soka gakkai international quarterly magazine number 43 · soka gakkai international quarterly...

SGIQuarterlyA Buddhist Forum for Peace, Culture and Education

ISSN 1341-6510

Soka Gakkai International Quarterly Magazine Number 43

IN THIS ISSUE:Creating Hope

2006January

Creative self expression can bring a deep sense of liberation (p. 7)

Soka Gakkai International Quarterly Magazine Number 43

SGIQuarterly

The SGI Quarterly aims to highlight initiatives and perspectives onpeace, education and culture and to provide information about theSGI’s activities around the world. The views expressed are not nec-essarily those of the SGI. The editorial team (see back cover) wel-comes ideas and comments from readers.

C O N T E N T SFeature:

Creating Hope ......................................................................1Approaching Hope by C. R. Snyder.....................................2“Hope Is Not for Wimps” by Frances Moore Lappé ...........5Publish Your Life by Jonathan Morgan ...............................6

Hero Books .......................................................................6Victoria’s Story by Victoria Ndyaluvana .........................9

Culture: Reviving Hope by Proeung Chhieng ...................10Cambodian Culture Reborn: My Story by Em Theay........12Making Hope by Daisaku Ikeda.........................................13Perspectives by Ziyad Alawneh and Hazel Henderson......14

People:Finding a Way Up by Mindy Milam...................................15The Deepest Loss by Aiko Matsumura..............................17

Portraits of Global Citizens: ....................................................18Natalia Sats: Triumph of the Human Spirit

Around the World: ..................................................................20Initiatives for Nonviolence; Tokyo Symposium; Picture BookExhibition in Canada; Education for Human Rights; WomenEducators Conference; Leaves of Grass; Dialogue onGlobalization; Earth Charter Plus Five; Seeds of Change inDubai; SGI-Venezuela: Creating a Foundation of Peace

Arts and Education: .................................................................26Culture Center Villa Sachsen

Buddhism in Daily Life: ...........................................................29The Meaning of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

A Buddhist Forum for Peace, Culture and Education

January 2006

An outdoor concert at SGI-Germany’s Villa Sachsen (p. 26)

SGI MEMBERS FROM AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND THE PACIFIC ISLANDS

1SGI Quarterly January 2006

Wolfgang Schmidt/Uniphoto

“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope,” wrote Martin Luther King, Jr.This issue of the SGI Quarterly looks at the power of hope—how it operates in ourlives and in society as a whole. The particular focus is on ways of holding on to,

finding or forging hope when objective circumstances seem bleak. Our contributorsinclude scholars who have examined the nature of hope as well as individuals who have succeeded in generating hope in the face of overwhelming odds.

ictionary defini-tions of hopeusually reflectan expectation

of success in the pursuit ofdesired goals. Consider as anexample the words of anentering college student, whoannounces to her friends andfamily, “I hope to graduate in fouryears.” A recent definition of hope thathas received considerable attentionhas partitioned this goal-directedthinking into two components, corre-sponding to the “will” and the “way”of the old expression “where there’s awill, there’s a way.” First, peoplebelieve that they have the capacities tocome up with the routes to desiredgoals. This is called pathways think-ing. Second, when people believe thatthey have the requisite motivations toactually use such routes, this is calledagency thinking. To hope is to haveboth the will (agency) and the ways(pathways) to pursue desired goals.

A History of HopeLet’s back up in time and explore

the tale that is by far the most wellknown in regard to hope—thestory about Pandora. Accordingto Greek mythology, Zeus wasfurious with humans for havingrobbed fire from the gods. Toextract revenge againsthumankind, Zeus fashioned agorgeous maiden named Pando-ra and sent her on a journey toEarth. She was to take her dowrychest with her, but in what maybe one of the first recorded exam-ples of reverse psychology, Zeusadmonished Pandora not to lookinside her dowry chest. WhenPandora finally reached Earth, ofcourse, the first thing that she didwas to open the lid to take a peek.This was the very behavior that

Zeus had counted on, and neg-ative forces were releasedfrom the dowry chest uponthe people of Earth. Therewas rheumatism, colic andgout for the body, as well as

spite, envy and revenge for themind. Panicked at what she had

done, Pandora rushed to replacethe lid. In so doing, all that was leftwas the hope that was stuck beneaththe lid.

Given the attention that has beengiven to hope over the ages, it must bethat it did escape from Pandora’sdowry. Unfortunately, for the mostpart, hope has been viewed as beingjust as awful as the other forces thatdid escape. Indeed, the list of peoplewho have viewed hope negativelyreads like a “Who’s Who.” Plato sug-

gested that hope was a “foolish coun-selor.” Sophocles held that humansuffering was prolonged by hope.Benjamin Franklin observed that theperson who lives on hope will die fast-ing. There also were many others whoargued either that hope was an illu-sion or that it will not last. All of thesenegative viewpoints can be contrast-ed with the minority perspective inthe Judeo-Christian tradition, wherehope was portrayed as a virtue (alongwith charity and faith).

Scientific approaches for examininghope did not begin until the 1950s,when mental health professionalsdefined hope in terms of positive goalexpectancies—similar to dictionarydescriptions. Increasingly in the lasttwo decades of the 20th century,scholars turned their attention towardhope, and in the 1990s an approachknown as “hope theory” capturedattention by defining hope as the per-ceived capacity to find routes todesired goals (pathways thinking), inconjunction with the motivations touse those routes (agency thinking).Such hopeful thinking does notappear to be based on genetic inheri-tance, but instead reflects learningexperiences over the course of child-hood. Finally, hope theory is anexample of an emerging 21st-century

viewpoint called positive psy-chology in which the emphasis ison the strengths of people ratherthan their weaknesses.

Can Hope Be Measured?Shortly after the introduction of

hope theory, self-reporting scalesbased on this definition weredeveloped and validated. Themost widely used instrument is atrait-like index called the HopeScale. This Hope Scale for adultsconsists of eight items on whichrespondents rate how true eachitem is of them. There are fourpathways items (e.g., “I can thinkof many ways to get out of a jam”)and four agency items (e.g., “Ienergetically pursue my goals”).

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Approaching HopeBy C. R. Snyder

“. . . the list of people whohave viewed hope negatively

reads like a ‘Who’s Who.’. . . Sophocles held that

human suffering wasprolonged by hope.”

Summing across the eight items, thetotal Hope Scale score is derived.

Other hope scales, such as a hopescale for children and one to tap adulthope in particular life domains (e.g.,work, school, relationships, etc.), havesince been developed. Thus, there arereliable and valid instruments formeasuring hope.

High- vs. Low-Hope PeopleThere have been many studies in

which the researchers have adminis-tered one of these hope measures, andthen ascertained how the people whoscored higher in hope fared in regardto several other markers. Across suchstudies, children and adults whoscored higher in hope have: (1) copedbetter with injuries, diseases andphysical pain; (2) scored higher in sat-isfaction, self-esteem, optimism,meaning in life and happiness; (3)performed better in sports; and (4)excelled in academics (elementary tograduate school). What is especiallycompelling about these hope findingsfor sports and academics is that theyhave occurred beyond the predictionsthat are caused by natural abilities.That is to say, hope predicted sportsperformances even when the partici-pants’ natural athletic talents werestatistically adjusted for. Similarly,when intelligence was corrected sta-tistically, hope still predicted acade-mic performances. Studies to datehave not found that men or womendiffer in their scores on hope. Like-wise, persons from varying ethnic orminority backgrounds do not appearto have inherently different levels ofhope.

Persons who are higher in hope con-sistently have displayed more benefi-cial outcomes in a variety of life arenas.

S t u d i e shave shownthat hopefulthinking canbe increased.Success fulp r o g r a m shave been

implemented for couples and groups,as well as in one-on-one contexts. Inone case, over 10 group sessions, agroup of older adults who weredepressed learned how to improvetheir goal-setting priorities, alongwith how to enhance their capacitiesto find pathways to their desired goalsand to motivate themselves to usethose routes. Relative to a controlgroup—of elders who underwentreminiscence treatment in which theyrecalled enjoyable previous experi-ences that took place during theiryounger years—the elders trained inhope-enhancing skills showed a sig-nificant lessening of their depression,as measured by both self-reportingand behavioral markers.

In another study, outpatients at acommunity mental health center werefirst taught hope theory principlesbefore entering their normal treat-ments. Relative to patients who didnot get this hope education program,those who did receive such educationsignificantly improved over thecourse of their later treatments. Athird treatment involved videotapedhopeful narratives that were adminis-tered to female survivors of childhoodincest. Compared to the control groupof women who viewed a tape ofnature scenes, those who viewed thehopeful tape reported consistentlyhigher levels of hope. Furthermore,educational programs for teachinggoal-directed thinking to grade schoolto college students have producedimprovements in hope.

Such studies demonstrate thatacross a variety of relationships (e.g.,with psychotherapists and theirpatients, physicians and their patients,teachers and their students, coachesand players, bosses and employees,etc.) hope is the core shared processthat facilitates positive changes.

Raising Hope in AdultsIn this closing section, tips for help-

ing adults raise their hope levels areoffered in terms of setting goals, find-ing the requisite pathways to thosegoals and becoming motivated.

Goal Tips• Become more aware of the decisions

you are making about importantgoals.

• Set a goal because it is somethingyou really want, not what anotherwants for you.

• Make goals that stretch you in thatthey are set at a somewhat higherlevel than your previous perfor-mances.

• Produce several goals in differentareas (e.g., relationships, friend-ships, career, etc.).

• Rank goals from most to leastimportant.

• Select a few most important goalson which to work.

• Make recognizable markers for eachgoal.

• Be sure to set aside sufficient timefor the important goals.

• Do not let yourself be interrupted asyou work on these important goals.

Pathways Tips• Make several paths to each of your

goals.• Choose the best path for each goal.• Take long-range goals and break

them down into steps.• Start with the first step.• Mentally go over what you would

do if you should run into a block-age.

• When a route does not work, do notblame yourself. By knowing whatstrategy does not work, realize that


Phil S

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Making several paths to each of one’sgoals increases one’s level of hope

“To hope is to have both thewill (agency) and the ways

(pathways) to pursue desired goals.”

this will help you find another routethat will work.

• If you need a new skill to implementa route to a desired goal, take timeto learn it.

• Ask for help from others in plan-ning how to get to a desired goal.

Agency Tips• Learn how to talk to yourself in pos-

itive voices (e. g., “I can do this!”).• Look ahead to think about any road-

blocks that may happen.• View problems as challenges.• Recall your earlier successes, espe-

cially when you are in a jam.• Learn to laugh at yourself, and enjoy

a good laugh with your friends.• Redefine or find a substitute goal.• Enjoy getting to your goals as much

as reaching them.

• Get enough sleep.• Eat several small meals, and eat

more of your food earlier in the day.• Cut back on cigarettes and alcohol,

along with caffeine-laden products.• Get vigorous physical exercise.• Get sufficient bright lighting

(preferably sunlight) to your eyes.These various approaches have

helped other people enhance theirhopeful thinking. Remember, also,that it is not necessary to implementall of these tips, but adding a few toone’s life can help enhance hopeful

thinking. High-hope people also enjoybeing around other people. If thoseother people also have a sense of zestfor their lives, this is likely to rub offon the people who are around them.Although there is no one recipe forimparting hope, realizing that one canlearn to think this way is crucial forbecoming more hopeful. So tooshould it be remembered that thelessons in hopeful thinking begin atbirth and continue throughout all thesubsequent days of one’s life.�


Michael B

ader/U

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C. R. Snyder is Wright DistinguishedProfessor of Clinical Psychology at theUniversity of Kansas, Lawrence. Hisbook The Psychology of Hope: YouCan Get There from Here is pub-lished by Free Press. He also has writ-ten five other books on hope.

