Ikeda's Masterpiece Of Civilization Dialogue And Its Practical Research

In our age of increasing globalization and integration,Dialogue among Civilizations and interreligious dialogue has become an inevitable trend of human civilization.This thus constitutes the research frontier in the contemporary theoretical study of religion.So far the study of Dialogue among Civilizations and interreligious dialogue in the Chinese field of religious studies has seen mainly translation-based projects,while case studies,especially those of the dialogic theories characteristic of Eastern religions have been wanting.This dissertation is thus one of the less attempted endeavors that looks into the thought and practice of Daisaku Ikeda(1928-),the 3rd president of Soka Gakkai,which is the largest of Japan’s new Buddhist organizations,and the founding president of Soka Gakkai International(SGI),on Dialogue among Civilizations.The first chapter starts by delineating the research domain,i.e.the engagement of contemporary Japanese Buddhist groups in Dialogue among Civilizations and interreligious dialogues.The second chapter takes a historical approach to Daisaku Ikeda’s dialogic ideas and practices by identify four stages of development.The third and fourth chapters include content analyses of the transcripts of Daisaku Ikeda’s many dialogues with international luminaries.The fifth chapter considers the relations between Daisaku Ikeda’s thought on Dialogue among Civilizations and the thought of Chinese Tiantai Buddhism,the thought of the Nichiren sect of the Japanese Tendai Buddhism,and the thought of Soka Gakkai as a Japanese new Buddhist movement.The last chapter reconsiders the dialogic activities of contemporary Japanese new Buddhist organizations and reflects on the theoretical and historical implications of the thought and practices of Daisaku Ikeda and his organization in this area.This dissertation arrives at the following conclusion:1)Daisaku Ikeda,seen against the background of Dialogue among Civilizations and the engagement of Japanese religious in them since the 1960s,has been a forerunner of Buddhism and Eastern religions in participation of such dialogues.2)The humanism and practical wisdom characteristic of the Daisaku Ikeda dialogues can trace their origin to the Mahayana canon Lotus Sutra,the Nichiren belief characteristic of Japanese Buddhism and the "Soka Spirit" of the Japanese new Buddhist movement.3)The Daisaku Ikeda dialogues focus on "the transformation of outlook on life and values" as a common basis for the dialogue and cooperation between all civilizations and religions in the world.He also stresses the need for breakthroughs in such aspects as enlarging the scope of participation,reforming dialogic methods and improving dialogue manners.Rooted in the Japanese national cultural character but also embodying universal merits,his propositions demonstrate theoretical depth,speculative dexterity and a welcome dose of practicality.This dissertation reexamines Daisaku Ikeda,the man,his thought and practice on dialogue from the perspective of seeing the leader of a new Japanese Buddhist organization in his participation in Dialogue among Civilizations,thus creating a new dimension to the Chinese study of Daisaku Ikeda’s thought.Case studies of the Daisaku Ikeda dialogues based on the original Japanese transcript also offers an approach that can be useful in similar research projects on the major religions of China.Future investigation may go further by comparing the dialogic thought of Daisaku Ikeda with those of other Japanese religious organizations,and of other religious leaders in East Asia.