June 15, 2020

Anjos Study Group Meeting

On Master-Disciple – Makiguchi

Biography
- Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (June 6, 1871-1944) was a forward-thinking geographer, educational theorist
and religious reformer who lived and worked during the tumultuous early decades of Japan's modern
era. He was born in the village of Arahama in present-day Niigata Prefecture, a small port on the
western coast of Japan. He spent much of his youth in Otaru, a town in Japan's northern island,
Hokkaido. He read and studied widely, and eventually gained entrance to the Hokkaido Normal
School, a teachers training facility in Hokkaido's capital, Sapporo.
- After qualifying as a primary school teacher, Makiguchi taught for some years in Sapporo, and was
also an active member of local teachers' associations, but in 1900 he left Hokkaido for Tokyo. In
1903, at the age of 32, he published his first major work, The Geography of Human Life (how
geographic location affects people’s lives). He edited educational periodicals and established a venture
promoting correspondence courses for young women denied opportunities for formal education; he
taught at a school for foreign students in Tokyo and developed textbooks for the Ministry of
Education. As an educator, Makiguchi was devoted to the happiness of children, and worked
assiduously to ensure that economically disadvantaged children were given equal opportunities. 
- As Makiguchi approached the age of 60, his life reached several key turning points. In 1928 he
embraced Nichiren Buddhism; in 1930 he published the first volume of The System of Value-Creating
Pedagogy, and in 1932 his long teaching career came to an end. The first volume was published on
November 18, 1930, and this date is now considered to be the date of the establishment of the Soka
Kyoiku Gakkai (value creation education society)

Makiguchi & Nichiren’s Buddhism

- Makiguchi encountered Nichiren Buddhism through a fellow educator and school principal, Sokei
Mitani (1878-1932). Mitani's principal writing on Nichiren Buddhism was an analysis of the Rissho
ankoku ron (On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land, a text submitted
by Nichiren in 1260 remonstrating with the military-political leadership of Japan).
- In Nichiren Buddhism and the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, Makiguchi found a deep resonance with
the ideas he had been developing throughout his life, the ideas that form the basis of The System of
Value-Creating Pedagogy, where he formulates his theory of value. Prepared for publication by his
protégé, Jogai Toda (who would later change his name to Josei Toda), the four published volumes
of The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy were compiled from copious notes Makiguchi had kept
throughout his career. It outlined Makiguchi's ideas about the nature of value and about how education
should serve to enhance learners' capacity to create value (happiness) from the challenges and
opportunities life presents.
- Makiguchi clearly rejected the idea that "the sacred" should be considered a separate and independent
value. Thus, for Makiguchi, Nichiren Buddhism comprised aspects that had been critical to his own
thinking to date, including an emphasis on social engagement and on transforming society by
changing the way individuals lead their lives. Where Makiguchi had seen, and for some time would
continue to see, education as the primary vehicle for this transformation, over the next ten years he
would increasingly come to view Buddhist practice itself as the most effective and universally
accessible means for realizing a positive change in people's inner lives.

“But when I encountered the Lotus Sutra, I was astonished to discover that it in no way contradicted the
scientific and philosophical principles which form the basis for our daily lives, and that it differed
fundamentally from all religious and moral practices which I had studied to date. And just as I found myself
moved by this discovery, I experienced a number of inexplicable phenomena in my daily life, which accorded
precisely with the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. When I eventually made the firm determination to adopt this
faith, I was able to affirm, in the actualities of daily life, the truth of the words of Nichiren Daishonin: "When
the skies are clear, the ground is illuminated. Similarly, when one knows the Lotus Sutra, one understands the
meaning of all worldly affairs." And with a joy that is beyond the power of words to express, I completely
renewed the basis of the life I had led for almost 60 years. The sense of unease, of groping my way in the dark,
was entirely dissipated; my lifelong tendency to withdraw into thought disappeared; my sense of purpose in
life steadily expanded in scope and ambition, and I was freed from all fears; I became possessed with the
irresistible and bold desire to effect the reform of national education with as much haste as was humanly
possible. [1935]”

WWII & Shintoism

- Makiguchi's religious activities soon attracted the attention of the authorities, and attempts to suppress
the movement gathered force. Ultimately, pressure was placed on Makiguchi to accept and instruct the
members of Soka Kyoiku Gakkai to accept a religious talisman demonstrating adherence to the cult of
imperial divinity. When he refused to do this, he, Toda and senior leaders of Soka Kyoiku Gakkai
were detained by Japan's Special Higher Police and confined to prison in July 1943. Makiguchi died
of malnutrition and old age in prison in November 1944 at the age of 72.

