:Daisaku Ikeda

Ikeda Daisaku was born in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, on 2 January 1928. Ikeda had four older brothers, two younger brothers, and a younger sister. His parents later adopted two more children, for a total of 10 children. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Ikeda family had successfully farmed nori, edible seaweed, in Tokyo Bay. By the turn of the twentieth century, the Ikeda family business was the largest producer of nori in Tokyo. The devastation of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake left the family's enterprise in ruins. Ikeda's eldest brother, Kiichi, died in the Imphal Campaign in Burma, in January 1945, during the last stages of World War II.{{cite web|title=Memories of My Eldest Brother|publisher=daisakuikeda.org|url=https://www.daisakuikeda.org/main/peacebuild/essays-on-peace/memories-of-my-eldest-brother.html|access-date=December 17, 2024}} Ikeda also suffered from tuberculosis in his younger days.{{cite news |title=Daisaku Ikeda, Who Led Influential Japanese Buddhist Group, Dies at 95|author=Motoko Rich |date=29 November 2023 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/world/asia/daisaku-ikeda-dead.html|quote=Daisaku Ikeda was born on Jan. 2, 1928, in Tokyo, the fifth son of Nenokichi and Ichi (Komiya) Ikeda, who were involved in seaweed farming. As a child, he was diagnosed with chronic tuberculosis.}}

In August 1947, at the age of 19, Ikeda was invited by an old friend to attend a Buddhist discussion meeting. It was there that he met Josei Toda, the second president of Japan's Soka Gakkai Buddhist organization. Ikeda began practicing Nichiren Buddhism and joined the Soka Gakkai. He regarded Toda as his spiritual mentor and became a charter member of the group's youth division.

File:Daisaku Ikeda at age 19.jpg

Shortly after the end of World War II, in January 1946, Ikeda gained employment with the Shobundo Printing Company in Tokyo. In March 1948, Ikeda graduated from Toyo Trade School and the following month entered the night school extension of Taisei Gakuin (present-day Tokyo Fuji University) where he majored in political science.[http://www.daisakuikeda.org/main/profile/timeline/ Timeline] of Ikeda's life, daisakuikeda.org. Accessed 6 November 2013 During this time, he worked as an editor of the children's magazine Shonen Nihon (Boy's Life Japan), which was published by one of Josei Toda's companies.{{Cite book|last=Seager|first=Richard Hughes|url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL3395144M/Encountering_the_Dharma|title=Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai, and the Globalization of Buddhist Humanism|date=2006|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, California|isbn=0520245776|ol=3395144M}}{{rp|f. 84}}

In 1953, at the age of 25, Ikeda was appointed as one of the Soka Gakkai's youth leaders. The following year, he was appointed as director of the Soka Gakkai's public relations bureau, and later became its chief of staff.{{cite book|last=Kisala|first=Robert|title=Prophets of peace: Pacifism and cultural identity in Japan's new religions.|year=2000|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|location=Honolulu, HI, USA|isbn=978-0-8248-2267-5}}{{rp|85}}{{rp|77}}

In 1952, Ikeda was one of the leaders in violently harassing Nichiren Shoshu priest Jimon Ogasawara. Ogasawara had allegedly cooperated with the authorities during the war against Soka Gakkai's founder Tsunesaburō Makiguchi, who had died imprisoned, before the end of the war. Ikeda and Toda headed a group of 4,000 men belonging to the Youth Division to the Taiseki-ji, the Nichiren Shōshū head temple. When Ogasawara initially refused to apologize, the men tore off his vestments and tagged him with a placard reading "Racoon dog monk." He was then forcibly carried to Makiguchi's grave, where he was made to sign a written apology.{{cite book|last=Murata|first=Kiyoaki|title=Japan's new Buddhism: an objective account of Soka Gakkai|year=1969|publisher=Weatherhill|location=New York|isbn=978-0834800403|pages=96–97|edition=[1st ed.].}}{{cite book |last=Shimada |first=Hiromi |title=Sōkagakkai |year=2008 |publisher=Shinchōsha |location=Tōkyō |isbn=978-4106100727 |language=Japanese}}{{rp|698–711}}{{cite book|last=Montgomery|first=Daniel B.|title=Fire in the lotus: the dynamic Buddhism of Nichiren|year=1991|publisher=Mandala|location=London|isbn=978-1852740917}}{{rp|186}} Ikeda, who admitted to hitting the priest "once or twice" later referred to the incident as an "act of kindness" because "the old priest, made to realize his apostasy, was grateful to Toda and Soka Gakkai and died a happy man."

In July 3, 1957, Ikeda was arrested on charges of violating the election law and spent two weeks in jail in Osaka. He was taken into custody in his capacity as Sōka Gakkai's Youth Division Chief of Staff for overseeing activities that constituted violations of elections law. He was finally exonerated of all charges in 1962.

