The New Human Revolution, vol. 15

By Daisaku Ikeda

Through this novelized history of the Soka Gakkai—one of the most dynamic, diverse, and empowering movements in the world today—readers will discover the organization's goals and achievements even as they find inspiring and practical Buddhist wisdom for living happily and compassionately in today's world. The book recounts the stories of ordinary individuals who faced tremendous odds in transforming their lives through the practice of Nichiren Buddhism and in bringing Buddhism's humanistic teachings to the world. This inspiring narrative provides readers with the principles with which they can positively transform their own lives for the better and realize enduring happiness for themselves and others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781946635464

Book preview

2006).

Revitalization

AT the headquarters general meeting on May 3, 1970, Shin’ichi Yamamoto declared, Kosen-rufu is a great cultural movement unfolding on the vast spiritual earth of the Mystic Law. It was a clarion call heralding the dawn of a renaissance of life and the start of a new age.

The great cultural movement he referred to was the creation of a society based on Buddhist humanism. Rich trees and plants grow luxuriantly in fertile soil. Similarly, when the human spirit is cultivated with the supreme life philosophy of Buddhism, it will cause the flowers of a magnificent culture to bloom fragrantly and bring about an age that celebrates humanity. Indeed, we must ensure that this is so, for this is the social mission of Buddhists. The Soka Gakkai’s founding president, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, asserted that the social purpose of religion is to lead people and the world to happiness.

In autumn 1970, the Soka Gakkai began full-fledged endeavors toward fostering a truly humane culture. Shin’ichi was painfully aware of the problems racking contemporary society, particularly the recent trend to neglect development of the human spirit in favor of a single-minded pursuit of convenience and wealth. The increasingly urgent issue of environmental pollution was most representative of this trend.

At this time, the attention of the Japanese public was focused on the outcomes of legal actions regarding the pollution-related itai-itai disease and Minamata disease. Itai-itai (literally, ouch-ouch) was caused by the ingestion of cadmium through farm products and water over an extended period, which led to disruptions in the body’s calcium metabolism and resulted in soft, misshapen, and easily broken bones. Some people’s bones became so brittle that they could be fractured by a mere sneeze.

Itai-itai also produced extreme pain in the back, shoulders, and knees, causing victims to cry out constantly—hence the name ouch-ouch disease. The severe pain kept many awake at night. It caused them to grow emaciated and eventually led to their deaths. Due to hormone-related factors, the disease was most common in middle-aged or older women. It appeared mainly in the vicinity of the Jinzu River in Toyama Prefecture in central Japan, and for many years it was thought to be some kind of endemic malady.

IN June 1961, the general meeting of the Japanese Orthopedic Association was thrown into an uproar. Noboru Hagino, a general practitioner who had studied itai-itai disease in the Jinzu River region, announced that he had identified its cause: cadmium in the sewage from an operation run by a major mining and smelting company located in the river’s upper reaches. The government, however, was extremely slow in taking any action.

In January 1967, five and a half years after Hagino’s announcement, the government issued a report stating that the cause of the disease had still not been established. Fearing a social scandal, the government continued to place higher priority on protecting big business than on people’s lives. It began to deal seriously with the issue only in May 1967, when the Clean Government Party House of Councillors member Yoshihiko Oya brought up the matter before the House Special Committee on Policies for Industrial Pollution and Transportation.

To protect the sanctity of life and create a government that considered the interests of the people above all else, the Clean Government Party had been actively looking for solutions to environmental pollution. Safeguarding people’s lives was its main concern.

Oya’s presentation before the upper house had been triggered by a single phone call to the Clean Government Party headquarters from Jun Kobayashi, an Okayama University professor studying itai-itai. In October 1966, the Clean Government Party House of Councillors representative Minoru Suzumoto had championed the cause of farmers suffering the recurrence of a disease caused by pollution from the Ashio Copper Mine, demanding that the mine’s owners take responsibility. On reading about this in the newspaper, Kobayashi had contacted the party to inform them of an even more severe illness caused by mine pollutants, and he told them about the itai-itai disease of the Jinzu River area.

