Mitsutaka Sakihama Miyu Fujiwara Agenda Philosophy Hindu Roots

Mitsutaka Sakihama, Miyu Fujiwara

Agenda Philosophy • Hindu Roots • Christian influences Truth and nonviolence • Truth is God • Means and Ends Conclusion • Action for truth

Hindu Roots

Practice Aim Brahmacharya Asceticism Ahimsa Non-violence Satyagraha

Hindu Roots Selflessness Vegetarianism Asceticism Pacifism Ahimsa Bhagavad Gita

Bhagavad Gita Being freed from object of five senses ＝Renunciation of desire ⇒‟Non-violence“ ‟Ahimsa” ・Selflessness ・Detachment ：freedom pride and pretentiousness

Christian influence

The Sermon on the mountain

§ “Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you. ” § “To the one who strikes on the cheek, turn the other cheek. ” § “To the one who takes your coat, give also your shirt. ” (Matthew 5: 39)

The essence of the Gospel Love Nonviolence

What Christ meant Obey humiliate accept did NOT work Challenge injustice without breaking the covenant of God’s love The transformative power of returning love for hatred For social change

Truth is God

God Human Continuous search for truth＝ There is no ultimate answer The highest pursuit of life The use of nonviolence We have no right to impose our version of truth on another by physical force

Humility § Accept an open mind a willingness and listen to other opinions § Sectarianism or dogmatism

God＝the absolute being God is truth Satya＝truth being-ness Truth＝the absolute being Truth is God

Equality of religion ・Our conception is incomplete, religion we believe may also be incomplete. ・All religions reveal the truth, but they are incomplete and equal. Nonviolence and truth

Politics and religion § Those who pursue the truth, don’t have to be away from the field of living. Religion(truth) and politics Means of politics should be pure

Means and Ends

<The ends of human action may be unpredictable> <The means employed are concrete and certain>

“Since the end of human action, as distinct from the end products of fabrication, can never be reliably predicted, the means used to achieve political goals are more often than not of greater relevance to the future world than the intended goals. ”

Peace

To achieve moral ends, it is wrong to use immoral means To achieve immoral ends, it is worse to use immoral means

Means and ends should be consistent Same ethical belief 「Violence causes violence」 「Nonviolence causes nonviolence」

§ The means are the end § End creating rather than end serving Ends justify means Primacy of means the necessity of nonviolent methods

Nonviolence is human law

Satyagraha

Satyagraha Satya = truth / Graha = grasping "triumph of truth through the power of the spirit and the power of love“ ⇒ Withstood pain to yourself to win rights of men. selfsacrifice benevolence Resist Violence

Conclusion

Characteristic of Ghandi movement ● Optimism ● Practice (Activism) ● The masses ● Holistic Daisaku Ikeda’s suggestion

● Optimism His optimism comes from. . . Analysis of objective conditions or a prognosis ⇒ × Absolute trust in humanity ⇒ 〇 ・ ‟Unconditional faith” which he came to through a rigorous process of introspection, probing the very depths of his being. ・ ‟The indestructible conviction“ which he thus gained was something which not even death could take from him.

● Practice （Activism) Inspired by the inner urging of conscience Do what must be done Examine with love and humility, one's accomplishments, to see where they have fallen short or gone too far

● The masses “Why should He have chosen me, an imperfect instrument, for such a mighty experiment? （Gandhi asked himself） I think He deliberately did so. He had to serve the poor, ignorant millions. A perfect man might have been their despair. When they found that one with their failings was marching on towards ahimsa (nonviolence), they too had confidence in their own capacity. “ ➡Love and Willingness to suffer with the people

● Holistic = turning away from fragmentation and isolation, aspired to integration and harmony. "I could not be leading a religious life unless I identified myself with the whole of mankind, and that I could not do unless I took part in politics “ ‟I do not know any religion apart from human activity. It provides a moral basis to all other activities which they otherwise lack, reducing life to a maze of ‘sound and fury signifying nothing. “

Separation of religion and politics Religion Relation (Indirectly) Politics Holistic

● Optimism ● Practice (Activism) ● The masses ● Holistic ⇒ Gandhi’s unique point The secret of Gandhi’s Non violence success

Discussion theme • What do you think of connection between religion and politics? Is it good? or bad? • Is it effective to use nonviolence toward violence? • What do you think air bombing against terrorists?