The Hope ScaleDirections: Read each item carefully. Using the scale shown below, please select the number that best describes YOU and put thatnumber in the blank provided.

Definitely Mostly Somewhat Slightly Slightly Somewhat Mostly DefinitelyFalse False False False True True True True

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Notes: The pathways subscale score is the sum of items 1, 3, 4 & 5; the agency subscale score is the sum of items 2, 6, 7 & 8. Hope is the sumof the four pathways and four agency items. Scores can range from a low of 8 to a high of 64.

� 1. I can think of many ways to get out of a jam.� 2. I energetically pursue my goals.� 3. There are lots of ways around any problem.� 4. I can think of many ways to get the things in life that

are most important to me.

� 5. Even when others get discouraged, I know I can finda way to solve the problem.

� 6. My past experiences have prepared me well for myfuture.

� 7. I’ve been pretty successful in life.� 8. I meet the goals that I set for myself.

From C. R. Snyder, Harris et al., The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, © 1991, vol. 60, p. 585. Reprinted with permission ofthe American Psychological Association and the author. The scale can be used for research or clinical purposes without contacting the author.

“Such studies demonstratethat across a variety of

relationships . . . hope is thecore shared process that

facilitates positive changes.”

A s a cheerleader in Texas in thelate ’50s, I can still rememberthe thrill—bouncing into the

air with my bright orange pom-poms.I loved getting students off their seatswith excitement, making the standsroar.

Now looking back, I realize that Itook my job very seriously. It was, likemy mom’s, to keep everyone’s spiritsup, to focus on the possible. I kept atthat task, but by the late ’60s, I foundmyself trying the approach withsomething far, far more challengingthan an always-losing football team.

Putting an End to HungerHow about world hunger? I sought to prove there were solid

grounds for hope that we humanbeings could put an end to hunger.And, in a sense, I succeeded: I demon-strated what is still true, that there ismore than enough food in the worldto make us all chubby. Human beingsare creating the very food scarcity wesay we fear, I argued. So solutions areat hand: For starters, we can stop feed-ing so much grain to livestock, whichreturn to us in meat on our plates onlya tiny fraction of nutrients we feedthem.

I was aware that without hope wehuman beings die, if not physically,certainly spiritually. So my self-appointed task of spreading hopeseemed pretty important. It’s takenme three decades, though, to begin tounderstand that hope is not aboutcheerleading or even about stackingup the evidence.

I didn’t get here easily. Actually, Iwas forced against my will to rethinkhope. What bad luck, I thought, to beborn a cheerleader by nature and yetalive during an era, the first in humanevolution, in which we can watch—we can even chart—our planet’sdecline. One-third of fish species are

threatened with extinction; 10million children still die eachyear from preventable dis-ease; the horror of slavery isagain spreading; more peopleare dying in violent conflictthan ever before; polar ice capsare melting even faster than sci-entists had predicted.

Where’s hope in that picture? There’s none. But, I found, it’s not

that picture to which we turn forhope. Hope isn’t in any picture, in anystatic accounting. Hope, I learned, ismore verb than noun. It is action.Hope is not what we find but what weourselves become. But how?

The answer has become clear to meas a consequence of an extraordi-

nary blessing: With my daugh-ter/coauthor at my side, I

traveled five continents towrite the 30th-anniversarysequel to my first book,Diet for a Small Planet. Oursturned out to be a storybook, stories of people in

nine countries pushing theedge of hope, showing that

it’s possible to get at the root ofour most staggering social and envi-

ronmental problems. The people we met are all very dif-

ferent; but they have one importantthing in common. Each had experi-enced a “moment of dissonance,” aswe came to call it, in which they awak-ened to the disconnect between theirinner lives—their deepest values andneeds—and the outer world. Theyacknowledged that the world beingcreated (notice the passive voice) isnot the world any of us want.

In such a disorienting moment weeach have a choice. Do we stuff thoseawful, sinking feelings and just go on?Or do we listen to them and chooseanew? Do we go on in denial, or dowe break free? Do we risk acting outof our deeper sensibilities, even if itmeans—which it usually does—dis-rupting comfortable routines andbreaking with at least some peopleclose to us?

For example, in Kenya we met Wan-gari Maathai. In 1977, she saw defor-estation spreading and planted seventrees on Earth Day to fight theencroaching desert. Realizing that itwould take a huge movement of vil-lagers to succeed, she approachedgovernment foresters. “Oh no,” theytold her, “villagers don’t know how;only foresters can plant trees.” Well,that was 20 million trees ago, all plant-ed by village women.

These women—part of the GreenBelt Movement—like hundreds ofothers we met on our journey, hadevery reason for hopelessness. Wan-gari and Kenyan villagers faced polit-

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SGI Quarterly January 2006

“Hope Is Not for Wimps”By Frances Moore Lappé

“Hope isn’t in any picture,in any static accounting.Hope, I learned, is more

verb than noun.”

Lappé cites the success of microcredit in Bangladesh as areason for hope

Women with the Green Belt Movement sort seeds at atree nursery in Kenya

I t is estimated that over 20 percentof South Africans between theages of 15–49 are HIV positive.

As yet, only some 78,000 of theseapproximately 6 million people arebelieved to have access to life-savingmedications under a government pro-gram launched in 2003.

Memory boxes, along with memorybooks, hero books and body maps, area particular kind of memorywork/psychosocial support tool thathave evolved in response to the extra-ordinary range of challenges facing somany people.

Memory work might be defined asthe deliberate setting up of a safespace in which to contain the telling ofa life story. Its scope is not restrictedto the past. Its purpose is often to dealwith difficulties in the present, to holdon to and to celebrate life, and its ori-entation is often toward the future.

Memory Box work was pioneeredin Uganda by HIV-positive womenwho are making sure that they leavetheir children intimate reminders of

their lives by creating memory booksand memory boxes.

Each memory box provides 12 sur-faces onto which one can stick photo-copies of photos, text or original art.Absolutely anything can be put intothe books and boxes. This explorationof one’s personal history, shaping thisinto gifts for the future, can restore asense of continuance and tap deepsources of hope.

My efforts to explore this sparselydocumented work with a group ofHIV-positive women in Soweto ledto the setting up of the Memory BoxProject at the University of CapeTown in 2001. Our mission was to


ical corruption and one of the coun-try’s worst droughts. They facedgrinding poverty, made worse by thefree fall in the world price of theexport crop—coffee—the villagers wemet have depended on for income.

Yet, these women were among themost hope-full people I’ve everencountered. Their spirits sang alongwith their voices and their dancingfeet. They were not only planting treesbut reclaiming traditional Africanfood crops to free themselves fromdependency on the speculative worldcommodity market. In a culturewhere many women report beingbeaten by their spouses, they arestanding up to their husbands. Manyare choosing to have fewer children.Their T-shirts are emblazoned withthe simple Green Belt slogan: “As forme, I’ve made a choice.”

Perhaps most of us are looking forhope in all the wrong places. Andmaybe this is one reason the WorldHealth Organization reports thatdepression is now the fourth leadingcause of disability and prematuredeath. In less than 20 years, it willplace second. Maybe we’ve been look-ing for hope in evidence—in tallyingup the positive and weighing itagainst the negative. Hope is some-thing else. Hope is what we do.

My daughter and coauthor, Anna,loves to say that she used to thinkhope was for wimps, for people whocouldn’t face just how bad things are.Now, through our journey, we see theopposite to be true: Hope is not forwimps. It’s only for the strong ofheart. For it’s what we become whenwe, like the Green Belt women, makea choice. When we choose to listen toourselves, risk—and then learn to singand cry at the same time.�

Publish Your LifeBy Jonathan Morgan

A hero book is a document, and aprocess, in which children are invitedto be author, illustrator and maincharacter of a book that is designed togive them power over a specific chal-lenge in their life.

A particular problem isidentified and named; it isthen located as somethingoutside of the person andnot bound up as part oftheir identity, or withintheir field of self-blame; a“shining moment” is iden-tified in which the personexperienced, howeverfleetingly, some powerover, or hope in the faceof, the problem; finally,there is discussion of someof the things the personcan do, or has begun to

do, to achieve a measure of controlover the problem.

“Wire Around the Heart” was writ-ten, illustrated and is about 11-year-oldOupa. He identifies grief as his prob-

Frances Moore Lappé is author orcoauthor of 14 books, including thebest-seller Diet for a Small Planetand its sequel Hope’s Edge. She isthe cofounder of two organizationsthat focus on food and the roots ofdemocracy.

Hero BooksHero Books

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use memoryboxes as a ther-apeutic interven-tion to assist peopleliving with HIV/AIDSto tell their life stories intransformative ways and,in doing so, to advocate for treatment.

A Different StoryTremendous stigma

surrounds HIV andAIDS in South Africa.Many of the womenwe met in ourgroups had notdisclosed theirHIV status totheir malepartners whoinfected them inthe first place. Manywomen who disclose theirstatus risk rejection, evictionand, in some cases, murder.Because of extremely limited treat-ment opportunities, there is littleincentive for HIV positive people to gopublic with their status. Often thissilence contributes to secrecy, shame,guilt, anger and, inevitably, furtherspread of the virus.

The first group weran was at a RedCross structure madeout of tin sheets in anarea called Khayelit-sha, one of the so-calledtownships of CapeTown. In this smallroom were about 40women, many of whom

had crying babies. Some of thewomen had just heard about theirown HIV status, and others had just

learned that their childrenwere HIV positive. Oth-ers were still waiting tohave their children test-ed for HIV. There was ageneral expectation ofdeath. At the time,there was limitedaccess to effectivetreatment. The situa-tion was dire. Across

South Africa it contin-ues to be so. Extensive lobbying isincreasing access to antiretroviraldrugs. But still, every day in SouthAfrica 600 people die of AIDS, whichhas created over 1 million orphans.

Initially, our work was informed bythe assumption: You have HIV/AIDS


lem, drawing it as barbed wire arounda flower signifying hislimited access tohis absent mother.

For a young girlnamed Memory,the story she need-ed to tell was one ofstruggle and tri-umph over stigma.The last straw waswhen someone wrote“Memory Phiri is HIVpositive” on the toilet wall in theorphanage where she lives. Hershining moment was calling all thegirls in the orphanage and explain-ing to them that yes, this is true,but the reason is that there was noadult or parent to protect herwhen she was abducted, raped

and infected withHIV; the blameand shame belongnot with her butwith the rapist.

James identi-fies his problemas lonelinessand lack of sup-port. He tells us

that it has the mostpower over

him when he is left standing alone on asoccer field in Malawi, after the sun hasset and all the other boys have beencalled home to a family meal by theirparents. James lives alone in the samehouse where his mother and father andtwo sisters (all deceased) used to spendhappy times together.

Young Chester writes: “two frogshop in the ditch beside the road, inNekkies, I feel happy.” On the finalpage he looks out at us wearing awhite tunic and cap with red crosseson them: “I want to be a doctorbecause I want to help my family andother peoples that have AID/HIV . . .I love people, and I have peas [peace]for other people, People say I amclever.”

Learn how to make a hero book atwww.10mmp.org

“This can be a story of hopeand activism challenging

limited access to life-savingand life-prolonging

medication.”

Body maps (left), developed by artistJane Solomon, are body tracingsonto which people mark whereactual wounds/marks/held feelingshave recorded their stories

(conflating the two), you are going todie, get down your story. An impor-tant shift happened when we beganfocusing on the fact that HIV need notnecessarily be a death sentence. Webegan to talk about memory boxesand books as tools to help people fightfor and celebrate life rather than toprepare for death.

