To overcome violence, one must find peace within oneself first, before bringing peace and harmony unto others.
That was the main message from the “Victory over Violence” exhibit by the Fresno State’s Buddhist Value Creation Society, which is under the Soka Gakkai International — USA (SGI) organization.
Photos by Khlarissa Agee / the Collegian
The exhibit was held Monday through Wednesday in the University Student Union.
“The main goal of the SGI — and this — is what this whole thing “Victory over Violence” is — being at peace with yourself so you can be at peace with the world and others,” said Robert Delacruz, southeast Fresno SGI district leader.
Maj Yang, a civil engineering student at Fresno State, is the vice president of the Buddhist Value Creation Society.
Through the exhibition, she hopes the society is able to reach out to people and share its message on a more personal basis. To be able to talk one-on-one, she feels, creates a stronger impact compared to merely placing fliers around campus.
“We have influence over [violence],” she said. “It’s through the respect of your own life and the importance of others’ lives, and your expression of that respect, to help others see these and go together to build a community where you can face violence.”
A metaphor that Yang used was “turning poison into medicine,” whereby poison refers to the obstacles people face in life and medicine refers to the solutions.
“In any sort of situation that comes into your life, you can turn it around,” she said. “Make it into a learning situation. Learn to overcome your emotions and think more critically. Have a better mindset in order to pull through and try to achieve victory in the end. And through it all, maintain happiness.”
By happiness, Yang was not referring to the happiness brought by material possessions because that would fade, she said. Instead it is the lasting happiness that people find within themselves.
“No matter what happens, you’re going to pull through,” she said. “You’re still happy within, even if the situation you’re in is negative.”
Delacruz also holds on to the core value of being happy with oneself, coming together and promoting peace.
Using the exhibition, the society hopes to create awareness among the entire student body, as well as professors, on the different types of violence and how to overcome it positively. Delacruz also emphasized that violence in people comes from a “trigger and root cause,” and it is important for us to deal with that first.
“If you don’t know what is the trigger — what is triggering your anger, what is triggering your hatred — it’s kind of like a disease or a sickness,” he said. “You need to know the root cause to heal the problem. If you don’t recognize the root cause, how are you going to heal it? How are you going to solve that problem if you don’t recognize the problem?”
Delacruz wants to encourage youths to stand up against violence and teach others about peace and compassion. If people were selfish, it is difficult for them to keep an open mind and understand things from others’ point of view, he said, thus making it hard for them to accept certain things in life.
“Sometimes if we don’t share and be compassionate about good things in life, and we just think about ourselves and not care about others, it’s a kind of violence too,” he said. “It leads to passive thinking of just ‘Me, me, me. I don’t care about anybody else.’”
The Buddhist Value Creation Society meets once every month on campus and studies the Lotus Sutra, which is the collection of their scriptures and the teachings of Nichiren, a Buddhist monk. They also learn how to apply these principles and philosophies in their daily lives, Yang said.
If interested in the Buddhist Value Creation Society, email at [email protected]. Or if interested in SGI, visit the organization’s website at www.sgi-usa.org or call at 559-221-4653.