March 15, 2022

While living in Delhi, India for two years and several months until last November, I was often taught what India and Japan have in common. Among others, I strongly felt the significance of our connection through Buddhism that was introduced to Japan from India, primarily via China.

Buddhism was born in the backdrop of Brahmanism which was based on Vedas, a group of religious texts, that developed into Hinduism after A.D.. Many Indians tend to view Buddhism, founded by Gautama Siddhartha, as a teaching derived from Hinduism. It was not rare to hear in Delhi the view that Buddhist teachings are a form of Hinduism despite the differences from Hindu teachings that adopt the caste system.

I often encountered Indians, especially Indian ladies, who would say when they found out that I’m Japanese, “I’m participating in the congregations of Soka Gakkai and following their teachings” or “I’m attending Soka Gakkai’s congregations as I find their teachings are wonderful as a guide of living daily life”. But when I asked them, “so you are a Buddhist, right?”, they replied with a quizzical look, “no, I’m Hindu”,. After several times I stopped asking the question. I was surprised to know that Soka Gakkai was active in India, but furthermore, I was impressed by the fact that the Hindu Indians don’t distance themselves from Buddhism as they see Hinduism and Buddhism have the same roots.

Japan, on the other hand, has a history of syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism, where Japan’s indigenous Shinto belief in polytheism integrated with Buddhism during the Nara Period around the 8th century. Gods and Goddesses of Hinduism were introduced to Japan with the arrival of Buddhism and strikingly they have become deeply rooted in the Japanese people; Shiva and Vishnu in Hindu have become Fudo Myoo and Vaisravana, for example.

It was the Covid-19 pandemic that swept the world from Wuhan, China at the beginning of 2020, which made me strongly aware of the historical Buddhist connection between Japan and India. Under one of the most stringent lockdown orders in the world which had been put in place all over India, I had a glimpse of how Indians viewed the question of life and death through exchanges with my friends in India spending their days at home during this period.

One of the most eye-opening comments was “while the Westerners are enthusiastic about exploring external existence, not only limited to the earth , but increasingly about the universe; we have a culture which emphasizes inner pursuit and exploration”. This friend of mine emphasized that there were many unexplained mysteries about the inner side of human beings and the unexplored universe within us; that meditation and pilgrimages of the Zen Buddhist monks and Indian Yogis (Yoga practitioners) were essentially the same as practices to pursue the inner side of human nature.

The Delta variant of Covid-19, which was highly contagious, started to wreak havoc in India in March 2021 and the number of new positive cases recorded several hundred thousand each day between April and May. The issue was that the number of serious cases and deaths ballooned, causing their healthcare system which had already been under serious strain, to collapse. I heard that this tragic situation in India was reported in Japan every day during this time. I felt as if the place were turning into a battlefield, as I started to hear stories of people dying because they couldn’t have access to oxygen cylinders.

I really keep wondering how they managed to avoid panic in such a dire situation. Of course, there were people who burst out in emotional protest over the critical conditions or deaths of their loved ones. But I cannot help but to feel that people in general, 1.3 billions of Indians, 24 millions in Delhi alone, accepting their respective plights, did the utmost they could do to protect themselves as they found themselves perilously close to death amidst the unprecedented pandemic. Somehow, I felt the inherent resilience of the Indian people, which the Japanese share, derived from their common quest for inner-self; a teaching of Buddha..

Yuka Ando is former Political Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs

2022年 3月 15日

昨年１１月までの２年数か月、インドのデリーに住む中、インドと日本の共通点を教えられることが多かった。インドより主に中国を経由して日本に伝わった仏教を通じたつながりは、極めて重要だということをまずインドで強く感じた。仏教は、紀元後にヒンドゥー教に発展していくヴェーダ（宗教文献群）を土台としたブラフマニズムの中で生まれた。ゴータマ・シッダールタが開祖した仏教をインド人はヒンドゥー教から派生した教えと見る向きが多い。もっと言えば、カースト制度のあるヒンドゥー教の教えとは異なる点はあるにせよ、仏教の教えは、ヒンドゥー教の一形態ともいった見方を、デリーで聞くことが少なくなかった。インド人、とくにインド人女性から「創価学会の集会に参加し、教えに従っている」、「創価学会の教えは日々の生活のガイドとして素晴らしいので、学会に通っている」と、私が日本人であることが分かると親しみをこめて話しかけてくる場面に度々遭遇した。私が「では貴方は仏教徒なのですよね？」と尋ねると「私はヒンドゥー教徒ですよ」と少し訝し気な顔になって答えたことが何度かあり、聞くのをやめた。創価学会のインドでの活動が活発なのにも驚いたが、それ以上に、ヒンドゥー教と仏教のルーツを同根と見て、ヒンドゥー教徒のインド人が仏教に隔たりを持たない態度が印象に残った。

他方、日本も多神教を信仰する日本土着の神道に、８世紀頃の奈良時代に仏教が融合した神仏習合の歴史がある。そしてその中で、ヒンドゥー教のシヴァ神は不動明王、ヴィシュヌ神は毘沙門天等、ヒンドゥー教の神々は、仏教伝来の中で日本に伝わってきており、日本人の中で深く根付いた存在となっていることに気づかされる。この仏教がつなぐ日本とインドの歴史的つながりをとくに強く意識したのは、２０２０年はじめに中国武漢から世界を席巻したコロナ禍であった。世界的にも最も厳しいインド全土に敷かれたロックダウンのもと、ステイホームの日々を過ごすインド人友人との交流を通じて、彼ら彼女らの死生観を垣間見た。印象深かったのは、「欧米人は、自分の周りのことについて、今は地球にとどまらず、宇宙の探求にまで熱心だが、私たちは内なる探求、内面の追求を重視する文化がある」と言う発言で、人間の内側については、まだ解明されていない謎が多く、人間の中には未開拓の宇宙が広がっていると言うのだ。そしてその人は、日本の僧侶の禅や托鉢、そしてインドのヨギ（ヨガの実践者）の黙想や行脚は、同じく人間の内面を追求する修行ではないか、という。

２０２１年３月からインドでコロナの強い変異株（デルタ株）が猛威を振るいはじめ、４月及び５月は連日新規感染者数が数十万人を記録した。問題は、医療体制が不十分であったため医療崩壊が起きて、重傷者そして死者の数が膨れ上がったことである。日本でも当時、インドの惨状が毎日のように報道されたと聞いたが、酸素ボンベにありつけず亡くなる人々の話を身近に聞くようになり、まさに戦地のようであった。あのような凄まじい状況で、よくパニックが起こらなかったと、つくづく思うのである。無論、感情を爆発させ抗議する人々などはいたが、死と隣り合わせの未曾有のパンデミック下、１３億のインド人、ニューデリーだけでも２千４百万人の人々が、総じてそれぞれの環境の中で、自らの境遇を受け容れ、必死に身を守る手段を講じたと感じる。どこか日本人と共通するインド人のレジリエンスを感じたのである。

筆者は元外務大臣政務秘書官