Making a memorybox is an opportunityfor people to tell the lifestories they wish to. Thiscan be a story of hopeand activism challenginglimited access to life-sav-ing and -prolonging med-ication. It can be about liv-ing with HIV and still livinga healthy and positive life, orit can be a story about talkingabout pain and loss and death.

Recognizing ExpertiseIn our work, we were always

clear that what HIV-affected com-munities needed even more than con-doms or counseling or awareness-raising, etc., was money, jobs, hopeand a sense of future. We also knew itwas not within our means or expertiseto provide all these things.

Then, as demand for workshopsand talks began to outstrip our capac-ity to deliver them, we realized thatwhat we needed was a squad ofhelpers, an “A team” who could workon many different fronts. When wethought about what would most qual-ify this team to do the work requiredof them, it was that they should beXhosa-speaking and HIV positive.Rather than recruiting our clients intoyet another bead or craft enterprise,individuals here were being asked towork from their real area of exper-tise—their insider knowledge andexperience as HIV-positive peopleand their fluency in the language thatis spoken in their communities. Victo-ria emerged as the natural leader ofthe team.

In the training, we endeavored tooffer the capacity to deliver a range of

services: memory boxworkshops, grouptherapy skills, pre-and post-test coun-seling, supportgroup facilitation,prevention work,research skills.

We also focused ondeveloping business skills,

enabling collectives to manage theirown finances and to compete and sur-vive in the marketplace. From a mem-ory box manual, participants learnedhow to make a box and a book out ofrecycled material. Facilitators learnedhow to fill the book using promptssimilar to those used in the Ugandanmodel. “Our family values and tradi-tions are . . .” and “My hope is thatyou will . . .” are but two examples.

Confronting FearOne of the tasks of the facilitators is

to create a safe space in which partic-ipants can support each other in eachother’s journeys through the fears andanxieties of their situation, toward aplace of empowerment and hope. Aspart of their work, with their ownmemory boxes in front of them, mem-bers of the A team will stand up infront of a crowd of people who havenot yet been tested, for various rea-sons that usually include fear. The Ateam will say: “Look at us, we are HIVpositive but we are working. I expectto live longer than you because I knowmy status. Even if you are HIV nega-

tive but do not know it, the chancesare that you are not practicing safe sexand will become positive soon.”

Nomonde tells how she found outher status when she became pregnantand how she was given the drug AZTto prevent transmitting the virus toher baby.

Nondumiso tells how she nearlydied but was brought back fromdeath’s door by an antiretroviral treat-ment provided by an internationalNGO.

People are literally moved to test.In the days following such work-shops, the A team receives phonecalls telling them, “I was in yourworkshop and I decided to go for atest.” If someone is lucky enough totest negative, they have somethingvery valuable to protect. And if theresults are positive, this knowledgecan be directed toward empower-ment and action.

Five years after the first workshop,the A team are now a coherent, quitefamous and much-in-demand groupof women whose main business, nichemarket and expertise have evolvedaround the considerable researchskills they have developed workingfor the Aids and Society Research Unitat the University of Cape Town.

New BeginningsMemory box experience often

begins as a very private and intro-spective journey but, along the way,spontaneously develops into a more


public perfor-mance of what

promises to be aliberating account of

one’s life. The firststep in this direction

happens within a safe space whereparticipants share their lives withconsiderate, understanding and car-ing others. The ceremonies that sur-round the work—group discussion,small exhibitions, larger installa-tions—can become powerful ritualsenabling HIV-affected individuals tostep into preferred identities of selfwhich are more difficult to bringforth in society at large. Many peoplehave also told me that they have usedtheir memory boxes and books to dis-close their HIV status to others forthe first time.

My personal experience with mem-ory work over the past few years haslikewise been a process of growth,development and adventure—onethat has taken me to several countriesand exposed me to diverse situationsand experiences. I am currentlyinvolved with the Ten Million Memo-ry Project (10MMP), a platform forcollaboration around memory andhero work that aims to reach 10 mil-lion children across Africa.

Memory work of this sort is,amongst other things, a stage onwhich people’s stories can be heardand told. It helps ensure that the livesand struggles of people bravely facingdifficulties are recognized, recordedand disseminated. In regard to HIVand AIDS, through their stories theyare documenting the pandemic andadvocating, in powerfully personalways, for treatment and care.�

Imet Jonathan in2001 in a supportgroup where he

taught us how to makememory boxes andmemory books. I beganvisiting clinics with him,working with groupsthere.

Doing the box andthe book helped me alot. It’s like writingyour diary, sharingyour story with some-one—everything thathappened to you. So Iwrote about myself and my child andmy family. At the time I was not cop-ing well, I was suffering and alone, andmy family knew nothing about myHIV status.

There’s a lot of discriminationaround HIV. People say that you’regoing to die, that you’re a prostituteand that’s why you got HIV—lots ofthings. I wanted to write my story sothat my family could know what hap-pened, and also my child, when hegrows up. He is five.

When you talk about this, it helpsyou to feel free. You know that thereare people who know what has hap-pened in your life and who can giveyou support. You can go out and talkabout it and that makes you feelstrong. And other people also feelstrong if they see somebody talkingopenly about their status, because theyknow about the discrimination. Wewant everybody to be strong, becauseif you lose hope, you are going to die.If you are strong, you tell yourself: I amgoing to live long. You feel free.

I did the box first. The first thing Iput in it was a prayer book that mygrandmother gave to me. The secondthing I put in was a shoe, the left shoeof my son. He lost the other one when

he was three months old. I keep itbecause he liked that shoe. I also putin other things my family had given tome.

I wrote on the box the date I wasborn, 11 September, 1968, and Iwrote the year I was diagnosed, 2000,when I was pregnant. I wrote aboutmy family; about my boyfriend. Heran away when I was three monthspregnant. I wrote about my groupbecause when I am with them, I feelvery happy, because I know I canshare everything with them and theycan help me. And I wrote a messagethanking Médecins Sans Frontièresfor providing treatment to people.

In 2003, I decided I was ready to tellmy family. I took my memory book,and I left it with them so they couldread what’s going on and what’s hap-pened in my life. They read everything,and they accepted it. I wrote a lot ofmessages to them, because anythingcould happen to me, and I wantedthem to be able to look after my child.Then they called me and said every-thing is OK. They gave me a lot of sup-port.

Now I can go anywhere, I don’t feelsad. I am free, and I am strong. I amVictoria, the Victoria I know.�


Jonathan Morgan works for REPSSI,a regional initiative for the psychoso-cial well-being of children affected byHIV and AIDS, poverty and conflictin 13 African countries. He is also thecoordinator of the Ten MillionMemory Project, which seeks fundingto reach 10 million children by 2010.Contact jonathan@10mmp

Victoria’s Story

Brenan M

aughan B

rown

A civilization can be bright onlywhen there is a good relation-ship and a balance between

the culture and the social structure.Culture could be thought of as anyactivities that create values andknowledge for human society—whatare termed Buddhii in Khmer (Cambo-dian language). The social structure—the organization of society—shouldaim to enhance progress toward therealization of peace for the body ormaterial aspect. Buddhii infuse thesocial structure with moral values andethics and bring about peace of mindand spirit.

Only when culture is strong cansociety progress. This balance is nec-essary for the flourishing of a nationand its civilization; only when thebody is healthy and the spiritcontent can human beingsknow true happiness.

A Dark AgeFollowing the great Angkor

period from the 9th to the 14thcenturies, Cambodia suffered asuccession of bitter warscaused by both foreign aggres-sion and civil strife. As a result,the culture, our most valuablenational heritage, was almostextinguished. The most severethreat came with the 1975–1979genocidal Pol Pot regime, whenthe Khmer Rouge hatched itsfoolish ambitions to transformCambodia into what theycalled a “new society.”

The Khmer Rouge sought todestroy all the infrastructure ofthe old society, including thetraditional Khmer dances andart forms, under the pretext thatthese were the heritage of thefeudal regime. Artists, bothmen and women, were arrest-ed, tortured and killed. Others

were brought to the brink ofdeath by forced labor andmalnutrition.

The Khmer Rouge killedthe deans, professors, teach-ers, students, musicians,singers—the living documentsof national culture. They alsoalmost completely destroyed all-written documentation, films, art-works, instruments and recordings.

Those former artists and academicswho were not murdered were barelyable to survive; they lived in constantfear, without hope, waiting only fortheir turn to die.

When this barbarous regime finallyfell on January 7, 1979, the new gov-ernment of the People’s Republic ofCambodia sent people throughout

the country to search for skilled per-sons in all fields, and appealed to

them to help rebuild the country.At that time, professional arts

groups managed by the stateand locally organized artistsgroups began to reemergein nearly all the provinces,in cities and local commu-nities. In Phnom Penh,

there was a central group ofartists with the Ministry of

Culture and Information, whichgathered together artists, teachers,

academics and students of the arts.

Rebirth In 1980, the government authorized

the urgent opening of a national artsfestival. The aim was to collect infor-mation on the art forms and formerartists who survived, with a view toformulating goals and guidelines fora plan to rebuild Cambodian arts andculture.

After the national arts festi-val, we discovered that onlyabout 10 percent of the teach-ers and students of the artsalive in 1975 had survived. Asfor art forms, some had beencompletely lost; some othersneeded immediate attention inorder to rebuild them, as thesurviving teachers, the custo-dians of those arts, were oldand in poor health. To copewith such a grave situation, itwas decided to reopen theSchool of Fine Arts. In the firstyear, 1980/81, there were atotal of 480 students. Eightypercent of them were orphans,the sons or daughters of theartists who died during theKhmer Rouge years.

The task of any school of finearts is to develop the humanresources which are the seedsof the new generation in thefield of national arts and cul-ture. For Cambodia such peo-ple represent and embody thenational spirit and identity, the


Culture: Reviving HopeBy Proeung Chhieng

Dancer dressed as a prince on the main causeway at Angkor Wat, 1921

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hope and national pride of everyCambodian. The Royal Ballet, or Tra-ditional Khmer Dance, for example, isa form of sacred art with religiouscontent and a humanistic spirit. Thefemale dancers were originally theDevadasi, with the role of making ded-ications to the gods. Over the manycenturies that this dance form hasexisted, they have been messengers ofpeace between the human world andthe world of the gods; they are peacedancers, incarnations of spiritual

peace teaching and propagatingmoral values and ethics for the sake ofpeace in Cambodia. This dance is anart which embodies both religious cer-emony and a social ideal.

Because of their deep appreciationof the value of our arts and culture,the surviving artists and their few sur-viving teachers underwent countless

sacrifices in order to rebuild the artforms, despite the very difficult con-ditions after the Khmer Rougeregime.

The artists groups, moreover, werealso busy giving public performancesfor people who had been eagerlyawaiting this for so long. These per-formances of the traditional arts werea light of hope for the artists them-selves as well as for every Cambodi-an; they represented a reemergence ofthe vital spirit and unique identity ofthe Cambodian people. As the sayinggoes, “The extinction of culturemeans the disappearance of thenation.”

The Royal University of Fine Arts(RUFA) is now training and develop-ing highly skilled practitioners ofCambodian arts and culture, whichare a strong and essential force forsustainable social development. Thedance students we have been trainingare indeed the true strength of knowl-edge in arts and culture. They havedevoted themselves to the search oftruth for the sake of the country’sdevelopment. They are like new bam-boo shoots, or the new hope of a bet-ter Cambodia.�

Min

-On

HE Proeung Chhieng trained as adancer during the 1960s. He is nowVice Rector and Dean of the Faculty ofChoreographic Arts at the RoyalUniversity of Fine Arts, Phnom Penh.

Bas-relief of Apsara, 13th century, Bayon temple,Angkor Wat

The Royal Cambodian Ballet performing in Japan, 2002

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“These performances of thetraditional arts were a light ofhope for the artists themselves

as well as for everyCambodian; they represented

a reemergence of the vitalspirit and unique identity of the Cambodian people.”

