Hope Is a Decision: Selected Essays of Daisaku Ikeda
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ISBN: 978-0-9779245-8-5
How do we remain optimistic when the world seems to be falling apart around us? In these intimate essays, representing several decades of Daisaku Ikeda’s writings, the reader is invited on an inspirational journey to find answers and hope in troubled times. The book includes incisive commentaries on terrorism, good and evil, and aging and death that provide a new perspective on approaching the world with hope. The lyrical reflections on poetry and friendship highlight how such spiritual pursuits are the wellsprings of hope in dark times. Each essay suggests ways in which anyone can connect their personal search for strength, wisdom, and hope to the collective desire to bring about a just, humane, and caring society.
“Ikeda reminds us that hope is neither easy nor does it mean acquiescence to injustice. These essays open our eyes to the profound and courageous determination required of those who decide for hope.”
—Sarah Wider, professor, English and Women’s Studies, Colgate University
“Daisaku Ikeda draws from the well-spring of his eventful life and imparts page after page of rich insight, royal wisdom and spiritual truth. This volume will greatly strengthen your devotional meditations and commitment to personal and global peace.”
—Lawrence E. Carter Sr., Dean, Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel, Morehouse College
“In this collection Daisaku Ikeda beckons us to probe deeper into our own lives so that we can change the world around us. Having witnessed and experienced the worst, he reaffirms that life does continue, that the light of hope can be found in the very darkest corners.”
—Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former Under-Secretary-General, United Nations
Daisaku Ikeda is president of the Soka Gakkai International, a lay Buddhist organization with more than twelve million members worldwide. He has written and lectured widely on Buddhism, humanism, and global ethics.
Foreword
Editor’s Note
HOPE AND HAPPINESS
The Most Important Decision
Courage, Conviction, Hope
Truth Close at Hand
Winter Never Lasts
Too Much Stress
FRIENDSHIP AND POETRY
True Friends
Children of War
Cemetery Days
An Unforgettable Book
Each of Us a Poet
GOOD AND EVIL
An Enemy Falls From the Sky
The Supreme Jewel
A Piece of Broken Mirror
The Path Called Dialogue
A Single Word
A Necessary Evil?
LIFE AND DEATH
Our Pomegranate Tree
To Risk Our Lives
My Mentor’s Death
The Real Thing
An Aging Society
Every Moment of Every Day
CONCLUSION
A Revolution Open to All
Notes
Excerpt from the foreword by Sarah Wider
“In these essays, written and published over the course of an also tumultuous and violent fifty years, Ikeda calls us to understand hope in a way we may have forgotten or perhaps never known. He asks his readers to learn its range, to listen to its heart, to study its many and varied manifestations. Hope may be as familiar as a friend’s encouragement, as near as the tree that grows in an unlikely place, as immediate as the harmonies that come into our thoughts. At the same time, Ikeda reminds us that hope is neither easy nor does it mean acquiescence to injustice. These essays open our eyes to the profound and courageous determination required of those who decide for hope.”
Excerpt from “The Most Important Decision” by Daisaku Ikeda
“Looking at the world today, it is easy to feel despair. A kind of powerlessness seems to be the prevailing mood in the world today. Decisions about important issues all seem to be made somewhere beyond our reach. What can one person accomplish in the face of the vast forces that run our world? The current of the times can seem so fast flowing and complex as to be overwhelming.
“I do not believe that people are powerless. The philosophical tradition that I embrace teaches on the most fundamental dimension—that of life itself—that each human life partakes of the limitless life force of the cosmos. The same power that moves the universe exists within our lives. Each individual has immense potential, and a great change in the inner dimension of one individual’s life has the power to touch other’s lives and transform society. Everything begins with us.”
Description
How do we remain optimistic when the world seems to be falling apart around us? In these intimate essays, representing several decades of Daisaku Ikeda’s writings, the reader is invited on an inspirational journey to find answers and hope in troubled times. The book includes incisive commentaries on terrorism, good and evil, and aging and death that provide a new perspective on approaching the world with hope. The lyrical reflections on poetry and friendship highlight how such spiritual pursuits are the wellsprings of hope in dark times. Each essay suggests ways in which anyone can connect their personal search for strength, wisdom, and hope to the collective desire to bring about a just, humane, and caring society.
Advance Praise
“Ikeda reminds us that hope is neither easy nor does it mean acquiescence to injustice. These essays open our eyes to the profound and courageous determination required of those who decide for hope.”
—Sarah Wider, professor, English and Women’s Studies, Colgate University
“Daisaku Ikeda draws from the well-spring of his eventful life and imparts page after page of rich insight, royal wisdom and spiritual truth. This volume will greatly strengthen your devotional meditations and commitment to personal and global peace.”
—Lawrence E. Carter Sr., Dean, Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel, Morehouse College
“In this collection Daisaku Ikeda beckons us to probe deeper into our own lives so that we can change the world around us. Having witnessed and experienced the worst, he reaffirms that life does continue, that the light of hope can be found in the very darkest corners.”
—Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former Under-Secretary-General, United Nations
Author(s)
Daisaku Ikeda is president of the Soka Gakkai International, a lay Buddhist organization with more than twelve million members worldwide. He has written and lectured widely on Buddhism, humanism, and global ethics.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Editor’s Note
HOPE AND HAPPINESS
The Most Important Decision
Courage, Conviction, Hope
Truth Close at Hand
Winter Never Lasts
Too Much Stress
FRIENDSHIP AND POETRY
True Friends
Children of War
Cemetery Days
An Unforgettable Book
Each of Us a Poet
GOOD AND EVIL
An Enemy Falls From the Sky
The Supreme Jewel
A Piece of Broken Mirror
The Path Called Dialogue
A Single Word
A Necessary Evil?
LIFE AND DEATH
Our Pomegranate Tree
To Risk Our Lives
My Mentor’s Death
The Real Thing
An Aging Society
Every Moment of Every Day
CONCLUSION
A Revolution Open to All
Notes
Excerpts
Excerpt from the foreword by Sarah Wider
“In these essays, written and published over the course of an also tumultuous and violent fifty years, Ikeda calls us to understand hope in a way we may have forgotten or perhaps never known. He asks his readers to learn its range, to listen to its heart, to study its many and varied manifestations. Hope may be as familiar as a friend’s encouragement, as near as the tree that grows in an unlikely place, as immediate as the harmonies that come into our thoughts. At the same time, Ikeda reminds us that hope is neither easy nor does it mean acquiescence to injustice. These essays open our eyes to the profound and courageous determination required of those who decide for hope.”
Excerpt from “The Most Important Decision” by Daisaku Ikeda
“Looking at the world today, it is easy to feel despair. A kind of powerlessness seems to be the prevailing mood in the world today. Decisions about important issues all seem to be made somewhere beyond our reach. What can one person accomplish in the face of the vast forces that run our world? The current of the times can seem so fast flowing and complex as to be overwhelming.
“I do not believe that people are powerless. The philosophical tradition that I embrace teaches on the most fundamental dimension—that of life itself—that each human life partakes of the limitless life force of the cosmos. The same power that moves the universe exists within our lives. Each individual has immense potential, and a great change in the inner dimension of one individual’s life has the power to touch other’s lives and transform society. Everything begins with us.”