Shin Religion as I Believe it (1951)

One detects a certain resignation about the inevitability of wars, even though conferences were being held in order to avoid them, and this sense of resignation or passivity is still found at some points in the article by Kaneko Daiei, “Shin Religion as I believe it,” also published not so long after the war (1951) and reproduced below. The question is whether the Buddhist analysis of these matters comes to rest in a pessimistic view of humankind, as some have supposed. Or is there also some well-spring of new perceptions which is able actively to transform humanity in a manner which goes beyond individual piety? On balance, while showing some sadness, Kaneko’s article stakes out a ground for the latter.