While nuclear weapons are a serious threat, at least there is some historical recognition of the dangers. Bioweapons are even more dangerous but there's virtually zero recognition of that fact.
A voice repeatedly and earnestly calling for nuclear disarmament.
> Between 1983 and 2022, Soka Gakkai International (SGI) President Daisaku Ikeda (1928-2023) issued annual peace proposals addressing major world issues such as disarmament, the environment, human rights, the role of women and the United Nations. These peace proposals were issued on January 26 every year, marking the anniversary of the establishment of the SGI in 1975.
> Following President Ikeda’s passing in 2023, the SGI has resolved to carry forward the efforts initiated by our mentor by periodically issuing statements on key issues as a means of raising awareness and building global consensus for action. [0]
It's good read. You don't have to be Buddhist to appreciate it, and both Ikeda's and his mentor Josei Toda's determination, having lived through the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, to fight for peace in this world are remarkable.
But how to stop the madness? I conclude --- stop the madmen. And how do we do that?
> Daisaku Ikeda’s annual peace proposals consistently address the urgent matter of nuclear weapons disarmament. Additionally, in 2009, he issued a full proposal devoted solely to abolition. In 2018, the Center’s Mitch Bogen analyzed these proposals for core themes, and developed this framework [1]
There's a lot there, but IMO, it boils down to this:
Leaders either work for people or get people to work for them. People sell their own happiness and success to leaders who divide and conquer based on blaming others, usually those least able to defend themselves, (projection) via racism, nationalism, misogyny, sexual preferences, ethnicity, immigrant status .. the list goes on. These can be found in "The fascist playbook" either officially as in a book title, or informally, through the study of history,
Ur-fascism (Umberto Eco)[2]
His article (pdf) of the New York Review of Books [3]
The Fascists’ Playbook [4]
10 Small Steps: Executing the Fascist Playbook [5]
Countering these forces of division, which appeal to the old "fight or flight" brain, is difficult, and must proceed one person at a time, something which Ikeda's SGI call "Human Revolutions" ... understanding and sharing the concept the sanctity of all life (all are equally endowed with Buddha nature, or divinity, if you will), celebrating diversity rather than weaponizing it, and translating the mystic vision ( the "mystic law" espoused in the Lotus Sutra) into daily life. Roughly translated: [6] --- in more modern terms, the nature of life as "process" (like a second derivative), cause and effect, mutual causality (dependent origination), mutual containment, and the power of thought/speech/waves propagating.
A very apt analogy is "Indra's Net" [7]
NOT TO DIGRESS, whether you reach a point of "intolerance of intolerance" via Buddhist or any other means, it is a necessary condition for stopping madmen in their destructive tracks BEFORE they destroy the world, as science fiction writers have said for ages ...looking at this planet from outside: "This society had such promise, but blew itself up with division" ... or "This society, which we greet today, survived because its people found their common ground and committed to peace"
While nuclear weapons are a serious threat, at least there is some historical recognition of the dangers. Bioweapons are even more dangerous but there's virtually zero recognition of that fact.
100% agreed
If you didn't read to the end:
"Hiroshima is not a shrine. It’s the future."
A voice repeatedly and earnestly calling for nuclear disarmament.
> Between 1983 and 2022, Soka Gakkai International (SGI) President Daisaku Ikeda (1928-2023) issued annual peace proposals addressing major world issues such as disarmament, the environment, human rights, the role of women and the United Nations. These peace proposals were issued on January 26 every year, marking the anniversary of the establishment of the SGI in 1975.
> Following President Ikeda’s passing in 2023, the SGI has resolved to carry forward the efforts initiated by our mentor by periodically issuing statements on key issues as a means of raising awareness and building global consensus for action. [0]
It's good read. You don't have to be Buddhist to appreciate it, and both Ikeda's and his mentor Josei Toda's determination, having lived through the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, to fight for peace in this world are remarkable.
But how to stop the madness? I conclude --- stop the madmen. And how do we do that?
> Daisaku Ikeda’s annual peace proposals consistently address the urgent matter of nuclear weapons disarmament. Additionally, in 2009, he issued a full proposal devoted solely to abolition. In 2018, the Center’s Mitch Bogen analyzed these proposals for core themes, and developed this framework [1]
There's a lot there, but IMO, it boils down to this:
Leaders either work for people or get people to work for them. People sell their own happiness and success to leaders who divide and conquer based on blaming others, usually those least able to defend themselves, (projection) via racism, nationalism, misogyny, sexual preferences, ethnicity, immigrant status .. the list goes on. These can be found in "The fascist playbook" either officially as in a book title, or informally, through the study of history,
Countering these forces of division, which appeal to the old "fight or flight" brain, is difficult, and must proceed one person at a time, something which Ikeda's SGI call "Human Revolutions" ... understanding and sharing the concept the sanctity of all life (all are equally endowed with Buddha nature, or divinity, if you will), celebrating diversity rather than weaponizing it, and translating the mystic vision ( the "mystic law" espoused in the Lotus Sutra) into daily life. Roughly translated: [6] --- in more modern terms, the nature of life as "process" (like a second derivative), cause and effect, mutual causality (dependent origination), mutual containment, and the power of thought/speech/waves propagating.A very apt analogy is "Indra's Net" [7]
NOT TO DIGRESS, whether you reach a point of "intolerance of intolerance" via Buddhist or any other means, it is a necessary condition for stopping madmen in their destructive tracks BEFORE they destroy the world, as science fiction writers have said for ages ...looking at this planet from outside: "This society had such promise, but blew itself up with division" ... or "This society, which we greet today, survived because its people found their common ground and committed to peace"
-----
[0] https://www.sokaglobal.org/contact-us/media-room/statements/...
[1] https://www.ikedacenter.org/resources/ten-key-aspects-ikedas...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur-Fascism
[3] https://x02.me/i/5hNSTP.pdf
[4] https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/05/08/the-fascists-playboo...
[5] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/10-small-steps-executing-the-...
[6] https://lotusbuddhism.info/articles/universal-law-of-life/
[7] http://www.heartspace.org/misc/IndraNet.html
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