I am a Japanese Buddhist. Buddhism started in India and then spread to China and Japan. It has 2500 year history.
Today Japan consists of oriental Buddhism, Japanese Shinto, western Christianity and other religions. I believe that as the Asians we have our culture, sprit and religion existing amidst them. Thinking of this I believe that Assisi must not be forgotten.
Assisi is a holy land that treasures St. Frances` heart of peace. It is a place infused with the spirit of this monk, who lived with the heavy mission of putting in order human good and evil. He was a saint who lived a life of honest poverty with humbleness and love; a saint who valued life even of animals and birds, trees and grasses.
His heart and thought transcended the frame of Christian religion. He investigated the harmony of nature and human beings. This spirit of peace of St. Frances` Assisi is of great importance.
The Sun, the Moon, the Earth,
One and all
Shine with life
In the spring of this world
This poem reflects the wish of my heart, when, in 2002, I participated in the Assisi peace pilgrimage, where I came on a special train from the Vatican together with His Holiness, now late John Paul II, and the representatives of the world religions.
Wishing harmony between the humans and all the other living creatures, humans and the universe, we have to learn to coexist with nature, not conquer it. Now it is time to reconsider the idea of men as the centre of everything.
We need science. But as humans we must stop scientific technologies which are harmful. We need medicine. But what will happen to medical ethics if research inappropriate for us as humans is being done? Education is also important for men. But as humans we have to reject the undue part of it. Therefore we must ask, "What is true education?"
Businessmen too must restrain themselves from unfair affairs. In the Analects of Confucius it is said that a noble man may love wealth, but it must be obtained in a proper way. It shows that even a person referred to as a �gnoble man�h may like luxury. But there must be an ethical way, appropriate for a human, to earn it.
Nor is it good if politicians can get by with money and power alone. They ought not to act in a way unsuitable for men. And it is not acceptable that priests of any religion would do wrong things, deceiving the people. In our life there are things which are not to be done. Everybody knows this yet does them. Our heart that cannot resist ill deeds is to blame.
What can we do to stop it? For this we need the "reversal way of thinking", establishment of the self directed to the truth. We must advance having reversed our hearts. In short, reversal breathing should be mastered to seize our true heart. To notice this it took me many years of practice and deep life experience. I only recently noticed how difficult this question is. I really feel that it is not good. Today repenting this I carry on my devotion, asking myself "How should I live?"
Assisi is a memorable place for me, where I came twenty seven years ago on a bus from Munich crossing mountains and valleys for the first East-West spiritual exchange dialogue. Here in 2003 water harp, a Japanese culture product, particular for Kyoto townhouse inner gardens, was established in the cathedral quiet inner garden in front of St. Frances statue .On the first of March the opening ceremony took place where I participated together with reverend Vincent Colli, the abbot of the place and other participants concerned.
It was a great joy for me that the East-West Inter-religious Dialogue was also realised in such a form. As the ceremony leader I wrote the next poem:
The will of dialogue between the cultures, East and West;
The sound of water harp in the cathedral garden.
This drop of water benefits myriad things
With a prayer for the world peace
As an Asian Buddhist I think that now the human heart is questioned about the preciousness of water and sacredness of life. Not only the peace between people, but also the harmony and coexistence with environment must be treasured. The time demands now that the wise should come to the front.
Gensho Hozumi