Oya was put in charge of the investigation. He immediately traveled to Okayama Prefecture and met with Kobayashi. After hearing what the professor had to say, Oya realized this issue could not be ignored. He also visited Hagino, the local physician who had discovered the cause of the disease.

Ever since announcing his findings, Hagino had been under fierce attack.

USING slides and other materials, Hagino showed Oya the tragic condition of the itai-itai victims. Oya was shocked to learn of the patients’ horrible agony that eventually led to their painful deaths. His eyes filled with tears thinking of their suffering. What he saw was clearly the result of environmental pollution, and it could not be permitted to continue.

Pressing his lips together in determination and wiping the tears from his eyes, Oya bowed his head deeply. Then he looked up and said to Hagino: It is the responsibility of those of us in government to deal with this issue. I must apologize that nothing has been done up to now.

Hagino could not hide his astonishment. Without a word, he firmly shook Oya’s hand. Their eyes shone resolutely as they looked at each other.

Oya said: I will bring this before the Diet. I will take up this struggle!

Hagino nodded in appreciation.

On May 26, 1967, Oya raised the issue before the Diet. This was the first time for it to be discussed there. Perhaps because the local representatives were afraid that opposing big business would lose them votes, they had not pursued the matter. The Ministry of Health and Welfare was thrown into a panic.

It is the duty of politicians to fight against social injustice that inflicts suffering on the people. Those who fail to do so are nothing but self-serving politicos.

On June 9, Oya brought up the issue in the Diet again. He stated that evidence showed that the illness was caused by cadmium in the sewage from the mining operation of a major Japanese company, and he urged the government to officially recognize this pollution and quickly devise policies to provide the victims with medical assistance.

The Clean Government Party also established its own committee to deal with the crisis. It drew up a list of urgent measures to assist the victims, including the provision of medical benefits and nursing care, and began the process by which these guidelines could become law. In December, Kobayashi and Hagino testified before the House of Councillors Special Committee on Policies for Industrial Pollution and Transportation, affirming the origin of the disease and explaining the victims’ terrible suffering. Media nationwide reported on their testimony.

IN May 1968, the government finally recognized that cadmium from mining wastewater was the cause of itai-itai disease. Progress came quickly. It was the first time that the Japanese government had held a specific company responsible for a pollution-related disease. The determination of a single elected official intent on protecting people’s lives and welfare moved the government to act at last.

Government’s fundamental purpose is to help those who are suffering. This was indeed the reason for the formation of the Clean Government Party.

The acknowledgement of the cause of itai-itai disease gave strength and hope not only to its victims but to all citizens suffering from the adverse effects of pollution. The illness thus opened the way to the government’s official recognition of pollution-related diseases.

In September of the same year, the government determined that Minamata disease had been caused by the mercury-contaminated discharges from a large chemical plant. Minamata disease was a disorder of the central nervous system from mercury poisoning. It was found to be most prevalent in and around Minamata, a city in southern Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu, the area where the plant was located.

Symptoms of Minamata disease included numbness of the extremities, lack of muscular coordination, speech impairment, loss of peripheral vision, and tremors. Serious cases led to death. It was caused by eating seafood tainted with mercury from the chemical plant’s industrial waste released.

The first human case was documented around 1953. From about a year before that, cats in the Minamata area started exhibiting strange behavior, spinning in circles or hurling themselves into walls or kitchen fires. Similar behavior was witnessed in dogs and pigs. Fish died in the sea near the coast, and crows and seabirds fell dead from the sky. People naturally felt this was a bad omen.

Then symptoms appeared in local residents, and the number of victims grew.

THE symptoms grew worse with each passing day. People experienced paralysis and the loss of their ability to speak or hear. Some would burst into tears or laughter for no apparent reason. Their bodies would continue to weaken until eventually they died. It was the first time doctors had seen such a disease. Without knowing the cause, they diagnosed it as some sort of encephalitis.

