Daisaku Ikeda

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Daisaku Ikeda (2010)

Daisaku Ikeda ( Japanese池田 大作Ikeda Daisaku ; born January 2, 1928 in Iriarai (today: Ōta ), Tokyo Prefecture ) is a Japanese writer and, since 1975, president of the new religious movement Sōka Gakkai International , a sister organization of the Japanese new religion Sōka Gakkai , of which he was president from 1960 to 1979 and of which he is honorary chairman. Ikeda is the author of numerous novels , essays and poems , gives lectures and conducts dialogues, dedicated to the topics of peace , culture and education based on Nichiren Buddhism . He has not appeared in public for several years.

Life

Youth and Buddhist imprint

Ikeda at the age of 19 (1947)

Daisaku Ikeda grew up in the militaristic Japanese Empire of the early Shōwa period . He fell ill with tuberculosis during his childhood . His older brother Kiichi died as a soldier in the Burma campaign .

After the war, Ikeda attended evening school. In 1947, at the age of 19, he met Jōsei Toda , the second president of the Sōka Gakkai. The activities of this Buddhist lay community founded in 1937 are based on the philosophy of the Buddhist teacher and reformer Nichiren (1222–1282). After just a few meetings with Toda, Ikeda decided to make him his personal mentor . He joined the Sōka Gakkai in the same year. Under Toda's guidance, Ikeda studied the Mahayana Buddhism of Nichiren. He dealt with the arts, literature and philosophy of both Asia and the West.

In 1952, Ikeda was involved in an incident in the course of which there was violent physical abuse against a priest of the Nichiren Shōshū . In the incident, also known as the "Ogasawara Incident" or the "Raccoon Dog Incident," sources also report that Toda beat the priest Jimon Ogasawara twice. The reason for the assault was that members of the SG held the priest jointly responsible for Makiguchi's death.

After Josei Toda's death in 1958, Ikeda succeeded him as head of Sōka Gakkai. On May 3, 1960, Ikeda took over the presidency of Sōka Gakkai and in October 1960 he made his first overseas visit to the USA, Canada and Brazil. After that, Ikeda regularly traveled abroad to support the foreign members of the Sōka Gakkai. He began to hold dialogues with leading figures from all walks of life.

Travel and dialogue

For over 40 years, Daisaku Ikeda has always sought direct personal contact and open exchange of views with people around the world through lectures and trips. He conducts numerous dialogues with personalities from politics, philosophy, education, art and science on social and peace issues. Many of these dialogues - among others with Tschingis Aitmatow , Josef Derbolav , Michail Gorbatschow , Nelson Mandela , Linus Pauling , Aurelio Peccei ( Club of Rome ), Arnold J. Toynbee , Johan Galtung - have been published and translated into over 30 languages. Among the many leaders Ikeda met were inglorious gatherings such as those with Li Peng , Nicolae Ceaușescu, and Manuel Noriega . The Sōka Gakkai dedicated a garden to Noriega on a site of the Sōka Gakkai in Fujinomiya . After Noriega's imprisonment, the garden was removed without further celebrations.

His active commitment to peace and disarmament began in 1968. During the Cold War , Ikeda demanded an apology from the Japanese government for the Japanese war crimes committed against the Chinese during World War II . Despite strong criticism in his own country, he campaigned, along with other personalities such as Ishibashi Tanzan , emphatically for the resumption of diplomatic relations , which then took place in 1972. In recognition of his efforts, Daisaku Ikeda was the first foreigner to receive the “Peace and Friendship Award” from the People's Republic of China in 1986 .

The Sōka Gakkai International

On January 26, 1975 Ikeda founded the "Sōka Gakkai International" (SGI) as the international umbrella organization of the national Sōka Gakkai communities. The SGI sees itself as a "Society for Peace, Culture and Education" and currently has around 12 million members in 190 countries, according to its own information. 1979 Ikeda resigned as president of the Sōka Gakkai and thus took responsibility for his alleged deviations from the doctrine of the Nichiren Shōshū , as he had been accused of by some Nichiren priests. Ikeda is appointed honorary president of Sōka Gakkai International. It has been affiliated to the United Nations as a non-governmental organization since 1983 . She has advisory status in the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and since 1989 in UNESCO .

On August 11, 1992 Ikeda was excluded from the Nichiren Shōshū, along with other leaders of the Sōka Gakkai, due to religious differences. The Nichiren Shōshū accused Ikeda of misinterpreting the teachings of Nichiren and cultivating an authoritarian leadership style. Specifically, he had taken the position of high priest and wanted to take control of the Nichiren Shōshū.