Proeung Chhieng was one of the first male dancers tointerpret the role of Hanuman, the monkey king, in theReamker, the Cambodian version of the Ramayana

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I am 72 years old. Until recently Iwas a professor of traditionalKhmer singing and dancing at

the Royal University of Fine Arts inPhnom Penh. My late father andmother worked as domestic helpers tothe parents of the former KingSihanouk. So I grew up in the palaceand started dancing lessons fromwhen I was six years old. I danced andsang for the King for many years.

I had a total of 18 children, but only12 were still alive in 1975 when theKhmer Rouge evacuated the entirepopulation out of every city and town.When I was forced to leave PhnomPenh, what I treasured wasthree books that I had aboutdancing lessons and the art ofKhmer dancing. The KhmerRouge put me to work in alabor camp, but I hid the booksuntil the end.

They separated me from allof my children, even the veryyoung. When I learned thatone of my children had died, Irequested the Khmer Rougeauthorities to see my child’sbody. They denied me this.The next day I was forced to goto work in the fields as if noth-ing had happened. I criedinside, this was so sad and so cruel.

When the same thing happenedafter the death of another of my chil-dren, I collapsed while working in therice fields. When I woke up, I was inhospital.

SavedBecause they knew I was an actress,

my life was spared, but not my chil-dren. Normally they considered enter-tainment business-related people tobe parasites on society, and many

were killed. Instead they found meuseful. The local warlord liked mysinging, so they asked me to sing anddance for them often. Later on theyalso used me to sing in a camp fororphaned children.

After Cambodia was liberated fromthis genocidal regime, I walked to anearby provincial town where I wait-ed for news and searched for the rest ofmy children. I learned that seven had

died or been murdered and that onlyfive were left with me.

I met a former student of classicaldance who asked me to start teachingagain. I taught and performed on thestreets—at that time we traded dancefor rice to eat. Over several months Iwas able to travel back toward thepalace in Phnom Penh. When I gotthere, I was asked to be a culturalinstructor, then later on the Ministryof Culture and Fine Arts invited me toteach dance and singing.

Dancing brought back old memo-ries of the good days and gave smilesto many people who were miserableat that time. Many children began tojoin dancing classes. Cultural activi-ties like dance make our people gen-tle and humble. They make us pray tothe heavenly beings who are greaterthan us.

I was heartbroken when I learnedthat all things related to the arts andculture were totally ruined, but mylove for art and culture made me thinkthat we must revive whatever had dis-appeared. I dedicated my entire life tohelp raise it back to life and make thearts flourish again.

Art and dance have been veryimportant for Khmer life from ancient

times until now. This isbecause culture reflects oursociety and shows Khmersensitivities or thinking man-ifest in real form throughchoreography. It shows thatKhmer people are full ofgrace and dignity, gentle andhumble. It helps the next gen-eration know their identitythrough the behavior andimagery of this dance. Thisclassical dancing is also theway to let the world knowKhmer people through ourculture and art.

We are afraid that our cul-ture may be lost for future genera-tions. These days there are new cul-tural elements which might changeour traditional dancing style. In fact ithas already changed.

I feel hope for Cambodia’s futureevery time I teach youngsters the art ofdancing. I feel that this Khmer chore-ography is alive and that it will lastand continue to develop from one gen-eration to the next forever. It will notbe diminished or die out as long asCambodia exists on this planet.�


Ms. Em Theay teaches foreign children living in Cambodia the basics of tradi-tional dance

Ms. Em Theay

“Cultural activities like dancemake our people gentle

and humble.”

Cambodian CultureReborn: My StoryBy Em Theay

B uddhism teaches that the samepower which moves the uni-verse exists within our lives.

Each individual has immense poten-tial, and a great change in the innerdimension of one individual’s life hasthe power to touch the lives of othersand transform society. When wechange our inner determination,everything begins to move in a newdirection.

Hope, in this sense, is a decision.When we possess the treasure ofhope, we can draw forth our innerpotential and strength. A person ofhope can always advance.

Hope is a flame that we nurturewithin our hearts. It may be sparkedby someone else—by the encouragingwords of a friend, relative or mentor—but it must be fanned and kept burn-ing through our own determination.Most crucial is our determination tocontinue to believe in the limitless dig-nity and possibilities of both ourselvesand others.

Mahatma Gandhi led the nonvio-lent struggle for Indian indepen-dence from British colonial rule,succeeding against all odds. Hewas, in his own words, “an irre-pressible optimist.” His hope wasnot based on circumstances, risingand falling as things seemed to begoing better or worse. Rather, it wasbased on an unshakable faith inhumanity, in the capacity of peoplefor good. He absolutely refused toabandon his faith in his fellowhuman beings.

Keeping faith in people’s essen-tial goodness, and the consistenteffort to cultivate this goodness inourselves—as Gandhi proved,these are the twin keys to unleash-ing the great power of hope. Believ-ing in ourselves and in others in thisway—continuing to wage the diffi-cult inner struggle to make this the

basis for our actions—can transform asociety that sometimes seems to beplummeting toward darkness into ahumane and enlightened worldwhere all people are treated withrespect.

There may be times when, con-fronted by cruel reality, we verge onlosing all hope. If we cannot feel hope,it is time to create some. We can dothis by digging deeper within, search-ing for even a small glimmer of light,for the possibility of a way to begin tobreak through the impasse before us.And our capacity for hope can actual-ly be expanded and strengthened bydifficult circumstances. Hope that hasnot been tested is nothing more thana fragile dream. Hope begins from thischallenge, this effort to strive towardan ideal, however distant it may seem.

It is far better to pursue a remote,

even seemingly impossible goal than tocheat ourselves of the forward motionthat such goals can provide. I believethat the ultimate tragedy in life is notphysical death. Rather, it is the spiritu-al death of losing hope, giving up onour own possibilities for growth.

My mentor, Josei Toda, once wrote:“In looking at great people of the past,we find that they remained undefeat-ed by life’s hardships, by life’s pound-ing waves. They held fast to hopesthat seemed mere fantastic dreams toother people. They let nothing stop ordiscourage them from realizing theiraspirations. The reason for this, I feelcertain, is that their hopes themselveswere not directed toward the fulfill-ment of personal desires or self-inter-est, but based on a wish for all peo-ple’s happiness, and this filled themwith extraordinary conviction andconfidence.”

Here he pointed to a cruciallyimportant truth: real hope is found incommitting ourselves to vast goals

and dreams—dreams such asworld without war and violence, aworld where everyone can live indignity.

The problems that face our worldare daunting in their depth andcomplexity. Sometimes it may behard to see where—or how—tobegin. But we cannot be paralyzedby despair. We must each takeaction toward the goals we have setand in which we believe. Ratherthan passively accepting things asthey are, we must embark on thechallenge of creating a new reality.It is in that effort that true, undyinghope is to be found.�


A longer version of this essay firstappeared in Hold Hope, WagePeace (2005) edited by DavidKrieger and Carah Ong, availablefrom www.wagingpeace.org

Making HopeBy Daisaku Ikeda

“Hope begins from thischallenge, this effort to strive

toward an ideal . . .”

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Hope During CrisisBy Ziyad Alawneh

Natural disas-ters, insecurity,occupation andthe feeling ofbeing isolatedcause deep hurtto people andcan cripple soci-eties. But humanbeings armed

with hope are never helpless. Peoplewith hope are the strongest agents ofchange. Hope is as essential to life asfood and water. Faith in ourselves andthe future helps us go on in the face ofdisasters and conflicts.

As a Muslim, living in the Middle East,a region boiling with instability andmuch prejudice and hatred, there is stillample life and love. This is due to a cul-tural perspective which stems from thebelief that we are tested in life throughvarious kinds of difficulties. Culturally,Muslims accept what happens to themand thank God for all that happens, con-sidering it God’s will—an opportunityfor us to examine ourselves and developpatience, in the knowledge that one’ssuffering could always be greater.

In the face of disaster one can eitherremain angry and bitter or exercisepatience or acceptance or, the highestand most faithful response, gratitude orappreciation. Without this strong faith,one is more easily overwhelmed andunable to bring forth the hope necessaryto change life and bring light to theworld. What happens in our crazy worldshould not cause us to lose hope; ratherit should spur us to create a just and fairworld; a world free of selfishness.

Life in our world is always worth liv-ing, and there are many things thatmake us happy even in the most difficultconditions. In today’s world full ofagony and pain, we have no choice butto equip ourselves with the patience andhope that will see us to the safest shoreof the lake.�

Hope for HumanNatureBy Hazel Henderson

I believe thathope is an atti-tude we need toc u l t i v a t e —among others:gratitude, trust,c o n f i d e n c e ,cooperation andfaith in the won-drous unfoldingof life on Earth.

I have faith in the continuation ofhuman development and maturationtoward greater wisdom. We humansuse only 10 percent of our cognitivecapacities—while our emotional capac-ities for empathy and collaboration arealso enormous.

Recently, I joined a group of scholarsreassessing the British scientist CharlesDarwin (www.thedarwinproject.com).They are discovering how Darwin’stheories were distorted by the elites ofVictorian Britain into the cynical theo-ries of “survival of the fittest,” compe-tition over resources and territory. This“Social Darwinism” doctrine becamethe underpinning of market economicsand its view that “human nature” wasbasically selfish and competitive.

The new Darwin scholars, includingDavid Loye in his Darwin’s Lost Theoryof Love, now set the record straight. Dar-win only mentioned “the survival of thefittest” a few times while emphasizingconstantly that the real genius ofhumans was their ability to bond, trusteach other, cooperate and mature intoaltruism.

This new view of human nature, Ibelieve, is correct and implies a rethinkof economic and business school curric-ula—balancing their focus on competi-tion and selfishness toward cooperationand our capacity for altruism. Here arenew grounds for hope!�


Perspectives on Hope

Ziyad Alawneh is a Jordanian sus-tainable development specialistand environmental activist. He iscurrently coordinator of theJordanian government’s IntegratedWatershed Management Project.

Dr. Hazel Henderson is an inde-pendent futurist, syndicatedcolumnist, and consultant onsustainable development in over30 countries. She is the author ofseveral books, includingBuilding a Win-Win World.

“Three grand essentialsto happiness in this life

are something to do,something to love,

and something to hope for.”

—Joseph Addison

“Hope is the companionof power, and mother

of success; for who sohopes strongly haswithin him the gift

of miracles.”

—Samuel Smiles

“Hope is always availableto us. When we feel

defeated, we need onlytake a deep breath and

say, ‘Yes,’ and hope will reappear.”

—Monroe Forester

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird

that cannot fly. ”

—Langston Hughes

SGI Quarterly January 2006 15

I know that to be bornhuman means that at timeswe will suffer, but nothing

could have prepared me forhaving my life as I know it sud-denly and literally washedaway when Hurricane Katrinadevastated New Orleans inOctober 2005. My partner and Ilost our house and nearly all ofour possessions, her car, arental property and my busi-ness.

This has been the deepestgrief of my lifetime. It is impos-sible for me to describe inwords my feelings at witness-ing our home submerged forseveral weeks beneath five feetof seawater, sewerage, motoroils and other toxins; at siftingthrough my lifetime’s worth ofnow slime-covered personalpossessions; at having to placethese on the curb in front of myhouse like trash, and thenwatch a bobcat scoop them intothe back of a large truck to bedestroyed.

Buddhism talks about the idea of“turning poison into medicine.”When the storm and flood had sub-sided, I resolved that this experiencewas my opportunity to do just that.