On May 1, 1956, a hospital reported to the Minamata Health Center an increase in cases of an undiagnosed central nervous system disorder. At the end of May, a municipal committee to ascertain the origin of the disease was established, and it set to work investigating. At first it was thought the illness might be contagious, and victims were quarantined and their homes disinfected. Neighbors held their noses and ran when they had to pass a victim’s home. Afraid of catching the disease, even close friends refused to visit those suffering from the debilitating symptoms. The ill were banned from using public wells, and their children were ostracized.

When family members of the sick went shopping, merchants wouldn’t touch their money. Shop owners either had them place the money in a tray, or they would pick it up with chopsticks. Ignorance produced prejudice and contributed to the victims’ suffering. At the request of the local committee, Kumamoto University formed a medical team to research the disease, and they released an interim report in November.

The Kumamoto University Minamata Disease Medical Research Team announced that no disease-causing bacteria were discovered in the victims. Instead, it was presumed that the symptoms were brought on by some sort of heavy metal poisoning. Suspecting that contaminated seafood might be the cause, the researchers reported that the source was most likely pollutants released into Minamata Bay by the giant chemical processing plant.

After learning about the interim report, the Minamata Fishermen’s Association went into action in January 1957. They demanded that the chemical plant stop releasing its wastewater into the bay, that it install purification systems, and that it subsequently prove that any discharge from the plant was free from pollutants. But the company denied any responsibility and continued to dump polluted sewage.

IN FEBRUARY, the medical research team advised Kumamoto Prefecture that fishing in Minamata Bay should be prohibited to prevent further cases of the disease. The prefecture, however, rejected the suggestion on the grounds that it could not take such action until the substance causing the disease was identified. The Ministry of Health and Welfare also deemed it inappropriate to ban fishing without evidence that all the sea life in the bay was contaminated.

On both the prefectural and national levels, the government placed more importance on its interests than on human life. But what is the purpose of laws and government? Do they not exist to protect people’s lives?

The government’s delayed response contributed to the spread of Minamata disease. Little progress was made toward finding the precise heavy metal causing the illness until July 1959, two and a half years after the medical research team’s interim report, when it was finally identified as organic mercury. Despite this finding, the chemical manufacturer refused to accept any responsibility. Using scholars on its own payroll, the company argued that the plant’s discharge could not be the origin of the disease.

At about this time, doctors at the hospital affiliated with the chemical plant experimented by feeding cats food sprinkled with wastewater from the plant. Three months after the experiment began, one of the cats showed symptoms of Minamata disease. The project was halted, however, when the findings were reported to a company executive, who saw to it that the results were never made public. The chemical plant must have known by then that its sewage was causing the illness, but it continued to deny it.

The disease spread beyond Minamata to the nearby Shiranui coastline. People refused to buy fish caught in the area, which hit local fisherman hard. In August 1959, the Minamata City Fishermen’s Association began fighting for reparations from the chemical plant, and in October the fishermen of Shiranui also rose to action. In November, their anger exploded, and they stormed the plant and destroyed part of its facilities.

The prefectural governor established a mediation committee to try and settle the dispute. In the end, the chemical plant agreed to pay reparations, but only to silence the fishermen.

THE fishermen initially requested 2.5 billion yen in compensation, but the chemical plant finally agreed to pay only 35 million yen as compensation and 65 million yen as a loan. What’s more, the settlement stipulated that 10 million yen would be subtracted from the compensation amount to cover damages incurred during the citizens’ attack on the plant. All in all, the award came down to a pittance of 15,000 yen per family, hardly enough to make up for the fishermen’s loss of livelihood.

In November 1959, the Minamata Disease Victims’ Mutual Aid Society (later renamed as Minamata Disease Patient and Families’ Mutual Aid Society) demanded that the chemical manufacturer pay 3 million yen to each victim. The company refused, and so the members of the mutual aid society held a sit-in in front of the factory. Their fellow citizens, however, looked coldly upon their actions.

