With the ongoing spread of COVID-19 and the continuing fight for racial justice, it can feel overwhelming to add one more challenge to the table. Yet, climate change is a long-term issue that is inseparable from the prevailing challenges that we have faced this year. It is Center founder Daisaku Ikeda’s conviction that in the midst of such large-scale issues like climate change, when facing them head on, we find in them “a remarkable diversity of opportunities for human beings to give expression to their limitless potential.” Thus, if we can tackle the climate crisis together, we then can...
News & Blog
August 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the tragic bombings of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945). In his statement of commemoration, issued on behalf of the Soka Gakkai Council on Peace Issues, Ikeda Center President Yoshiki Tanigawa considers the bombings in the context of contemporary nuclear weapons abolition efforts. (Read the full statement here.) Here is an an excerpt:
This year, which further coincides with the 75th...
On July 16, we hosted our third virtual dialogue event of the year, called "The Poetic Spirit: Our Power to Reconnect a Divided World." It centered around a panel discussion between Dr. Sarah Wider (Professor of English, Colgate University) and Ikeda Center Youth Committee members Isaiah Moon and Valentina Frasisti. Two hundred fifty participants from 19 countries joined via Zoom. Here's a quote from Daisaku Ikeda that helped shape the discussion:
The poetic spirit can be found in any human endeavor. When the spirit of poetry lives within us, even objects...
The occasion for this interview with Bernice Lerner was the publication of her book All the Horrors of War: A Jewish Girl, a British Doctor, and the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen. The girl of the title is Lerner's mother, Rachel Genuth, who narrowly survived the trials and atrocities of the Nazi concentration camps. The doctor is Brigadier H. L. Glyn Hughes, who was in charge of medical needs and services for the British Second Army, which liberated Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945. In her book, Lerner skillfully and movingly interweaves the stories of these two...
Because it was conducted on Zoom, our June 11 dialogue event was called a “virtual” one. Yet there was nothing simulated or “less than” about the conversations that took place when 250 participants from 19 countries around the world gathered online for “Asking Questions Together: What Is Our Path Forward?” The panel discussion featured Dr. Ceasar McDowell (Professor of Civic Design, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Ikeda Center Student Ambassadors Giulia Pellizzato (Postdoctoral Fellow, Brown University) and Anthony Jojola (Masters candidate, Boston College) who shared thoughts...
As a center committed to peace, justice and the dignity of all people, we stand in solidarity with everyone across the United States and the world who is demonstrating to end systemic racism and violence. The killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and countless others reflect a disregard for Black lives that has plagued this country for far too long. Enough is enough. Black Lives Matter.
Each of these individuals was a family member, a friend and a loved one. They were all invaluable members of their communities. They did not...
On Thursday, April 16, 2020, the Ikeda Center hosted its first ever virtual dialogue, “A Time To Reflect & Reimagine: Creating A Better Future Now.“ The event featured a youth-led panel discussion centered on Daisaku Ikeda’s three elements of global citizenship and how we can use them as a framework to reimagine a better future, especially during this time when the whole world is grappling with a new way of living. Afterwards, the 133 participants broke out into small group discussions and offered their reflections.
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April 12, 2020
Dear Friends,
Like our fellow global citizens, we staff of the Ikeda Center are doing all we can to avoid spreading the contagion of COVID-19 and are grateful for the brave souls fighting on the front lines against this global pandemic. Also, as we hope and pray for an early end to the outbreak, we are digging deeper within our own hearts to find an even stronger aspiration toward a shared future of respect for the dignity of life.
In a recent article, Center founder Daisaku Ikeda recalled British historian Arnold Toynbee’s conviction that “those living...
There is the courage of superheroes and soldiers at war. Blockbuster courage, let’s call it. Then there is the courage of everyday people living regular lives – lives that are nevertheless heroic in their own way, especially when they are defined by a refusal to be defeated by the inevitable challenges of life, and even more, when they manifest a commitment to the happiness and wellbeing of others. These were the kinds of qualities that were celebrated and explored during the first Dialogue Nights of 2020, held at the Ikeda Center on Friday, January 31. Called “We Can Do It! Challenging...
Millennials are often called “the anxious generation”—and for good reason, said Center Program Manager Lillian I in her welcoming remarks for the fifth and final Dialogue Nights of 2019. There is no shortage of reasons for this generation of young people to be in a “constant state of panic,” observed Lillian: “living paycheck to paycheck, not being able to pay rent, will I ever be able to save enough money to buy a house or have my own family, what is the purpose of my life, and the list goes on.” Held on December 13th, the event was called “Millennial Challenge: Appreciating the Uncertain...
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Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue
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