Setting foot in Assisi this time, I felt the pleasant excitement of 20
years ago coming back, when the leaders of different religions of the
world prayed together in the open air. Though it was still October, it was
almost as cold as in mid-winter, I recall. Their prayers were so sincere
that we almost forgot about the temperature. Remaining as loyal as ever to
their own religion, all of those present were as sympathetic as possible
to the prayers of other religions. Their open minds gave birth to two
streams that originated in Assisi. One was �the Pilgrimage to Pray for
Peace by the Representatives of Different Religions� held by the
Community of Sant�Egidio, and the other was �the Religious Summit
Meeting on Mt. Hiei� held by Japanese religious representatives. Twenty
years on, the two streams have been gradually expanding their flow, their
clear waters providing comfort and hope to many people.
As we think of it, these twenty years have been a passage of time with
full of violent changes to humanity. The crisis of nuclear war simmered
within the East-West cold war, and the possibility loomed for the
annihilation of all humanity, driving people into a state of obstruction.
The bipolar confrontation between East and West, initially one of
ideology, had gradually developed into a military confrontation as mutual
distrust was amplified, leading to aggressive military expansion. At that
time, what was the attitude of religious leaders to the above reality?
Instead of criticizing it, many of them fell into self-righteous dogma in
which they attached the utmost importance to their own religion,
belittling other religions, coercing others to convert into theirs, which
resulted, ironically, in driving many people to become atheistic or
non-religious.
Some religious leaders realized what was wrong. Believing they themselves
should change before others, they began putting their reflection into
action. That was the very beginning of inter-faith talk. Echoing with the
UN designation of the year 1986 as the International Peace Year, Pope John
Paul II made an appeal the same year to religious leaders of the world
that prayers of peace be offered in Assisi, a sacred site where St.
Francis had said, �Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.�
On the day prayers were offered in Assisi, everybody present was greatly
impressed by the words of Pope John Paul II, who said: �Peace can�t be
achieved without prayers, as everyone proclaims as truth based on their
respective religions. Without such prayers peace will not be brought
about.� At the Pope�s words new resolutions were made by two people of
religion. One was an old man of more than 90, another was a youth in his
30s. The former was Most Rev. Etai Yamada, the 253rd Tendai Zasu, The
supreme priest of the Tendai Buddhist Denomination, and the latter was
Professor Riccardi, founder of the Community of Sant�Egidio. Most Rev.
Yamada immediately announced that, hand in hand with other religious
leaders, keeping the Assisi spirit in mind, he was going to host a prayer
gathering for peace the next year on the holy mountain of Hiei near Japan�s ancient capital of Kyoto. As had been promised, a gathering to pray for
peace, the Religious Summit Meeting on Mt. Hiei, was held on the 3rd and
4th of August, 1987 on the sacred mountain. In the meantime, observing the
Assisi spirit, Professor Riccardi held a prayer meeting for peace in Rome
in the same year.
In each of the two peace prayer gatherings a statement was made public for
peace. The Mt. Hiei message made the following appeal: �We acknowledge
that wishes for peace are essential in any religion. May our example of
coming together here to pray for peace be followed and multiplied
elsewhere in the world, and may the great gift of peace, for which all
humanity yearns, be granted in our time.�
In Rome, the Community of Sant�Egidio issued a declaration under the
names of those present at its prayer-for-peace gathering as follows: �To
all humanity do we declare that religion is not to drive people to hatred
or war, and that religion will not justify the blood of the innocent to be
shed. All religions seek peace, not war. It is not logical to talk about
war in the name of religion. We declare that the language of religion
should be that of peace.� At this point, a new stream of faith began to
gush. And in the midst of the torrent of history rushing in billows, the
new religious stream has kept running forward courageously yet sensitively
under the banner of prayers for peace.
The Community of Sant�Egidio, while holding its annual prayer gathering
at various places in Europe, held a gathering in Warsaw, Poland,
foreseeing the fall of the walls separating East and West, as was
symbolized by the Berlin Wall. The Community also prayed in Malta, a North
South cultural crossroads, to make an appeal for dialogue and harmony
between North and South, and in Brussels, Belgium, to help accelerate the
unification of Europe. Preempting the flow of history, the Community has
been organizing dialogues among various religions, offering prayers at
these places of importance. Meanwhile, at the annual Religious Summit
Meeting on Mt. Hiei, dialogues are promoted among the religious youth on
whose shoulders rests the future. At the Summit it has been a matter of
great consideration, efforts and prayers how Buddhism can be a bridge of
peace between Christianity and Islam, as well as between Islam and
Judaism.
The world has been changing drastically over these 20 years. Twenty years
ago, in the East-West Cold War mentality, peace meant, first of all, the
making of a war-free condition. In that understanding, peace meant for the
state to protect its people and boundaries from invasion of other states.
For that reason, military expansion was the norm.
Ironically, however, that military expansion necessitated ever-increasing
economic burdens, leading eventually to the dissolution of the Soviet
Union as a state and to the collapse of the bipolar structure of politics.
This didn�t result in true peace, however. In the present world, many
people are plagued with poverty, oppression, and injustice. Their very
existence, life, and dignity are in danger. To overcome these calamities
the United Nations has developed a new concept of peace and security of
humanity. Its most basic concept is �that one should acknowledge the
freedom for individuals to have a variety of identities and to belong to a
variety of groups and that one should insist on his or her identity as a
human living on the earth.� Here the word religion is not used, but what
lies here is indeed in parallel with the embodiment of the Assisi spirit:
Everybody cherishes their own cultural heritage and religion while
acknowledging the positions and stances of others and deepening dialogues
between them.
On the threshold of the 21st century now, though the Cold War is over,
problems are coming to the fore one after another that threaten the
security of humanity. These include new conflicts, refugees, trafficking
of small-size weapons, proliferation of drugs and infectious diseases,
scrambling for energy sources, destruction of the environment, and
widening economic disparity. Furthermore, such problems have become so
great that any one nation-state can�t solve them alone. Ms. Sadako Ogata,
former representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), has said there are four Cs for solving these problems:
Communities, Crossed borders, Crossed sectors, and Comprehensiveness.
Religion indeed exists across borders and transcends limited environments,
having its close relationship with local communities. With inter-religious
dialogues and cooperation with NGOs, religion can be cross-sector and
comprehensive. In the past 20 years inter-religious talks have gradually
taken firm root, with strong ties of friendship growing among people of
different nationalities, cultures, and religions. These developments have
contributed to nurturing common beliefs among them. This has indeed been
the practice of the Four Cs under the Assisi spirit. As a result,
inter-religious networks of mutual trust have been cooperating to solve
conflicts in Mozambique and in Sierra Leone, in Africa, to help make peace
in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to peacefully intervene in the conflicts in Sri
Lanka, to give support to refugees, to eradicate AIDS, to appeal for the
abolition of the death penalty, among other goals. I firmly believe that
the Assisi spirit will be further deepened and broadened to play its role
as �an instrument of peace.�
Last but not least, I here offer my sincere prayers to express my most
profound thanks to the spirits of His Holiness the late John Paul II, the
late Monsignor Rossano, spiritual leader of the Community of Sant�Egidio
and president of Lateran University in Rome, and the late Most Rev. Etai
Yamada, the Supreme Priest of the Tendai Buddhist Denomination, and the
spiritual leader of the Religious Summit Meeting on Mt. Hiei.