The city of Minamata had flourished along with the chemical plant, and many residents feared that if the victims’ protests resulted in closing the plant, it would have a negative impact on the city as well. The victims’ association and the chemical manufacturer negotiated an agreement through the mediation committee whereby the company would pay victims sympathy money. This agreement, however, was reached under the harsh condition that the settlement brokered by the committee was nonnegotiable.

The final amounts arrived at by the committee were 300,000 yen for each death; an annual stipend of 100,000 yen for each adult victim; 30,000 yen for each minor; and 20,000 yen in funeral expenses. The agreement between the victims and the company also contained a stipulation stating that even should the factory’s effluents be determined in the future to be the cause of Minamata disease, the victims could not seek further compensation. The company obviously anticipated they were at fault.

This clause was later invalidated by the courts, but the fact that it was included in the agreement in the first place showed that the mediation committee sided with the chemical manufacturer.

Many victims were dissatisfied with the results but had no alternative other than to accept the money. Of course, no price can be put on human life. But worse, there was no hint of remorse or regret on the company’s part.

IN September 1968, the government finally recognized that methyl-mercury compounds in the wastewater released by the chemical plant were the cause of Minamata disease. It was twelve years since the disease had first been identified. At this point, the victims both living and deceased totaled 111, but with the government’s announcement, others sought medical diagnosis and the number climbed to more than two thousand. In addition, more than ten thousand people received a one-time compensation payment from the chemical manufacturer for the aftereffects of mercury poisoning, such as sensory disorders, though they weren’t diagnosed with full-blown Minamata disease.

Factoring in those who never sought medical treatment or who had died before the disease was identified, it is impossible to know just how many were forced to endure untold suffering and robbed of the precious gift of life.

In addition, the government’s failure to respond quickly resulted in a second outbreak of the disease in 1965 in the Agano River area of Niigata Prefecture, far away from Minamata. That it happened in exactly the same manner was a terrible injustice.

Isn’t the mission of political leaders to listen to the anguished cries of the people and to fight with their entire being for the people’s welfare?

Yet the Minamata victims and their families still faced a long, uphill battle in their effort to gain compensation. One went so far as to say, bitterly: I don’t want any money. Instead, I’d like the chemical company executives, starting from the top and working down through the chain of command, to drink a solution of concentrated mercury. I’d like to see forty-two of them die, one by one, from the top down. Their wives should also be forced to drink it, so their unborn children are affected with congenital Minamata disease. Keep making them drink it until another sixty-nine of them have it. Then make an additional hundred of them into potential victims. That’s all I ask.

While human life cannot be bought, the Japanese government, instead of protecting life and taking steps to regulate environmental pollution, gave top priority to economic growth. This negligence led to widespread environmental pollution, which gave rise to such conditions as itai-itai disease, Minamata disease, and Yokkaichi asthma.¹

Pained by these tragic events, Shin’ichi thought deeply about how to overcome this problem.

FROM the start of the Meiji period, ² Japan was focused on catching up to and surpassing the Western powers, with the government promoting the policies of a wealthy nation and a strong military and encouragement of new industry. Rather than protecting the lives and welfare of the people, the country’s top priority was developing industry and increasing economic productivity in order to become richer and more powerful.

Japan’s first environmental disaster, the Ashio Copper Mine Incident,³ was symbolic of this orientation. Though damage caused by the mine’s pollution was spreading and worsening, the government refused to act because it needed copper for the military. What is more, regular and military police were called out to attack victims traveling en masse to Tokyo in 1900 to present a petition for relief. The police used their swords and beat and kicked the petitioners, and they arrested the group’s leaders in an incident that revealed the true nature of state authority.

Shozo Tanaka,⁴ a politician who devoted his life to opposing the mine’s unchecked pollution, cried out angrily, Killing the people is the same as killing the nation! The nation cannot exist without the people; therefore, it must protect them.

The same situation, whereby company profits took precedence over human life, continued to prevail in Japan after World War II. In his writing On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land, Nichiren Daishonin quotes a passage from the Benevolent King Sutra, stating, When a nation becomes disordered, it is the spirits that first show signs of rampancy (WND-1, 8). Rampancy of the spirits can be interpreted as wrong thinking—and nothing could be more wrong than the fundamental perversion of thought that national gain and corporate profit are more important than human life.

