to put the current situation aside and imagine that we are standing at the final goal and are looking back (in perspective) at the place where we are now. By doing so, we might come to understand the things that we really need to do at this moment. We can find a new path that we have to follow, or can think of completely different steps to take.

In three years, Tokyo will host the Olympic games for the second time. The city, which will stage the games, has very strong environmental credentials compared to cities in other countries.

Some might think that “Japan has had such a positive character from the beginning.” But the truth is that until a few years before the Tokyo Olympics, held in 1964, this metropolitan city could not be called a clean city. The garbage problem was a serious issue as trash was scattered on the roadsides and the smell of garbage was terrible. It might have been a fantasy story for those who knew the past that a city with such problems could be reborn as a clean city in such a short period of time in

Athe lead up to the games.

However, from the earnest wish to “welcome those who visit Japan from aboard during the Olympic games with hospitality, and to a clean Tokyo,” the people proposed procedures that could drastically change the reality.

The once irregular garbage pick-up was changed to a regular one. In order to solve the smell issue, plastic containers with tightly-sealed covers were designated as garbage container. Each household and business organization collaborated and changed their old ways; as a result, they were able to solve the garbage problem in just a few years.

Accumulate Efforts So That Quantity Turns into Quality and Quality Turns into Power

This episode, in which Tokyo was transformed into a clean city, tells us that it is important to view situations from the point of our ultimate aspiration and goal, no matter how far-reaching it is.

One more thing to add, however, is the daily efforts of many people that enabled this bold transformation. Every household and business organization in Tokyo overcame the force of habit up to then, and strived to try out a new, unfamiliar way. This step-by-step accumulation created a new reality.

This is applicable to everything. No matter what kind of aim or aspiration we have, it is not an exaggeration to say that our goal will always be distant from us when we initially set it up. However, when we continue our incremental steps toward our aims, aspirations, and goals each and every day, then an unexpected result can be brought about.

We can gradually increase our energy by continuing our small but steady steps. We add to this accumulation day by day.

Although the energy we stack up each day is small, it will grow incrementally larger as time goes by and as the saying goes, “small things add up to make a big

difference.” Moreover, when our small steps accumulate, we can not only make a big difference, but also bring forth a transformation into a different level. The accumulation of quantity will eventually bring forth qualitative change, which will then become a mighty force to open up a new path.

For example, the efforts of the people who worked on the garbage problem that faced Tokyo in the 1960s might have started this, at first, from a feeling of “obligation.” However, as the steps towards their goal accumulated, a change must have occurred from “I am obliged to do this” to “I feel good to do this” or “I feel bad/uncomfortable not to do this.”

When this happened, momentum was built up in this direction to further reinforce the goal of a “clean Tokyo” and turn it into a sustainable reality which reached its full completion. The path of the Divine Truth lies in line with such a law of accumulation of steps. The accumulation of each step results in a qualitative change to our minds and hearts and brings forth power both concrete

and realistic.

Preliminary translation as of February 4, 2017

GLA member-volunteers translated Takahashi Sensei’s words.
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