Daisaku Ikeda's Philosophy of Peace: Dialogue, Transformation and Global Citizenship

by Olivier Urbain

Overview

Who is Daisaku Ikeda? At one level, he is the leader of a religious movement - Soka Gakkai - which began in Japan, where it still has its headquarters, but which now claims 12 million adherents around the world. At another level, he is a globetrotting figure whose formal conversations with diverse writers, thinkers and diplomats - including Arnold Toynbee, Joseph Rotblat and Mikhail Gorbachev - have garnered him an international profile, as well as academic recognition. Perhaps above all else, Daisaku Ikeda is viewed as a campaigner for peace. And it is Ikeda's specific contribution to peacebuilding, notably through the central emphasis he has placed on the significance of dialogue, that this book explores: the first to do so in a concerted way. Olivier Urbain shows that while Soka Gakkai (the 'value society') may stem from the medieval principles of Nichiren Buddhism, under Ikeda's leadership it has taken these classic wisdoms and transformed them.
Now essentially classless and secularised, as well as adaptable and sensitive to modern challenges like resource shortages and climate change, this - argues the author - is a pragmatic approach to peace which has proved both popular and eminently transportable.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848853041
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/15/2010
Pages:	289
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Olivier Urbain is Director of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, Tokyo and Honolulu, and holds doctorates in both French literature (University of Southern California) and peace studies (University of Bradford). He edited 'Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics' (I.B.Tauris, 2007), and has contributed articles to many learned journals.

Table of Contents

Note on proper names and spelling vii

Preface Johan Galtung ix

Acknowledgements xiii

Introduction 1

Part I A Philosopher of Peace 9

1 Daisaku Ikeda and his Circumstances: Recollections of War and Peace 11

2 Autobiographical Sketches 30

3 Josei Toda: Ikeda's Mentor in Life 49

4 Nichiren Buddhism: Principles and Values for the Twenty-first Century 74

Part II A Philosophy of Peace 91

5 Inner Transformation and Human Revolution: Enhancing Courage, Wisdom and Compassion for the Creation of a Better World 93

6 Dialogue and Dialogical Methods for Peace: Socrates, Montaigne, Büber, Habermas and Ikeda 114

7 Global Citizenship and Elements of a Global Civilization of Interconnectedness in the Peace Proposals 143

8 Ikeda's Contribution to Peace Theory 186

Conclusion 223

Appendix 1 A Brief Overview of Pacifism and Peace Movements in Japan 227

Appendix 2 Josei Toda's Declaration Calling for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons 233

Appendix 3 The Life and Teachings of Nichiren (1222-82): a Brief Overview 235

Appendix 4 Daisaku Ikeda's Published Dialogues 239

Appendix 5 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 247

Notes 249

Bibliography 261

Index 277