ABSTRACT
In January 2010, the then president of the Zen-nihon Bukkyōkai https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203066614/29c871e3-decb-427d-95e2-4f6ccd755d08/content/inline9_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> (Japan Buddhist Federation) and current head priest of Kōyasan Shingonshū https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203066614/29c871e3-decb-427d-95e2-4f6ccd755d08/content/inline9_2_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>, Matsunaga Yūkei https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203066614/29c871e3-decb-427d-95e2-4f6ccd755d08/content/inline9_3_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>, was invited, together with other world religious leaders, to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Acting as a representative of Japanese Buddhism (Chūgai nippō 2010a), Matsunaga addressed the audience with the following words:
The 21st century is a time of turmoil. Because of the amazing advances in science and technology during the last century, we now enjoy an unprecedented degree of material prosperity. Nevertheless, we still have not escaped from mental and spiritual suffering. We see all around us the symptoms of a society lacking in normalcy: self-centredness, insensitivity to the pain of others, the breakdown of local society and the making of barbaric crimes into a routine occurrence. Looking at the world as a whole, we realize that while the developed nations have achieved some economic success, the disparity between rich and poor is rapidly worsening in the developing nations. The global environment is deteriorating, resources are being depleted and ethnic conflicts and interreligious strife are becoming commonplace. These are the increasingly lamentable circumstances in which we find ourselves. We are hemmed in on all sides and restrained both socially and individually in our mental activities. It is important for us to reflect calmly on our habitually self-centred ways of living and change what needs to be changed to lead an honest life. It is necessary that we do this to make any fundamental changes in our present circumstances. To achieve that, I wish to emphasize that Eastern culture – relatively neglected by modern society – and in particular Buddhist culture, contains within it the precise medicine needed to effectively uproot these diseases of modern society. To make some brief suggestions capable of successfully handling the crises of modern society from Mahayana Buddhism, which is the form of Buddhism practiced in Japan, I would like to present the following three points: (1) a holistic approach recognizing the interdependence of all living things, (2) a pluralistic sense of values and (3) social service based on the awareness that our lives are owed to the world and society.
(Matsunaga 2010a: 39; cf. 2010b)