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World Peace and the Lotus Sutra

Daisaku Ikeda

S

HORTLY after the opening of the 21st century, major cities in the
United States suffered simultaneous terrorist attacks. Since then,conflicts and wars have forged a chain of hate and retaliation that now
extends to many parts of the globalizing world. In our modern civilization, the divisive energies of violence and malice sunder human beings
from human beings, ethnic groups from ethnic groups, and humanityfrom Nature.
What role can philosophy play in converting what has started as acentury of violence and war into a century of nonviolence and peace?
Toward answering this question, I should like to shed some light fromthe Lotus Sutra, one of the most outstanding works of oriental philosophy, and the wisdom contained in it.
A secular expert on the Lotus Sutra, Professor M.I. Vorob’yovaDesyatovskaya has written, “Thus the (Lotus) Sutra gives hope of (eliminating all discrimination and offers the possibility of) general prosperity.
It is precisely for this reason that it is so popular; it is precisely for thisreason that it is called the pinnacle of the Buddhist teachings.”1
The content of the Lotus Sutra is rich and varied. It speaks of respect
for life as a basic principle, and it describes the four kinds of actions thatarise from Buddha’s wisdom. There is a marvelous tower of treasuresthat appears as if by magic and floats above the Earth, and amazing
characters known as Bodhisattvas arise from the Earth as manifestationsof life’s eternity and power. I refer you to chapter 2 (“Expedient
Means”), chapter 11 (“The Emergence of the Treasure Tower.”) andchapter 15 (“Emerging from the Earth”). The wisdom of this Sutra andits compelling illustrations are, indeed, a rich source of hope.
Humanity today faces a global problematìque involving war, terrorism, famine, and environmental pollution. What suggestions do the
Lotus Sutra teachings and their practice offer us? What kind of practice
do they encourage? It is in the light of these issues that I should like toconsider the role of the Lotus Sutra in creating a Century of Peace.

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I.

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Critical Dimensions

Humanity faces crises on three dimensions.
The first dimension is the global ecosystem. The concept of dominating Nature is at the bottom of modern scientific-technological civilization. The idea is not harmonious coexistence with—but exploitation
of—Nature. This approach has led us to put holes in the ozone layer,
pollute the seas, aggravate desertification, drastically curtail species
numbers by ravaging rain forests, and create radiation pollution overvast expanses. We have destroyed our natural environment to a criticaldegree. Other factors like the exploding population in developing
nations, food shortages, and a widening gap between the poor and richhave further worsened the situation.
Human society is the second critical dimension. Technological innovations mean that today international society is increasingly interdependent in news, transportation, economics, and military affairs. In spite of
our interdependence, however, conflict and indiscriminate terrorist
attacks resulting from cultural, ethnic, and religious differences still
occur frequently. In other areas, the spread of viral disease like AIDS
causes grave concern; and immigrants flooding into the industrialized
nations provoke discrimination.
The third dimension is a state of decline in the human spiritual condition. Growing numbers of people are losing all sense of purpose andsuffer what is called identity crises. As people become devitalized, such
innate human attributes as compassion, wisdom, justice, and courage
diminish while violence increases and ethical standards drop. Having
lost the affection, trust, and human bonds cultivated in the family andthe community, people suffer from a sense of isolation and nihilism.
The third chapter of the Lotus Sutra, “Simile and Parable,” contains a
passage that accurately describes the world we live in today. “There isno safety in the threefold world; it is like a burning house, replete with amultitude of sufferings, truly to be feared.”2
The fire destroying the house is delusion, the metaphor of earthly
desires, which, as the passage warns, affects the individual, the family,
the district, the ethnic group, the nation, humanity, and the whole world.
The “multitude of sufferings” is the ecological, social and spiritual crisis
confronting humanity today.
The Sutra describes our world in terms of the Five Impurities.
“Shariputra, the Buddhas appear in the evil worlds of five
impurities...impurity of the age, impurity of desire, impurity of living
beings, impurity of view, and impurity of life span.”3

