President Ikeda
‘A great revolution of character in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a society, and further, will enable a change in the destiny of humankind.’
This is the lifelong pursuit of Daisaku Ikeda. This belief also drove him to constantly holding dialogues with individuals, in order to extend the Buddhist message of peace to the entire world. (D Ikeda, The Human Revolution, 1960, p.iii)
Born in Tokyo on January 2, 1928 and graduated from the Fuji Junior College, Ikeda became the third president of the Soka Gakkai on 3 May, 1960 at the age of 32. Since then, the Soka Gakkai had developed swiftly and became the largest religious organization in Japan. Based on the life philosophy of Buddhist teachings, Ikeda promotes world peace, cultural and educational activities and leads the Soka Gakkai beyond Japan to expand activities globally. On 26 January 1975, Ikeda established the Soka Gakkai International in Guam and became its first president.
To actualise the grand wish of world peace, Ikeda deeply believes in the power of culture and education. In the 1960s, he founded various cultural and educational organisations such as the Institute of Oriental Philosophy, the Min-On Concert Association, the Soka University, Soka Women’s Junior College, Soka Junior and Senior High Schools, Soka Elementary School, Soka Kindergarten, the Shizuoka Fuji Art Museum, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, the Makiguchi Memorial Educational Foundation and the Toad Institute for Peace and Policy Research.
Ikeda sees the great importance of cultural and educational exchanges. He has so far visited 54 countries and territories and met with national leaders, politicians, representatives of cultural and academic sectors to study in depth the solutions to the problems that humanity faces. Some of these dialogues have been published.
Awards:
As of 2008, President Ikeda has been presented over 3,400 awards by official institutes, academic institutes and renowned cultural organizations. Among the 3,400 awards, 600 are honorary citizenships and 253 academic-related awards (as of April 2009). Awards received by Ikeda include the United Nation Peace Award, the National Order of the Southern Cross of the Republic of Brazil, the French Art and Culture Medal, etc.
He has also been conferred honorary doctorate degrees from the Moscow State University (Russia), the University of Glasgow (UK), the Sofia University (Bulgaria), the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, professor emeritus from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Beijing University, the Fudan University, the Wuhan University, the Shenzhen University, the Sun Yat-sen University, the Jilin University, the Xiamen University, the Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia University, the Macau University, the Nankai University, the Sichuan University.
Published works:
President Ikeda’s writings covered a wide range of subjects, including Buddhist philosophy, peace, arts, literature, social issues and youth problems etc. At the same time, a lot of his works have been translated into different languages for publication. Publishers in the Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are gradually publishing his works, including the novels ‘The Human Revolution’, ‘The New Human Revolution’, dialogues ‘Choose Life: A Dialogue with Arnold J. Toynbee’ (with Arnold J Toynbee), ‘Compassionate Light in Asia’ (with Jin Yong), ‘Philosophy of Human Peace’ (with Henry Kissinger), ‘The Radiance of Dunhuang: On Beauty and Life’ (with Chang Shuhong), ‘Human Values in a Changing World’ (with Bryan Wilson), ‘The Third Rainbow Bridge’ (with Anatoli A Logunov), ‘Before It Is Too Late’ (with Aurelio Peccei) and writings ‘The Hopes of the World Citizens’ and ‘ The Principles for a Century of Peace’ etc.
The ‘Bauhinia’ Magazine, one of the most influential and important global Chinese journals, published an unprecedented issue in October 2007 to use the entire journal to introduce the life of Daisaku Ikeda, and his contributions towards promoting world peace, culture and education.
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