I found in The Writings of NichirenDaishonin a passage that reads,“Gold can be neither burned by firenor corroded or swept away bywater, but iron is vulnerable to both.A worthy person is like gold, a foollike iron. . . . The sutra states . . . ‘Thegood fortune you gain thereby . . .cannot be burned by fire or washedaway by water.’” I placed this and amessage of encouragement that wehad received from SGI PresidentIkeda regarding the hurricane on myBuddhist altar, and read them asoften as necessary.

The effort to remain a person of

“gold” has been a daily struggle. Inthe last two months we have lived infour places, and are awaiting a gov-ernment-issued travel trailer we willpark on our front yard and call homewhile we tackle the rebuildingprocess.

Second-by-SecondStruggle

When negative aspects of my lifepredominate and I plunge into aworld of despair and hopelessness, Iremind myself that the world of Bud-dhahood still exists within me—thepositive, undaunted aspect of ourlives—and I chant for that to mani-fest. Sometimes I struggle second bysecond between the part of me thatwants to give up because life is so dif-ficult right now, and that part of methat will not be stopped or defeated.

I am encouraged by whatNichiren wrote about happi-ness: “Suffer what there is tosuffer, enjoy what there is toenjoy. Regard both sufferingand joy as facts of life, and con-tinue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what hap-pens.” Such fortitude, he says,will enable one to experience“boundless joy from the Law.”

The Buddhism I practicepromises that my suffering canbe an opportunity to make mylife even better than it wasbefore this disaster, if I am will-ing to be tenacious in myefforts.

Throughout this experience Ihave chanted for the life forceand wisdom to make the bestfrom this situation, focusing onhow I could use my skills andtraining as a licensed clinicalsocial worker to help peoplewho are rebuilding the city. Iam now engaged in contractwork providing stress manage-

ment and supportive counseling tostaff for the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency and otheragencies. I am also rebuilding myown private practice in counseling.

I believe in hope. I believe in mylimitless potential, and I am deter-mined to continue to use this prac-tice to help heal my life, the lives ofthose around me, and my largercommunity. I remind myself of theexample of others who have stayedstrong in the toughest and most try-ing circumstances, and that I canaccomplish things in my life in themiddle of all of this suffering anddestruction. I feel a deep sense ofgratitude to all of those people whoare supporting me, in a variety ofways. I want to be an example forothers to never give up. I will notquit!�

Finding a Way UpBy Mindy Milam, New Orleans, U.S.A.

SGI members experiences in faith


Iwas born as the second daughterin a well-off family and lived mylife without ever having to strug-

gle much with anything. I was brightand happy, with a tenacious, never-give-up attitude. I loved literature,and when I was in high school, I hadan essay published in a local news-paper. “Life is long,” I wrote, “andin the future there may come a timewhen the harsh winds of fate beardown upon me as strong as atyphoon, but one should nevergrieve or be defeated. Life is deter-mined by how bravely we face it andhow we create it.”

A boy named Takaetsu read myessay and was touched by it. Webecame pen pals and eventuallymarried. Later, he decided to adoptmy faith and, in 1966, joined theSoka Gakkai.

I was 20 when we married andmy life changed completely,because my husband’s family werefarmers. Besides being a farmer’swife, I worked in sales and waspresident of the Parents and Teach-ers Association for 12 years. I alsovolunteered a lotof my time in theSoka Gakkai orga-nization and tookon demandingresponsibilities.The driving powerin my busy life wasthe Buddhist prac-tice of chantingN a m - m y o h o -renge-kyo whichmy husband and Iperformed togeth-er daily.

Then, in October2000, somethingoccurred which Icould never haveimagined. My sonhad broken up

with his girlfriend and had becomevery depressed, feeling he had beendeceived by her. He stopped goingto work and shut himself away in hisroom. Because he wasn’t going towork, he was fired from his job andhis depression worsened. I hoped hewould snap out of it and told him heneeded to be stronger; there werelots of girls he could go out with. OnOctober 16, I received a call from thepolice. When my husband and Iarrived at the hospital, my son’sbody was laid out on a bed with asheet covering his face. He hadjumped from the building in whichhis girlfriend lived. He was 27 yearsold.

At first I was angry. How could hehave done this? Was he that weak?Then immediately I realized Ishould not blame him. Day andnight I cried. I had not known howmuch he was suffering. I could havebeen more compassionate, I toldmyself; I could have shared his pain.It was too late to do anything.

Time stopped for me. For monthsI could not bear to face anyone.

The Pain of RegretNo matter how old a parent

grows, their child is always theirchild. Everything about our shorthistory together recurred to mevividly. Most painful was a messagehe wrote to me on Mother’s Daywhen he was in the fifth grade:“Dear Mom, I will grow up. You arealways scolding me. Please alsopraise me sometimes too. I am sohappy when you smile at me. Ipromise you that I will give you a

comfortable life when Igrow up. You arealways working sohard. Please take goodcare of yourself, Mom.Love always.” I wantedto tell him now, “I amso sorry for alwaysbeing so strict with you.I was always scoldingyou.” Why was I notmore kind to my son?Day after day I was tor-tured by these regrets.

Just as I had not beenable to understand myson’s struggle, I nowfelt as though there wasno one in the worldwho could understandthe pain I was feeling. Aiko with her husband, her son, and her daughter’s first child

SGI members experiences in faith

The Deepest LossBy Aiko Matsumura, Japan


One day I started having difficul-ty breathing; I broke into a coldsweat and fainted. When I came to, Iwas in the hospital, and my husbandwas standing over me with an anx-ious look on his face. He told me,“You can’t go on like this. There arepeople who need you. You have totake care of yourself.” The love in hisface and the gentleness of his wordstouched me and shone some lightinto the darkness in my heart.

I continued to chant for a way outof my pain. As my chanting deep-ened, my perception of my son’sdeath slowly began to change. I feltlike I could tell him, “Even if youwere deceived, I am glad that youwere never one to deceive others.You were always such a pureheart-ed boy, such a kind person.” I beganto feel that my son was still alive, inmy heart. I made a resolution that,for the sake of my son, I would livemy life wholeheartedly for others.

A New ResolveI believe that having faith is about

bringing forth the sun of hope fromwithin our own hearts, no matterwhat circumstances we find our-selves in. Boundlessinner strength and wis-dom alredy lie withinus, and faith is thepower which enablesus to draw this strengthfrom within our lives.Gradually, I began tofeel as though thefrozen river of my lifewas thawing and start-ing to move again.

From my Buddhistpractice I know thatdeath is not merely theabsence of life; that,together with life, it isan essential part of adeeper continuum.

I felt that I wanted to celebrate myson’s 27 years of life and to help himleave behind his legacy. My nightsof tears were not the legacy I want-ed for him.

I had always enjoyed writing.After chanting about this, I began towrite. I chanted, wrote, scratchedout what I had written, tried again,and then chanted some more.Though I had thought I had sometalent for literature, I realized nowhow difficult writing can be. Ittook one year, but I finally finishedthe autobiography of my son andme, entitled Mother Like the CherryBlossom.

I dedicated the book to my sonand my own mother, who left methese words before she passedaway: “Cherry blossoms only comeinto bloom after enduring the long,cold winter. The warmth of springcan only be appreciated by endur-ing the frozen air of winter. Liveyour life like the cherry blossom,

which comes into full, joyful flowerin the beauty of spring!”

Finding OthersThe autobiography was published

in 2004. Following that, a letterdescribing my joy at publishing thebook was carried in a local newspa-per. To my surprise, I received a lotof responses to this; some frommothers who had had similar expe-riences to mine.

Our exchange of letters led even-tually to the formation of a networkof mothers, which we have calledthe Cherry Blossom Group. Some 30mothers meet monthly, share andaccept their grief and offer eachother support. Through this group Ihave been able to offer to others thekind of support that I experiencedfrom the Soka Gakkai women mem-bers who came to my aid in mydarkest hour, offering me not justwords of support but sitting with meand sharing in my grief.

My deceased son taught me thepower of faith. He brought me manynew and wonderful encounters withwonderful people.

Though we may be knocked downby painful events or diffi-culties, I believe that eachperson has within them thepower and potential totransform any difficulty ormisfortune into fortune. Towin, I believe, means to beable to surmount pain andmove forward. Life isalways from today—fromthis moment—onward. Idon’t want to say goodbyeto my son. Rather, I want totell him “Thank you.” I feelI am just now beginning toblossom. And I know thatthe light of spring, the lightof hope, will always be inmy heart.�Aiko (front row, second from left) with members of the Cherry Blossom Group

“Life is always from today—from this moment—onward.”

Difficulties are proof of life; suf-fering is the soil from which realjoy grows. This truth was

demonstrated by Natalia Sats, who wasregarded as the mother of the children’sarts movement in Russia. She retainedthe innocence of a young girl, and herunaffected speech and bright smilerefreshed all who met her. We metseven times in total, and every time, Ifound she had grown younger andmore passionate than before. She was aperson of great simplicity who wasalways completely honest. This was hergreatest strength.

Ms. Sats, who diedin 1993 at the age of90, founded 20 chil-dren’s theaters in all,organizing children’stheater performancesall over the world,despite facing unbe-lievable hardships. Ibelieve she was able tosurvive all manner ofdifficulties because ofher passionate love ofart, human beings, herfamily and life itself.

When Natalia Satswas 14 years old, theRussian Revolutionbroke out, and hercountry was reborn asthe Soviet Union. Herprecious father, a violinist, composerand conductor with a passion for the artsand for helping suffering people, hadpassed away when Natalia was onlyeight years old. Shortly after her father’sdeath, she was greatly encouraged byone of his artistic friends who asked herto help him rehearse the music he hadwritten for a parade. She could remem-ber the melody better than he, and hejoked that he needed her as his assis-tant. He was the first to plant the seedof the dream that she could one daybecome a theater director.

When the revolution came, itdestroyed the town where she lived andthe schools were closed. The childrenwere left to their own devices. The timeswere chaotic indeed. Natalia reflectedthat she had learned much more fromher visits to the theater as a child than atschool, and she decided that childrenneeded art more than ever.

Aged just 15, she immediately tookaction, taking a job in the Moscowmunicipal theater and music agencywhere she was entrusted with the taskof developing theater for children. Com-

pletely alone, she made a pledge thatsince theater for children was yet a blankspace on the map of the arts, she would,with her own hands, fill in that map bril-liantly.

The first performance she organized,the puppet show “David,” was held inJune 1918, and the 350 children whoattended screamed with excitement. Shesaw how they gained hope, joy andstrength from this magical experience,and they came back again and again,bringing their friends and brothers andsisters.

Since Natalia was so young, manypeople scoffed at her ideas, but she begantalking to one person at a time, steadilyincreasing the number of those whounderstood and sympathized with her.

One such friend was the great 20th-century Russian composer SergeiProkofiev. In response to their friend-ship, he composed the work Peter andthe Wolf and dedicated it to her.

The Moscow State Children’s Theaterthat Ms. Sats founded was very small atfirst. But she steadily persevered, andfinally in 1936, the permanent Central

Children’s Theaterwas built.

But this was not theend of her trials andtribulations. The verynext year, with nowarning, Ms. Satsand her husbandwere accused of beingtraitors to the nationduring one of Stalin’spurges. Her husbandwas arrested and sub-sequently executed,and with no news ofhis fate, she herselfwas banished toSiberia. The shockwas so great that herchestnut hair lost allcolor overnight. Sheremained in a camp

for political prisoners for a full five years.Her freedom of activity was greatly lim-ited for 18 years.

However, overcoming each and everyone of these difficulties, Ms. Sats con-tinued to pursue the pledge that shemade when she was 14 years old.Throughout everything, she never for-got the importance of perseverance,patience and continuity.

Finally she won. She completed herbrilliant map of children’s theater on theworld map of arts and left her mark onhistory.


