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A review of books from World Tribune and Middleway Press that serve as a guidepost on the path of life.
Religion of Human Revolution
From SGI USA, I'm David Witkowski, and this is the Buddhist Bookcast. Where we review inspirational books from World Tribune and Middleway Press. Each book serves as a clear guidepost on the journey of life.
Today, I'm joined by Adin Strauss, SGI-USA General Director, to discuss A Religion of Human Revolution from Daisaku Ikeda's The Buddhism of the Sun lecture series. A Religion of Human Revolution contains 12 lectures addressing this Buddhist concept called human revolution, Adin, thank you for joining us on the second episode of the Buddhist Bookcast.
Thank you very much, David. I much appreciate the chance to be here and talk about this amazing work from Ikeda Sensei. So, cutting to the chase, our world is in chaos, and having hope or feeling empowered may be the most [00:01:00] difficult thing to do right now. And the Buddhist concept of human revolution seems to address this issue.
And from the title of this book, we actually practice a religion of human revolution. So, first, I'd like to ask what human revolution means to you and how we can apply this concept to our daily lives. Well, Buddhism, you know, teaches that everything starts with the life of a single person. And all change, all creation of value starts with the life of a single person.
And this relates to the Buddhist concept of oneness of life in our environment. And going even deeper than that, perhaps 3, 000 realms in a single moment of life. And what it means, essentially, is the instant that our lives start to transform on the deepest level, then everything around us starts to transform as well.[00:02:00]
And of course, you know, this self transformation, inner reformation is not for the faint of heart, right? It's challenging. It's not easy. It's not just a matter of will power. But fortunately, we have this, you know, limitlessly powerful tool in chanting Nam myoho renge kyo, or the Daimoku, to the Gohonzon.
As long as we engage with that in a serious, dedicated fashion, we can indeed do our human revolution. Sometimes experiencing the joys of doing human revolution, sometimes experiencing the challenges, but always able, when all is said and done, to transform anything. Right. So, uh, I do feel, because everyone has the Buddha nature, and anyone can tap into it through our practice, at the core, it's a philosophy of tremendous hope, [00:03:00] even in a very troubled, uh, time, as you, uh, touched on just a moment ago.
Thank you so much, Adin. And Ikeda sensei writes at the beginning of this book, On the one hand, globalization is moving forward on multiple fronts, including business, finance, transportation, and communications. On the other hand, economic disparities are growing, conflict and civil strife continue unabated in many places, and there seems to be a resurgence of divisiveness and hostility in people's hearts.
The problems confronting human society cannot be solved solely by external changes such as political and economic reforms or institutional and organizational innovation. Reform efforts that fail to consider people's well being or that lack respect for the dignity of life will only create more problems and eventually run aground.
Therefore, we must remember that the fundamental goal is people's happiness. Now is the time for humanity to return to these basic points. Given all of this, what should be the central guiding principles of [00:04:00] religion in the 21st century? I assert that they are humanism and human revolution. So, of course, while I completely agree with what Sensei is saying here, it makes me wonder, how does revolutionizing myself connect to transforming social problems, or sometimes even more difficult, how to transform interpersonal relationships?
That's a great question. And you know, the first thing I would say, you know, it sort of goes back to what I spoke of a moment ago. Everything in Buddhism starts with the individual. Even if we talk about transforming governments, or transforming societies. It's important to remember that societies are nothing but a collection of individuals interacting with each other.
Same is true of government. Same is true of anything. And so in the final analysis, you know, of course I'm not discounting the importance of economics. Economics is important. [00:05:00] Politics is important. Social factors are important and can't be ignored. But in the long run, the only way to address the core issue facing human society is human revolution.
And there cannot be core change in a society unless the individuals that comprise that society engage in core change themselves. It's just that simple. And it seems, you know, compared with a political action or economic action, these things are flashy. They show up more on social media.
Whereas, you know, one individual battling to do their human revolution, you know, does not show up on the front page of your favorite newspaper, and is not covered on Instagram or anything like that, doesn't get 10 million views, but it is, in the long run, the only way to transform society with a [00:06:00] firm foundation.
