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Greetings

Ji Xianlin

MR. Chairman, esteemed guests, learned scholars, first of all allow
me to congratulate you on making a very successful start to thissymposium.
Today’s symposium is I believe of great importance. Why? Because
this year is the first of a new century, the 21st century, and the first yearof a new millennium. In China we have a saying: “The year starts inspring, the day starts in the morning.” Here at the dawn of the 21st century I believe we, the leaders and the people of the world, must think
about how we want to spend the next century, and the next thousandyears.
When we look at the problems in our world today, it is impossible todivorce those problems from reality. So what is our present reality? As
reported in the press and elsewhere, the relationship between wehumans and the natural world is rife with contradictions. Global warming, shortages of fresh water, destruction of the earth’s ecological balance, the emergence of new kinds of disease, holes in the ozone
layer...one could readily cite 50 or 60 such problems of immediate concern.
How has the world come to this? All these problems can in fact be
traced to the advances in science and technology that have occurredfrom the industrial revolution onward. Personally, I fully support scientific and technological progress. Without it, we would not today beenjoying the benefits for example of electric lighting, telephones orhigh-rise buildings. All these things have been made possible by scienceand technology. Therefore I do agree with scientific and technologicalprogress, most certainly.
However in this world, to everything positive there is inevitably anegative side. Advances in science and technology are desirable, butalso have less positive aspects.
This is not something people have only come to realize recently. Thequestion of how to manage the relationship between man and nature
properly has been around for a very long time. The great German poet
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Goethe said, “Nature will never make a mistake. It is human beings
who make mistakes,” while Engels commented, “We humans must not
become too intoxicated with our victories over nature. Why—becausefor every victory, nature is sure to have its revenge.” These comments
are not from our time, but were already being made 100, 200 years ago.
And I must acknowledge even after all this time that these great
thinkers were absolutely correct.
In mainstream Western thought, the relationship between nature andman is one of conflict. Incidentally, open a Chinese to English dictionary some time and look up the word “conquer.” Underneath you willfind the example “ to conquer nature.” This is a central concept in Western thought.
What about Eastern thought then? Here I must refer back to the comment made by the director Dr. Yoichi Kawada, that in my current dialogues with Chairman Ikeda I use the expression “tenjin goitsu” (tianren he yi) or “the unity of man and the universe.”
Gathered here today are many philosophers, experts in various fields,
scholars and professors, and throughout the history of Chinese philosophy many different people have interpreted this phrase “the unity ofman and the universe” in different ways. My own interpretation is I
believe founded on that of someone by the name of Zhang Zai, from theSung dynasty. One of Zhangzai’s writings was a work by the name ofXiming, and in this he wrote “Min wutongbao wu wuyuye” (lit. “Peopleare my comrades. Things are with me.”) This means “people (min) nomatter where they are from, are my comrades (tongbao)”—in
Zhangzhai’s day they didn’t say things this way, so of course this is amodern translation—“all are my comrades and my brethren. And things(wu) be they animals or plants, are all my companions.”
As I mentioned earlier then, we humans are now confronted bynumerous contradictions in our relationship with the natural world.
Unless we resolve the problem of this contradictory relationship, theconsequences for the future of mankind are ominous. We must therefore
continue our drive for progress and development in science and technology, and, at the same time, find some way to eliminate the negative
things that arise from science and technology.
What are our ideological foundations for eliminating these negative
things? In my opinion, Eastern culture, and first and foremost, the ideaof unity of man and the universe. This is not a Western idea. In ancientIndian philosophy there is a famous saying, written in Sanskrit as “tattvam asi.” “Tat” is the English “that,” “tvam” is “you” and “asi” “is.”The saying therefore means “that is you,” more widely translated as

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95“That thou art.” Here “tat” refers to the cosmos and “you” to“mankind.” In other words, human beings are ultimately the cosmos,and the cosmos human beings.
From the perspective of Buddhist history, as you know Buddhism
takes an opposing stance to Brahminism. While opposing Brahminismhowever, Buddhism does not reject it entirely. In my view there are elements of this idea of the unity of man and the universe shared by Brahminism.
If we then begin to divide Buddhism, we encounter the difference
between Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism. As we have many experts
on Buddhism here today, I feel it my duty to explain the reasoning
behind this split, so will discuss here what is generally understood to be
the difference between these two branches of Buddhism. The differenceis that in Hinayana Buddhism, the emphasis is on personal practice. In
other words, one cannot transfer merit. For example if I practice Buddhism, I cannot transfer any merit acquired by doing so to my parents.
The biggest difference between Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism lies
I believe in the fact that in Mahayana Buddhism, all sentient beings canbe saved, and merit transferred to others. Bodhisattvas can save all sentient beings. In my view, this is the central idea preached in theKanzeon Fumon Chapter of the Lotus Sutra. In China the Bodhisattva
Kannon, or Kuan-Yin the Goddess of Mercy, symbolizes great mercy
and great compassion, and also the salvation of all sentient beings. TheFumon Chapter gives many examples of this, telling us that whoever wemay be, when disaster or troubles befall us, we should seek help fromKanzeon. Do this, it says, and your problems will be solved.
Earlier I saw the title of the lecture to be presented by Du Jiwen “Peace, the global ecosystem, and the spirit of Mahayana.” I haven’t
read the text right through, however I assume it covers similar or thesame ground as I have here.
In short, on the one hand we must now work for the further development of science and technology. I do not believe this is a problem. On
the other hand, we must compensate for the mistakes of Western culture, with Eastern culture. We must deploy Eastern culture and Easternideas to support Western culture in its current difficulties, to extend ahelping hand.
Yesterday, a newspaper I was reading discussed a particular book.
The book was written by a Belgian academic and Nobel Prize winner.
This academic said that Zhongzi represented the very highest level ofLaozi and Mengzi’s thought in China. As you know, the Spring andAutumn Annals and Warring States periods of Chinese history saw theJ/Orient/02 03.1.17 1:26 PM ページ 96

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emergence of many “zi” (men of learning) and numerous thinkers—
Laozi, Zhongzi, Kongzi (Confucius), Mengzi (Mencius) and Xunzi.
While their doctrines may all have been different, as far as I can discern, whether Zhongzi or Kongzi, there is little difference between anyof them in terms of this idea of the “unity of man and the universe.” AsI mentioned earlier, this idea of “unity of man and the universe” is fundamentally the same in Mahayana Buddhism.
In any case, as we look forward to the first year of the 21st century,and the first year of a new millennium, I feel what we the people of theworld need are peace, and understanding, and friendship. What we do
not need are guided missile defense systems. Nor do we need to attack
other countries with warplanes. Nor an international police force of any
description. What we do need are peace, and understanding, and friendship. My hope is that Eastern ideas, including those of Mahayana Buddhism, will be promoted increasingly as a means for us to achieve thesethings.
As I mentioned earlier, the timing of today’s symposium could not be
more appropriate, is extremely important, and deeply significant. I am
no philosopher, nor a great thinker. My comments today have reallybeen just what is on my mind, and I look forward to hearing your frankand honest views on what I have said. Thank you very much.