Tetsunori Koizumi, Director

Eiheiji (Temple of Eternal Peace), nestled in a lush forest of majestic cedar trees in a mountainous region of Fukui Prefecture, is the head temple, along with Sojiji in Yokohama, of some 15,000 temples that belong to the Soto sect of Zen Buddhism in Japan. Founded by Dogen in 1244, the temple serves not only as the training center for monks, who carry on the tradition of rigorous training established by its founder, but also as a place of retreat for lay people, who seek Zen experience through its abbreviated program of regimented life with meditation.

Unlike most Japanese Buddhist sects that appear to be content with accepting their social role as the provider of funeral ceremonies, the Soto sect is known for its social activism, especially in the area of environmentalism. Since 1995, the sect has been promoting the Green Plan, a nationwide campaign for the environment under the slogan: “Peace, Human Rights, Environment”.

Considering its location as well as its history of social activism, it is not surprising that Eiheiji was involved in, albeit indirectly by endorsing, the naming of two nuclear reactors built in the coastal city of Tsuruga in Fukui Prefecture as Fugen (Samantabhadra) and Monju (Manjusri). Fugen, often symbolized by a figure riding on an elephant, is a bodhisattva of compassion, while Monju, symbolized by a figure riding on a lion, is a bodhisattva of wisdom. According to a statement issued by Japan Atomic Energy Agency that manage these reactors, the original belief behind the choice of these bodhisattva names was that the only way to tame the enormous potential of atomic energy, symbolized by a giant animal like an elephant or a lion, for the benefit of humankind is to appeal to bodhisattva-like compassion and wisdom that nuclear reactors embody.

Despite their bodhisattva names, the two nuclear reactors have failed to perform their expected function of taming atomic energy. As a matter of fact, Fugen, an advanced thermal reactor, was decommissioned in 2003 because the technology had become obsolete by then. Monju, a fast-breeder reactor, is destined to follow the same fate as it has been plagued with a series of accidents and forced shutdowns. Thus, the wisdom of giving bodhisattva names to potentially dangerous nuclear reactors had been in doubt long before the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the wake of the epic earthquake and tsunami that struck Northern Japan on March 11, 2011.

In view of the renewed concern and controversy over the safety of nuclear power plants triggered by the latest disaster at the Fukushima plant, it was natural that Eiheiji would confess to an error of judgment in aiding the promotion of atomic energy as a source of clean and safe energy by allowing the use of bodhisattva names for the nuclear reactors built in its own backyard, as it is well within the disaster zone in case of a serious meltdown. Thus, Communications Director of Eiheiji publicly admitted—as reported in the October 7 edition of Tokyo Shimbun, for example—that atomic energy is against the teachings of the Buddha as it can potentially destroy life. On November 2, Eiheiji organized a symposium titled “Cherishing Life—Exploring The Way Of Life Without Atomic Energy”, which was attended by over 300 participants from all over Japan. As far as Eiheiji was concerned, it    was time to make it public that, while Dogen is known to have taught that trees possess Buddha-nature, his lay disciple who proposed the adoption of bodhisattva names was not advocating that nuclear reactors, too, possess Buddha-nature.

* An article originally published in the Commentary section of Japan Today, November 15, 2011.