World peace can be achieved easily
School of life
2017年10月17日火曜日
World peace can be achieved easily
2017年5月19日金曜日
Let’s live pleasantly
Let’s
live pleasantly
I
decided to live my life pleasantly at the age of 22.
The fact
that I had met Master Shigemasa Wada was the biggest reason that inspired me to
make the decision.
Having
met him, I paused to realize how my way of life had been far from pleasant.
Since
then, I have lived my life, occasionally telling myself to live pleasantly.
I’m well
aware that I have no words to reply with if someone asks, “You’re pleasant?
How?”
At the
same time, it’s true that I think I’m living much more pleasantly than before I
made the decision.
Anyway,
to be more precise, my expression “let’s live pleasantly” would be “let’s live
pleasantly no matter what the circumstances may be or no matter what may happen.”
This is
because life does not always go the way you want.
“Life
does not always go the way you want.” This is an absolute truth.
For your
thoughts originally differ from facts.
In other
words, the stream of thoughts differs from the stream of facts.
You can
envision something and try to influence a fact accordingly, but it cannot be
said that doing so necessarily makes or changes the fact as you wish.
Consequently,
it’s a big loss to feel depressed or unhappy or get angry when you find that
things failed to work out as you wish. It might be better to say it’s utterly
foolish.
Many
people assume somewhere in their minds that facts must end up as you want, which
is really illusion and also delusion.
So many
people also seem to be bound by the idea of “having to do things.”
Mind you
examine the idea carefully. There’s essentially nothing you have to do in the
world.
I cannot
help but hope that people will realize as soon as possible how silly they are
to be bound by the illusion, rather, the delusion that things have to be a certain
way, which makes themselves as well as people around them suffer.
These may
sound like very rude or arrogant comments, but I’m forced to accept that I
myself was most silly.
Some
people might say, “Actually, I’m not really sure if this is an illusion or a
delusion.”
I
recommend a method to these people.
The
method is to live from this very moment with a determination to live pleasantly
no matter what the circumstances may be or no matter what may happen, even
though you are not sure if that is an illusion or a delusion.
That way
you can really live pleasantly no matter what the circumstances may be or no
matter what may happen. In addition, you’ll naturally realize that the ideas
such as “facts end up as expected” and “facts will work out as expected” are
illusions or delusions.
You’ll
see once you try it.
2017年3月13日月曜日
Creating peace (part 3)
Creating peace (part 3)
A person who reads my blog all the time told me
her thoughts on “Creating peace (part
2).”
Here’s what the person said:
“I think I should or I have to stop my way of life built on the sense of
separation and switch it to a way of life built on the sense of inseparability,
but I can’t imagine why living in that way would make me excited because I’ve
never lived based on the sense of inseparability.”
Actually, a surprisingly
large number of people have such impressions or doubts.
It’s really a pity that
people get stuck in that kind of doubt and hesitate to go ahead with the true
way of life.
Let me explain it with a
couple of examples.
The first example is a story of smoking. To not
smoke is very natural and nothing particularly exciting for non-smokers.
On the contrary, if
smokers examine the truth about cigarettes and clearly realize that smoking has
only outrageous demerits, then they will be happy to have realized the truth. They
will be dying to stop smoking. They will find themselves feeling excited,
thinking about being freed from their enslavement to smoking.
Let’s take another
example. It is a matter of course and nothing particularly exciting for
ordinary people to be able to go anywhere and do anything they please.
Suppose someone has, for
some reason, been put in a dark, damp jail for years. They can’t go anywhere
freely and their movement is restricted. How wonderful it would be for them if they
could get out of jail and go anywhere or do anything freely. Then, if they were
finally allowed to go out of jail, I’m sure they’d be excited just to think of
it.
Here’s still another example. It is said that
people know the value of health only after they lose it. To be in good health
is natural and nothing particularly
exciting for a healthy person.
In contrast, if a person who has suffered for a
long time from a disease is told by someone reliable, “if you do so-and-so,
you’ll definitely recover your health,” the person will be automatically
excited and smile, imagining themself getting better and healthy.
As evident from the above examples, the true way
of life built on the sense of
inseparability is actually a natural, ordinary way of life, and the way of life
itself is nothing really exciting or special. The only thing is that you are
always satisfied and have a peace of mind.
However, the way of life built on the sense of separation causes distress not
only to yourself but also to people near you, and is also the root cause of
various problems in society as a whole. With a clear realization of this fact, who
wouldn’t want to escape from it as soon as possible to switch to the way of
life based on the truth of inseparability?
Doesn’t just imagining it make you excited and
happy?
2017年1月1日日曜日
Creating peace (part 2)
Creating peace (part 2)
Some people still continue their way of
life built on the sense of separation even after they realize that it’s
incorrect and that a way of life built on a sense of inseparability is true.