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In The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, Tiantai (active in China
during the sixth century) first comments on the five impurities and thenclarifies the relations among them.4
The impurity of desire is the impurity of the three poisons called
greed, anger, and foolishness. The impurity of thought or way of viewing the world pertains to philosophy and ideology and attachment toimperfect ideologies. These two—the impurity of desire and the impurity of view—debilitate human beings mentally and physically, resulting
in the impurity of living beings. This persists for age after age, sapping
human vital powers, draining the will to live, and shrinking life spans.
This is the impurity of life span. When society is permeated with the
impurities of living beings and life span, all social levels-family, tribe,
race, and nation-become impure, thus obstructing the whole era, resulting in the impurity of the age.
Ignorance (moha), the source of the delusions and wrong views fundamental to the Five Impurities, manifests itself in greed, anger, andfoolishness and in many other offshoots.
Ignorance is blindness to what the Sutra is teaching. As is set forth inthe Lotus Sutra, this truth is the supreme, eternal dignity inherent in alllife. In modern terms, ignorance means to be ignorant of the dignity of
all living things. It leads inevitably to an all-pervasive egoism that
ignores and infringes on that dignity. It reduces life to a state of indifference to the pain of others who are neglected, injured, or even done todeath for the sake of satisfying exclusive, selfish desires.
An ignorant philosophy of disregard for life is at the bottom of modern terrorism and wars of retaliation. This way of thinking ignores the
dignity of other people and regards them as no more than things or convenient means to ends. This, in turn, is the source of the inhumanity ofcontemporary material civilization.
Taking the form of greed, ignorance surpasses the limits of the single
individual. In the world today, it widens economic gaps between poorand rich everywhere. For instance, the greed of the industrial nations
deprives developing nations of the minimal necessities of life. By denying other living creatures the right to exist, it has disastrous effects on
species diversity.
When expressed in anger, ignorance erupts as violence in the home,the school, and the local community. It causes historical grudges to generate tribal, ethnic, and racial wars or cowardly and violent terrorist
attacks. Foolishness, another form of ignorance, ramifies into various
forms, including lack of self-awareness. Basic, ignorant egoism rends
the web of dependent origination and mutual interdependence connect-

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ing all living creatures and destroys the foundation of existence for all
things. The present era appears to take disregard for life to an extreme.
In contemporary civilization, ignorance at all levels seems to be destroying the natural ecological system, and humanity along with it.
Viewed in the light of Buddhist wisdom, our current era exemplifies
what is called the Latter Day of the Law, a time when Gaia, that has
become “an evil world” dyed dark with the Five Impurities, and thehuman race as well face the threat of extinction.

II.

Overcoming Ignorance

Ignorance has created a subcurrent of dehumanization and disregard forlife. This is not, however, the true current that we ought to follow.
Knowledge of the true nature of all things generates respect for the dignity of life and harmonious coexistence. This is the true current of life.
Our task is to convert the subcurrent into the main current. Achieving
the goal is the task of philosophy and religion.
Like many other philosophies and religions, the Lotus Sutra is permeated with the spirit of the dignity of life. In chapter 11 (“The Emergenceof the Treasure Tower”), breaking through the surface of the Earth, agreat jeweled tower appears. Inside sit two Buddhas: Shakyamuni andMany Treasures. After the tower’s appearance, Shakyamuni uses his
powers to purify lands three times and raise the entire assembly of
believers and emanations from far away into the air, where the proceedings continued. The description of the scene found in the text is as follows: “At that time in the Buddha’s presence there was a tower adorned
with the seven treasures, five hundred yojanas in height and two hundredand fifty yojanas in width and depth, that rose up out of the earth andstood suspended in the air.”5
According to the 13th century Japanese religious leader and philosopher Nichiren, the Treasure Tower symbolizes the identity between the
dignity inherent in all life and the dignity of the eternal cosmos (universal life or the Buddha nature). He further wrote that, in this passage,
Shakyamuni symbolizes the operation of wisdom, Many Treasures
stands for the essential nature of phenomena as truth, and the assembled
emanations in Buddha form represent the operations of compassion.
Inherent in all humanity is the Treasure Tower as the dignity of life.
Indeed, the second chapter of the Sutra (“Expedient Means”) clearlystates that Buddhas appear in this world for the purpose of revealing tosentient beings the universal life (Buddha nature) in each of them. Thistask is one of the four actions for Buddha wisdom: “The Buddhas, theJ ̲Orient̲05 06.2.1 4:54 PM

