20 Years of Peace, Learning, and Dialogue

Ikeda Center 20th AnniversaryIkeda Center 20th AnniversaryIkeda Center 20th AnniversaryIkeda Center 20th Anniversary

The year 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue. Originally called the Boston Reseach Center for the 21st Century, we were founded by Buddhist thinker and leader Daisaku Ikeda as a nonprofit institute dedicated to dialogue as the surest path to peace. We became the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue in 2009, a name we selected to more clearly communicate our mission. Please use the left navigation to engage with resources created and organized for our anniversary year.

The Founding Lecture

In September 1993, Daisaku Ikeda, who is President of the Soka Gakkai International, an international lay Buddhist organization with 12 million members worldwide, delivered a lecture titled “Mahayana Buddhism and Twenty-first Century Civilization” at Harvard University, in which he highlighted the contributions Mahayana Buddhism can make to the peaceful evolution of humanity. Soon after, he established the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century in Cambridge as a tangible commitment to the spirit behind his talk — the spirit to engage diverse voices in contributing value to humanity. For this reason, we refer to the 1993 talk as our "founding lecture."

Our Friends

The old saying has it that "You can judge someone by the company they keep." Here at the Center we certainly hope that is true, since we have been extraordinarily blessed by the many great thinkers, social innovators, and visionaries who have given so generously of their ideas, energy, and spirit to make the Center what it is today, and what it might become. Our anniversary above all is a tribute to them.
There are a number of ways at this site to encounter our friends' contributions. Here are some of the best.
  • The Thinkers section features interviews, as well as lectures and essays.
  • The Themes section is organized by topic and includes coverage of all our events from the last decade or so. This section also enable you to enage with the questions and insights of event attendees, the other essential part of our "people equation."
  • The Annual Ikeda Forum section provides coverage of our signature event.
  • The Books and Publications section features contributions from a wide range of scholars.