Natalia Sats: Triumph of the Human Spirit

An essay by SGI President Ikeda

Natalia Sats meeting SGI President Ikeda in Tokyo in July 1982

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In her autobiogra-phy, she recalls herexperiences in Siberia.Her interrogatorspromised her shewould be released andreturned to her familyif she would makefalse statements incriminating herfriends. She told them simply, “I’msorry, but I was taught from childhoodto respect the truth. That’s why I wouldnever purchase the happiness of myloved ones with a lie.” She proudlyupheld her dignity as a human being.She lived a brave and noble life.

There were several other innocentfemale prisoners in the cell where Ms.Sats was incarcerated, all numb with fearand sadness. Though Ms. Sats was in anequally dismal predicament, she did notwithdraw into her own sorrow. Shebegan to think of how she could raise thespirits of her despairing cell mates. Bythinking of others, the sun of hope beganto rise again in her own heart.

Ms. Sats also wrote in her autobiog-raphy: “I should help them and myselfto survive. I need to switch my thinking,try to believe that this present reality isby no means the end. . . .” Her resolvewas that no matter how wretched herpresent circumstances appeared, her lifewas not over and she would fight on tothe very end.

When Ms. Sats looked around her,she realized that her cell mates hadmany talents. She decided to make useof the women’s abilities by organizing aschool—a cell classroom where theycould share and exchange the knowl-edge each possessed. One woman couldlecture on chemistry, another on medi-cine. Ms. Sats, with her rich theatricalbackground, sang for them.

The cell was quiet and isolated—aperfect place to study! It also served as atheater in which the women could enjoythe arts, and they created a chorus groupwhich even visited other labor camps to

entertain the prisoners there. Even inthis desperate situation, art revivedthem—the irrepressible energy of lifeitself enabled them to transcend suffer-ing and arrive finally at joy.

Ms. Sats’s cell was small, but a greathistory was created there. She and herfellow prisoners decided that it was

wrong for people tosuffer alone. Alone,one’s suffering onlydeepens, and hope dis-appears.

I feel that Ms. Satsdemonstrated the vic-tory of the human will

over what can seem like a cruel andharsh destiny dealt by the hand of fate.In a poem dedicated to her, I wrote:

Art is the pulse of life.It is proof that we live!At all times, in all places,you wanted to sing,to make resound a song of hope.You refused to allow the resonant chords of your heartto be severed. . . .Marshaling the grand forcesof your will, you confronted fate.This, truly, is freedom!Ms. Sats once remarked that the

Buddhist view of eternal life she hadlearned from me had given her bound-less hope.

“In my case nothing came easily,” sheonce said. “There are always problems,but I actually relish the challenge ofovercoming them. My life has been likea Shakespearean play—where humor isto be found even amid tragedy. In thedirest times, I would wink to myself andsay, ‘You’ve got yourself a little troublehere, haven’t you? Well, Natalia, let’ssee how you get yourself out of this one.’It is as if there are two of us—one of uson stage. No matter what hardships theme on stage faces, the other me iswatching my brilliant performance witha smile of satisfaction, much like theproducer of a play. As I continued in thisway, the me on stage suddenly realizedone day that life is synonymous withaction.”

As Ms. Sats so beautifully demon-strated, strength of character lies in per-forming the drama of life with courage,confidence and joy. �

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Ms. Sats on stage after a production ofCinderella in Tokyo, November 1990

“Even in this desperatesituation, art revived

them—the irrepressibleenergy of life itselfenabled them to

transcend suffering andarrive finally at joy.”

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“Apostles of Peace:Revisiting Gandhi, Mar-tin Luther King Jr. andDaisaku Ikeda,” a multi-faceted forum address-ing nonviolence andGandhian principles,opened on October 17 atthe University of Delhiin India. At the openingceremony, Delhi Chief Minister SheilaDixit expressed the hope that the forumwould spur people to rededicate andrecommit themselves to disseminating amessage of peace to the world and tostanding up against injustice. Quotingthe words of Mahatma Gandhi, she said,“. . . the most simple things in life areperhaps the most difficult to do, and it isthis that needs to be done.”

In the keynote speech, chancellor ofJawaharlal Nehru University Dr. KaranSingh stressed the need to build a coali-tion for peace, involving interfaith,human rights and social activists, educa-tors and environmentalists, to counter-act terrorism and war. The event, whichended on October 28, was sponsored byBharat Soka Gakkai, the GandhiBhawan of the University of Delhi andthe Times Foundation of India, and italso featured the “Gandhi, King, Ikeda:A Legacy of Building Peace” exhibition.

Northern IrelandThe Gandhi, King,

Ikeda exhibition alsoopened at Queen’s Uni-versity, Belfast, NorthernIreland, on October 27.Morehouse College’sMartin Luther King Jr.International Chapel is

the exhibition’s creator and sponsor.Queen’s University cosponsored theevent, which was supported by theBelfast City Council, SGI-UK and othergroups.

Queen’s University President PeterGregson expressed his belief that thespirit and dedicated efforts of these threeindividuals would serve as an importantguide for Queen’s University faculty andstudents in fulfilling their mission forpeace in Northern Ireland. Dr. LawrenceEdward Carter, Sr., dean of the MartinLuther King Jr. International Chapel,hoped the exhibition would contributeto peace in Northern Ireland. Inprompting the practice of a philosophyof nonviolence, he said, President Ikedais giving form to the ideals and visionsof both Gandhi and King.

On October 28, Dr. Carter presentedthe Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award to JohnHume, former political leader and

Nobel peace prize laureate who hasdevoted his life to bringing peace to theregion.

The exhibition has now been held in21 countries and seen by more than350,000 people. Speaking in Tokyorecently, Dr. Carter explained that theexhibition aims to highlight the contri-butions to humanity of these three fig-ures, who, despite widely different cul-tural roots, engaged in an unceasingnonviolent struggle for the sake ofhuman rights, justice and peace.

Tokyo SymposiumTen scholars and researchers from

India and Japan spoke on creating anage of peace through nonviolent meansfrom the perspectives of Gandhism andBuddhism ata symposiumin Tokyo onS e p t e m b e r24. Speakersincluded Sis-ter Mythili,chair of theM a h a t m aGandhi Peo-ple’s WelfareTrust, Insti-tute of Oriental Philosophy (IOP)Director Dr. Yoichi Kawada and Dr. N.Radhakrishnan, renowned Gandhianscholar and chair of the National Com-mittee of Dr. G. Ramachandran’s Cen-tennial Anniversary, which cohostedthe event along with the SGI-affiliatedIOP.

Dr. Radhakrishnan stated that theSGI’s vision of peace concurs with thoseof Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) andDr. G. Ramachandran (1905–1995), adistinguished disciple of Gandhi whostrove to free people from all oppres-sion. In this context he specifically high-lighted common commitments toemancipating women, encouragingrespect for life and enabling religion toserve people. He emphasized that if weare to fulfill our role as liberators, weneed first to liberate ourselves; that weare all the victims of our own prejudice,hatred and self-centeredness.


SGI’s global activities for peace,education and culture

Initiatives for NonviolenceInitiatives for NonviolenceInitiatives for Nonviolence

John Hume and his wife Pat Dr. G. Ramachandran

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Education for HumanRights

The Soka Gakkai in Japan sponsoredthe exhibition “Human Rights in the21st Century—Treasuring Each Individ-ual” which opened in Osaka on Novem-ber 22 and subsequently at the UNGallery in Tokyo on December 7. Theexhibition contributes to the UnitedNations’ World Programme for HumanRights Education. The exhibition is sup-ported by the Office of the UN HighCommissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR), the United Nations Infor-mation Center (UNIC) Tokyo, theUNICEF Office in Japan, and theNational Federation of UNESCO Asso-ciations in Japan.

The exhibition includes artifacts anddocuments chronicling the struggles ofsuch figures as Helen Keller (1880–1968),who became a pioneering advocate ofthe rights and dignity of people withdisabilities. Another person featured isJanusz Korczak (1879–1942), a Polishchildren’s writer and educator whodedicated his life to protecting Jewish

and Catholic orphans and finallyaccompanied his young Jewish wards tothe Nazi death camp Treblinka ratherthan accept the opportunity to escape.

Women EducatorsConference

Commemorating Bolivian Women’sDay (October 11), the Education Com-mittee of Chuquisaca Province, Bolivia,and SGI-Bolivia cohosted a WomenEducators Conference in Sucre, the con-

stitutional capital of Bolivia, on October7. Some 350 women educators from localelementary, junior high and high schoolsdiscussed the future of education.

An SGI-Bolivia representative intro-duced first Soka Gakkai presidentTsunesaburo Makiguchi’s pedagogy,which places highest priority onenabling students to create value andachieve happiness. Sucre Mayor HugoLoayza emphasized that humanisticeducation is crucial for improving peo-ple’s quality of life.


Commemorating SGI-Mexico’s 40th anniversary, a Youth Peace and Culture Festival was held in MexicoCity’s Metropolitan Theater on September 17

More than 1,200 children’s storybooksand folk tales from 120 countries andterritories were on display at EdmontonCity Hall in Canada from October 30 to

November 5 in the SGI’s “Read Me aStory!” world picture book exhibition.

Mayor Stephen Mandel and otherdignitaries donned their Halloween cos-

tumes for the ribbon-cutting ceremony,to the delight of the 600 children andother guests present.

Among the highlights of the exhibi-tion are 21 colossal panoramic picture-book panels—2 meters by 3 meters—depicting representative stories throughlarger-than-life drawings and paintings.

The exhibition, cosponsored by theUnited Nations Association in CanadaEdmonton Branch, the MahatmaGandhi Canadian Foundation for WorldPeace and SGI-Canada’s EdmontonRegion, was created in support ofUNESCO’s mandate to create a cultureof peace and nonviolence. Over 3,000visited the six-day show.

Three children spoke at the openingand read their essays about peace. Onesaid, “The cultures that we the childrenof the world are raised in are all differ-ent, but we all seek for peace.”

Picture Book Exhibition in CanadaPicture Book Exhibition in CanadaPicture Book Exhibition in Canada

Books included in the exhibition

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Commemorating the 150th anniver-sary of Walt Whitman’s masterpiece,Leaves of Grass, the Boston ResearchCenter for the 21st Century (BRC) spon-sored “‘Talking Back’ to Whitman: PoetryMatters,” the second annual Ikeda

Forum for Intercultural Dialogue, at itscenter in Cambridge, Massachusetts, onSeptember 30 and October 1, 2005.

Joel Myerson, distinguished professoremeritus at the University of South Car-olina, provided a historical and literarycontext, saying that when Leaves of Grasswas published in 1855, critics assailed itas immodest and “quite out of placeamid the decorum of modern society.”Subsequent readers and scholars, how-ever, have come to view Whitman’swork as a watershed in the developmentof a genuinely democratic poetic idiom.

In his keynote address, Ed Folsom, pro-fessor of English at the University of Iowa,described how poets from around theworld have been “talking back” to Whit-man. He focused on the African-Ameri-can response, particularly that of the poetLangston Hughes. In his poem of parting,Whitman uses the colloquial greeting “SoLong!” then just coming into usageamong the denizens of New York City.Hughes transmutes this phrase into ayearning expression of the long-deferred

dreams and aspirations of people ofAfrican descent living in the United

States. The afternoon session con-sisted of an international panel ofscholars and poets chaired byKenneth Price, professor ofAmerican Literature at the Uni-versity of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Dialogue andGlobalization

On October 7, the IOP sponsored withHarvard University’s Yenching Instituteand Center for the Study of World Reli-gions (CSWR) a symposium entitled“Perspectives on Religion and Global-ization.” Some 50 scholars participatedin a discussion of the role of religion incoping with various issues affecting theglobal community, such as the growingdisparity between the haves and have-nots, the rise in international terrorismand environmental degradation.

