Paul Monaco .com

On September 8th, 1957 the second president of the Soka Gakkai Josei Toda made a declaration calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons (Full Text).

As this month marks the 50th anniversary since it’s writing, it has been the focus of many SGI discussion meetings and individual study.

On the surface, this proposal to me seems very feel-good and benign. But the more I read it, the less inclined I am to be a supporter of this document as written.

Josei Toda writes, “I wish to declare that anyone who ventures to use nuclear weapons, irrespective of their nationality or whether their country is victorious or defeated, should be sentenced to death without exception.”

To me, death without exception goes against one of the basic precepts of all schools of Buddhism, to not kill. It has always been my understanding that fundamentally Buddhist practitioners were against all forms of capital punishment and that ALL LIFE was precious.

Further more, this was written by a man who has in recent history, seen his country devastated by a nuclear attack, and there seems to be a degree of anger in his verbiage. Anger is one of the three poisons so often discussed in this practice and to me further distracts me from the celebration and support of this document as written.

In the spirit of Bodhisattva Never Disparaging, I most likely will not bring up these key points in my local discussion meetings, but would love to hear any comments here in this venue.

Coming home from work Friday night without having a kitty greet me at the door was too much to handle and today after a morning Buddhist Chant meeting I concluded that Tabitha’s passing has given me the opportunity to bring happiness to other animals that may not have such a bright future.

I immediately went to our local Humane Society which is a no-kill facility, and asked if they could point out the most hardest to place cats. Of course they were very happy to hear my interest and directed me to several. Unfortunately a few were a bit beyond my abilities but a sweet little girl named Tulip who was in an extra large cage caught my eye. Almost ready to give birth, she had the mis-judgment of preparing a nest in an open cloths drier. The unthinkable happened and as a result she had lost one of her legs. 7 of the kittens were delivered via C-section and are all pending adoption, but mama was now unwanted. It’s been a month since the accident and she is recovering nicely. While in foster care, she became close friends with another distressed cat called Serin.

Serin was left at the Humane Society doorsteps overnight in an unmarked cardboard box. Severely under nourished and barely alive. The society has given him the vitamins and nourishments he needs and will easy fatten right up. Unfortunately, he’s a bit older and in his current condition not the prettiest cat on the block. One of the foster parents told me about him and how he and tulip got along so well and cuddled with each other and asked me if I would consider a companion for Tulip. Of course I couldn’t resist.

oh.. ps… Ironically, the young lady who filled out my adoption paperwork and interviewed me was named Tabitha! hmmmm….