Editing SG32NNU-T (section)

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…were themselves renewed and began to act in an organized fashion, it would be like giving an iron club to an ogre: the effect would be immense.<ref>A variant of the familiar proverb 鬼に金棒 (“an iron club in the hands of an ogre”), meaning to make something already formidable even more powerful.</ref>

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'''B:''' When you put it that way, there’s hardly a village without a temple. If they could coordinate with one another and begin acting as an organized movement, that really would amount to something. There must be plenty of priests who already understand this. If they tried, they could do it.

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'''A:''' If they reflect upon the lives of the founders and patriarchs, they ought to be incapable of doing otherwise. If they refuse to act, then ultimately it means that genuine faith has withered within them.

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The sutras speak of “thirsting reverence and ardent longing” (''katsugō renbo'' 渇仰恋慕),<ref>The language of ''katsugō'' (渇仰, “thirsting reverence”) and ''renbo'' (恋慕, “ardent longing”) evokes Chapter 16 (“The Life Span of the Thus Come One”) of the ''Lotus Sutra''. In its verse section (''Jiga-ge''), the Buddha's apparent disappearance causes beings to long for him and thirst for his presence. Seno’o recontextualizes this devotional longing as something that must be realized through active, embodied social practice.</ref> but surely there can be no such longing without practice. I have always summed up the Buddhist spirit in a single phrase: “From Impermanence to Devotion” (''mujō yori shin’ai e'' 無常より信愛へ).<ref>“From Impermanence to Devotion” (''mujō yori shin’ai e'' 無常より信愛へ) was a characteristic formulation of Seno’o Girō's Buddhist social thought. Rather than treating awareness of impermanence (''mujō'') as grounds for passive resignation, Seno’o argues that awareness of life's brevity should generate active love and devotion (''shin’ai''), expressed here through practical efforts toward social reform and agrarian communalism.</ref>

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When I think of the morning dew, whose fate tomorrow cannot be known, I want, in the memories of each day that I live, to taste an eternal joy even within a single day lived in devotion. How much more so when our efforts are pledged to the realization of communal society!

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Even if we fail, a failure born of practice is one step closer to success. As the saying goes, “Nothing can be accomplished through cowardice.”

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Come on—you have to start walking. Otherwise you’re living a lie.

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Sighing is a disgrace.<br />
Idle talk must end.<br />
Spectatorship is a sin.

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According to our respective positions and abilities, directly and indirectly, through education and through practice, shouldn’t we all work toward the realization of an agrarian communal society?

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…What’s wrong with you? You’ve suddenly become terribly thoughtful…

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'''B:''' Listening to you, the image of my own village, as lifeless as though its fire had gone out, suddenly appeared vividly before me.

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Think about it: the farmer who grows the rice cannot eat rice himself.

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What could be more irrational than that?!