Referring to the contemporary socialrelevance of Buddhism in Thailand,CSWR Director Donald Swearer citedthe importance of maintaining adynamic interaction between efforts forinner-directed reform and efforts tochange society for the better. Hestressed that the bodhisattva way isfound in this vital balance. RenownedConfucian scholar and director of theYenching Institute, Prof. Tu Weimingurged that a dialogical civilization,grounded in an “anthropocosmic” per-spective, is essential to fostering publicintellectuals and global citizens in theage of globalization. IOP Director YoichiKawada introduced the Buddhist stanceof “biospherical egalitarianism,” withinwhich humans have the opportunity todeepen our awareness and to choosehow we want to contribute to the causeof compassion in the universe.

Leaves of GrassLeaves of GrassLeaves of Grass

Prof. Ed Folsom talks back to Whitman

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SGI representatives and individualmembers from several countries joined400 people from all over the world whoattended the Earth Charter Plus Fiveevent held at the Royal Tropical Insti-tute, Amsterdam, from November 7 to9. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands,who officially launched the Earth Char-ter as a set of common values and prin-ciples for a sustainable future in 2000,attended the cele-brations.

The event start-ed with an EarthCharter Youth Ini-tiative meeting atwhich 30 youthrepresentativesfrom all corners ofthe world metface-to-face for thefirst time. The SokaGakkai made acontribution toward the cost of bringingthis group together, and two SGI-Cana-da members who created the SGI Van-couver Youth Earth Charter Committeeparticipated. They were also nominatedfor a Maximo T. Kalaw Earth CharterAward, as one of 10 groups commended

for creativity in implementing action-based projects based on the Earth Char-ter.

Addressing the main conference,Earth Charter Commission CochairMaurice Strong spoke of the need tomove “from ego systems to ecosystems”and for an ethical and motivational rev-olution which reaches into the souls ofindividuals.

The event markedthe launch of the thirdphase of the EarthCharter Initiative. Thefirst involved the con-sultation, translationand drafting processthat produced theCharter. The secondincluded dissemina-tion and seekingendorsements as wellas implementation by

educational institutions and local com-munities, and the third phase, from 2006,will focus on expanding awareness of theEarth Charter, education for sustainableliving, engaged endorsement and use ofthe Charter as a tool for ethics-basedassessment.

The “Seeds of Change: The EarthCharter and Human Potential” exhibi-tion was shown in the upstairs of themain lobby area and drew positiveresponses from viewers.

In the main conference, thematic ses-sions explored the application of theEarth Charter in the building of a cultureof peace, in business, education, localgovernments and international law. TheSGI co-moderated a session on “FaithGroups and the Earth Charter” whichbrought together Christian, Buddhist,Islamic, Jewish and other religious rep-resentatives. It was agreed that the EarthCharter provides a common vision of abetter world which can be a bridgebetween different faiths.


The Royal Tropical Institute

Earth Charter Plus FiveEarth Charter Plus FiveEarth Charter Plus Five

The “Seeds of Change” exhibition orig-inally created for the World Summit onSustainable Development held in Johan-nesburg, South Africa, in 2002 was shownfor the first time in Arabic at the confer-ence center of Dubai Knowledge Villagefrom November 18 to 26, cosponsored byDubai Humanitarian City, Dubai AidCity, Dubai Knowledge Village and SGI-Dubai. International Committee of Artistsfor Peace (ICAP) representative, flutistNestor Torres, performed at the opening,which was attended by UNICEF DeputyExecutive Director Ms. Rima Salah as wellas local dignitaries. The exhibition wassubsequently shown at Dubai Women’sCollege and at Zayed University.

Seminars combining presentationson environmental themes with musi-cal performances were held everyevening during the showing of theexhibition at Dubai Knowledge Vil-lage. Speakers included RashidKarkain, head of the environmentalplanning department of DubaiMunicipality, on “The Rising Impor-tance of Environmental Planning inDubai’s Mega Urban Development,”Dr. Gisela Loehlein of the Institute ofthe Built Environment, the BritishUniversity in Dubai, on “Global Ver-sus Local Sustainability” includinginnovative, green building, andShawqi Hamad Sajwani, GroupDirector, Organizational Excellence,Dubai Holdings, on “Corporate Sus-tainability Management.” The opening of “Seeds of Change” in Dubai

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In Venezuela, the Caribbean Seashines emerald green, and the Orinocoand Amazon rivers nourish the coun-try’s rich soil. Venezuela is blessed withabundant natural resources and diversescenery, while its people have a natural-ly bright and generous disposition.

The country has the oldest establisheddemocracy in Latin America, with a longtradition of offering asylum. During theFirst and Second World Wars, it openedits arms to thousands of immigrantsfrom Europe.

SGI-Venezuela was inaugurated in1973. Ever since, we havesought to contribute to thedevelopment of Venezuelansociety through awareness-raising and educational cam-paigns, as well as providinghumanitarian assistancewhen it has been needed. AsBuddhist practitioners root-ed in the humanistic philos-ophy of Nichiren, our goal isto uphold and spread theideal of world peace inVenezuelan society. Ourmembership is a diversegathering of around 2,000people, including many indi-viduals, especially women,who are making a notablecontribution to the development of ourcountry.

Bringing HopeAs is well known, our country has

been entangled in a whirlpool of con-flicts and disputes amongst various dif-ferent social classes in the politicalarena. For this reason we feel that ourmission is to bring hope to as many peo-ple as possible through the SGI’s phi-losophy and ideals.

SGI-Venezuela’s most public activityto date was the hosting, in 1999, of theexhibition “Nuclear Arms: Threat toHumanity,” held at the Ministry of Edu-

cation in Caracas and at the Museum ofContemporary Art in Maracaibo,Venezuela’s second-largest city. TheMinistry of Education designated theexhibition as “a national program ofeducational interest.” More than 72,000people, including students from 300 sec-ondary schools, visited the exhibition,and it received wide television coverage.

While we are not necessarily special-ists in the specific issues that we seek todraw attention to, such as disarmament,the environment and human rights, weare committed to helping create solu-tions to the problems confrontinghumanity.

I believe that enormousenergy for the solution ofglobal issues is releasedwhen ordinary citizensbecome active in the aware-ness that they are part of thesolution to even the mostcritical global issues. In thissense, the role of public edu-cation is vital. SGI-Venezuela’s exhibitions,campaigns and lectures areopportunities for people toponder and discuss currentglobal concerns and to gar-ner the commitment neces-sary to bring peace to theplanet.

Flood ReliefWhen floods devastated large areas of

Venezuela in December 1999, SGI-Venezuela responded with donations oftoys, learning materials, money andbaby supplies to help children in theaffected states. SGI-Venezuela mem-bers also conducted an art workshop forchildren, responding to a request by theNational Council for Minors for effortsto provide psychological support forchildren. Other initiatives included aworkshop for 60 teachers from poorerareas affected by the tragedy, held at therequest of the Ministry of Education,and a special donation to the Ministry of

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Creating a Foundation of PeaceCreating a Foundation of PeaceCreating a Foundation of Peace

SGI’s global activities for peace,education and culture

South America

MaracaiboCaracas

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South Atlantic Ocean

South Pacific Ocean

The exhibition “Nuclear Arms: Threat to Humanity” opens in Caracas

Venezuela

Report

Children affected by flooding receive a donation of toys

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Environment to support the construc-tion of permanent houses for the floodvictims.

The youth are the driving force inSGI-Venezuela’s community activities.In May 2002, SGI-Venezuela participat-ed in a reforestation project in the AvilaNational Park. Some 350 people, includ-ing school students, planted 1,500 trees.As the local government authoritiesacknowledged, as well as caring for thenatural environment, such communityefforts make an indirect but valuablecontribution to combating violence inour society.

Since 2001, SGI-Venezuela has active-ly supported UNHCR’s regional publicawareness campaigns. These include theexhibitions “Big Little Eyes: Testimoniesand Photography of Refugee Children”;“UNHCR: 50 years of HumanitarianWork”; and “Eradicated from TheirRoots: Testimonies and Photography ofColombian Internally Displaced Personsand Refugees in the Andean Region.”These were seen by more than 75,000people. In 2004, SGI-Venezuelalaunched a program called “Peace-

builders” to prepare young people tocontribute to peace. Later, this groupjoined forces with UNHCR, UNICEFand The Community Network, a localNGO, in the “Bridges of Peace” program,which aims to help protect and integraterefugee children into Venezuelan societyand schools.

Working for PeaceIn 2004, SGI-Venezuela began host-

ing the exhibition, “Gandhi, King,Ikeda: A Legacy of Building Peace,”

which was created by MorehouseCollege, the alma mater of Dr. MartinLuther King Jr. In preparation for thehosting of the exhibition, the mem-bers of SGI-Venezuela studied thephilosophy and practice of nonvio-lence deeply in order to be able toeffectively communicate at all levelsof Venezuelan society the peace idealsrepresented in this exhibition.

One result of the exhibition hasbeen a decision by the Uni-versity of Carabobo toincorporate the study of SGIPresident Ikeda’s annualpeace proposals into theintroductory course of theuniversity’s Faculty of Eco-nomic and Social Sciences.

To date, some 2,800 stu-dents have written paperson the peace proposals, andlectures have been given onthem. Feedback includedcomments such as: “Theexperience today haschanged the way I perceivelife. Peace is not merely the

absence of armed conflict,” and “I readthe peace proposals, and I realized theresponsibility that each one of us has toachieve world peace. Everything beginswith us.”

It is a great sense of joy for me to seeso many young people receiving positiveinspiration from the SGI’s philosophy,based as it is on respect for the dignity oflife. Our organization is determined tocontinue to contribute in ever more sig-nificant ways to securing the peace andhappiness of the Venezuelan people.�


Women members of SGI-Venezuela, Caracas, 2004

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Angel Falls, the world’s tallest waterfall, in southeastern Venezuela

The SGI’s “World Boys and Girls Art Exhibition” was held in Valencia inJune 2000 and included pictures by local children

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26

Villa Sachsen is situatedbetween Rochus Peak andthe Rhine river, on theeastern outskirts of Bingenamongst vineyards and abeautiful park. Villa Sachsenwas built in 1843. Amongits owners was PrinceFriedrich Wilhelm of Hessia,who changed its name to“Schloß (Castle) Pila,” afterhis daughter. From 1898the building was called VillaSachsen again, and itunderwent majorconstructional changes andimprovements.

During World War II, VillaSachsen served as anaccommodation for refugees, and in1944 it was used as a military hospital.

In 1994 it was acquired by SGI-Germany.

European Heritage DayJust as we started renovating Villa

Sachsen, the annual “EuropeanHeritage Day“ was launched. EverySeptember historically interesting andvaluable buildings are opened to thepublic. Right from the start, VillaSachsen participated in this event. Thecitizens of Bingen were very pleased tobe able to visit Villa Sachsen and itsbeautiful park for the first time indecades. Every year some 2,000 visitorsenjoy an extensive program: culturalevents, children’s games, talks onBuddhism and a lot more.

In 2002, a 65-km stretch of theMiddle Rhine Valley, including thestretch which flows past Bingen, wasdeclared a World Heritage Site. In2008, the Landesgartenschau, a statehorticultural show, will take place inBingen. Since the end of World War II,hardly any major developmentalchanges have been carried out here, sothe citizens welcome both these eventsthat offer a chance for positive city

development. The horticultural showand the recognition as a WorldHeritage Site are an external stimulusfor visible improvements andinvestments. But spiritual andinspirational elements are needed inaddition. In this sense, Villa Sachsen isplaying a significant role, a point ofview warmly shared by the citizens ofBingen.