Shin’ichi believed that the companies that had contaminated the environment with mercury and cadmium wastewater, as in the cases of Minamata and itai-itai diseases, must have been aware of the danger of these pollutants. It was simply common sense that releasing pollutants into the rivers and seas from which people gained their livelihood would cause terrible harm. But even after industrial pollution became the focus of public attention, the engineers and company executives deliberately closed their eyes to the facts, which led to the loss of many precious lives. Behind this lay the malevolent mind-set of economic animals willing to sacrifice human life for the sake of corporate profit.

THE companies that caused the pollution feigned ignorance, using the defense that there was no firm scientific evidence that the tragedies were caused by their factories’ effluents. Meanwhile, government officials, who were supposed to place the interests of the people first, adopted a passive attitude toward the industries, which they considered an important source of national revenue. Politicians who received support from the companies worked cunningly to protect them. Many ordinary citizens curried favor with the polluters as well, believing that to do so would be to their own advantage in the long run. This back-scratching and self-serving environment produced untold numbers of innocent victims.

Shin’ichi was outraged and sensed a profound threat in the spread of industrial pollution. He resolved to stand up and fight to abolish it from the face of the earth, for this, he believed, was part of his mission as a Buddhist practitioner. He therefore touched on the issue at the headquarters general meeting held on May 3, 1970, and also at the respective training courses for the young women’s, young men’s, and women’s divisions at the head temple in August.

Environmental pollution is a manifestation of the devilish function that threatens the very existence of humankind, he said, and it is increasingly rearing its ugly head. I hope you will all be aware that fighting this injustice and protecting the sanctity of life is our purpose. I also declare that Buddhism offers a fundamental way to solve this problem.

From September to October, Shin’ichi set about writing two essays on the subject of pollution, one of which was at the request of a leading Japanese monthly magazine. Titling the essay Is Japan a Pollution Laboratory? he began by stating that the outbreaks of Minamata and itai-itai were not so much pollution-related as criminal acts perpetrated by morally corrupt corporations whose negligence led to murder.

A pen honed by the spirit to challenge injustice is the sharpest of instruments for cutting off iniquity at its root.

SHIN’ICHI argued that the real issue facing humanity was the global degradation and pollution of air, water, and land. It was a problem that exceeded the moral responsibility or efforts of a single person or company, a threat to the entire human race from which no one was safe, not even the perpetrators.

Shin’ichi identified the cause of pollution as human beings’ blind faith in progress and their insatiable desire to dominate the environment. Of course, this belief also expressed itself in such positive forms as the advance of science and technology and society’s material wealth. Nevertheless, it had resulted in a fundamental distortion in human society and invited the pollution that now endangered humanity’s survival.

Addressing how to genuinely resolve this problem, Shin’ichi wrote, Starting with a proper understanding of human existence, we must design and create completely new relationships with the cultural and natural environments that support our lives.

He went on to state that while a philosophy of respect for the sanctity of life is essential for overcoming the problem of pollution, it is crucial to rigorously examine the true intent of any such philosophy. This is because reverence for life is a universally accepted concept, touted even by those who promote merciless domination of the natural world.

In fact, at the root of wanton pollution and environmental destruction is this mistaken view of what it means to respect the dignity of life. With that in mind, Shin’ichi wrote: Humanism that regards nature as subject to the desires of human beings and permits the unbridled abuse of the natural environment is in truth the epitome of human egoism and an ‘antihumanism’ that jeopardizes life itself. Real humanism must promote harmony between humanity and nature, or, more correctly, must be based on the principle that humanity and its environment are one and indivisible.

SHIN’ICHI next asserted that human beings are just one of the living things on earth and, as such, they are an integral part of the eternal life cycle that has created and sustained our natural environment. That cycle, he said, is a series of interlocking chains of life; if one is broken, all the others are affected, and if one part of the whole is poisoned,