The following years are described as a period in which the SGI evolved from an organization led by Ikeda to an organization dedicated to Ikeda. Daisaku Ikeda was therefore also called " Sensei " within the SGI ; this is a Japanese term for teachers, which is also considered an honorary title for masters in the spiritual sense.

In 1975 Daisaku Ikeda presented UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim with a petition with 10 million signatures for the worldwide abolition of nuclear weapons and regularly addressed the UN with detailed disarmament proposals. Since 1983 he has published a peace proposal for international peacebuilding on January 26th, the day the SGI was founded, explaining both concrete measures and spiritual aspects from a Buddhist point of view. In 1983 he received the United Nations Peace Medal for his work.

Initiatives

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Ikeda with students from Sōka University (1990)

Numerous educational, cultural and peace institutions were set up by Ikeda; Including both in Japan and in the USA kindergartens, elementary schools, secondary schools, the Sōka University (Sōka University Tokyo (1971)) and (Sōka University of America (SUA) California (1987)), which were founded to promote humanistic education were. To promote cultural exchange, he founded the Min-On Concert Association (1963) and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum (1983). The Institute for Oriental Philosophy (IOP) (1962), the Boston Research Institute for the 21st Century (1993) and the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Political Science (Toda Institute) followed as international peacebuilding institutions for Global Peace and Policy Research (1996)).

On his initiative, the Kōmeitō (Japanese 公 明 党, Eng. "Party for Clean Politics" or "Justice Party") was founded, which has since been continuously represented in the upper and lower houses of the national parliament  and at the local level. Since 1970 there has been no accumulation of offices between Kōmeito and Sōka Gakkai, but the Sōka Gakkai is said to have influence on the party's program and personnel policy. With the Liberal Democratic Party , it has formed coalition governments since 1999, with the exception of the years from 2009 to 2012. Ikeda has neither offices nor official positions within the party.

Awards

Alexander Nikolajewitsch Jakowlew (left) at the presentation of an award to Ikeda

In recognition of his many years of commitment, Ikeda has received numerous awards, including the Peace Medal , awarded by the UN in 1983, as well as more than 380 academic awards (including over 120 honorary doctorates ) from many universities, 26 national orders and 800 honorary citizenships around the world, most recently honorary citizenship of the city of Florence.

In Europe he was awarded the following honors:

  • Commander of the Order of the Southern Cross , 1990 in Brazil
  • Grand Cross of the May Order , 1990 in Argentina
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Thailand , 1991
  • Mahatma MK Gandhi Millennium Award from the Mahatma MK Gandhi Foundation for Non-Violent Peace, 2000 in Norway
  • Gold Medal of Merit of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts , 2000 in Austria
  • Seal of Peace of the city of Florence , 2000 in Italy
  • Grand Cross of the Order of St. Agatha , 2001 in San Marino
  • PRIO Prize for the Promotion of Peace and the Support of Peace Research of the International Peace Research Institute (PRIO), 2002 in Norway
  • Coat of arms of the city of Bingen am Rhein , 2005 in Germany
  • Messenger of World Peace Award of the Organization for the Research of World Peace (ORPM), 2006 in France, headquarters of the organization in Nigeria
  • Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Grand Officer), 2006 in Italy
  • Order of Friendship , 2008 in Russia
  • Order of Peace, 1st grade, Ukrainian Peace Council, 2012 in Ukraine

Daisaku Ikeda is an honorary member of the Club of Rome .

Quotes

  • “Words that come from the heart have the power to change a person's life. They even have the power to melt the ice walls of mistrust that separate peoples and countries from one another. "
  • “What our world needs most is an education that promotes love for all of humanity. It is about developing the character, creating an intellectual basis for the realization of peace and enabling learners to make their contribution to the improvement of society. "
  • “Human greatness comes from striving for the happiness of other people. You can only call yourself truly human if you devote yourself to the happiness of friends and fellow human beings. "
  • "The human revolution of a single person will help change the fate of an entire society, and ultimately the fate of all of humanity."

Quotes by Daisaku Ikeda, presented as part of the international exhibition: Creating Peace without Violence - Gandhi , King , Ikeda, organized by the GandhiServe Foundation, Martin-Luther-King-Center eV, Soka Gakkai International-Deutschland eV, in Germany for the first time from 14 September to October 4, 2003 in Berlin.

Works

Since the early 1960s, Ikeda has worked as a writer and author on a wide range of social issues. He has published a large number of novels , essays, and poems on topics such as peace , culture , education , society , youth , art and literature, and Nichiren's Buddhism .

