SGI President Daisaku Ikeda

Daisaku Ikeda was born in Tokyo on January 2, 1928. As a teenager during WW II, Mr.Ikeda experienced the horrors of war through the death and devastation around him, including the death of his eldest brother on the Burmese front. He developed a deep-rooted abhorrence to war and a respect for those who had undergone persecution by the state for their anti-war beliefs but had not compromised their convictions. In 1947, at age 19, he met such a person--Josei Toda.

Soon after their meeting, Mr. Ikeda joined Soka Gakkai and began working as editor for a boy's magazine that Mr. Toda published. He became Mr. Toda's most trusted aide in the organization. In 1960, two years after Mr. Toda's death, Mr. Ikeda became the third Soka Gakkai president.

During Mr. Ikeda's presidency, the organization expanded in Japan and internationally. At the same time he was instrumental in establishing various institutions to apply Buddhist principles in the fields of peace, culture and education. Among these are Soka University and other Soka schools, from kindergarten through high school; the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum; the Min-On Concert Association; and the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research.

In 1971, Mr. Ikeda began a series of discussions with the British historian Arnold Toynbee which were later published under the title Choose Life. Mr. Ikeda has since criss-crossed the globe inpursuit of peace and has met with leading scholars, activists, ordinary citizens and world leaders, among them former Brazilian Academy of Letters president Austregesilo de Athayde, Norwegian peace scholar Johan Galtung and former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev.

Mr. Ikeda was an early proponent of citizen's diplomacy, meeting with leaders in China and the former Soviet Union from the early 1970s. He has received 39 honorary degrees (as of mid-July 1996) and has given addresses at the Institut de France, Harvard University, Moscow State

University and Beijing University, among others. Mr. Ikeda also authors an annual peace proposal that is presented to the United Nations.

In 1975, Mr. Ikeda became first president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a position he still holds. In 1979, he resigned as third Soka Gakkai president.

A prolific writer and poet, Mr. Ikeda has published works in Japanese and 25 other languages on a variety of subjects, from Buddhist philosophy to children's stories. His photographs taken during travels in Japan and abroad have been compiled into an exhibition, "Dialogue with Nature," shown around the world. He is the recipient of the U.N. Peace Medal (1983), the International Tolerance Award of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (1993), and the Rosa Parks Humanitarian Award (1994).

What is the Soka Gakkai?

Soka Gakkai is a lay Buddhist association that embraces the philosophy and teachings of Nichiren, a 13th-century Japanese Buddhist sage and scholar. In their daily practice of Nichiren Buddhism, as individuals, Soka Gakkai members strive to cultivate and develop their inherent potential bychallenging to advance in their own circumstances as well as work for the well-being of others.

Through faith, practice and study, members have enriched and broadened their outlook on life, inmany cases expanding from one bound and colored by self-interests to one motivated by humanisticand humanitarian concerns. Moreover, members develop the ability to live with confidence and tocreate value in any situation. Thus the association's name--"Soka" meaning "value creation," and "Gakkai," "society."

The more than 10 million Soka Gakkai members represent a broad cross-section of Japanesesociety. Members contribute to the betterment of their communities, societies and the world throughactivities that promote friendship, peace, culture and education.

Soka Gakkai is one of 76 worldwide constituent organizations that make up Soka Gakkai International (SGI).

What is Soka Gakkai International (SGI) ?

The Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a worldwide association of 76 constituent organizations with membership in more than 120 countries and territories. In the service of its members andsociety at large, SGI centers its activities on developing the positive human potentialities forindividual happiness and for global peace and prosperity. The breadth and focus of its missionderive from the philosophy and practice of Nichiren Buddhism.

Rooted in the life-affirming philosophy of Nichiren, members of SGI share a profound commitmentto the values of peace, culture and education. Although the scope and nature of activities conducted in each country differ according to the culture and inseparable linkages tht exist between individualhappiness and the peace and prosperity of their respective societies.

Soka Gakkai International's (SGI) History

In response to the needs of an increasingly global community of Soka Gakkai members, the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) was formed in Guam on January 26, 1975. At that time the gathering of members represented approximately 50 countries. Daisaku Ikeda, who was then president of Soka Gakkai, was nominated and approved by those present to head the new association.