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World-Honored Ones, wish to open the door of Buddha wisdom to allliving beings, to allow them to attain purity. That is why they appear in
the world. They wish to show the Buddha wisdom to living beings, andtherefore they appear in the world. They wish to cause living beings toawaken to the Buddha wisdom, and therefore they appear in the world.
They wish to induce living beings to enter the path of Buddha wisdom,and therefore they appear in the world. Shariputra, this is the one great
reason for which the Buddhas appear in the world”6 In short, their purpose in appearing is to open and show living beings wisdom, awaken
them to it, and cause them to become one with it. This glorifies the dignity of life and helps sentient beings be as good as they are capable ofbeing.
Elsewhere in the same chapter, Shakyamuni says, “Shariputra, you
should know that at the start I took a vow, hoping to make all persons
equal to me, without any distinction between us.”7
The Buddha wisdom equates to the radiant Buddha’s Great Realm ofLife, or the Buddha Nature in Tiantai’s interpretation.8 Ignorance isdestroyed when we reveal the same Buddha Nature that is within
Shakyamuni and the infinite number of other Buddhas. Since ignorance
is their source, all delusions—including the Three Poisons of greed,anger, and foolishness—are converted into bodhi, the supreme, ultimate
Buddha enlightenment.
Mahayana Buddhism teaches that enlightenment and delusion (orearthly desires) is the same thing. By realizing enlightenment, which is
wisdom, in our lives we counter delusion, which is evil.
Ignorance evokes evil energy creating schisms within a single individual, between one person and another, between humanity and Nature, andbetween human beings and society. If it prevails, this evil energy breaks
the law of dependent origination at all levels from the human psychosomatic compound to the whole cosmos. Everything loses its vital luster.
When people and society are split and isolated, general disregard runs
rampant.
But good energy manifest by the true nature of all phenomena and theBuddha nature becomes compassion, trust, wisdom, courage, and justice, which work to restore the bonds sundered by evil energy.
When all things—including humanity—reveal the good nature andare united in solidarity, the essential dignity of life based on the law ofdependent origination is made manifest. Under such circumstances it ispossible to create a culture of peace characterized by nonviolence, compassion, trust, and hope.

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III.

Dialogue

Bringing to full flower a culture founded on respect for the dignity ofhuman life is the broad highway to lasting peace. Dialogue guides us
along the road to a culture of peace that rests on the solidarity of thegood.
I personally have repeatedly engaged in dialogues with thinkers andleaders from many cultural and philosophical backgrounds and frommany religious groups: Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Hindu, Daoist, andConfucian. From discussions in the quest for ways to achieve world
peace, I have learned that the way will open up before us as long as all
participants keep our common humanity and share in life in mind. No
matter what their birthplace or cultural background, all human beings
share abundant goodness. Engaging in dialogues to call forth and manifest that goodness facilitates mutual understanding and leads to problem
solutions. Dialogue is the way to open human minds and to destroy theignorance of misunderstanding and prejudice. It is one of the worthiestof human undertakings because it manifests the goodness inherent in us.
The Buddhist ideal culture of peace is described in chapter 5 of the
Lotus Sutra; “The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs.” In nature grows agreat diversity of plants and trees. Rain falling from the sky waters them
all impartially, and they receive the water according to their different
characteristics. “The rain falling from one blanket of cloud accords witheach particular species and nature, causing it to sprout and mature, toblossom and bear fruit. Though all these plants and trees grow in thesame earth and are moistened by the same rain, each has its differences
and particulars.”9 Thus receiving the equal blessings of earth and rain,
the plants grow and blossom, each manifesting its own characteristics.
This text, in which earth and the rain are metaphors for Shakyamuni’s
impartial teachings and plants represent living beings, skillfully
describes the nature of the culture of peace. In other words, all material,
biological, and human evolution depends on cosmic compassion andcreative force. All receive life and manifest their individual characteristics within a state of universal interconnectedness.
The parable accords completely with the main theme of this ICANAS
conference: Unity in Diversity. Nichiren expressed universal phenomena in terms of plants nurtured by the essential good of the universe,
through the metaphor of four trees: “Cherry, plum, peach and apricot
blossoms...all just as they are, are entities possessing their own uniquequalities.”10 Each beautiful in itself, the cherry and the plum bloom at
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entities differ, all enjoy the blessings of Nature. Each demonstrates theessential nature of life by fully manifesting its inherent potentialities.
Human beings, too, demonstrate the meaning and mission of life
through self-realization and manifestation of their potentialities with thesupport of the cosmos. Nichiren refers to this fundamental way of existence as self-manifestation.11
In social terms, the parable indicates how diverse cultures can preserve their distinctive natures while coexisting peacefully. It is precisely
because of their diversity based on their own history and tradition that
individual cultures can relate distinctively to the cosmic universal fromwhich they draw wisdom and vitality.

