October 31, 1950

Tuesday - Rain

Farewell to a memorable October. A month of sufferings and pleasures, of disagreeable experiences and joyful ones.

A month of strife, of the rough billows of reality, of lakes of lyrical emotion and hopes like rainbows in the sky.

The curtain falls on the drama of this precious month.

The blue sky is clear, the air is pure.

Heaven and earth are beautiful in the moonlight at dusk.

On a vast stage, against the backdrop of nature, appalling scenes of human creation unfold, one after another.

Neither victors not vanquished know the destiny at work backstage.

Some people’s lives are like aimless ships.

Others face life courageously, like battle cruisers of small purpose.

Other meet the high waves like warships of great ambitions.

Some have no ships at all. Some are in danger of drowning and sinking.

Some travel about with confidence, though they ride in small boats.

Other overload their tiny boats and do not realise they will capsize.

I want my life to be of the highest purpose, aboard the greatest vessel.

October 30, 1950

Monday - Rain

Spent the whole day on business in the Omiya area with my department chief.

Home at 12:00. Took a pedicab from the station on account of the rain.

Youth. Youth has many dreams. Fearful dreams. Beautiful draems. Dreams of yearning. Dreams of hardship.

Impressionable youth. My dreams expand daily; both suffering and joy have their significance. Dreams of youth, chasing after rainbows. Turning the wheel of effort, progress, perseverance and hope, we must pursue our dreams.

We must strive with courage to confront and break through society’s corruption and guile. Then our path will surely open a step further, and out minds will be purified with regrets.

October 29, 1950

Sunday - Light rain

This morning at Mr. Toda’s house I discussed our company’s future with him and and one of the department chiefs. In the afternoon, talked with Mr. Toda and his wife on various things. A meaningful day.

Mr. Toda treated me to both lunch and dinner.

Home at 7:30.

Read from Whitman’s Leaves of Grass 

I seem to feel colder, perhaps because my room faces north.

My bedding has not been aired for more than half a year now. It’s not good for one’s health.

To bed at 11:30.

October 28, 1950

Saturday - Fine and clear

To work at 7:30. Home at 11:00.

Saw a movie in Shinbashi around 7:00 in the evening. I was tired and slept through more than half of it.

Listen to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony for about half an hour before going to bed.

October 27, 1950

Friday - Fine and clear

“What matters most is that we honour the Buddha’s words. As a rule, people in the world value what is distant and despise what is near, but this is the conduct of the ignorant. Event he distant should be repudiated if it is wrong, while what is near should not be discarded if it accords with the truth. Even though people may revere [their predecessors' doctrines], if those doctrines are in error, how can we employ them today.”

- Reply to Hoshina Goro Taro

Personal and family troubles cause people to suffer. these are the most immediate and the most important of problems. Politics, science, instutions, education and so forth all represent attempts to solve certain issues, but for the personal and family problems closest at hand they offer no actual solution. The only fundamental answer lies in a correct faith.

Those who embrace the True Law are few. Perhaps, as the sutra states, this is because people are content with small pleasure and, being carried away by them, do not desire the supreme happiness.

Let those who laugh, laugh. Let those who slander us do so if they wish. Let them mock us freely if they so desire.

If Buddhism is true, then the law of causality must also be strict.

Watch the Soka Gakkai and me, then years from now.

Keep your eyes on the Soka Gakkai, and on all of us, twenty years hence.

Even though I may be suffering, I will continue to advance single-mindedly for the religious revolution.