The 2009 Brazil Special Conference for World Peace
Tetsuya Abe, Acting Chief, Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii Missionary Area
I attended "2009 Brazil Special Conference for World Peace with Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi" held in Sao Paulo with 26 participants from the United States including Irene Revilla, a leader of Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii. The theme of the Conference was "The Nature and Man Living Together and Coexisting." The syllabus, which was distributed to all the attendees, explained the meaning of the Special Conference as follows:
Today, at the start of the 21st century, amid the increasingly more serious climatic change from global warming, humankind is being driven toward the development of sustainable societies. Nevertheless, the world's population continues to increase and in such newly developing countries as China, India and Brazil, warming advances unchanged because their economic growth follows the same course as the advanced countries. Humankind now stands at the turning point of civilization and it needs the philosophy, thinking and faith that will draw it toward the proper course. Yet the spirituality to support the new age is not entirely new at all but can probably be found within the wisdom that is already in the possession of humankind. Why? Humankind has a long history of coexistence with nature. During our Special Conference for World Peace we will we look through history, reexamine the wisdom and thinking of living together with nature, which was hidden in the shadows of the material development from modernization and find ways to apply them to the new age. While basing our examination upon the study at the previous Special Conferences, this year's Seicho-No-Ie Special Conference for World Peace will be held on the theme of the Nature and Man Living Together and Coexisting. We can say that it is a magnificent project which has been realizing the ideals shown by the Founder of Seicho-No-Ie, Masaharu Taniguchi, that we illuminate the path of all mankind. As you already know, our Founder Masaharu Taniguchi started the Seicho-No-Ie movement to light the direction in which human beings should go, and wholeheartedly led our God's Humanity Enlightenment Movement to brighten and correct all people's minds until he passed away in 1985. Rev. Seicho Taniguchi carried out Founder Taniguchi's will as it was and dedicated himself to this movement until he passed away last October.
Under the guidance of Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, current President of Seicho-No-Ie, we are now trying to show the "philosophy, thinking, and faith" that are necessary for the current people in the world and to demonstrate that we can lead a life based upon them. However, we have learned at the Special Conference that this philosophy, thinking, and faith are not what Seicho-No-Ie discovered for the first time but they are part of the wisdom of Native Americans and major traditional world religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
One of the things that impressed me most about Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi's guidance was that the religious viewpoint that a human being is a part of nature is common among the major world religions and we can agree that that viewpoint is a central part of the religious truths with many religions. It is very significant that we have been taught that our movement which emphasizes the commonality among religions can be promoted by disseminating the following ideas: Nature is a unique figure of God; Nature is a manifestation of the infinite benevolence of Buddha; and Nature is what provides us with a place to express a child-of-God nature. As a whole, I thought I was given a priceless opportunity to think deeply about how we should put into practice the teachings such as "God's creation is perfect and absolute goodness" and "a phenomenal world is a manifestation of our mind" in our lives and how we, as an organization, can contribute to our current society by making the best use of the teachings.
President Taniguchi spent all of the time allocated to Lecture One answering all the questions that had been submitted to him in advance. One of the questions was from Irene Revilla of Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii. Her question was as follows: "As a parent of two young adults, this generation of youth has a sense of doom surrounding them as the world is full of economic problems and natural changes. Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, as the President of SNI, do you believe that our movement can progress realistically to create more positively in this 21st century and why do you feel this way? Thank you very much."
The answer Rev. Taniguchi gave to the question was "YES." The outline of his full answer will appear in a couple of months in the SNI-ONLINE electronic newspaper published by International Headquarters for leaders living outside of Japan.
All of President Taniguchi's lectures were so profound and covered so much that my note-taking could not keep up. I was seated with leaders from Europe and Canada as well as the United States. I was very moved when I looked over at them during the President's lectures because all the participants from the United Kingdom, all Brazilians, were taking notes with their whole hearts.
Mrs. Junko Taniguchi, President of SNI White Dove Association, disclosed the significance of practicing the "Sundial Way of Life" in modern times in her lecture and generated religious exultation among all the attendees. More than that, she spoke as if she were talking to every participant individually, and applause followed almost every word she spoke.
Regarding the leaders in Brazil, I was overwhelmed by their passionate, bright and cheerful, and sincere personalities. Whenever Rev. and Mrs. Taniguchi entered the hall, and before and after their lectures and remarks, all the participants showed their appreciation with big applause. They were like supporters cheering for their country in a soccer stadium. They clapped and said with their hands stretched high, "Eooooo, eoooooo, eoo eoo eoo Sosai!" Sosai means President in Japanese.
After the Conference, a welcome party for Rev. and Mrs. Taniguchi sponsored by SNI Brazil Headquarters was held at its annex. There seemed to be about 400 people present. After President Taniguchi made opening remarks, everyone toasted. We enjoyed dinner, then all participants stood in line, shook hands and talked with Rev. and Mrs. Taniguchi in turn. You can easily imagine how their generosity pleased all the attendees. Seeing Rev. and Mrs. Taniguchi blessing them, I thought how wonderful it is to be a SNI member.
Incidentally, Rev. and Mrs. Taniguchi left Sao Paulo early the next morning for Belem, a city in northern Brazil whose port lies in the vast Amazon River delta. There, they conducted a public lecture at which about 1,000 people gathered. Then they flew back to Sao Paulo where they also conducted the National Convention, which about 6,200 attended.
In the SNI Hawaii Missionary Area, we would like to move forward the "Movement That Grows with Nature" in accordance with the guidance we received from President Masanobu Taniguchi.
