Toll the bell of the new renaissance
To my dear fellow members of Italy
Renaissance!
Renaissance!
How I love the pure
reverberations of this word.
In it we hear the sounds
of humanity, of liberation,
of freedom and energetic action.
From it wafts
the floral scents of art and literature,
the gleaming brilliance
of a fresh new day.
Centuries ago, the Renaissance
arose here in this land of Italy,
in magnificent Florence.
And today
the sun of a new renaissance,
—a renaissance of life—
is rising above
the floral tiled roofs of this city.
How wondrous this procession
of mission-entrusted youth
emerging as from the earth,
setting forth under the banner
of the Mystic Law!
Listen! The daybreak bells are ringing
and the songs of renewed life resound—
in the vibrant city of Milan,
in Rome, aflame with morning light,
on the beaches of Santa Lucia
and in the peaks of the Apennines.
Behold the primordial dawn!
The curtain lifts on a new
and truly human age!
Humanity,
the human being,
this vast mystery
has been variously described—
Man the enigma, the paradox,
the self-deceiver,
the creature of drama.
Humans are:
wise yet foolish, foolish yet wise,
noble and debased, vulgar yet lofty,
drawn to beauty yet mired in ugliness,
aspiring to good but perpetrating evil,
seemingly weak yet strong,
seemingly strong while actually weak…
Striving to become yet betraying ourselves,
questing for freedom yet ending in constraint,
talking of peace and yet ceaselessly
spawning violence and war.
The historical Renaissance
released the vast mystery of
human possibilities
from the fetters of God and Church,
urging a return to antiquity,
to the classics,
to humanity.
This was unquestionably
a moment of human triumph,
a paean to human freedom.
As one intellectual would describe it,
the history of the Renaissance
is the history of the attainment
of self-conscious freedom
by the human spirit.
And yet, dear friends,
I strongly encourage you
to remember that
the attainment of freedom
still lies before us.
For a renaissance
is not so much something
achieved or perfected,
but something that leads to
the further flowering of human potential—
not a conclusion but a beginning.
Without this awareness and vigilance,
the triumph of humanity,
the paean to freedom,
may end up opening
a Pandora’s box,
unleashing horrors on the world.
Ask yourselves, my friends:
Has humanity,
seemingly finally free
of the constraints of God and Church,
won genuine freedom?
Have we truly taken our place
as history’s protagonists?
No! Surely not!
Has humanity not found itself instead
in a miserable subservience
to systems and ideologies,
to science and machines?
Here lies the paradox of freedom,
the contradiction of history.
And so, my friends,
as standard-bearers of a new renaissance
—the renaissance of a century of life—
continue to advance the cause
first pioneered by the Italian Renaissance—
the attainment of freedom!
Grasp this spirit as a baton
that has been passed on to you
and run with it to the ends of the Earth—
restore humanity
to its rightful place within
history and society!
To this end, my friends
—in order to become truly yourself,
in order that all people may be truly human—
dedicate yourselves
to seeking out the ultimate principle,
the law of life that dwells within.
A Buddhist scripture instructs us
to be the masters of our minds
and not let our minds be our masters.
When people make their minds their masters
egotism runs rampant in the world.
The widespread failure of self-restraint
leads eventually to despotism
and the steely, demon hand of fascism.
When people become masters of their minds,
gardens of peace and happiness surely await.
By appreciating each other’s strengths,
complementing our shortcomings,
we can ultimately reach
a concert of humanity
where harmony abounds.
This is why, my friends,
to truly master your minds,
you must never disconnect yourself
from the incomparable Law
that is our source of confidence and strength,
or slacken in its practice.
Be a person of pure and earnest faith
one who “rises every morning with the Buddha
and rests with the Buddha every evening.”
Strive to better yourself without cease,
polishing the mirror
of your life both day and night.
Prevailing over the heart’s
whims and weaknesses,
deftly take the reins
of the wild, unruly horse that is the mind,
and race ahead, straight and true,
along the grand course of kosen-rufu.
For this is the essence
of our movement of human revolution.
My dear friends,
standard-bearers of a new renaissance,
stand firmly on the side of the people!
The Renaissance
was led by aristocrats
and was thus estranged
from the people.
It was focused on classical learning
and thus unable to reach down
into the bedrock of daily life.
It was highly individualistic,
and thus failed to foster solidarity
with the masses.
Our new renaissance movement
must never be allowed to unfold in this way.
Truth is only found among the people,
in their joys and sorrows,
their pleasures and pains,
their happiness and grief.
Separated from this grounded foundation,
all becomes empty illusion and mirage.
This is why we cast ourselves
into the great sea of the people,
sharing the reality of their lives,
advancing through the swirling currents
of their sorrows and their joys,
striving to transform all
into a surging tide of happiness.
The universal genius
Leonardo da Vinci once reflected:
“Obstacles cannot crush me
Every obstacle yields to stern resolve.”
Young pioneers, to blaze new trails
means to endure great hardship!
It is only from adversity
that spiritual greatness is born.
It is only after passing through obstacles
that we can leave
our clear and certain mark on history.
Indeed, intense and painstaking exertion
has been the constant pivot
propelling humankind’s
dramatic transformations—
from darkness to dawn,
from chaos to order,
from tearing down to building up.
Think of Dante Alighieri!