Extract from German and English publications:

History of Buddhism

  • Buddhism. The first millennium. 1986 (Buddhism, the First Millennium, 1977)
  • Chinese Buddhism. 1987 (The Flower of Chinese Buddhism, 1986)
  • The Buddha is alive. An interpretive biography. 1988 (The Living Buddha, 1976)

Buddhist philosophy

  • Life: An Enigma, a Precious Jewel. 1982
  • The riddle of life. A Buddhist answer. 1997
  • The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra. Vol I-VI, 2000-2003
  • The book of happiness. How to Live More Joyfully with Buddhist Insights. 2005 (Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth and Death, 2003)

Diaries

  • A Youthful Diary. 2000

poetry

  • Songs from My Heart. 1978
  • Fighting for Peace. 2004

Essays

  • Glass Children. 1979
  • One by one. 2004

Novellas

  • New Human Revolution (The Human Revolution Vol. 1–6, 1972–1999)

Dialogues

Current peace proposal

  • Global Youth Solidarity: Beginning of a New Era of Hope 2017 / Summary

Calls

  • Departure into humanity. Buddhism 1945–1952. 1999 (A New Humanism, 1996)
  • Seven steps to peace. 2002 (For the Sake of Peace, 2001)

education

  • Soka Education. 2001

Youth books

  • Future life. Buddhist Answers to Young People's Questions. 2001 (The Way of Youth, 2000)

Children's books

  • The Prince of the Snow Country. 1991 (The Snow Country Prince, 1990)
  • Kanta and the Deer. 1997
  • The cherry tree is blooming again. 2002 (The Cherry Tree, 1991)
  • Yuko and the moon bunny. 2002 (The Princess and the Moon, 1992)
  • The seafarer's message. 2002 (Over the Deep Blue Sea, 1992)

Controversy

The public influence and importance of Ikeda and the Sōka Gakkai has been accompanied by controversial reports and criticism in the international press. A lawsuit brought against Ikeda for alleged rape by a former member was finally dismissed by the Japanese Supreme Court on June 26, 2001 . Polly Toynbee also published a critical review of her encounter with Daisaku Ikeda in the Guardian in 1984 .

In particular, the personality cult around Ikeda, as well as his leadership style and sphere of power, are often criticized. Due to the hierarchical structure within the Sōka Gakkai and the master-student relationship between Ikeda and the members, it can be assumed that Ikeda leads the organization in an authoritarian manner. The worship of Daisaku Ikeda, which borders on the cult of personality, is viewed with astonishment and suspicion. Likewise, the application of the principle of the “unity of master and student” is seen as a suppression of any criticism. Former members also criticize the organization's excessive control. With regard to the separation of state and religion and the resulting constitutional concerns, serious critics are more concerned with Ikeda's role as the “gray eminence” of Japanese politics. Since the founding of the Kōmeitō, it has repeatedly been claimed that its primary goal is to overthrow the political system of Japan and take control of the government. In this context, some political scientists in the 1990s believed that Ikeda was in fact the most powerful person in Japan.

literature

  • GandhiServe Foundation / Martin Luther King Center eV / Soka Gakkai International Germany eV: Creating peace without violence - Gandhi, King, Ikeda. Exhibition catalog, 2003. Exhibition
  • Irmgard von Lehsten, German Committee for UNICEF: Peace begins in each individual - the revolution of character. Lecture, SGI-D Express No. 169, 2005.
  • Richard Hughes Seager: Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai, and the Globalization of Buddhist Humanism. University of California Press, 2006, ISBN 0-520-24577-6
  • George David Miller: Peace, Value and Wisdom: The Educational Philosophy of Daisaku Ikeda. Editions Rodopi BV, 2002, ISBN 9042013591
  • Global Ethical Options: In the Tradition of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Daisaku Ikeda. Weatherhill Inc., 2002, ISBN 0-8348-0501-4

