President’s Monthly Message

A Harmony Played by Everyone

Part Two: The Roles and Awareness Expected of Us

Nichiko Niwano
President, Rissho Kosei-kai

We Are Already in a State of Harmony

According to Kazuo Murakami, professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba, “Our internal organs are capable of functioning because as their cells are working, they are helping each other. And while our organs are functioning, they are also helping other organs” (Chichi, January 2011). In last month’s issue, in light of the current state of the world and what is important for us now, I touched on the mindset that disrupts harmony between people and countries. At the cellular level within our bodies, it is quite natural that each cell is helping every other cell and maintaining harmony. Taking this into consideration, it seems logical to say that world peace is possible if only we human beings can unleash our innate power of harmony, just as our cells do. But, as everyone knows, this is not an easy task.

That said, I believe that if even the first of the following things were achieved, human harmony and world peace would no longer merely be dreams: If all of us spend every day of our lives in gratitude and all of our family members live in harmony, we will have a positive influence on our neighbors, leading to amiable interactions between the people of our communities. Furthermore, a country that is peaceful—where everyone can lead their lives with peace of mind—gains the trust of other countries and builds harmonious relationships with them.

As I have been saying for some time regarding the Confucian saying “refine yourself, keep your family in order, manage your country, and make the world peaceful,” I think that we should particularly value the principle of “keeping your family in order” because caring for the health of our “cells” (that is, our families) leads to world peace. I believe that the family is like a seedbed because only when family members have good relationships with each other can they cultivate personalities that discern the way of humanity. Eventually, people who have been raised this way will bring forth the fruit of world peace.

The True Meaning of a Patriotic Mind

Incidentally, what sorts of roles are all of you playing from day to day in your families and communities and at your schools and workplaces? Are you aware of the kind of work you do and actions you take that help other people? The reason I ask this question is that, following the example of our cells, when all of us are playing our own roles and doing things that benefit others, we are maintaining harmony.

Therefore, in order to be in tune with those around us and create a beautiful harmony, it is first important to know and draw upon our own strengths and fulfill our roles as best we can. Next, it is important that we listen carefully to the voices and feelings of others. In order to fully utilize our own strengths, we should all imagine ourselves as members of a symphony orchestra, listening to each other’s voices and feelings and taking great pains not to play too loudly or out of tune. Doing so will produce a harmony that puts everyone at ease. In addition, if we can all sincerely say to one another “thank you,” “it’s all thanks to you,” “we’re all in this together,” and “I’m sorry”—phrases that the theoretical physicist Haruo Saji teaches us are “words that save society from chaos”—then we will surely be able to maintain that harmony for a long time.

Furthermore, Founder Niwano asserted that “people who don’t truly love their own country can’t expect people around the world to honestly sympathize with them.” In other words, patriotism among the people of a given country is a prerequisite for harmony with other nations. However, this kind of patriotism is not based on nationalism or hegemony, which tends to lead to war. Rather, it is your mind praying and wanting, out of love for your homeland, to make your country truly peaceful. This is the mindset that hopes to hand down to our children and grandchildren a country in which they can live with peace of mind and that willingly cooperates with others. We human beings cannot wage war against one another knowing that all of the people in another country have the same love for their country that we do for our own. In other words, this patriotism means having respect for others and, at times, it even becomes a dynamic force for improving ourselves through self-reflection and humility.

We should all be the kind of people who never forget the true way of life for humanity—that is, loving our own countries and cherishing other people—by making ourselves the light and making the Dharma our light. Then we can bring to the world the happiness of sharing with each other instead of taking from each other and entrust the next generation with such a world.