70 years since human rights enshrined after bitter lessons
THIS year marks the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948.
Its essential spirit, epitomised by the opening declaration, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, was based on the bitter lessons learned through two world wars.
At the heart of human rights is the vow to never allow anyone else to suffer what one has endured. As well as the adoption of the UDHR, 1948 also saw the start of the iniquitous apartheid system of racial segregation in South Africa.
I was deeply inspired by the way former president Nelson Mandela transmuted his feelings of rage and grief at the injustice and discrimination he faced under the apartheid system into the struggle to dismantle it.
I first met Mandela in October 1990, eight months after his release from prison. We discussed several initiatives that later came to fruition, including holding an exhibition and public lectures on human rights, and creating an anti-apartheid photo exhibition to raise awareness in Japan.
I still remember the warm expression of his face as he waved in response to the Japanese students who greeted him that day, singing “Rolihlahla Mandela”.
In his autobiography, he described his motivation for committing himself to the struggle for freedom in his youth, when apartheid hung like a dark cloud over South African society:
“A steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments, produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people.”
Despite the brutal treatment he endured in prison, Mandela’s heart never became engulfed by hatred, because even in the most harrowing of times, he would hold on to the “glimmer of humanity” he saw in the guards and use it to keep himself going.
Mandela learned Afrikaans and was able to soften their hearts by addressing them in their native tongue. During his 27 years of imprisonment, he cultivated an abiding conviction that “man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished”.
Following his release and the historic election of April 27, 1994, as the nation’s president, he took action to protect the lives and dignity of all people.
When Mandela and I discussed the dignity of all people during our meeting, I mentioned to him the term “human flowers” from the Lotus Sutra, which encapsulates the essence of Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings.
This envisions a society where flowers of different colours blossom and bear fruit in rich diversity and equality. In the Lotus Sutra, we also find the example of Bodhisattva Never Disparaging, whose persistent practice resonates with the conviction that the flame of human goodness can be hidden but is never extinguished.
True to his vow to never look down on others, no matter how much they despised him, this bodhisattva bowed in reverence to each person he met.
Even when slandered or mistreatred, he refused to abandon his practice of assuring them that they too would be able to attain Buddahood, “the highest state of life”. To the very end, despite the cruel treatment he endured in prison, Mandela did not let his trust in people’s humanity wane.
Similarly, Bodhisattva Never Disparaging continued to believe in the incomparable dignity inherent within the other, regardless of their disdain for him.
Ultimately, it is conviction in the dignity of all people that continues to move the hearts of many people today. The imperative to protect the freedom and dignity of all arises from the fact that each of us is inherently precious and irreplaceable. Every person who takes action for the sake of others, even while carrying the burden of personal hardship, manifests their original essence and mission to illuminate society with the light of dignity.
Mandela wrote that a new world would not be realised by passive bystanders. Rather, he said, “honour belongs to those who never forsake the truth, even when things seem dark and grim, who try over and over again, who are are never discouraged by insults, humiliation and even defeat”.
The ideals of peace and human rights cannot be achieved in a single leap. The legal and institutional protection of individual rights is established and given substance through the expanding efforts of civil society, drawing on the deepest spiritual sources of law – the vow to let no one else suffer what one has endured.
Ikeda is the international president of the Soka Gakkai International, a Buddhist organisation with over 12 million members in 192 countries