I think there are a couple of reasons for
this.
Firstly, their understanding is
inadequate in some cases.
Secondly, more than a few people do not
have sufficient intuition to feel something is wrong, even if their actual way
of life differs from what they have realized.
I think this is because their attitude
toward a true way of life is not strong enough. If it was stronger, they would
find their way of life to be different and change; but they still continue to
live in the same way without noticing anything. This is truly disappointing.
Life is indispensable to anyone, and I
cordially advise you to reflect on your past conduct and firmly define the
direction of your life if you think this may be the case.
Thirdly, people have thought a lot
about a true way of life in their own way, have understood more or less that
the sense of separation is incorrect and that the sense of inseparability is
the truth of existence, and they believe that they are determined to change
their way of life built on the sense of separation and switch it to the way of
life built on the sense of inseparability; in fact, they still continue their
way of life built on the sense of separation.
In other words, in the third case
people think they have got off the train for Tokyo (way of life built on the
sense of separation) and have changed to the train for Kyoto (way of life built
on the sense of inseparability), but actually they’re still on the train for
Tokyo powerwalking toward Kyoto.
This is often the case with people who
use their heads too much. Let me explain it as usual by taking the story of
quitting smoking as an example.
It goes this way: you have realized
that smoking has no merit and you think you are determined to give it up.
Nevertheless, the determination lasts only a couple of days at the most, and
before long, you give way to your desire and start to smoke again.
So many people fit the description
above regarding smoking.
How can you tell the difference between
the case where you have really changed to the train for Kyoto
and the case where you think that you
have, but are actually still on the train for Tokyo ?
You can tell in the following way.
Although you try to stop smoking, if
you still have any halfhearted or regretful feelings, “I should quit. It can’t
be helped. I’ll do my best somehow,” it means that you still want to smoke and
you don’t want to quit at heart, which means that you haven’t quit in fact.
In other words, you merely half-think in your head that you have
changed to the train for Kyoto .
When you decide to stop smoking, if you
are dying to quit as soon as possible, are excited and bursting with joy, it
means you have genuinely stopped smoking.
Ascertaining the truth about smoking to
that extent is the key to quitting.
This criterion for judging is the most
important point for making a variety of selections and decisions in your life,
as well as for stopping smoking.
Creating peace (part 1)
Creating
peace (part 1)
To
date, so many people have made strenuous efforts wishing for a peaceful world;
yet the world of truly everlasting peace hasn’t be realized.
Why
is that?
In
my opinion, this is because a surprisingly simple thing has been left unnoticed
due to some serious oversights.
Let
me explain it in plain terms.
Suppose
you are at Nagoya Station, on the bullet train platform now. You are waiting
for a train to go to Kyoto .
The train comes and you get on the first car.
After
the train starts moving, you notice you have jumped on a train bound for Tokyo , in the opposite
direction, by mistake.
Do
you powerwalk toward the last car of the train to head in the right direction,
toward Kyoto ?
This
does not allow you to approach Kyoto
at all. Rather, it makes you advance rapidly toward Tokyo , despite all your efforts.
Likewise,
no matter how hard we oppose war, we cannot realize a world of truly
everlasting peace if we leave a breeding ground for war.
In
order to achieve a world of truly everlasting peace, we need to eradicate the
breeding ground for war itself and create a breeding ground for peace.
Calls
for opposition to war may have the symptomatic effect of temporarily stopping
movements toward war, and are necessary in that sense, of course.
Forces
for war, however, turn out to view opposing movements as a threat, which
unfortunately creates more powerful reactionary movements. Don’t you think
conflicts between the two sides would escalate readily in this manner?
Even
if you desire peace from your heart and eagerly express opposition to war while
ignoring its breeding ground, that alone will not contribute to the ultimate
impoverishment of the breeding ground itself because it partly contains an
opposing element.
Herein,
the breeding ground for war refers to the state of society based on a sense of
separation. The breeding ground for peace refers to the state of society based
on a sense of inseparability.
We
should still promote campaigns against war as a symptomatic treatment to stop
(even if only slightly) the present movements toward war. In addition, in order
to realize a world of truly everlasting peace by eradicating the breeding
ground for war and creating a breeding ground for peace, we should also
strongly and seriously promote non-opposing peace movements by treating the
issue fundamentally.
It
should be noted that if the non-opposing peace movements are merely
self-satisfying, by simply praying for peace for example, it fails to help in
eliminating the breeding ground for war and creating a breeding ground for
peace.
Fortunately,
the key to creating a truly everlasting peaceful world is right in your hands.
It
would be much appreciated if you could thoroughly read my book Beyond National Egoism for details.
