Discussions on Youth

2: The Worries and Hopes of Youth (part two)

i'll type more later.

Discussions on Youth

1: The Worries and Hopes of Youth

   Kimura: Many high school students today want to take on a challenge, but they don't know exactly what to challenge. Others donn't seem to be interested in anything, or if they do show an interest they don't have the courage to pursue it. They become angry at themselves and at their indecision and weakness, which gives way to despair. I think many youth feel this way.

   Igeta: One high school student said to me recently, "In schools these days, students who cannot do the work are treated as less than human." These words struck me. Many students are extremely discouraged because grades seem to be the basis of everything, ultimately determining their overall evaluation and ranking in the school. The feel like failures in life when they cannot gain entry to a school with a high academic reputation - a vertual prerequisite these days for getting into a good university.

   Kimura: Yes, but even among those who excel in their studies, many are so drained and exhausted that they have no room to form big dreams or aspirations. So the important question is how to lieve in a way true to ourselves.

   Ikeda: What you are describing are the harmful effects of society's overemphasis on academic background. In Japan, students are not taught the all-essential whys and wherefores of things and events, nor are they taught the path they should follow as human beings. This negligence inflicts needless suffering on them. Japan has truly become a lamentable country.
   So what do you do in such a situation? Hold a grudge against society, your schools, your parents or yourselves? Will you feel happy then? I don't think so.
   Each of you is precious and irreplaceable. Please don't allow yourselves to succumb to negativity and cynicism. Suffering is to be found in any age. Ireespective of the era, youth is a time of problems, pain and confusion.
   And grades are probably not the only source of worry or anguish you face. You may have problems at home, with your health, with how you feel about your looks, with members of the opposite sex or with friends. Feelings of pain, insecurity, frustration and sadness may assail you. Youth means grappling with all kinds of problems. It means resolving them, in spite of all difficulties, pushing aside the dark clouds of despair and advancing toward the sun, toward hope. This strength is the hallmark of youth.
   Having problems, making mistakes or feeling regrets is only natural. What's important is to be undefeated by them. In the midst of worries and struggles, always look forward and advance.

   Kimura: We'll do our best.

   Ikeda: Suppose you are lost in the jungle. You want to find your way out and reach the ocean but don't know which way to go. What do you do? The answer is to keep moving ahead, taking a course that leads to a river. If you follow the river downstream, you will eventually reach the ocean.
   The important thing is to keep pressing forward. While struggling with various problems, it is vital that you chant daimoku and advance somehow - even if it's only one or two inches. If you do so, when you look back you'll see that you have actually made y our way through the jungle in no time.
   Your lives will be enriched and deepened in proportion to the pain and grief you suffer, the degree to which you struggle and the amount of daimoku that you chant. The hardships you face now will all serve to nourish your growth into leaders of the twenty-first century.
   For example, if your life is made miserable by the present overemphasis on school performance and educational background, you might as well decide to bring about truly humanistic education in the future that, instead of demoralizing students, will leave them with hope. One who would undertake such an endeavor would certainly be considered a leader of the twenty-first century.
   Your studies are of course important. But the grades you get in high school will not determine the course of your entire life. Your future depends on the efforts you make and whether you are walking the correct path. It's not important how you compare to others but how you compare to who you were yesterday. If you see that you've advanced even one step, then you've achieved a victory.
   A famous person once told his son, "Your grades can be mediocre, but please become a person of outstanding character." Greatness as a human being is not determined by educational background or social position. Even people who graduated from top universities engage in criminal activities. And there are some among the so-called "elite" who are overbearing and arrogant. I want foster leaders - not elitists.
   A truly great person is a friend to those in suffering, pain and misery. Such a person can be called a "leader of the new century."
   More often than not in today's society, those suffering and disadvantaged are ostracized, despised and pushed to the margins. Many of our current leaders have such an attitude toward them. This is a deplorable mistake.
   Study should be for the purpose of finding a way to help those suffering. Many leaders today, however, look down on people who are suffering and only add to their misery. There is no society as cruel, arrogant, cold or cowardly as ours. I want to change this at all costs. And it is toward this end that all my energies are devoted. I pray that you will understand my sentiments and carry on this work in the same spirit in the future. 

Igeta: What about students who are depressed because the school they are attending was not their first choice?

Ikeda: Not attending the school of your choice may certainly be disappointing. But when looked at from the essential point of study and viewed in the long-term, it doesn't really matter whether you graduate from a well-known school.
   I studied at night school. Like many others in those turbulent years following World War II, I had no money, so I had to work during the day to put myself through school in the evening. It was a painful struggle, but it was an experience I will always be proud of.
   Later, President Toda tutored me privately. He taught me everything he had learned. He once told me, "Become an inspiration for those who cannot attend good schools." Those who start out under difficult circumstances and go on to become first-rate individuals can be a source of hope and inspiratoin for many. Please always remember that academic background isn't everything.
   At any rate, since you have been accepted to a school - even if it is not your first choice and regardless of how society judges it - it's not important for you to decide that the place you are is the very best, that it is the perfect place for you to learn all you want to. This way of thinking is far more constructive and beneficial in the long run.
   It is foolish to allow your confidecne to be undermined by the opinions of others. You are all in your teens; limitless possibilities are open to all of you.

