Prayer on Mount Hiei—A Breakthrough for World Peace?
WILL prayer bring world peace? “Peace will not come just by praying. It is not as simple as that,” said Gijun Sugitani, an organizer of a prayer meeting held in August 1987 in Japan. “But I don’t think peace will be realized without prayer either.” His view was typical of that held by some 500 Japanese and 24 overseas delegates to the 1987 Religious Summit held in Kyoto, Japan.
The Buddhist Tendai sect advocated this prayer meeting as a follow-up of the one held in 1986 at Assisi (Italy) and scheduled it to coincide with the 1,200th anniversary of the opening of the Enryakuji Temple on Mount Hiei. Individuals with Buddhist, nominal Christian, Confucian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Sikh, and Shinto backgrounds took turns offering prayers on the mountain. Was the meeting really a breakthrough for world peace?
“Flower Arrangement” Meeting
“The summit meeting is a religious flower arrangement,” said Etai Yamada, the chief priest of the Tendai sect and the honorary chairman. “None of the flowers loses its own shape and scent.” He meant that as long as the religions are united in their desire for world peace, each can retain its contradicting beliefs, like individual flowers in one arrangement.
Among the prominent “flowers” at the meeting was the Catholic Church, represented by Francis Cardinal Arinze of the Vatican Secretariat for Non-Christians. Arinze read the pope’s message, which said that “peace cannot be achieved without prayer and although wars may be started by a limited number of people, peace requires the cooperation and solidarity of everyone.”—Mainichi Daily News, August 5, 1987, page 12.
If the hope for world peace “requires the cooperation and solidarity of everyone,” how powerful is the God to whom they offer prayer? The delegates prayed for peace, but they believe that human efforts would bring it about. Like a decorative flower arrangement, their prayer meeting was to be a beautiful display of their own efforts.
A flower arrangement is lovely to behold, but once the special occasion is over, the rootless flowers wither and their richness fades. The individual beauty of each flower and the splendor of the arrangement is soon lost. And the flowers are not meant to bear fruit. Did this summit meeting also end up as a “flower arrangement” bearing no fruit?
The participating religious leaders themselves were not satisfied with the results. “They would have liked to be more specific about what measures the religions should take in the future but said there was not enough time for such discussions,” reports the Asahi Evening News. However, such an outcome was expected. “Our aim,” said Takaaki Kobayashi, one of the organizers of the summit meeting, “is to hear the suggestions of each religion on the best ways to attain peace. The key rule is that each participant must listen to the views of the others without commenting or responding or debating.” Their effort at the prayer meeting was limited to listening to others, not acting. As a result, the meeting “failed to set a clear agenda for achieving the summit’s objectives.”
Was It for True Christians?
Persons striving to follow Jesus Christ may wonder: ‘Should a Christian join in such a prayer meeting?’ The fact that it was held on Mount Hiei, the holy mountain of a Buddhist sect, gives food for thought. Can you imagine Jesus Christ ascending a Buddhist holy mountain to offer a prayer for peace?
The apostle Paul warned the followers of Jesus Christ: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what sharing does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols? . . . ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing’; ‘and I will take you in.’”—2 Corinthians 6:14-17.
Would not offering prayers at an interfaith meeting on a Buddhist holy mountain amount to a Christian’s ‘becoming unevenly yoked’? Does this mean, then, that true Christians should be passive about praying for peace? Not at all!
Prayer for Peace
In his prophecy concerning “the final part of the days,” the prophet Isaiah spoke of many who would say: “Come, you people, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah,” not to the Buddhist Mount Hiei. “The mountain of Jehovah” symbolizes the true worship of the God of the Bible. ‘Going up’ to that mountain results in what? Why, Jehovah “will instruct us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths,” said Isaiah! “He [Jehovah] will certainly render judgment among the nations,” added the prophet. As a result, there would be world peace, for Isaiah foretold that true worshipers “will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore.”—Isaiah 2:2-4.
This condition already prevails among Jehovah’s Witnesses, and soon it will cover the whole earth. But how? Jehovah God, not humans, will bring permanent peace through his Kingdom. It will sweep the earth clean of all peacebreakers and will usher in a paradise earth. (Revelation 11:15, 18) Unlike expressions made at a religious summit that was like an impressive but fruitless “flower arrangement,” Jehovah’s words never return to him without results.—Isaiah 55:11.
Why, then, should we pray for peace if God is to bring it about regardless of human efforts? By praying for God’s Kingdom to come, we are expressing our own longing for peace and are demonstrating our faith in God’s way of bringing it about on earth. (Matthew 6:9, 10) Whether we will see the peace of God’s making or not depends on our “hoping in Jehovah.” So come to “the mountain of Jehovah” and join in prayer for the true peace that he has promised!—Psalm 37:9, 11.
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A flower arrangement is lovely to behold, but it is not meant to bear fruit
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Mount Hiei, the holy mountain of the Buddhist Tendai sect, where the prayer meeting was held