News & Blog

The Four Key Aspects of Daisaku Ikeda’s Education Philosophy

By Mitch Bogen

Our new multi-author volume, Hope and Joy in Education: Engaging Daisaku Ikeda Across Curriculum and Context (Teachers College Press, 2021), is rightly being celebrated for how its diverse chapters make the case for the more optimistic and celebratory aspects of teaching and learning, especially now, when schooling challenges seem so severe. However, it would be a mistake to overlook Jason Goulah’s insightful introduction to the volume. In it, Goulah draws upon his deep and extensive...

July "Dialogue Studio" Podcast!

In this new (July 2021) episode of the Dialogue Studio, host Lillian I speaks with Ikeda Center Youth Committee member Nandini Choudhury about her experience participating in a 6-month long dialogue project the Ikeda Center organized in 2019. In their recent conversation, Nandini reflects on what she learned about dialogue through participating in the project, how it impacted her life at the time, and how she continues to practice dialogue in her daily life. Among the topics covered are how a...

Isabel Nuñez on Hope and Joy in Education

Isabel Nuñez is co-editor, with Jason Goulah, of Hope and Joy in Education: Engaging Daisaku Ikeda Across Curriculum and Context, published by Teachers College Press in April of 2021 and developed in collaboration with the Ikeda Center. In July, just a few months after the book's release, Ikeda Center Publications Associate Mitch Bogen checked in with Dr. Nuñez to get her impressions on what the book and topic mean to her now that the frenzy of preparing this ambitious multi-author volume for publication has passed and she has had some time to live with and reflect on it for a...

Francyne Huckaby Explores Pain and Promise at Inaugural Indigo Talk

The Ikeda Center launched its new Indigo Talks series on July 22 with a lecture by Dr. Francyne Huckaby called “Two Bundles of Reeds: (In)evitable Pain, (Im)possible Promise.” Dr. Huckaby is Associate Dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Professor of Curriculum Studies in the College of Education at Texas Christian University, as well as past president of the Society of Professors of Education. Named after the Buddhist expression “from the indigo, an even deeper blue,” Indigo Talks is a new lecture series featuring renowned intellectuals in dialogue with...

Spotlight: Digging Into Dialogue

Over the course of its 28-year history, the Ikeda Center has engaged steadily in dialogue to explore the many dimensions of local and global cultures of peace. From interreligious dialogue to investigations into such topics as restorative justice, mortality, and humanistic education to planning sessions for the Earth Charter, participants in Center events and book projects furthered the cause of human flourishing.

And while pursuits of these sorts continue unabated as we approach our 30th anniversary, over the last few years we also have engaged more directly in efforts to...

Spotlight: Ben Ferencz Offers Peacebuilding Wisdom

The great humanist and peacebuilder Ben Ferencz appeared on 60 Minutes last night (June 27) in an interview with Lesley Stahl. The segment reminded us how lucky we were to have hosted Mr. Ferencz for a visit in 2015. The only living prosecutor from the Nuremberg Trials, Ferencz is tireless in traveling the world to communicate his twin messages of Law Not War! and Never Give Up! In addition to his successful prosection of high-ranking Nazis at Nuremberg, he was instrumental in the creation of the International Criminal Court in 1998. Ferencz is a truly one-of-a-kind human...

New! "The Dialogue Studio" Podcast

We are delighted to share that we have launched a new podcast called, "The Dialogue Studio." This new series will explore the transformational practice of dialogue and why it is important, especially in this current moment. In these episodes, you will hear from individuals from all walks of life sharing what dialogue means to them and how they are practicing it in their daily lives. We will also introduce Center founder Daisaku Ikeda's philosophy of dialogue and the various approaches and...

Seeing and Cultivating: The Way of Hope and Joy

With contributions from more than 20 authors, Hope and Joy in Education promises to enhance our understanding of how best to promote hope and joy in our schools and learning environments, both during this time of unprecedented challenges and in the years to come. With that in mind, the Center's Mitch Bogen recently reviewed the entire book to identify cross-cutting themes that emerge from the unique constellation of perspectives contained in this volume. Two above all asserted themselves: (1) that the fostering of hope and joy in the classroom requires a certain perspective of us...

Unpacking the Pandemic at Dialogue Nights

The Ikeda Center’s second virtual Dialogue Nights, held on May 14, 2021, took place just as life in the United States was starting its long-anticipated transition toward “a new normal,” one defined by far fewer restrictions and many more opportunities to gather safely with others. Sensing that times of transition are especially fruitful for both reflection and hope, the Center program team decided to build the discussion around the theme of “Unpacking COVID-19: What We Learned, What We Lost, and What We Will Carry Forward.”

Read the full...

Ikeda Honored with 2021 AERA Human Rights Award

This April, Center founder Daisaku Ikeda was chosen by the curriculum studies division of the American Educational Research Association to be the 2021 recipient of their Ella Baker/Septima Clark Human Rights Award, recognizing Mr. ikeda's lifelong devotion to and achievements in human rights, peacebuilding, and education. This Instagram post from Soka University of America shares the purposes of the award and words of appreciation from Mr. Ikeda:

According to the AERA, the Ella Baker/Septima Clark "honors the memory of two giants of the Black Freedom...

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