(24)  Tragedy of Arrogant Human

Contemporary man, due to his overconfidence and egocentric arrogance has caused countless tragedies, since he has forgotten the basic fact that he is merely a confused, ignorant finite being. The contemporary world has overvalued so-called science, reason, and logic based upon human knowledge. For man can only appreciate what he has created. He has lost the virtue and understanding of humility. Thus humans began to project values of their own choice into even the sphere of gods and Buddhas.

As a result, in our world of Buddhist theology, just as in other religions, consciously or unconsciously, human centered and this-worldly centered interpretations have begun to dominate the church. Even in Japan the Buddhism which was intended to be the aimed at the spiritual salvation of the individual, has become confused with principles of social revolution. No human societies are perfect. Although Japanese have been complacent, claiming "that we are all a homogeneous culture" it have many social discrimination even in such a small nation: Women, who compose half of our population, the aged, and minority groups such as Korean, and many other minority groups, have been discriminated against and mistreated. This is an unfortunate situation that Buddhist churches must confront. Yet the question remains "is the purpose of religion to settle the problems of this-world or is the aim of religion to care for the spiritual salvation of the individual?" And in Jôdo Shinshû Buddhism, we have always believed that if the individual is awakened, he will change and awaken the world about him.

Concerned Buddhists are aware that even if we can find the means to change the external situation of man, we will never be able to achieve the true salvation of man as long as he has a finite body and lives in a narrow finite world. We all agree that social injustices must be corrected, and we all certainly must seek world peace, equality and justice for all. Yet without the salvation of the individual self, how can society change? Society is composed of individual beings, without the change or Enlightenment of the individual how can society improve? Social justice cannot be imposed upon man it must come from his own inner convictions. And that is the simply fallacy of Marxism. They imagine that the panacea is to impose "justice" and "equality" upon the masses. Yet man will never understand the meaning of justice and equality unless it comes from his heart and innermost convictions. You cannot dictate "people to be equal" unless there is an innate understanding "why we should be equal". And that is what religion must teach.

If we believe in something beyond ourselves, we will act in accord with our beliefs. Thus the "salvation of the individual" in all religions is the most important teaching of all. For that alone can lead to the salvation of the world and bring about true justice and equality for all one man Enlightened to the truth can change the world about him, if not the entire world.