One of the greatest minds of the Middle Ages,
he was forever banished from his native Florence
at the age of thirty-six.
And yet, and yet!
His love and longing for home,
his painful anguish,
gave birth to The Divine Comedy—
the poetic masterwork
to which he devoted a lifetime
and which continues
to cast its brilliance
across the ages.
I vividly recall the time,
six years ago, when I stood
on a street in Florence
a city I had longed to see since youth.
Gazing at the relief of Dante
that was set in the wall
of an old house,
I sensed the massive,
inexorable currents
of history and philosophy—
from The Divine Comedy
to Goethe’s Faust
and to a century of life…
In May of 1981,
I arrived in this beloved southern land
after an absence of sixteen years.
Calling out:
“Benvenuto! Benvenuto!” (Welcome! Welcome!)
hundreds of young friends,
eyes as radiant as the Italian sun,
met me at the airport in Pisa,
and offered their raucous welcome!
My friends,
I will never forget
the six days of heart-to-heart exchange
we enjoyed in Florence—
to discuss and interact with these young lives
vigorous as young fish
darting through mountain streams,
untainted as freshly fallen snow,
was true happiness.
We stood together,
looking on the Arno
flowing serenely past,
and the ancient bridge where Dante once walked.
On that hill that holds the Piazzale Michelangelo,
I was reminded of my visit to Rome
twenty years earlier.
Standing for the first time
in the Roman Forum
on broken stone pavement
among crumbled columns,
I felt how the history of a millennium
is but a single night’s dream
and directed the groundswell
of my emotions into this poem:
Among the ruins of Rome,
this thought occurs:
The land of the Mystic Law
will never decline or fall.
Knowing that those who
gathered on this hill,
these young men and women
bound in deep unity,
embody the pioneering energy
to build an eternally indestructible
land of happiness,
my heart swelled with joy.
Oh my dear friends of Italy,
I urge you, each of you—
forge overlapping bonds of friendship
with your fellow members,
just like Rossi and Bruno in The Eternal City,
a novel I read with intense pleasure
under my mentor’s tutelage
in my youthful days.
Rossi was a brave young revolutionary
who lived to realize his ideal—The Republic of Man.
His sworn friend, Bruno,
embraced this cause as well.
Although imprisoned through
the machinations of the powerful,
Bruno’s faith in Rossi, his belief in justice,
remained unwavering to his death.
The bonds of trust people forge
through shared belief
are more unyielding, more beautiful
than diamonds.
Let us never forget—
because the Law is supreme,
those who uphold it
are equally worthy of respect.
Because we live
for the noble goal of kosen-rufu,
we can create unequaled value in our lives
and make sublime flowers
of friendship bloom.
Oh, my young friends in Italy!
Strive to be “one in mind”
even as you remain “many in body”!
Let us instill this axiom of kosen-rufu
—one in mind—
deep in the bedrock of our lives
so that we may bring to full and brilliant flower
our unique personalities and distinctive gifts—
the true meaning of many in body.
Bruno continued to cry out,
“Long live Rossi!” to his last breath.
This was a proclamation of
trust’s triumph over distrust,
a testament to human authenticity
in the face of powerful conspirators
who direct their oppressive contempt
against ordinary people.
“Long live humanity!”
This must be our cry
as we continue to live and live,
working with our whole being
to usher in an age
of the people’s everlasting victory.
Italy! Verdant land
of olive-scented breezes!
Since ancient times,
the sparkling sun of southern Europe
has drawn such masters as Goethe
—so many artists and writers—
to this land basking in blissful light.
Italy! Heart of an empire
that held sway over the ancient world.
In ensuing ages, you experienced
repeated conquest and fragmentation,
and yet maintained
the passion and vitality
of the Latin people,
your proud tradition of
the rule of law.
Passing on the heritage of
Western learning and scholarship,
you have given rise
to towering genius in each era—
people whose prodigious gifts
render lavish bounties of culture!
Italy! The spirit of creativity
that has been nurtured
in your rich and fertile soil!
My love for this land
and her people
knows no bounds.
My heart resounds
with the echoing peal
of a new renaissance.
This is the bell
which you, my dear friends,
strike with steadfast force and will.
Today, the skies over southern Europe
are cloudless to the edge of sight.
The seas ripple and sparkle
a deep ultramarine blue.
Now is the time
to unleash the full force
of this vital spiral flow—
a renaissance of life!
Now is the time
to take unfettered flight
toward the majestic peaks
of a century of humanity!
Spread your young and mighty wings
my precious friends, for you carry
the boundless promise of a better future.
That is the mission
you bear within your heart.
You have emerged from the earth
to rise up and soar beyond
the furthest extremity
of the bright and unbound heavens!
Praying for the success and happiness of the youth
division members and my dear friends of Italy
Soka University European Language Training Center
May 30, 1987
Composed in France while the author was traveling in Europe to encourage the SGI members there.
the history of the Renaissance: see Symonds, A Short History of the Renaissance in Italy, p. 3.
“rises every morning with the Buddha”: trans. from Nichiren, Nichiren Daishonin gosho zenshu, p. 737.
“Obstacles cannot crush me”: Leonardo da Vinci, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, vol. 1, p. 356.
The Eternal City: a novel by the English writer Hall Caine (1853–1931).