IN PT
Bio
- Makiguchi foi um geógrafo, teórico em educação e líder religioso. Nasceu na vila de Arahama, um
porto pequeno na parte oeste do Japão, e passou parte de sua infância e adolescência em Otaru, uma
cidade na parte norte da ilha Hokkaido, onde também estudou e fez seu curso de magistério
- Em 1900, Makiguchi muda-se para Tokyo e 3 anos depois, com 32 anos, publica seu mais
reconhecido trabalho Jinsei Chirigaku (que poderia ser traduzido por Geografia para a Vida Humana,
ainda não publicado em PT) (como a localização geográfica afeta a vida das pessoas). Nesse período,
edita jornais de educação e cria cursos de correspondência direcionados a mulheres que não tinham
oportunidades de ingressar na educação formal. Como educador, Makiguchi dedicou-se a felicidade
dos alunos e trabalhou assiduamente para garantir que as crianças não economicamente privilegiadas
tivessem acesso à educação.
- As mudanças mais significativas na vida de Makiguchi começam quando ele faz 60 anos. Em 1928 ele
conhece a filosofia budista de Nichiren; em 1930, publica o primeiro dos 4 volumes d’O Sistema
Pedagógico de Criação de Valores (tb achei comoEducação para uma vida criativa);
-  “O tema central deste livro é que o alcance da felicidade é o objetivo
principal da educação.”
- Em 1932, sua carreira como educador acaba. O primeiro volume foi publicado dia 18 de novembro de
1930, dia que é hoje considerada fundação da então Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (sociedade educacional para
a criação de valor).
- As atividades educacionais e espirituais colocadas em prática por M. não demorariam para encontrar
obstáculos, até que, ao recusarem a adesão ao shintoismo e ao culto militarista no Japão de segunda
Guerra, M. e Toda vão encarcerados em julho, 1943. M. morre em novembro de 1944, ainda na
prisão, com 72 anos.

Makiguchi & Nichiren’s Buddhism

- Makiguchi entra em contato com o budismo de Nichiren através de Sokei Mitani, então diretor da
escola onde ele trabalhava. Makiguchi encontra nos escritos de Nichiren e no Sutra do Lótus uma
grande correspondência com os ideais e as ideias que ele vinha desenvolvendo e disseminando como
 educador durante toda sua vida e que formam a base do livro O Sistema, sobretudo em relação ao
valor. Com a ajuda do seu protégé Josei Toda, o livro é publicado e destaca as ideas de Makiguchi
sobre a natureza do valor e sobre de que forma a educação pode servir para aumentar e melhorar as
capacidades e competênci do aluno para criar valor (felicidade) dos próprios desafios e oportunidades
que a vida coloca.
- Makuguchi rejeitava a ideia do “sagrado” como um valor separado e independente. O budismo de
Nichiren veio, portanto, para salientar aspectos de sua teoria crítica sobre a educação, incluindo a
ênfase no compromisso social e na transformação da sociedade através da mudança na maneira com a
qual os indivíduos vivem.

- “Quando eu encontrei o Sutra do Lótus, fiquei abismado ao descobrir que nada nele contradizia os
princípios filosóficos e científicos que formam a base da nossa vida diária… E assim como eu me
senti tocado por essa descoberta, eu experienciei um número inexplicável de acontecimentos na minha
vida diária que iam de acordo precisamente com os ensinos do Sutra. Quando eu eventualmente tomei
a decisão firme de adotar essa fé, fui capaz de reafirmar, no meio dos acontecimentos da vida
corriqueira, a verdade detrás das palavras de Nichiren: ‘Quando o céu está limpo, o chão está
iluminado. Da mesma forma, quando alguém conhece o Sutra do Lótus, ele entende o significado de
todos os eventos mundanos.’ E com uma alegria que as palavras não conseguem traduzir, eu
reconstruí completamente a base da vida que eu tinha vivio por quase 60 anos. A sensação de
desconforto, de tatear meu caminho no escuro, foi totalmente dissipada; minha tendência ao longo da
vida de me isolar no pensamento, desapareceu; meu sentido de propósito na vida expandiu-se em
escopo e ambição; eu me libertei de todos os meus medos; eu me tornei possuído de um desejo
irresistível e ambicioso de efetuar a reforma nacional de educação com a maior pressa que era
humanamente possível.

Further Info
https://www.spreading.com.br/makiguti-inspiracao-para-uma-nova-educacao-brasileira/
https://abraolacerda.blogspot.com/2014/03/tsunessaburo-makiguti-educacao-como.html
https://voltandoaopontoprimordial.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/o-pensamento-utopico-de-
tsunessaburo-makiguti-1/
https://www.tmakiguchi.org/educator/educationalreformer/