For the Sake of Peace

In the Gosho, “On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land”, Nichiren Daishonin advises us: “If you care anything about your personal security, you should first of all pray for order and tranquillity throughout the four quarters of the land, should you not?”  (WND-1, p24)

Life in thirteenth century Japan was a time of great social and political turmoil and after seeing the suffering of the nation, Nichiren Daishonin believed that it was due to the ruling government following an incorrect religion.  He dedicated himself to studying with the various schools of Buddhism and realized that the Lotus Sutra held the key to not just personal transformation and enlightenment, but also had the potential to transform society. 

From that moment on, he devoted his life to spreading the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra, encouraging his followers and trying to persuade influential figures in the government to change their faith and offering them solutions to Japan’s problems based on Shakyamuni’s most profound teaching.

Times have changed, as have political and economic structures, but the SGI has continued this spirit of trying to overcome the problems facing the world through Buddhist wisdom.

On 17^th February 1952, at a panel discussion of the youth division, Toda stated “I am not on the side of communism or “Americanism”.  I uphold the idea of ‘global nationalism’ (The Human Revolution: Vol. 5, p224).  He used the phrase chikyu minzokushugi (‘global nationalism’) in a context which might more naturally be called “global citizenship” today.  President Ikeda explains this ideal, stating “[W]e must create through kosen-rufu an era when, as Josei Toda put it, the conventional views of the state will be replaced by global nationalism – the realization of all mankind sharing in a common destiny.”  (The Human Revolution: Vol. 5, p227)

A few years later on 8^th September 1957, President Toda gave a speech at another youth event in which he made a declaration for the abolition of nuclear weapons.  This declaration became the foundation for the future direction of the Soka Gakkai, as a Nichiren Buddhist peace movement committed to respecting the dignity of human life through faith and humanistic principles.   

The SGI continues to raise awareness on a range of issues through petitions, exhibitions such as “From A Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace” (which can be seen here) and various publications and DVDs.  Between 1974 and 1985, Youth Division members collected together, and published, over 3,000 World War 2 experiences from victims of the war and the atomic bombs, and in 2005 the Women’s Peace Committee of the SGI made a DVD including the accounts of 31 female war survivors.

In addition, President Ikeda has maintained the momentum of this declaration through his annual peace proposals, dialogues with various world leaders, academics and philosophers, and other initiatives and sister organisations, such as the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research (see http://www.toda.org/).
 

Some of the early world issues that President Ikeda spoke out about were the immediate ceasefire in the Vietnam War (in 1966) and for improved diplomatic relations between Japan and China in 1968, but it wasn’t until 1983 that he started to write his annual Peace Proposals which are distributed to UN officials and NGOs (non-governmental organisations).  There have now been 31 of theses yearly proposals and in an article in The Seikyo Shimbun on 30 January 2007, Majid Tehranian, a former director of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, wrote:

“Each proposal which Daisaku Ikeda has sent to the world since 1983 has been impressive.  These proposals clearly express Mr. Ikeda’s passion for peace, reconciliation and co-operation in the world.  They arise from Buddhist humanism.  From that starting point, the vision for world peace calls for commitment from us as global citizens.  The proposals fall in the fields of disarmament, security and global governance.  Mr. Ikeda has conducted dialogue on a global scale.”

But have President Ikeda’s peace proposals made a difference, or do they just find their way into the nearest wastebasket?   The following table (taken from an article in The Art of Living in January 2008) lists just some of the initiatives recommended by President Ikeda and the subsequent responses.

YEAR	PROPOSAL	RESPONSE
1985	Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty	Adopted in 1996
1988	Global Citizens Charter	Earth Charter finalized in 2000
1993	Control on Arms Exports	Will start discussion in 2006
1994	NE Asia Peace Conference involving Six Countries	First Six-Party talks held in 2003
1995	International Criminal Court	Created in 2003
1997	Landmine Ban Treaty	Came into effect in 1999
1999	Ban the Use of Child Soldiers	Protocol came into effect in 2002
2000	World Solidarity Foundation to fight poverty	Agreement to establish in 2002
2002	Treaty to Deal with Nuclear Terrorism	Adopted in 2005
2004	UN Peace Building Committee	First meeting in 2006

 

In 1987 President Ikeda also made a proposal for a “UN Decade of Education for Global Citizenship” especially stressing the need for education in the fields of environment, development, peace and human rights.  Since then the UN has instituted the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995 to 2004), the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001 to 2010) and the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005 to 2014).

At the heart of all of these proposals is the need to establish dialogue between people and nations to encourage peaceful cooperation.  President Ikeda is now in his eighties but he continues to work at establishing “tranquillity throughout the four quarters of the [world]” and contributing to the happiness of humanity through his thoughts, words and deeds.

"Bridges towards an indestructible peace for humankind can only be built by fostering people and by forging strong ties between them, their hearts and minds. And that process is, by its very nature, a gradual, grassroots effort. We cannot expect quick results. We must be committed to it for the long term."   (Daisaku Ikeda)

Check out this year’s proposal (and previous ones) at http://www.sgi.org/sgi-president/proposals.html