The Search For Enlightenment

I can’t be alone in feeling that I would like to be of some practical help to the poor people of Japan. Whether it is because it is the birthplace of Nichiren Daishonin, that makes the feeling more acute, I’m not sure. But the increasing worries over the atomic power stations, rising numbers of dead and even a deterioration in the weather with northerly winds and snow, every day seems to bring more tales of woe.

Within living history, the Japanese have been our enemies. My parents generation had very strong feelings about the atrocities against prisoners in WWII and those feelings took a long time to subside.

But it is impossible to have anything but sympathy for the citizens of Japan when we see and hear all the news reports coming out of the Pacific. It seems almost impossible to imagine what the people affected by first the earthquake and the tsunami that followed and now the rising radiation levels and increasing danger of a nuclear meltdown.

I have no medical skills or engineering experience in the nuclear industry, so what could I offer other than sympathy and support? Well I can chant and pray for respite for the victims of the disasters, in the full knowledge that my energies will help the situation, half a world away.

I urge all my Buddhist friends to send Diamoku to the people of Japan, though I am sure that you are already doing so. I would love to offer my help in a more practical way, but chanting allows me to feel that I am making a difference.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo