I want to strive to be the person of virtue whom I should be

For those who have never lacked for food, never known war except through TV dramas and films, it must be hard to imagine, but when put against the wall, human beings expose terrible sides of themselves. Personally, I was able to return to Japan safely with the help of many Chinese people, but amidst repeated experiences of that revolting side of humanity, I was strangely able to gain a firm sense of values. At the outset of the Kyohan, I sum this up with the phrase, "The person, the person, everything depends on the quality of the person." Another way of putting this, however, is to say that I began to think seriously about the question, "How should I live as a person?"

Of course, it's simple to say fine sounding words while everyday life is going smoothly. Fine behavior, too, is generally possible when we have plenty so spare. However, when it comes down to it, a person's basic character comes out. People can do things without second thought that they normally would never even consider. For one's own safety and one's own enrichment, one can sacrifice others with perfect calm. That is human, and everyone has that potential in one way or another. But in a world of such people, there were definitely some people who demonstrated a different kind of humanity - what I think of as a kind of moral character.

Whether facing hell or living in haven, these were people who retained their virtue. So just what is this moral character that such people have? To state it simply, virtue means actions based on a straightforward goodness of heart. In other words, and of course this is my interpretation, it is not the same thing as intelligence. In general, or course, those who have developed their intelligence most highly are intellectuals and hey seem especially refined and brilliant. However the more a person's intelligence develops, the more likely they are to be egotistical and calculating. Thus I understand intelligence and virtue as separate things, and while I would like to be intellectual, more than that, I want to strive to be the person of virtue whom I should be.

What brought me to think this way was my own experience of defeat in war, and when I looked at the picture in this morning's newspaper, I thought of it again. The caption attached to the picture says, "South Vietnam: American official punches a man attempting to board an already full evaluation helicopter, preventing him from entering the vehicle." Here it is an American official who is recorded, but this American is not the only detestable or brutal character involved. To put it in extreme terms, this picture conveys a single image of what is ultimately an unchanging aspect of human reality in this world we humans have created.

However, as I said before, while their numbers may be few, it is true that there are some people who are different. I, who want to get closer to being one of these few, want to do something about it. There are those who seek to use war to increase their own power, and I will not assist them. I refuse to become a killer for such people. I refuse to be killed meaninglessly. I want to make very clear the intentions with which we should carry this through.

I demand this both from myself and from all of you who are my students.

(April 1975, sermon at a university training camp)

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