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S. Sendjaja: Address to World Summit 2020
Written by Rev. Suhadi Sendjaja, Chairman, Nichiren Shoshu, Indonesia
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Address to World Summit 2020, Seoul, Korea, February 3-8, 2020
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
Human development is the most important foundation in realizing today’s world peace and security.
What kind of human development? The excellent one.
In the general view, excellent human beings are individuals who are able to:
- Show the attitude and actions of hard work, being dynamic, skillful, mastering science and technology, and participatory in collaborative cooperation.
- Prove intelligence, wisdom and breadth of knowledge in real actions, behaviors or track records that provide benefits to many people.
- Realize values of integrity in daily life.
In Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism’s perspective, excellent human development can only be realized if it is based on a great philosophy. In the manuscript of guidance written by Buddha Nichiren to his students, or often called gosho, titled "The Law of the Unseen and the Great Man (Reply to Nanjo Dono)" he stated: “Since the philosophy is great, thus the human becomes great; since the human is great, thus the land becomes great.”
Greatness (often referred to as mystic law) means something beyond human comprehension. It can be understood by a transcended mind. Ordinary people can only realize six senses, whereas transcended or enlightened people can realize nine senses. The ninth sense enables us to realize the Buddhahood potential that is the ultimate and complete consciousness that a human can manifest. Based on Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism’s perspective humans have nine senses: the five senses that we all know (hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste), the sense of heart, the sense of mind, the senses of alaya (karma storage), and the senses of amala (ultimate awareness/Buddhahood).
The many challenges that our world faces nowadays—including poverty, terrorism, climate change, food insecurity, forced displacement, natural disasters, and the arms race—that continue to confront the global community are rooted in moral decline.
What kind of moral decline? Human morals that are no longer in accordance with the rhythm of this mystic law that exists in the universe, cause and effect, maitri karuna (giving happiness and revoking unhappiness), like the sun that benefits all creatures without discrimination. Nowadays the human tendency is to bring unhappiness and to revoke happiness in the universe and its contents. The human mind is encompassed by the three roots of evil (greed, anger, and ignorance) that become humanity’s tendency, speech and action today. This brings various kinds of disasters to the universe.
The Buddha predicted about 3,000 years ago in the Manusendra Sutra and the Bhaisajyaguru Sutra that when a human soul becomes chaotic, there will be three disasters—war, famine, disease—and seven calamities. The seven calamities are the following: (1.) death of many people due to disease outbreaks, (2.) foreign invasion, (3.) domestic and civil wars, (4.) abnormal distribution of stars, (5.) solar and moon eclipses, (6. irregular rain and wind, and (7.) long droughts bringing fires. Disasters are symptoms that are detrimental to humans themselves, and disasters are the effects of these symptoms. In the end, the seven disasters can be grouped into the three disasters (war, famine, and disease), which at this time are starting to really happen one by one in our lives.
Then how to improve moral quality? The only way to improve moral quality and avoid disasters is to raise up the intrinsic awareness inherent in every human being.
How to encourage this realization? In the Buddhist perspective of Niciren Syosyu, the way is to always chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo with a voice of sincerity to truly align yourself with the universe, a call to call forth the Buddha's consciousness within each human being. The great law, Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, becomes the subject of total change that determines the realization of ultimate awareness and harmony between humankind and the universe (harmony and peace). In addition, the noble desire to benefit fellow human beings, all beings and the environment is a manifestation of that awareness in everyday life—because that is the rhythm of the universe.
The philosophy of one's life also determines the moral quality of the person concerned. If we use our own philosophy, it is not necessarily true and often wrong. Therefore, as a Buddhist it is necessary to truly believe, live and practice Buddhist philosophy in daily life, which has proven successful in making Sakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Buddha and other Buddhas into someone who has perfect awareness. Exchange personal philosophy with Buddhist philosophy. This religious attitude also needs to be carried out by other religious communities with the truth of their respective religious teachings so that the improvement of human morals can manifest.
For example: Can the problem of the technique of infrastructure development be overcome by the technocrats? China wants to build a hospital within 10 days to cope with the new corona virus outbreak, built by technocrats. But what can make it all happen is the moral foundation that is shared by all Chinese workers when building a hospital, namely their awareness and enthusiasm to fight together for overcoming the problem, able to feel that the outpouring of body and soul towards the state and humanity is a form of high-value reciprocity, "Wuhan Jiayou!" That is the cry of spirit conveyed by all workers and people of China.
Therefore, moderation (returning to its true nature) is needed towards the true religious attitude of all religious communities throughout the world in order to be able to comprehend, live and practice all religious teachings in their daily lives as a whole. Every religious community has these responsibilities as implementers of the teachings of their respective religions. In essence, all religions teach goodness. If viewed from the origin of the “agama” (religion, in Indonesian) word, “a” means no, “gama” means chaotic, “religion” means not chaotic. This means that if one is truly implementing religious attitudes that are in accordance with religious teachings, there will be no chaos in life and the environment. If there is chaos in the name of religion, it is clearly not a religion, it is only a person who uses religion as a tool to divide a nation and state to gain personal and group benefits. This happens because they do not practice religious attitudes in accordance with their religious teachings.
As Buddhists, we have the view that it would be far more beautiful if from the beginning all humanity had been able to maintain the blink of the soul's feelings to always be in a state of Buddhist consciousness, so there would be no need for disaster and calamity to occur. Before a disaster occurs, we all must always be ready to align/unite ourselves with the laws of the universe so that it does not result in disaster after disaster.
Therefore, superior human development is to uphold a great philosophy to realize the intrinsic awareness that exists in every human being so that all consciously continue to improve the quality of self and also the environment. With the changing quality of human beings throughout the world becoming more aware and superior, peace and security throughout the world are necessary. This is because the nature of the development of a country and the realization of peace and security start from individual development which will increasingly expand into family resilience, environmental resilience, state resilience and world resilience.
Since the philosophy is great, thus the human becomes great; since the human is great, thus the land becomes great. (Gosyo “Hukum yang Gaib dan Manusia yang Agung Surat Balasan Kepada Nanjo Dono).
Thank you.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
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