In the spring of 2005,the mayor of Bingen, Mrs.Birgit Collin-Langen, visitedthe Soka Gakkai in Japan.To show her gratitude forthe fact that Villa Sachsencontributes to the vitalityand prosperity of Bingen,she awarded SGI PresidentIkeda with the ÄltestesStadtsiegel of 1254 (theoldest official seal of thecity of Bingen).

River of FateDuring her visit she said: “The Rhine river, ‘the

river of fate’ of Germanyand Europe, runs through

Culture Center Villa SachsenBy Kimiko Brummer, SGI-Germany

Bingen. This city is built on a history of2,000 years of war and peace. At theriverbank of the Rhine, between Franceand Germany, the vision of a unitedEurope—the path that led to peace allover Europe—came into being. Andfinally, Johann Wolfgang von Goetheand Victor Hugo not only visited butalso wrote about Bingen. And therethey set down their vision of peace forall peoples in writing. Peace in Europeis a reality; peace among all people issomething we still have to achieve. TheSoka Gakkai Culture Center VillaSachsen is located opposite the‘Germania,’ a German war monument.I believe this is significant because VillaSachsen can be viewed as a symbol ofinternational peace and understanding.. . . Dialogue is crucial, for there is nopeace without dialogue, nointernational understanding withoutdialogue . . .”

The importance of dialogue issomething we experience through ourconstant interchangewith the city of Bingenand surrounding areasand citizens every dayin various ways. Forexample, the RotaryClub and Lions Clubhold their annualmeetings in VillaSachsen. Concertsheld there arrangedby the Villa Musicafoundation are usually

sold out. Some time ago, VillaSachsen served as location fora TV series, for which it wasturned into a private hospital.

Goethe—a Buddhist?Different organizations, for

example the IOP (Institute ofOriental Philosophy), arrangelectures at Villa Sachsen onvarious topics. Members ofSGI-Germany and the citizensof Bingen show lively interestin these lectures. Dr. ManfredOsten, former secretary-general of theHumboldt Foundation, held a lectureentitled “Goethe—a Buddhist?”; thefamous actress Hanna Schygulla spentan evening reading and singing songsfor about 200 enthusiastic visitors.Articles in the local newspaper covermost of these events extensively,allowing even those people whocannot attend to take an interest inthem.

At the moment, generational changeis an important topic in Germany andEurope.

For that reason, we have started anintellectual exchange with a local highschool. New, creative ideas and planshave emerged: an open-air musicfestival in the park surrounding VillaSachsen; inter-European studentexchange between Bingen and itsEuropean sister cities; workshops andencounters to experience Europe’scultural diversity.

Villa Sachsen will not merely serve asan accommodating location, but alsocooperate and support the exchange interms of its content and organization.Villa Sachsen is gradually developinginto a nexus for an expandinghumanistic movement. We aredetermined to offer both inspirationand hope for the future by seeking outcommonalities among people ratherthan stressing differences.�

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The Meaning of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

P eople first coming into contact with the religiouspractice of the Soka Gakkai International may bestruck by the stress placed on the phrase “Nam-

myoho-renge-kyo.” It may appear that everything startsfrom and returns to this single phrase. This does, however,accurately reflect Nichiren's (1222–82) view of its impor-tance and the value he placed on its repeated invocation. Ashe put it: “[T]he soul of Nichiren is nothing other than Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.” Indeed, Nichiren regarded Nam-myoho-renge-kyo as the Mystic Law, the natural principlegoverning the workings of life in the universe, the law towhich all Buddhas are enlightened and the true aspect ofour own lives. He saw the practice of repeatedly invokingthis law as the “direct path to enlightenment.”

The VoiceMany people asso-

ciate Buddhist reli-gious practice withsilent, interior medita-tion. But the practiceof vocalizing, recitingand chanting variousteachings has played avitally important rolein the history of Bud-dhism. To voice one’sinnermost convictionand vow in prayer isan intensely publicact. The emphasis onaudible chanting asopposed to silent med-itation reflects a corestance of Nichiren’sBuddhism. Rather than simply exploring and withdrawinginto the private realms of the inner life, religious practice isfocused on bringing forth our highest inner potential in rela-tion to and for the benefit of our fellow humans and humansociety. Nichiren often quotes the words of an earlier Bud-dhist philosopher that “The voice does the Buddha’s work.”

Using our voices to express and convey the state of ourinner life—whether that be one of joy, gratitude, despair ordetermination—is central to our identity as humans. It islikely that the quintessentially human act of “prayer” grewfrom such semi-instinctual pleas, cries and thanks—direct-ed toward the inscrutable forces of nature and prior to anyconsciously formulated system of doctrine or belief. Like-wise, it is through song, the voice, that human beings havegiven primary expression to their innermost feelings of—and desires for—harmony with all life. The voice serves as

a vital link between ourselves, our fellow humans and a uni-verse that is itself vibrant with the rhythms of life and death.

Nichiren viewed the Lotus Sutra, with its message thatall people are capable of becoming Buddhas—that, at thedeepest level, all people already are enlightened Buddhas—as the ultimate teaching of Buddhism with an enduring anduniversal applicability. In line with earlier schools dedicat-ed to the Lotus Sutra, he considered the five Chinese char-acters of the title of the sutra—myo, ho, ren, ge, kyo—asembodying the essence of the sutra, the Mystic Law towhich Shakyamuni and other Buddhas are enlightened.Thus, when on April 28, 1253, he declared that to chantNam-myoho-renge-kyo was to activate its promise of uni-versal enlightenment, Nichiren was establishing a form ofpractice that would open the way to enlightenment for allpeople—regardless of class or educational background.

This was borne out inthe diverse range ofpeople who gatheredaround Nichiren,becoming his follow-ers and fellow practi-tioners; they includedpeople with a highlydeveloped under-standing of Buddhistdoctrine and historyas well as farmerswith little if any liter-acy. It is also borneout in the astonishingdiversity of peoplepracticing NichirenBuddhism globallytoday.

The Mystic LawNichiren devoted great energy to encouraging his fol-

lowers to muster profound faith that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is a practice by which they can bring forth theirinherent Buddha nature—strengthening their capacity forwisdom, courage, confidence, vitality and compassion—tosuccessfully meet the challenges of daily life and establisha state of unshakable happiness in this world.

What, then, does Nam-myoho-renge-kyo mean? Thephrase can be literally translated as “I devote myself to theLotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law.” In a number of hismany writings—which include treatises, petitions, recordsof lectures as well as letters to individual believers—Nichiren delves into the deeper significance of each of thecomponent characters.


BUDDHISM IN DAILY LIFEBUDDHISM IN DAILY LIFE

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Nam (or Namu) derives from the Sanskrit and means tovenerate or dedicate oneself. (It is often translated as “hail”or “take refuge in,” but from the perspective of NichirenBuddhism, with its stress on the fact that the Law is inher-ent in all people, this cannot be considered the optimaltranslation.) Myoho-renge-kyo is the Japanese pronuncia-tion of the Chinese characters comprising the title of theLotus Sutra, or “Saddharma Pundarika Sutra” in the origi-nal Sanskrit.

Nichiren comments that the entire formulation thus fuseselements of Sanskrit and Chinese, the two great civiliza-tions of his known world. Thismay be understood as expressingthe universalist orientation ofNichiren Buddhism, its activeembrace of human culture andcivilization.

Myoho corresponds toSaddharma and may betranslated as “wonderfulor mystic Law.” AsNichiren comments inone letter: “What thendoes myo signify? It issimply the mysteriousnature of our life frommoment to moment,which the mind cannotcomprehend or wordsexpress.”

Nichiren further citesthree attributes of thecharacter myo: To open,to be fully endowed, andto revive. Ho is the dhar-ma or law, and togetherthe two characters of myoho refer to the Mystic Law. AsSGI President Daisaku Ikeda has written: “The great powerof the Mystic Law . . . embraces everything, brings out thepositive possibilities of all situations, transforming every-thing toward the good, reviving and giving new life to allexperiences.”

Myo and ho are also identified by Nichiren as corre-sponding to life and death, which Buddhism regards as thetwo aspects—one active and manifest, the other latent andunseen—of a deeper life-continuum. This continuum is per-meated and shaped by the law of causality, or cause andeffect, which Nichiren identifies with renge, the lotusflower.

Specifically, the fact that the lotus flower already con-tains seeds when it opens symbolizes the principle of the

simultaneity of cause and effect, the idea that causes wemake are engraved in the deepest, most essential realms oflife, and on this plane we immediately experience theeffects of our thoughts, words and deeds. In terms of Bud-dhist practice this means that “Anyone who practices thisLaw will obtain both the cause and effect of Buddhahoodsimultaneously.” The fact that the lotus flower sends forthpure white blossoms from roots sunk deep in muddy waterexpresses the idea that our highest nature is brought forththrough committed engagement with the often difficult ordisagreeable realities of life and society.

Finally, kyo signifies the sutra,the voiced and transmitted teach-ing of the Buddha. The Chinesecharacter for kyo indicates thethreads that run continually

through a woven fabric.Nichiren writes: “Kyorepresents the words andvoices of all livingbeings. . . . Kyo may alsobe defined as that whichis constant and unchang-ing in the three exis-tences of past, presentand future.”

Elsewhere Nichirenassociates each of thecharacters of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo withparts of the human body:head, throat, chest,abdomen and legs,respectively. This maybe understood as indicat-ing that the mystic prin-

ciple or law that guides and governs the living cosmos is inno way separate from the concrete realities of our lives.

By invoking the Mystic Law and bringing forth ourhighest, most enlightened nature, we naturally inspirethose around us to strive toward the highest, most creativeand compassionate way of life. This develops into a “vir-tuous circle” of mutually reinforcing celebration of theinfinite dignity and value of all human beings. Nichirenuses a poetic metaphor to describe this process: “[W]hena caged bird sings, birds who are flying in the sky arethereby summoned and gather around, and when the birdsflying in the sky gather around, the bird in the cage strivesto get out. When with our mouths we chant the MysticLaw, our Buddha nature, being summoned, will invariablyemerge.” �

“Using our voices to express andconvey the state of our inner life iscentral to our identity as humans.”

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The Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a worldwideassociation of 82 constituent organizations withmembership in 190 countries and territories. In theservice of its members and of society at large, the SGIcenters its activities on developing positive humanpotentialities for hope, courage and altruistic action.

Rooted in the life-affirming philosophy of NichirenBuddhism, members of the SGI share a profoundcommitment to the promotion of peace, culture andeducation. The scope and nature of the activities

conducted in each country vary in accordance with theculture and characteristics of that society. They all grow,however, from a shared understanding of the inseparablelinkages that exist between individual happiness and thepeace and development of the global human family.

As a nongovernmental organization (NGO) withformal ties to the United Nations, the SGI is active inthe fields of humanitarian relief and public education,with a focus on peace, sustainable development andhuman rights.

Editorial team:Joan Anderson, Anthony George, Katsuhiro Fujino, Kumiko Ichikawa, Kimiaki Kawai,

Motoki Kawamorita, Yoshinori Miyagawa, Satoko Suzuki, Richard Walker

Published by Soka Gakkai International©2006 by Soka Gakkai International. All rights reserved. Printed in Japan.

Printed on recycled paper.

SOKA GAKKAI INTERNATIONAL15-3 Samoncho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0017, Japan

Telephone: +81-3-5360-9830 Facsimile: +81-3-5360-9885

Web site: www.sgi.org

© SEKAI BUNKA PHOTO

Katsuhiro Fujino View from Aiguille du Midi, France

soka gakkai international quarterly magazine number 43 · soka gakkai international quarterly...

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