Youthfulness is not determined by age. It is determined by one’s life force. One who possesses hope is forever young. One who continually advances is forever beautiful.
In any earnest struggle, there come crucial challenges–mountains that must be scaled and conquered if we are to win. In Buddhist practice, too, we face such crucial challenges. If we hope to advance kosen-rufu and attain Buddhahood, then we must prevail over these mountains.
Today, many people have given up on the possibility of nuclear abolition. But peace is always a competition between resignation and hope. Indifference and acquiescence in the face of the negative, destructive functions of life is, ultimately, to side with the forces of destruction.