Editing SG32NNU-T (section)

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Yet since the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century, commerce and industry have developed at tremendous speed, mutually reinforcing one another, until they produced today’s capitalist society. Bourgeois civilization reached maturity and ripened to excess, while in inverse proportion the peasant class—the social foundation—was gradually compressed. The result is the inverted pyramid we have today.

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In Japan, too, since the Meiji Revolution,<ref>Seno’o characteristically refers to the Meiji Restoration of 1868 as the “Meiji Revolution” (''Meiji kakumei'' 明治革命), terminology that emphasizes its social and political transformation rather than the more conventional imperial term “restoration” (''ishin'' 維新).</ref> fewer than ten great financial combines have accumulated fortunes of five or six billion yen, while during precisely the same period the entire countryside has been forced to shoulder five or six billion yen in debt. No wonder such a society experiences constant turmoil and insecurity.

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'''B:''' In that case, there’s hardly any need to destroy it—it will collapse naturally. That’s what you call historical necessity. And morally speaking, too, society has treated the farmer who sustains everyone as a contemptible “peasant,” like an ungrateful son who calls his own mother an old hag. A society like that is unjust and deserves to be brought to account.

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'''A:''' Exactly. The countryside has finally reached the point where it can no longer endure the crushing weight of the great bourgeois class, and an unprecedented upheaval has begun. Society is now being compelled to undertake a fundamental reconstruction as a properly formed pyramid—that is, as an agrarian communal society.

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Any attempt to deal with rural distress that fails to grasp this fact is ultimately only a temporary patch and cannot completely remove social instability and anxiety. That doesn’t mean that immediate measures such as moratoria and other policies are useless, but…

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'''B:''' That makes sense. But how many people are actually carrying out reform movements with that degree of awareness? Most important of all, the farmers themselves mostly lack any awakened consciousness and continue to rely upon other-dependent salvation—a salvation that cannot actually be relied upon at all.<ref>Seno’o's 頼他的 (“dependent upon others”) anticipates his criticism immediately afterward of ''tariki hongan'' (他力本願), reliance upon the “Other Power” of Amida Buddha associated especially with Pure Land Buddhism. He contrasts this with the “Self Power” (''jiriki'') traditions, which he criticizes in turn for fostering an abstract or conceptualized mode of life. His criticism is therefore directed at both poles of the conventional ''tariki/jiriki'' distinction.</ref>

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'''A:''' It isn’t true that nothing is happening. Strong currents of this kind are emerging in many places. Still, there is no denying that the farming population as a whole remains deeply asleep.

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'''B:''' Why don’t they understand their own position and mission?

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'''A:''' There are many reasons. One is the long history of oppression and battering extending from the feudal era into capitalist society. Another is the illusory sense of security produced by the temple Buddhism of “Other Power,” together with the conceptualized way of life instilled by the path of “Self Power,” and doctrines of obedience and submission…

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