Photo Galleries

Welcome to the Ikeda Center photo galleries section. These galleries feature our many friends who participate in events as speakers. They also feature our friends who participate as attendees, without whom meaningful dialogue would be impossible. Explore and enjoy.

Student-Led Peace Seminar on Nuclear Abolition

On April 21, we hosted our first-ever student-led peace dialogue. The topic was nuclear weapons abolition. In preparation for the event, the students had been encouraged by peace educators Betty Reardon and Zeena Zakharia to ask generative questions of themselves and others about nuclear abolition. In so doing, they deepened their thinking about the topic and increased their motivation to act. "No one is an expert," said Dr. Reardon. "We are here to learn together!"
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2016 Ikeda Forum: Spaces for Deep Dialogue

Held at the Ikeda Center on October 27, just twelve days before the 2016 elections and near the end of a year marked by bitter and emotional conflict across the US, the event featured a capacity crowd who came ready to join Ceasar McDowell in looking deeply into what is needed to bridge the seemingly unbridgeable expanses that divide us.
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2015 Ikeda Forum: The Practice of Dignity

For the first time ever, the Ikeda Forum revisited a topic from a previous forum. Though the topic — dignity — was addressed one year earlier, it proved so rich there was little sense of repetition. The speakers were Meenakshi Chhabra of Lesley University, Gail Thomas of Soka University America, and Peter Stearns of George Mason University.
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Our World To Make Book Event

On September 26, 2105, Ved Nanda spoke with a diverse gathering of Boston-area residents, including many university students, about themes from Our World To Make: Hinduism, Buddhism, and the Rise of Global Society, which he co-authored with Daisaku Ikeda.
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Seminar with Kew and Chhabra

On May 4th, 2015, the Ikeda Center hosted its latest seminar bringing university students into dialogue with senior scholars working in peace-related fields. Meenakshi Chhabra of Lesley University and Darren Kew of UMass Boston led a discussion on the complexities of conflict resolution, mediation, and peace building.
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Donna Hicks Dignity Talk

Harvard's Donna Hicks spoke at the Ikeda Center in January 2015, offering remarks celebrating and exploring dignity's transformative power. She is the author of Dignity: Its Essential Role in Resolving Conflict, and she works to resolve conflicts large and small, here and abroad.
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2014 Ikeda Forum: Dignity of Life

The 2014 Ikeda Forum was called "Dignity of Life: The Heart of Human Rights and Peace Building," and featured three leaders of international human rights and peace building: Andrea Bartoli of Seton Hall, Charlie Clements of Harvard Kennedy School, and Mari Fitzduff of Brandeis University.
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Sarah Wider Author Event

On February 22, 2014, Dr. Sarah Wider spoke and invited discussion on themes from her new dialogue book with Daisaku Ikeda, The Art of True Relations (Dialogue Path Press, 2014). Her talk was called “The Poetic Heart of Human Possibilities."
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2013 Ikeda Forum: We the People

The 2013 ikeda Forum, the 10th annual, featured Vincent Harding exploring the topic, "We the People: Who Are We, and What is Our Work?" He also signed copies of his 2013 dialogue with Daisaku Ikeda: America Will Be!: Conversations on Hope, Freedom, and Democracy.
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20th Anniversary Celebration

On September 28, 2013, we welcomed many of our old and new friends to Cambridge for a celebration of our twentieth year as a center devoted to peace, learning, and dialogue.
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Cambridge & Harvard University

This gallery shows scenes from our surrounding Cambridge, Mass., and Harvard University neighborhood. Most of our galleries depict who we are; this gallery shows a bit of where we are.
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2012 Ikeda Forum: A Dialogue on Interdependence

At the 2012 Ikeda Forum, Stephen Gould of Lesley University, Tanya Henderson of Women's Action for New Directions, Ceasar McDowell of M.I.T., and Ved Nanda of the University of Denver explored interdependence in their respective fields of education, human and women's rights, community development, and international law.
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Marinoff Lecture on the Power of Philosophy

On September 21, 2012, Lou Marinoff spoke at the Ikeda Center about the new dialogue book he co-authored with Daisaku Ikeda, The Inner Philosopher: Conversations on Philosophy's Transformative Power. Dr. Marinoff asserted that the two core priorities of philosophy are healing and the cultivation of virtues.
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2011 Ikeda Forum: Cultivating the Greater Self

The 2011 Forum featured Virginia Benson of the Ikeda Center, Ann Diller of the University of New Hampshire, Bernice Lerner of Hebrew College, and Lou Marinoff of The City College of New York. How can we cultivate the greater self individually and collectively in the world as it is?
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Soft Power Seminar with Nur Yalman and Winston Langley

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Daisaku Ikeda's Sept. '91 Harvard University address, "The Age of Soft Power," Professors Nur Yalman and Winston Langley engaged in dialogue with twenty Boston-area university students on topics from the talk.
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2010 Ikeda Forum: Developing the Democratic Spirit

The 7th Ikeda Forum explored democracy "as a way of life whose purpose is to enable people to achieve spiritual autonomy, live in mutual respect, and enjoy happiness." Speakers included LR Berger, Sarah Wider, Virginia Benson, Fernando Reimers, Anita Patterson, and Vincent Harding.
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Into Full Flower Book Event

In March 2010 the Center celebrated the publication of Into Full Flower, co-authored by Elise Boulding and Daisaku Ikeda. Due to health issues, Dr. Boulding could not make it, but her son Russell was on hand to share memories and reflections. The other speakers were the Ikeda Center's Virginia Benson and Boulding's biographer, Mary Lee Morrison.
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2009 Ikeda Forum: The Quest for a New Humanism

The 2009 Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue was called "John Dewey, Daisaku Ikeda, and the Quest for a New Humanism." Speakers included Steven Rockefeller, Gonzalo Obelleiro, Charlene Haddock Seigfried, Larry Hickman, Jim Garrison, Nel Noddings, Virginia Benson, and David T. Hansen.
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Creating Waldens Author Event

In 2009, the Center hosted a book launch event in which Ronald A. Bosco and Joel Myerson discussed their dialogue with Daisaku Ikeda, Creating Waldens: An East-West Conversation on the American Renaissance.
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2008 Ikeda Forum: Living with Mortality

The 2008 Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue was called "Living with Mortality: How Our Experiences with Death Change Us." Hospice physician Pam Kircher led a whole group discussion session in the morning and was the first afternoon speaker. The other afternoon speakers were Anthony Marsella, Megan Laverty, and Vincent Harding.
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2007 Ikeda Forum: Women and the Power of Friendship

Called "Women and the Power of Friendship," the 2007 Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue featured Anita Patterson, Jocelyn Moody, Sarah Wider, and Charlene Seigfried Haddock looking at 19th century female reformers. The afternoon featured activists and social entrepeneurs Betty Burkes, Jan Surrey, Scherazade King, and Susan Retik.
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