A Guide to the - Rissho Kosei-kai

Ask Yourself, "Is This All Right?"Over a decade ago the Japanese Committee of the World Conference on Religion and Peace(WCRP/Japan) invited Mother Teresa, the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, to Japan tocommemorate the first decade of the WCRP. In her keynote speech she said, "The children ofJapan are delightful, but the adults seem too fidgety and are lacking something spiritual. Thereare too few smiling faces, and expressions are gloomy." I remember being struck by thiscomment. Perhaps she saw that despite our country's affluence, we are constantly on guard,looking out for what may be advantageous to us.I can't help worrying that eventually we will face a day of reckoning. Even without one, I believehuman progress will be impeded if we merely drag our feet through daily life, presuming thatthis blessed environment will continue indefinitely.There are many sides to what we call human progress, and what I want to stress here isspiritual progress. Humanity has made tremendous spiritual progress in recognizing that theright to pursue happiness belongs not only to individuals, families, and other small groups, butalso to ever larger numbers of people. Sometimes such progress carries the cost of individualself‐sacrifice and pain. However, unless one is unafraid of pain and decides to devote oneself tosome kind of action, happiness for humanity as a whole will remain out of reach.What I want to propose here is that you constantly ask yourself, "Is this all right?"‐‐that is, thatyou continually question in your own mind, "Is the present condition of the world acceptable?""Is it all right for people in this country to be this way?" "Is my own lifestyle all right the way itis?" If you do this, a variety of uncertainties and doubts appear, like clouds in the sky. To resolvethese, you must initiate some form of action.What action should one take? The first, which seems commonplace enough, is endeavoring toimprove oneself; that is, making an effort to take one step forward spiritually, physically, and inthe ability to act. Those with a proper worldview will be dissatisfied with that alone, becausethey know that they will not thrive unless many others are saved materially and spiritually andenjoy happiness. At that point there naturally arises a desire to advance together with everyoneelse.A story is told about Albert Schweitzer when he was a young student. He was at home onvacation, and one morning as he gazed at the beautiful early‐summer garden outside hiswindow, he was filled with happiness. He contemplated his happiness in being blessed with twokind parents and in being able to devote his time to his favorite studies and to playing theorgan. At that very moment, however, a doubt flitted through his mind: Was this the way thingsshould be? Outside his window a small bird continued to chirp. By and by, the words of JesusChrist came to mind: "Whoever tries to gain his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his lifefor my sake will gain it." (Matt. 10:39). At that moment he felt something like a revelation seizehis entire body. After a moment's contemplation Schweitzer made a pledge in his heart: "Untilthe age of thirty I shall live for scholarship and art and then I shall devote what remains of mylife to the service of humanity." In that instant the course of his life was decided.On graduating from university, Schweitzer served as a minister and university lecturer andcontinued playing the organ, a talent which he had exhibited early in life, becoming a man ofdistinction. On learning that many people in Africa were dying from lack of medical treatment,he decided to carry out the pledge of his earlier days by practicing medicine in Africa. Heaudited classes in medical care at his alma mater, the University of Strasbourg, and at the ageof thirty‐eight went to the province of Gabon in what was then French Equatorial Africa andopened a hospital at Lambarene. In the fiercely hot, humid jungle, where epidemics were27