IV.

Modern-day Bodhisattvas

The Lotus Sutra describes the actions of people working for the peace ofhumanity in terms of bodhisattvas of various kinds. Among them, thebodhisattva named Never Disparaging (chapter 20 “The Bodhisattva
Never Disparaging”) provides a model of nonviolent dialogue.
In a time when arrogant priests exerted their power to disturb society
as much as possible, this bodhisattva said to everyone he met, “I haveprofound reverence for you. I would never dare treat you with disparagement or arrogance. Why? Because you are all practicing the bodhisattva way and are certain to attain Buddhahood.”12 The people headdressed cursed him, sometimes throwing stones at him or beating him
with sticks. But he went on in his nonviolent and worshipful way.
Nichiren described the attitude and deeds of the bodhisattva Never Disparaging as the heart of the practice of the Lotus Sutra: “What does
Bodhisattva Never Disparaging’s profound respect for people signify?
The purpose of the appearance in this world of Shakyamuni Buddha, thelord of the teachings, lies in his behavior as a human being.”13
In short, Never Disparaging behaves in the noblest way possible for ahuman being. He believes in and respects human dignity to the maximum extent. The search for the optimum way of life for both the self
and the other was Shakyamuni’s purpose in appearing in this world.
Nonviolent dialogue of the kind represented by this bodhisattva canconvert a century of war into a century of peace by halting serial retaliations spawned by hatred and violence. The bodhisattva Never Disparaging is presented as an as-yet-to-be-realized Shakyamuni during a past
life. The Bodhisattvas from the Earth (chapter 15), however, appear as
those who will disseminate the spirit of the Lotus Sutra in the future.
They are described as infinite in number and rising from the eternal