Web links

Commons : Daisaku Ikeda  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jacqueline I. Stone: Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism (Studies in East Asian Buddhism), University of Hawaii Press 2003, ISBN 978-0-8248-2771-7 , p. 454
  2. ↑ Kiyoaki Murata: Japan's new Buddhism: an objective account of Soka Gakkai. Weatherhill, New York 1969, ISBN 978-0-8348-0040-3 .
  3. ^ Daniel B. Montgomery: Fire in the Lotus. Mandala 1991, pp. 186-187
  4. ↑ [1]
  5. ↑ [2]
  6. ↑ [3]
  7. ^ Frederick Kempe: Divorcing the dictator: America's bungled affair with Noriega. Tauris, London 1990, ISBN 1-85043-259-7 , p. 286
  8. ^ Daniel A. Métraux: The Soka Gakkai revolution. University Press of America, Lanham, Md. 1994, ISBN 978-0-8191-9733-7
  9. ↑ Toshiaki Furukawa: Karuto to shite no Sōka Gakkai = Ikeda Daisaku (Shohan ed.). Daisan Shokan, Tokyo 2000, ISBN 978-4807400171 , pp. 99-101
  10. ↑ Hiromi Shimada: Kōmeitō vs. Sōka Gakkai ("Conflicts between Komeito and Soka Gakkai"). Asahi Shinsho, Tokyo 2007, ISBN 978-4-02-273153-1 , p. 114
  11. ↑ Hiromi Shimada: Kōmeitō vs. Sōka Gakkai. P. 116.
  12. ↑ sgi.org - What is SGI's relationship with the United Nations? (English), accessed December 8, 2018
  13. ↑ Atsushi Mizoguchi: Ikeda Daisaku: Kenryokusha no Kōzō ("Daisaku Ikeda: The structure behind a man with power"). Kōdansha, Tokyo 2005, ISBN 4-06-256962-0 , p. 396
  14. ↑ Taisekiji: Nichiren Shōshū Nyūmon ("An introduction to Nichiren Shōshū"). Fujinomiya, 2002, pp. 332-240
  15. ↑ Sybille Höhe: Religion, State and Politics in Japan: History and Contemporary Significance of Sōka Gakkai, Kōmeitō and New Kōmeitō . Iudicium Verlag , Munich 2011, pp. 52–56
  16. ^ Levi McLaughlin: Did Aum Change Everything? What Soka Gakkai Before, During, and After the Aum Shinrikyo Affair Tells Us About the Persistent "Otherness" of New Religions in Japan, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. In: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 2012
  17. ↑ sokanet.jp - 国 連 か ら の 表彰 (Japanese), accessed December 8, 2018
  18. ↑ https://www.daisakuikeda.org/sub/resources/records/degree/list-of-conferrals.html Academic Honors Conferred, accessed on July 1, 2019
  19. ↑ http://www.daisakuikeda.org/sub/resources/records/curriculum-vitae/
  20. ↑ http://www.daisakuikeda.org/sub/events/2017/mar/11-florence-citizenship.html
  21. ↑ [4]
  22. ↑ [5]
  23. ↑ Organization for Research of World Peace ORWP ( Memento from November 27, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  24. ↑ [6]
  25. ↑ a b c d GandhiServe Foundation / Martin Luther King Center eV / Soka Gakkai International-Germany eV: Peace without violence, Gandhi, King, Ikeda. Exhibition catalog, 2003
  26. ↑ Doris Anselm: Studying without a doubt. The Soka Gakkai organization promises Buddhism that is at the heart of life. A visit to devout students in Hildesheim. In: Zeit Online from December 3, 2007.
  27. ^ Edward W. Desmond, Irene M. Kunii: The power of Soka Gakkai. Growing revelations about the complicated and sinister nexus of politics and religion ( Memento of December 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Time Magazine of November 20, 1995, Volume 146, No. 21st
  28. ^ Howard W. French: A Sect's Political Rise Creates Uneasiness in Japan. In: The New York Times, November 14, 1999.
  29. ^ Tokyo District Court Judgment, Civil Section 28, Heisei 8 (Wa), No. 10485, May 30, 2000, Presiding Judge, Shintaro Kato, pp. 159 ff.
  30. ↑ The Rick A. Ross Institute: Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rickross.com
  31. ↑ http://www.culteducation.com/reference/gakkai/gakkai39.html
  32. ↑ McLaughlin, Did Aum Change Everything? ( Memento from December 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  33. ↑ Evangelical Central Office for Weltanschauung questions, Lexicon, Soka Gakkai
  34. ↑ Religion and Politics in Japan: Soka Gakkai and Komeito: ( PDF ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ))
  35. ↑ George Ehrhardt: Rethinking the Komeito Voter , Cambridge University Press 2009, pp. 17-19.
  36. ^ Nytimes.com - A Sect's Political Rise Creates Uneasiness in Japan
  37. ↑ culteducaion.com - Japan's Crusader or Corrupter? (English), accessed December 8, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Ikeda, Daisaku
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 池田 大作 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese writer and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Tokyo , Japan