary of the Lotus Sutra,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 767). After overcoming the greatest trial of his life, he even had sake brought for the soldiers who had been escorting him to his execution.

Because of these qualities, I am confident that Buddhism can deeply affect the formation of character, which is the key to the restoration of human wholeness. As a practitioner of Buddhism, it is my hope that, together with our distinguished friends gathered here today, we will set off on a courageous journey in search of those new principles of integration that will determine the fate of humankind in the coming century. I would like to close by quoting a passage from a poem by Walt Whitman, whose poetry I have read and loved since my youth.

I see male and female
everywhere,
I see the serene brotherhood
of philosophs,
I see the constructiveness of
my race,
I see the results of the
perseverance and industry of my race,
I see ranks, colors, barbarisms, 
civilizations, I go among them,
I mix indiscriminately,
And I salute all the
inhabitants of the earth.^[1]

From the February Living Buddhism