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force of life that is the origin of the cosmos. It is predicted that they willappear together with the philosophy of respect for the dignity of life in
the evil age of five impurities, the Latter Day of the Law.
The sutra introduces various other bodhisattvas who have characteristics of their own and work for the salvation of the ordinary people:
Manjushri (wisdom), Samantabhadra or Universal Worthy (learning),
Maitreya (compassion), Medicine King (healing), Wonderful Sound(art), Avalokiteshvara (Perceiver of the World’s Sounds), and so on. We
might ask ourselves how we today can emulate these bodhisattvas.
In our terms, the bodhisattvas appearing in the Lotus Sutra can beseen as representing ordinary people striving to create a culture ofpeace. The heart of their endeavors is respect for the dignity of life.
Their principle tool is nonviolent, compassionate dialogue. And eachmanifests his or her distinctive traits and characteristics while working
for the achievement of the goal. Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a
popular movement inspired by the Lotus Sutra spirit shown by thesebodhisattvas.
In the Lotus Sutra spirit of respect for life, in 1957, in the midst of theCold War, Josei Toda, second president of Soka Gakkai, demonstrated
nonviolence and compassion by issuing his “Declaration for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons.”14 It was addressed to the whole world andespecially to young people, who bear the responsibility for the future.
In response to the attacks on the United States on September 11,
2001, from the standpoint of the Lotus Sutra doctrine of respect for life,
I spoke out against indiscriminant terrorist acts and called for intercultural and ecumenical dialogues for cultivating the good innate in all people.15
Dialogue has the power to break down walls of mistrust and hatred.
Many things must be done to create a society of lasting peace: the creation of a system to prevent international terror, working out of means
centered on the United Nations to narrow the gap of economic inequity,
perfecting a system of international law. But I firmly believe that, if they
are to be effective, all efforts in these directions must be founded on a
dialogue-induced reformation of the human spirit. This may take time.
Nonetheless, it is vitally important to conduct sound and steady dialogue
over and over on all levels to inspire confidence in the goodness ofhuman nature, to summon it forth, and to spur it on.
Firmly believing in the dignity of life, SGI is vigorously working as a
United Nations nongovernmental organization (NGO). We promotemutual understanding by encouraging artistic and intercultural exchanges. In the field of learning, too, we promote mutual understanding

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and respect among cultures and religions through dialogue as part of ourpacifist efforts.
The people, the citizens of the world, are the primary movers in work
to build an enduring culture of peace. They are the diverse bodhisattvas
that appear in the Lotus Sutra to promote universal happiness by awakening human awareness, persevering in nonviolence and dialogue, andstimulating general human good simultaneous with the manifestation ofindividual characteristics.
In A Geography of Human Life (1903), Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, firstpresident of Soka Gakkai, expressed the desire for a new era of enlightened world citizens and humanitarian competition oriented toward thehappiness of the self and the other.16 He advocated replacing law-of-thejungle competition with cooperative competition for the creation of auniversally prosperous global society.
As heir to Mr. Makiguchi’s philosophy, I do my utmost to cultivate
citizens of the world by founding universities in Japan and the UnitedStates and other educational institutions in many parts of the world.
Global citizens require education in peace, the environment, humanrights, and languages. I am convinced that citizens of the world trainedin these ways will be the modern-day Lotus Sutra Bodhisattvas. They
will be Never Disparaging, the Bodhisattvas from the Earth, and all theothers who build a new world and make this a triumphant century ofpeace. In the confident belief that this will come to pass, I conclude
these remarks.
Notes
1
Vorob’yova-Desyatovskaya, M. I.: from her foreword to the Russian edition of Lectures on the Chapters “Expedient Means” and “The Life Span of the Thus Come One”
by Daisaku Ikeda.
2
The Lotus Sutra, translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, New
York; 1993), P. 69.
3
The Lotus Sutra, op. cit. P. 32.
4
The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, T34. 53a.
5
The Lotus Sutra, op. cit. P. 170.
6The Lotus Sutra, op. cit. P. 31.
7
The Lotus Sutra, op. cit. P. 36.
8
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra
9
The Lotus Sutra, op. cit. P. 98.
10
Nichiren Daishonin, Gosho Zenshu, published by Soka Gakkai, P. 784.
11
ibid.
12
The Lotus Sutra, op. cit. PP. 266–267.
13
The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, P. 852.
14
In September, 1957, Josei Toda issued his “Declaration for the Abolition of Nuclear

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Weapons.” In it he described weapons that threaten the very right to existence of theordinary people as monstrous products of evil. He announced that their abolition was thefirst article in his legacy to youth.
15
Mr. Ikeda contributed the article “The Evil over which We Must Triumph” to a collection of essays by Islamic, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist leaders entitled
From the Ashes—A Spiritual Response to the Attack on America (Rodale Press, 2001).
16
In an age of imperialism and fierce struggles for hegemony, Mr. Makiguchi divided
competition into four categories: 1. military, 2. political, 3. economic, and 4. humanitarian. He proclaimed that the time had come to abandon the first three for the sake ofthe fourth.