From the Symposium with the World Poetry Society Intercontinental

Message

Daisaku Ikeda

THE year 2007 marks two important anniversaries. The Institute ofOriental Philosophy was founded in 1962, 45 years ago, and theopening of its Indian center took place in 1992, 15 years ago. I offer myheartfelt congratulations on the occasion of this splendid symposium
cosponsored by the institute and the World Poetry Society Intercontinental. Further, I should like to express my sincerest thanks to all of thepeople who have taken time from their busy schedules to attend, including of course my very dear friends President Krishna Srinavas, Vicepresident A. Padmanaban, and Chairman Sethu Kumanan (Soka Ikeda
College of Arts and Science for Women).
As a poet, I am proud and honored to have been chosen World Poet
Laureate by the World Poetry Society Intercontinental in 1995. I place
great hopes in this symposium and its discussions shared by the members of your association and of our research institute on the important
subject of poetry for the sake of humanism, world peace, harmony, andpeaceful coexistence.
Thanks to tremendous advances in information, communications, andtransportation technology, modern material civilization has attained
unprecedented heights of convenience and affluence. The Internet, email, and transportation networks carry information and goods to allparts of the globe faster than has ever been thought possible before. But
whether the resultant flood of information and goods enriches the citizens of our material civilization is questionable. Are people losing thefecundity of spirit to write poetry, enjoy the sight of flowers and thesinging of birds, and communicate with the stars of the nighttime sky? It
would seem that today the human mind is isolated and cut off from theexpanses of the cosmos, the rhythms of nature, and the eternal flow oftime. We seem to be witnessing an unending attenuation of bonds
between humanity and the universe, nature, and society and in interpersonal relations as well.
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MESSAGEOn one dimension, techno-scientific development makes people
objectify external phenomena and think of them as separate from themselves. Inherent in the trend to think this way is the danger of regarding
phenomena as mere things. Undeniably, establishing a distance fromthings and objectifying and numerating them account for the rapidprogress of modern material civilization.
At the same time, however, the tendency to regard even irreplaceable
life itself in terms of material things and statistics debilitates the poeticspirit. This is lamentable because that spirit should move us, keep us intune with nature and the universe, and serve as the source of spiritualand ethical riches. Weakening the poetic spirit deprives us of theseblessings. The basic rhythms resounding from nature and the universeare eternal. Being cut off from them generates the loneliness and isolation experienced by humanity today.
People often pursue nothing but material wealth and the satisfactionof insatiable desires. They care only about their own welfare. As thiskind of egoism spreads, so do indifference and the inability to relate toothers. The resultant intolerance, discrimination, and hatred trigger such
structural and direct violence as ecological destruction, strife, and terrorism. Schisms disrupting the coexistence and harmony of all things, venomous egoism, and the trivialization of the self stir up conflict that tramples on the peace of families, ethnic groups, nations, and all of humansociety.
When we met for the first time in July 1979, President Srinavas said
to me, “A true poet is one who speaks of the cosmos, the spirit, and thetruth.... A poet must always have a message; it must be eternal.”
In the section on the Void in his great long poem “The Five Elements,” he nobly describes the eternal source of all things as Reality.
Alone? No… You are not alone!…
A whisper from Afar—
From beyond galactic clouds
Of interstellar dust
Measuring light years
And millions of suns—
I come from Reality—
Everlasting pyramidal creations—
From this phoenix realities
Will sudden bloom a new Eden—

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The Reality President Srinavas describes is the fundamental universal
Law of the Void (Shunyata) permeating all external things and the inneruniverse of the human being. The poetic spirit is born when the humanmind resonates with that Law.
The poet sometimes beholds the fundamental universal Law andsometimes discovers the infinite possibilities in human life. Because hebreathes the Reality of the universal Law, the poet unites all living
things, connects human minds, and makes of human society a garden ofharmony and peace.
As a consequence of his observations of the relations between theuniverse and all things, Josei Toda, my mentor and the second presidentof the Soka Gakkai, said that everything in the universe is the true entityof the Buddha and that all phenomena are the operations of compassion,
which can be called the essential nature of the cosmos. The true entityof the Buddha is the compassionate life essentially inherent in the universe. Thus Mr. Toda interpreted all phenomena as manifestations of thefundamental cosmic Law of compassion.
In his The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life, the great Japanese
Buddhist priest and philosopher Nichiren (1222–82) describes the operations of the five elements that make up all things in the universe. Those
five are earth, water, fire, wind, and void. The last, which corresponds to
the Reality in President’s Srinavas’s poem, is the fundamental Law ofthe cosmos operating through the other four.
Today, in a world rent with schisms, excessive greed threatens the survival of the human race through such things as destruction of the environment, global warming, and weapons of mass destruction. The voiceof the poet calls out for peace and harmonious coexistence. At times likethese, that voice is indispensable if we are to draw on the compassionate
energy embodied in the fundamental Law and, with the aid of the lightof wisdom, to perceive the mystic workings of the four elements to bind
together humanity, society, and the universe.
Essentially everyone is a poet. The poetic spirit throbbing deep within
the lives of all peoples resonates with the eternal and the fundamental tomanifest itself brilliantly in the spirit of compassion, nonviolence, empathy, tolerance, and wisdom. The persons possessed of this spirit consider
giving up and indifference the defeat of the soul. Unable to forgive such
attitudes, the poet equates violations of human dignity and ethnic suppression with desecration of himself. The poet draws words from profound observations of the cosmos and the depths of humanity to cry outand give expression to the weeping voices of all suffering and oppressedpeoples.

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MESSAGE

Holding aloft the banner of humanism, poets love the people, share
their lives, and resolutely struggle against evil authorities that despisethem. They illuminate the flames of hope and courage in people’s
breasts and awaken the sun inherent in their hearts.
The poet is a compassionate person who joins ordinary people in theirbattle with evil and a wise person who shines guiding light on the future.
I am deeply convinced that poets of this kind will give birth to limitlesspoems of world peace, harmony, and humanism.
In conclusion, I should like to express my heartfelt prayers for thecontinued good health and activity of all the participants in this symposium.