Any other changes, although they may seem on the surface to be working for a while, you know, are destined to loop back. Lacking a foundation, loop back to, you know, revert to the previous circumstance. This is why if we look at human society, we can see, it seems like an unending cycle. Peace cannot just be a quick break between the last war and the next war.
To make a real foundation for peace, the only real foundation for peace is human revolution. Yes, that's incredible and so challenging to keep this in mind. I was also struck by what Sensei wrote on page 126 in the book. When people embrace the mystic law, the real world in which they live today, just as it is, can shine as a pure buddha land and become an indestructible treasure realm.
A buddha land is free from famine, epidemics, and wars. Its additional description here as a treasure realm implies to me that it is a place [00:07:00] where rich spirituality flourishes and all people can live in peace and security. It describes a society firmly grounded in the principle of respect for the dignity of life.
So, lastly, I wanted to point to a passage from page 142 where he writes, Buddhism directs its gaze to the inner dimensions of life, delving deeply into the true nature of human existence. This is why it is called the Inner Way. The fundamental approach of Buddhism is for each of us to observe our mind and thoroughly examine our self, so that we can come to understand the ultimate essence of our being.
Though we can see how others look, we cannot see our own appearance unless we use a mirror. But a mirror does not show us what resides within us. That is why, to observe our mind, we need a clear mirror that accurately and fully reflects our lives through the wisdom of the Buddha. So, Adin, can you talk a little bit about how Buddhism enables us to look within?
It's very hard to perceive how we are in reality. It's impossible to be objective about yourself. We're always subjective, you know, Probably human beings will tend to exaggerate their strong points and minimize their weak points.
Although some people may actually do the reverse. But in any case, the point is how to be able to look at things fairly and objectively. And Buddhism talks about that in our lives, there is no such thing as an enlightened being that's a Buddha separately from a regular person. That, you know, it's, if you look in the very first writing of Nichiren in Volume 1, I think it's on page 4 or 5, it's a writing called On Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime. It says, you know, the human being is a deluded person.
They are the same thing. The only difference is whether we're polishing our mirror. [00:09:00] And, you know, as we, chant and do our human revolution, we will see things evolve in our environment and, you know very compassionately the universe will show us what it is we need to change to overcome our obstacles and really become happy and this is kind of an astonishing evolution, but it really works. I'm gonna be hitting my 40th year of Human Revolution this coming October.
Congratulations. And, uh, yes, well you know, it's one day at a time, 40 years of one day at a time is what it is. And I take nothing for granted. And you know, when I look back through that, there's been times that were unbelievably difficult for myself on a personal level. And times that were, you know, unbelievably joyful.
But, through it all, just carrying forward and keeping my eyes open, [00:10:00] and Of course, together with, you know, chanting to have a seeking spirit, to be seeking towards, you know, the writings of Nichiren, to be seeking towards what Ikeda Sensei has to say, my mentor in life, and also to be seeking from and having an open eyes and ears toward people around me and what they're saying to me and all that, rather than denying it or, you know, uh, you know, flipping out and getting emotional when I hear something or experience something that doesn't accord with my own conception of myself or whatever, and I think it's through that process of, you know, chanting and then interacting with others and, experiencing all that entails and then going back and chanting again.
This is, you know, step by step. It seems, sometimes it seems, imperceptible in the beginning, but that's how we can transform anything and everything. And that's why, again, why our practice is fundamentally one of hope. Everyone has, [00:11:00] the Buddha nature equally. Everyone has this amazing dignity of life, right?
All the, even the Lotus Sutra, all 28 chapters was just describing, if you will, the dignity of a single person's life. That's one of the amazing things about our practice. Thank you so much, Adin, for your deep and thoughtful insights on Sensei's book, A Religion of Human Revolution, which is available in SGI USA bookstores and online at bookstore.sgiusa.org. Also, you can find the e book version at your go to online bookseller. So, thank you, Adin, and thank you everyone for listening. Yes, thank you. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Buddhist Book Cast. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next [00:12:00] time.