Buddhist Leader Receives 250th Academic Honor for Contributions to Education

TOKYO - On March 21, 2009, at a graduation ceremony at Soka University in
Hachioji, Tokyo, University College South of Denmark conferred an honorary
doctorate upon Daisaku Ikeda, founder of Soka University and president of the
Soka Gakkai International (SGI), bringing to 250 the number of academic
honors he has received.

University College South Rector Soren Vang Rasmussen conferred the degree
in recognition of “long service and valuable contribution to research and
practice toward the development of Education for Life,” explaining that Soka
education has much in common with the strong Danish tradition of “education
for life” inspired by N.S.F. Grundtvig, father of the Danish folk high school
tradition, and writer and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

In his speech at the ceremony, Ikeda stressed the role of education in
preventing war, stating that while war separates people, education brings
them together. He also expressed his expectations for progress toward nuclear
disarmament at talks between the U.S.A. and Russia expected during the G20
Summit in London in April. He proposed the establishment of an
intergovernmental panel on nuclear abolition to pool the wisdom of the
world’s scientists and disarmament experts under a framework similar to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and urged that the world’s people
raise their voices in order to realize a world without nuclear weapons.

Jim Garrison, president of the John Dewey Society and professor of the
philosophy of education at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A.,
also spoke, underlining the commonalities between Soka education, which
focuses on fostering creative thinking and social contribution, and the ideas
of pioneering American educator John Dewey.

Congratulatory messages were sent by Oscar Arias Sanchez, President of
Costa Rica, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Danish Minister of
Education Bertel Haarder among others.

Background

Ikeda received his first academic award, an honorary doctorate from
Moscow State University, in May 1975. Since then, universities and academic
institutions worldwide have recognized his varied contributions to peace and
education, including Peking University, the University of Bologna, the
University of Denver, Ankara University, the Federal University of Rio de
Janeiro, the University of Delhi, the University of the Philippines, the
University of Sydney and the University of Ghana. Of the 250 honors, 129 are
honorary doctorates, 118 are honorary professorships and 3 are honorary
presidencies.

Daisaku Ikeda was born in Tokyo in 1928. Experiencing the horrors of
World War II as a youth left him determined to work for peace. He was
president of the Soka Gakkai Buddhist association from 1960 to 1979. Since
1975 he has been president of the Soka Gakkai International, which has 12
million members in 192 countries and territories and is active in the
promotion of peace, sustainability and human rights education.

Ikeda has carried out dialogues with leading thinkers from different
cultures, including British historian Arnold Toynbee, two-time Nobel prize
winner Linus Pauling and peace scholar Johan Galtung. Fifty of these
dialogues have now been published in book form. He is currently engaged in a
dialogue on education with Hans Henningsen, former principal of Denmark’s
Askov Folk High School.

Based on the Soka (value-creating) education philosophy of Soka Gakkai
founder Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944), Ikeda has established the Soka
education system which ranges from kindergartens in Hong Kong, Korea,
Malaysia, Singapore and Brazil to universities in Japan and the United
States.

For full list of honors and institutions see:
www.daisakuikeda.org

Contact:
Joan Anderson
Office of Public Information
Soka Gakkai International
Tel: +81-3-5360-9482
Fax: +81-3-5360-9885
www.sgi.org

Source: Soka Gakkai International

Joan Anderson, Office of Public Information of Soka Gakkai International, Tel: +81-3-5360-9482, Fax: +81-3-5360-9885