The button of hope
The button of hope
We need to pass
through many processes before the ideal of a Nation for International Peace and
the Environment* is raised in Japan.
For these processes,
we would do well to think about the most effective way of proceeding with them at
each occasion as changes develop in line with this proposal.
The most important
process among them is obviously that the number of proposal supporters needs to
increase rapidly.
So how can we
increase the number of supporters?
To begin with, do
you support the proposal yourself?
Do you think it is
difficult to increase the number of supporters of the proposal?
You might feel a
little puzzled being asked one question after another in this way.
Let me give my
opinion.
First of all, I
myself think that we can rapidly increase the number of supporters of the
proposal.
The reason is
simple. If we think we can’t, then it’s finished.
I’m confident that we
can surely find an effective way to do it if we all consider how to, in the
belief that we can make it.
Next, I think that
it’s easy to increase the number of supporters of the proposal.
The approach does
not suggest changing current politics, economy, or anything else right now.
Instead of directly touching upon these topics, it only asks “what do you think
would be best for the future state of Japan?”
Considering this, isn’t
it such an easy thing to support the proposal?
The first stage only
requires an increase in the number of supporters.
Once the number of
supporters reaches a certain level, various movements arise among them, causing
the number of supporters to increase even more.
It’s just like when a
small fire starts in a dry, grassy plain where it has hardly rained, and in a
moment the fire grows stronger and spreads to cover the whole area.
Simply put, if you
think something is “difficult,” it will actually be difficult for you.
Anything, even something
possible, cannot be achieved if you’re trying it in a pessimistic mood with
negative thoughts, like “Oh, dear! What a pain!”
The key to success
is to try to make things work positively, with a bright and cheerful attitude,
like “We can’t fail! It’s easy!”
Now you have a
button in your hand.
If you press this button,
a world of everlasting peace will definitely come true, as if by magic.
I name it a “magic
button,” but it may be better to call it a “button of hope.”
Why don’t you press
the button of hope one more time at the beginning of the New Year?
Why not let as many
people as possible know about the presence of the button of hope this year?
May the New Year be
a hopeful year to all that live!
* For full details,
please refer to my book:
Shohei Nomura, Beyond National Egoism - The Road to a Nation for International Peace and the Environment (English ver.), Mamizu-Shuppan, 2008
Shohei Nomura, Beyond National Egoism - The Road to a Nation for International Peace and the Environment (English ver.), Mamizu-Shuppan, 2008
And the Beyond
National Egoism NetWork website:
http://beynatego.jimdo.com/
http://beynatego.jimdo.com/
2016年10月26日水曜日
Life and death
Life and death
Everything existing in this universe,
regardless of whether it is an animate or inanimate being, is present and active
owing to the fundamental force of the universe, “life.”
In short, the appearance and disappearance of all
things merely puts the act of life into
motion.
It follows that the mechanism of life’s activities also includes physical
human life and death.
Such activities of the universe are performed
because of physical life and death, leaving aside the way each of us reacts emotionally.
To say it in a different way, life is here
because of death and death is here because of life.
In that sense, if birth is a congratulatory
occasion, then we may as well rejoice over death.
The bottom line is that both the phenomenon of
life and the phenomenon of death are essentially just occurring to make life apparent.
I never think of the many people afraid of death
or those who feel sad about someone’s death as being funny.
But if you feel fear and sorrow over death, I
think it would be all the more better to treasure every moment spent with
people joined by fate to you, to get along with everyone the whole time, and to
live your life to the fullest, without regret.
What I’d really like to say here, however, is
that you’ll neither die nor suffer.
It’s certainly safe to say that we humans have
life and death, both physically and spiritually.
Having said that, our body and mind are the means
for our essence to live.
Our essence, or what we really are, is life itself.
Life is using this body and mind to live.
Life was never originally born and will never die.
Life never suffers and cannot be contaminated.
This is why I’d like to say that we should live
fully, contribute to all even in some small way, and get along with everyone,
in every respect, sincerely and free from fear, without being narrow-minded.
By the way, life
itself has no difference in its nature or size.
This means that the life that uses the body and mind to live, or your true self, is
completely the same in quality as the life, or the fundamental force of the universe, that
creates the universe and acts on everything thereof.
This is the same as the fact that the water in
the ocean does not have the slightest difference from a dewdrop on a leaf.
If you think about it with your brain, it may
not seem to make sense because our brains can only process things based on
relative concepts; the fact is that there’s only one life, which is not different in its nature or size.
Here’s a question: where were you five years
before you were “born” into this world with your body and mind?
Thinking about it won’t lead you to the true
answer.
Practicing meditation will enable the answer,
in good time, to suddenly occur to you.
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