Since 1983, Mr. Ikeda, on behalf of the SGI, has issued annual peace proposals on January 26, commemorating SGI Day. The proposals have addressed pressing global issues such as rising nationalism, nuclear disarmament, poverty and illiteracy and the environmental crisis and suggested possible solutions to these problems.

A UN-registered nongovernmental organization (NGO), the SGI has cosponsored with the United Nations numerous public information programs that aim, through exhibitions, symposiums and other forums, to promote awareness of the need for a global outlook and the importance of peace, cultural exchange, and education.

The SGI president also has striven to create a viable framework for a peaceful world by engaging in dialogue with citizens, academics and policy makers around the world, from British historian Arnold Toynbee and U.S. civil rights activist Rosa Parks to former Philippines president Corazon Aquino and South African president Nelson Mandela.

Also on behalf of the SGI, Mr. Ikeda has founded the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research and the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century. Both are dedicated to peace research and intercultural communication. Since its founding, the SGI has grown to some 11 million members in over 120 countries and territories, including Japan.

Charter of Soka Gakkai International

The Soka Gakkai of Japan is one of the constituent Soka Gakkai International (SGI) organizationsand shares the SGI's commitment to peace, culture and education based on Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism. It adheres to the SGI Charter which confirms the ideals of world citizenship, freedom of religion, and tolerance and respect for other religions. The SGI Charter adopted at the end of 1995 follows.

Charter of Soka Gakkai International

Preamble

We, the constituent organizations and members of the Soka Gakkai International (herein after called"SGI"), embrace the fundamental aim and mission of contributing to peace, culture and education based on the philosophy and ideals of the Buddhism of Nichiren Daishonin.

WE RECOGNIZE that at no time in history has humankind experienced such an intense juxtaposition of war and peace, discrimination and equality, poverty and abundance as in the twentieth century; that the development of increasingly sophisticated military technology, exemplified by nuclear weapons, has created a situation where the very survival of the human species hangs in the balance; that the reality of violent ethnic and religious discrimination presents an unending cycle of conflict; that humanity's egoism and intemperance have engendered global problems, including degradation of the natural environment and widening economic chasms between developed and developing nations, with serious repercussions for humankind's collective future.

WE BELIEVE that Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism, a humanistic philosophy of infinite respect for the sanctity of life and all-encompassing compassion, enables individuals to cultivate and bring forth their inherent wisdom and, nurturing the creativity of the human spirit, to surmount the difficulties and crises facing humankind and realize a society of peaceful and prosperous coexistence.

We, the constituent organizations and members of SGI, therefore, being determined to raise high the banner of world citizenship, the spirit of tolerance, and respect for human rights based on the humanistic spirit of Buddhism, and to challenge the global issues that face humankind through dialogue and practical efforts based on a steadfast commitment to nonviolence, hereby adopt this Charter, affirming the following purposes and principles:

Purposes and Principles

1. SGI shall contribute to peace, culture and education for the happiness and welfare of all humanity based on Buddhist respect for the sanctity of life.

2. SGI, based on the ideal of world citizenship, shall safeguard fundamental human rights and not discriminate against any individual on any grounds.

3. SGI shall respect and protect the freedom of religion and religious expression.

4. SGI shall promote an understanding of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism through grass-rootsexchange, thereby contributing to individual happiness.

5.SGI shall, through its constituent organizations, encourage its members to contribute towardthe prosperity of their respective societies as good citizens.

6 SGI shall respect the independence and autonomy of its constituent organizations in accordance with the conditions prevailing in each country.

7. SGI shall, based on the Buddhist spirit of tolerance, respect other religions, engage in dialogue and work together with them toward the resolution of fundamental issues concerning humanity.

8. SGI shall respect cultural diversity and promote cultural exchange, thereby creating an international society of mutual understanding and harmony.

9. SGI shall promote, based on the Buddhist ideal of symbiosis, the protection of nature and the environment.

10. SGI shall contribute to the promotion of education, in pursuit of truth as well as the development of scholarship, to enable all people to cultivate their individual character andenjoy fulfilling and happy lives.

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