Self-Restraint Comes from Compassion

Self-Restraint Means Being Considerate of Others

“Before sweeping away a spider’s web, / Hidden in a bush by my house, / My broom stops.” This heartwarming poem by Zen master Ryokan (1758–1831), fully conveys his kindness. I can almost see the smile on Ryokan’s face as he suddenly stops sweeping so as not to disturb a spiderweb, recognizing the small living being that is doing its utmost to survive there.

I feel, in this small, spontaneous gesture, that he was a person with self-restraint and a mind of compassion that embraced all things.

Regarding self-restraint, Shakyamuni said, “Exercise restraint in body and speech” and “Restraint in body, speech, and mind is good conduct,” and, as with the humility that I wrote about in last month’s issue, he often spoke of its importance. We tend to take self-restraint as a general guideline for regulating our daily lives, and I think that, as we can see from Ryokan’s poem, self-restraint is one and the same as compassion, isn’t it? According to Dr. Yasuaki Nara (1929–2017), a Buddhist scholar and Soto sect priest, “All of Shakyamuni’s teachings are based upon and expounded from the concept of compassion.” Therefore, because self-restraint deepens the mind of being considerate of others, it can also be interpreted as a teaching of the Buddha’s.

That said, when we ask ourselves if we can exercise as much self-restraint as Ryokan did, we are apt to meekly reply that we are not up to the task. Even so, I hope that to the extent we can, we show consideration for others and exercise restraint through our words and actions.

This is because, to cite the words of Dr. Nara, “Compassion increases and matures by repeatedly acting with—that is, practicing—compassion.” This does not mean that because we have awakened, we give rise to the mind of compassion and can act with deep self-restraint. Rather, this shows us the importance of coming to a realization, in the course of interacting with other people out of consideration for them and restraining our words and actions, that life means we are all connected as one, that self and others are one and the same, and that therein lies our awakening.

From a Familiar Activity to Global Issues

Sixty years ago, on March 4, 1964, the year of the completion of the Great Sacred Hall—our organization’s principal place of the Way—Founder Niwano said, “When a religious organization builds a large temple, it starts to lose its substance.” He did not mean that because our principal place of practice is large, we are a big organization, or that by building a splendid temple, our organization’s development had reached a stage of maturity. Rather, he was telling us the importance of continuing to be the kind of religious organization in which good friends in the faith gather in the Great Sacred Hall, always full of energy as they learn the Buddha’s teachings, and that our manifesting humility and exercising self-restraint give warmth and vitality to the minds of the people in our communities and societies.

Indeed, in this sense, it is very meaningful that Rissho Kosei-kai’s Donate-a-Meal Movement has been going on for such a long time. I hope that we will continue to value this familiar activity, originally practiced by members of the Shinto-derived religious organization Shoroku Shinto Yamatoyama, by skipping a meal several times a month and donating the money that would have gone toward those meals, thereby putting into practice the mind of compassion and contributing to society.

Furthermore, it would not be possible for colleagues in organizations such as Religions for Peace to transcend the parameters of their own religion or sect and engage in ongoing dialogue aimed at resolving global issues, unless the participants humbly approached each other with self-control and self-restraint. We take pride in the fact that Founder Niwano laid the groundwork for Religions for Peace, but I also think that in order to ensure that such programs do not become empty gestures, it is important that we take action while always remembering humility and considering every situation from the perspective of compassion, which is the basis of Shakyamuni’s teachings.

Shakyamuni said that “those who exercise restraint and humility in all situations protect themselves.” When we interpret “themselves” as “the self that is one with the whole universe,” we are all the more deeply struck by the significance of exercising restraint in our bodies and through our words, and we cannot help but pray that everywhere in the world, everyone is exercising restraint in their bodies and through their words.