   Kimura: Is it best for high school students to go on to university?

   Ikeda: Ideally, I'm all for it. In many cases, a university can provide an environment conducive to fostering students' abilities, to equipping them with certain qualificatoins that may eventually enable them to contribute to a greater number of people in society. Nevertheless, you are free to choose your path. If you feel the road you must follow to fulfill your mission lies somewhere other than in a university classroom, then that's perfectly OK.
   The important thing is to not cause your parents worry. I hope each of you will cherish a dream of what you would like to do - something that is just right for you - and continue to challenge yourselves to achieve it.
   The purpose of study is not only to get into a university. Study contributes to our growth and self-enrichment. There is a saying, "To not learn is to debase yourself." What makes human being human is their art of learning.
   We are livign in an advanced age of information. If you do not continue to study throughout your lives, you will soon be left behind. To develop a lifelong study ethic is an important requisite for future leaders. The deadlocks society faces today are in fact the deadlocks of its leaders. And the reason for this is usually that they do not study. They lack the spirit and broad-mindedness to listen to the ideas and opinions of the younger generation and to incorporate and implement those that have value.
   Especially during your teens, I'd like to see you develop a passoin and enthusiasm for learning that will endure throughout your lives. Consider this time as training for your brain in order to develop such a foundation.
   I cannot say this too strongly: "Do not compare yourselves to others. Be true to who you are and continue to learn with all your might. Even if you are ridiculed, even if you suffer disappointments and setbacks, continue to advance and do not be defeated." If you have such a strong determination in your heart, you are already halfway to victory.
   When you hold fast to your beliefs and live true to yourself, your true value as a human being shines through. Buddhism teaches the concept of "realizing your inherent potential," in other words manifesting your true entity, your innate self, revealing it and bringing it to shine, illuminating all around you. It refers to your most refined individuality and uniqueness.

   Igeta: It's like the study of the hare and the tortoise. I think some people are hares and others, tortoises. But those who win in the end steadily and continuously make their way forward until they reach the finish line. Completing the race is in itself a victory.

   Kimura: It's all a question of staying focused on your goal and never giving up on yourself, isn't it?
   One runner in the men's marathon at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics was the 20-year-old A Baser Wasiqi from Afghanistan. Because of an interruption in his education by the protracted war in his country, he was still a high school student. Wasiqi finished the marathon in last place, a full two hours behind the winner. He was the slowest Olympic marathon runner in history. But he crossed the finish line undaunted!
   His goal, Wasiqi said, was not to come in first or second place; it was to go to Atlanta and run. "It is very important to finish," he said, in halting English. "I run for Afghanistan. I represent my country to the world, to show that Afghanistan is living, that they have not died during sixteen years of civil war."
   I was so moved to see this young man run for the sake of the people of his war-torn country.

   Ikeda: The important thing is to be patient, to have the profound determination to achieve something meaningful in the future. Youth is not a time for impatience. Your true substance as human beings will be determined ten, twenty or thirty years from now. What matters is the kind of people you become then and whether you are fulfilling your mission then. Each of you has a mission that only you can fulfill. If you did not have such a mission, you would not have been bored.
   There are many kinds of mountains in this world. There are tall ones and low ones. And there are a great many different kinds of rivers. There are long and short rivers. Despite their differences, however, we cannot dispute the fact that all mountains are mountains and that all rivers are rivers.
   There are serene mountains like the ones in ancient Japanese capital of Nara, and there are active volcanoes like Mount Aso. Then there are the grand snowcapped peaks of the Himalayas. All of these mountains are beautiful and impressive in their own way.
   The same is so with rivers. There is Japan's Ishikari River, home to magnificent salmon, as well as our poetic Chikuma River. There is the Yellow River in China and the Amazon in South America, rivers so wide taht in some places the opposite shore cannot be seen. Each of these has its own special beauty.
   The same is true of people. Each of you has a unique mission in life. Moreover, you haev encountered the Mystic Law while still young. You have a mission that is yours and yours alone. That is an indisputable fact, one I would like you to have conviction and pride in.

   Kimura: How can we discover our missions?

   Ikeda: You won't find them by standing still. You must challenge yourselves in something, it doesn't matter what. Then making consistent effort, the direction you should take will open up before you quite naturally. It's important, therefore, to have the courage to ask yourselves what you should be doing now, this very moment.
   The key, in other words, is to climb the mountain before you as the ascend its slopes, you will develop your muscles, increasing your strength and endurance. Such training will enable you to challenge still higher mountains. It is vital that you continue making such efforts. Chanting daimoku will enable you to bring forth the necessary life force to succeed.
   Chant daimoku and climb the mountain in front of you. When you reach the summit, wide, new horizons will stretch out before you. Little by little, you will understand your own mission.
   Those who rememebr they have a unique mission are strong. Whatever problems they have, they will never be defeated. They can transform all of their problems into catalysts for growth toward a hope-filled future.