Editing SG32NNU-T (section)

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…it is a society in which everyone works together. And unless those who would lead us toward such a society themselves adopt this attitude of service, there is no possible way to transform our inherited tradition of selfish greed. If people act with genuine sincerity, I believe this way of life can move society as a whole and create the fundamental conviction necessary to break through the present crisis.

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'''B:''' Ordinary determination won’t be enough.

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'''A:''' Of course not. Even the incomparable Śākyamuni required six years of austerities, with blood practically seeping from him, before fulfilling his great vow. Do you imagine that something as immense as creating a new society can be accomplished by the fraudulent stroke of a pen or empty words? Everything depends upon effort paid for in blood and tears.

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Lately I’ve been thinking that the position occupied by rural Buddhist priests is actually extraordinarily favorable for beginning this work, and I almost envy them. Far from standing around helplessly wondering what to do, now is the perfect opportunity to carry the Buddha on their backs, steel their courage, stand upon the impoverished soil, and embody the ideal of “worrying before others and enjoying only after them.”<ref>An allusion to Fan Zhongyan's 范仲淹 (989–1052) celebrated dictum in the ''Yueyang Tower Record'' (岳陽楼記): “Be the first to worry about the world's troubles and the last to enjoy its pleasures” (先天下之憂而憂、後天下之楽而楽).</ref>

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Last month Inoue introduced the stories of the “Sweet Potato Magistrate” and the “Sweet Potato Jizō”—the righteous deeds of Ido Masatomo, magistrate at Ōmori in Iwami Province, who during the great Kyōhō famine devoted his life to the relief of the poor.<ref>Ido Masatomo (井戸正朋, 1672–1733) was magistrate (''daikan'') of the Ōmori shogunal domain in Iwami Province. During the Kyōhō Famine of 1732, he became renowned for providing relief to starving peasants and promoting sweet-potato cultivation. After his death, local people erected Jizō statues in his honor, and he came to be venerated as ''Imo Jizō'' (芋地蔵, “Sweet-Potato Jizō”). Seno’o invokes Ido as an exemplar of practical social action on behalf of the rural poor. “Inoue” refers to a contributor or fellow member of the Youth League for Revitalizing Buddhism who had discussed Ido in the previous month's ''Shinkō Bukkyō''.</ref> Aren’t deeds like these precisely the kind of actions rural temples should now take the lead in carrying out?

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'''B:''' Isn’t that just a rosy form of heroic idealism that ignores the actual severity of rural poverty?

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'''A:''' You are free to criticize me. But I believe practical action is possible. Just recently, comrades in Hokkaidō offered me farmland. I investigated it and was preparing to move there with my entire family in early August, determined to plant the Buddhist spirit in the soil of that snowy land through my own body and life. Unfortunately, the plan was called off from their side and I was bitterly disappointed. But I’m still looking for land like that.

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When we speak of negating temple Buddhism, what we mean is precisely the desire to regenerate it through this kind of correct way of life.

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'''B:''' Some temples are afraid that Revitalized Buddhism is simply a movement to smash temples.

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'''A:''' That is a misunderstanding. Our true intention is for all Buddhists, in the name of the Buddha, to join hands and work toward the realization of communal society.

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The countryside will certainly revive through the awakening and solidarity of the farmers. And that very moment should also become an opportunity for the regeneration of Buddhism. Established Buddhism will perish together with the cities, but the regeneration of Buddhism is possible through the revitalized countryside.

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No—what is required is not Buddhism for the sake of Buddhism. Buddhism’s mission lies in taking the lead as a guiding force in the revival of the countryside. If the rural temples spread throughout the country…

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