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June 16, 2000

The history of agricultural life that dates back to ten thousand years
ago has undergone a rapid change and development in the past few decades,
due to the advent of chemical science and high technology. This change
brought about the separation of agriculture from nature and the workings of
life, and lead to the control of mankind over natural law.

The intensive use of wide variety of chemical fertilizers, development
and use of pesticides, dependence on large machines that consume energy,
hydroponic farming that separates life from the earth, development of new
varieties through the manipulation of genes and chromosomes, cultivation and
multiplication of a single cell ... all of these comprise the major
transformation into chemical agriculture based on anthropocentric ideas and
decisions that manipulates the very birth of life.

We had to question whether this major change and development is really
a change that brings true happiness to mankind, whether this new agriculture
allows us to peacefully live on this earth forever. Despite our concerns,
this trend for chemical agriculture is spreading from Europe to United
States, Japan and other Asian countries and to various parts of the world
with great momentum.

Concerned citizens have been questioning this trend with a fear coming
from their life, about this trend. Is it really okay for mankind to follow
this path? Is it really okay for us mankind, who cannot live or understand

the laws of the universe, who are unable to find the true way of life as a
living being, unable to perceive the true essence of life, who have
separated ourselves from nature without even knowing, who are only a part of
the natural world, to continue such stupidity by merely following our
desires, coming from our foolish human-centered, shallow and narrow
judgment? Is this development really going to be allowed?

Such actions by mankind that disregard the most important laws of life,
the workings of the planetary life source, the laws of the natural word, the
workings of each life, was not something to be accepted, no matter how
wonderful and limitless the capacity of this natural world was. The
negative results of such agriculture began to appear in Europe where
chemical agriculture thrived from its early stage, and some people began to
notice the mistakes and limits of this type of agriculture.

With the devastation of the land, the pollution of water, air and soil,
people began to notice that such environmental destruction is detrimental to
the existence of all living beings. People have realized that agriculture
dependent on large quantity of energy and high-tech agriculture cannot last
on this finite earth. Furthermore, we have come to realize the dreadful
fact that poison from pesticides and chemical fertilizers enter the food we
eat and eventually into our body, directly threatening our life.

Such actions by humans disturb and upset the great harmony of GAIA, and
threaten all lives including humans. They devastate the spirit and blur the
soul, sickens the heart, and depletes us of the resistance 　against
illnesses that harm life, and throw us into a state of fear. Of course,
this is a crisis that is being caused not just by agriculture but all
aspects of our human life. When we think of the use of nuclear power that
has far more destructive than agriculture and the possession of powerful
warheads, each and one of us is being forced to fundamentally reevaluate
what mankind is doing.

Nature is a place where life enlivens itself. The existence of the
natural world comes from the workings of life itself. It is the work of
life. It is what the great single life brings about and also what each life
brings about. All things are phenomena of life in the great circle of life,
and everything is life itself.

Nature is not something that is on the other side, but we ourselves are
nature and life itself. The same goes for rice, vegetables, grasses and
insects, rice paddies and fields, the earth itself, everything is life. The
path of life is the path of mankind, and it is the only path for every
living being. The earth is a paradise in the universe. The earth is in need
of a lifestyle that does not destroy this paradise. Natural farming is a
method that does not destroy this paradise. Natural farming does not plow
the earth, does not use fertilizers and pesticides, and does not see weeds
and insects as enemies. This is a way of farming that guarantees life.

Even when this path of life, that is the path of mankind and
agriculture is apparent, the shift from the mainstream chemical agriculture,
from various artificial life to the true path of life, is not something to
be realized through change in the political system or by a single leader. No
matter how the government is, no matter how others are, it is essential that
each person undergoes an internal transformation coming from their own
realization and awakening. The change that I*m referring to will only be
realized through a solid practice of putting thoughts into action, one step
at a time. What is important is not to wait for the government to change or
for others to do the work, but for each one of us to experience our own
awakening and put it into action.

People have been living through times with various backgrounds and
situations. Today, all kinds of people are living doing all kinds of
things. The cycle is changing from the twentieth century to the
twenty-first century, a great period of shift in life. We mankind have
come to this point, and we are no fools.

The awakening coming from life and revolution in awareness is
gradually, but surely happening in each person. This awakening began in the
artificial cities that have been aggressively pursuing convenience and ease
without seeing or knowing almost nothing about living and life. This
awakening is now going across cities and villages. This new breath is the
desire and choice coming from life. It is a wonderful thing that is noble
regardless of the number of people, something that sheds light on the source
of life, and we must value it.

This solid trend of awareness that realizes the value of life, and put
awakening into action, is the budding of new civilization and culture that
values life above world of material greed. As we see the ficticious
civilization that thrive on sand has already entered a period of decline,
and as it continues to run toward "development" in the darkness leading to
destruction, the birth of the people who are the enlightened ones and
creators of the new era gives us great hope.

The question is whether this still small and frail people with a new
and wonderful spirit will grow or not, but the beginning of all life is
small and frail. This is the life in true sense, and if it is something
coming from the truth, it will surely grow by itself in the cycle of time.

The cycle of life from birth, growth to death continues, and a single
culture and civilization goes through the cycle of birth, development and
destruction. The world of life prepares the next life before death arrives,
and it prepares the next culture and civilization before the destruction of
the former. While it is prophesized that mankind will become extinct when
the environment is destroyed, I quietly feel that mankind will not become
extinct at this point.

I pray for the success of "Festival of Life 2000", so that greater
number of people will start on the path of life that places life as the
central value, and walk on this path in each of their fields.

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Japanese(日本語)