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The Challenge of Nuclear Disarmament

by Daisaku Ikeda
[©Seikyo Shimbun]

After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Albert Einstein declared, "The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking. . . ."

Indeed, some 60 years since he made this remark, we are still faced with the pressing need to fundamentally reconfigure our worldview, to one based on a commitment to the future of all humankind, if we are to extract ourselves from the quagmire logic of nuclear deterrence, which is rooted in mistrust, suspicion and fear.

There are times in the lives of both individuals and states when we face situations that would appear completely resistant to dialogue and seem to demand the hard-power application of pressure. But it is in how we confront and overcome such dilemmas that our true human worth and the strength of our commitment to peace are tested.

The challenge of preventing any further proliferation of nuclear weapons is one that cannot be achieved if we are defeated by a sense of helplessness. We must never lose sight of the bonds we share as members of the same human family, a connection that transcends cultural, ethnic and national borders. This is not to deny the reality of clashing interests and outlooks, and the need to confront these if we are to avoid encouraging evil, thus inviting catastrophe.

The crucial element is to ensure that any struggle against evil is rooted firmly in a consciousness of the unity of the human family, something only gained through the mastery of our own inner contradictions.

It is a function of the destructiveness inherent in human life to shred our sense of human solidarity, sowing instead the seeds of mistrust and suspicion, conflict and hatred. Those who would use nuclear weapons capable of instantaneously killing tens of millions of people exhibit the most desperate symptoms of this pathology.

Buddhism analyzes the inner state of human life in terms of the following ten categories, or "worlds": Hell, Hunger, Animality, Anger, Humanity, Rapture, Learning, Realization, Bodhisattva and Buddhahood. Together these worlds constitute an interpenetrating functional whole.

In the Buddhist scriptures we find the statement "anger can function for both good and evil," indicating that just and righteous anger, the kind essential for countering evil, is the form of the world of anger that creates positive value. The anger that we must be on guard against is that which is undirected and unrestrained relative to the other nine worlds. In this case, anger is a rogue and renegade force, disrupting and destroying all in its path.

When in the world of anger, we are always engaged in invidious comparisons with others, always seeking to excel over them. The resulting distortions prevent us from perceiving the world accurately. In inverse proportion to the scale of this inflated arrogance, the existence of others--people, cultures, nature--appears infinitely small and insignificant. Everything is seen as a means or a tool to the fulfillment of egotistical desires and impulses. It becomes a matter of no concern to harm or even kill others trivialized in this way.

Josei Toda, second president of the Soka Gakkai, delivers his declaration against nuclear weapons, September 8, 1957   [©Seikyo Shimbun]

Fifty years ago, my mentor, Josei Toda, issued a rousing declaration calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons from the viewpoint of all humanity: ". . . we, the citizens of the world, have an inviolable right to live. Anyone who tries to jeopardize this right is a devil incarnate, a fiend, a monster." When he spoke of "declawing" the demonic nature of nuclear weapons, he had in mind the struggle to prevent the inner forces of anger from disrupting the ten worlds and going on an unrestrained rampage. He was calling for the steady and painstaking work of correctly repositioning and reconfiguring the function of anger in an inner world where wisdom and harmony prevail.

It is thus vital for SGI members in particular that we remember that not only our specific activities for peace and culture but the movement for "human revolution" based on the daily endeavor to transform our lives from within is a consistent and essential aspect of the historical challenge of nuclear disarmament and abolition.

This article is drawn from SGI President Daisaku Ikeda's 2007 Peace Proposal. Since 1983, Mr. Ikeda has issued a proposal annually on January 26, the anniversary of the SGI's founding. These are a response to the challenges of global society, grounded in his Buddhist outlook. The full English text of the proposal can be found here.

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