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In May 1960, two years after Toda's death, Ikeda, then 32 years old, succeeded him as president of the Soka Gakkai. Later that year, Ikeda began to travel overseas to build connections between Soka Gakkai members living abroad and expand the movement globally.{{cite journal |title=The transplantation of Soka Gakkai to Brazil: building "the closest organization to the heart of Ikeda-Sensei" |author=Ronan Alves Pereira |journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies |year=2008}}

As a president, Ikeda continued fusing the ideas and principles of educational pragmatism with the elements of Buddhist doctrine.{{cite journal |title=The Political Ideology of Ikeda Daisaku, President of Soka Gakkai |author=Dayle Bethel |journal=International Education |volume=3 |issue=2 |year=1974}} He reformed many of the organization's practices{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}, including the aggressive conversion style known as shakubuku, for which the group had been criticized in Japan and in other countries.{{Cite book |last1=Cherry |first1=Stephen M. |title=Global Religious Movements Across Borders: Sacred Service |last2=Ebaugh |first2=Helen Rose |date=22 April 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-12733-8 |pages=83–84 |language=en |chapter=Soka Gakkai International: Nichiren Japanese Buddhism (Daniel A. Metraux) |quote=The huge growth and power of the Soka Gakkai has drawn harsh criticism over the years, especially in Japan because of its aggressive proselytization in its early years, its decision to play an active role in politics, and what critics call a personality cult around leader Ikeda Daisaku. Soka Gakkai's practice of shakubuku contributed to their rapid growth but alienated many in Japanese society who decried such confrontational methods. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oe0GDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84}} The organization "had provoked public opprobrium because of its aggressive recruitment policies and its strongly developed political base."{{cite book|last=Reader|first=Ian|editor-last1=Lucas|editor-first1=Phillip Charles|editor-last2=Robbins|editor-first2=Thomas|title=New Religious Movements in the 21st Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective|publisher=Routledge|date=2004|pages=191–202|chapter=Chapter 12: Consensus Shattered: Japanese Paradigm Shift and Moral Panic in the Post-Aum Era|isbn=978-1-135-88902-9|quote=The movement was persecuted for its opposition to the wartime government's militarism but it is now the largest religious organization in Japan. Soka Gakkai, more than almost any other movement prior to Aum, had provoked public opprobrium because of its aggressive recruitment policies and its strongly developed political base. These developments had caused concern that Soka Gakkai might threaten the post-war constitutional separation of religion and state.}}{{rp|197}}

In 1979, Ikeda resigned as president of the Soka Gakkai (in Japan), in compliance with the demands of the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood .{{cite journal|last=Métraux|first=Daniel|date=March 1980|title=Why Did Ikeda Quit?|url=https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/2204|journal=Japanese Journal of Religious Studies|volume=7|issue=1|pages=55–61|doi=10.18874/jjrs.7.1.1980.55-61|access-date=4 June 2020|quote=Ikeda quit because the Nichiren Shoshu saw him as an obvious threat to its existence. Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai had grown so big and powerful that it threatened to devour its parent. The Nichiren Shoshu priesthood felt that it was on the verge of being overwhelmed. It had to reassert its authority to make its presence felt, and Ikeda's resignation is the clear end-result of this drive.|doi-access=free}}{{rp|56}} Hiroshi Hōjō succeeded Ikeda as Soka Gakkai president, and Ikeda was made honorary president.{{rp|55}}

Ikeda continued to be revered as the Soka Gakkai's spiritual leader, according to Asian studies associate professor Daniel Métraux.{{Cite journal|last=Metraux|first=Daniel A.|date=1 November 1999|title=Japan's Search for Political Stability: The LDP-New Komeito Alliance|url=https://online.ucpress.edu/as/article/39/6/926/23631/Japan-s-Search-for-Political-Stability-The-LDP-New|journal=Asian Survey|language=en|volume=39|issue=6|pages=926–939|doi=10.2307/3021146|jstor=3021146|issn=0004-4687|quote=Although Ikeda formally resigned his position as president of the Soka Gakkai in 1979, he is still revered as the movement's spiritual leader and spokesman}} Métraux in 1994 wrote that "adulation of Ikeda in the Gakkai press gives some non-member readers the impression that the Gakkai is little more than an Ikeda personality cult".{{cite book|last=Métraux|first=Daniel A|date=1994|title=The Soka Gakkai Revolution|location=Lanham, MD|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=9780819197337|quote=Every Soka Gakkai publication features of Ikeda and stories about his speeches, trips, and meetings. .... This adulation of Ikeda in the Gakkai press gives some non-member readers the impression that the Gakkai is little more than an Ikeda personality cult.}}{{rp|151}} One reason for the excommunication of Soka Gakkai by Nichiren Shōshū in 1991 was, according to the "Nichiren Shoshu" entry in The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, "Nichiren Shōshū accusing Sōka Gakkai of forming a personality cult around their leader Ikeda" and "Soka Gakkai accusing the Nichiren Shoshu leader Abe Nikken of trying to dominate both organizations."{{Cite book|last1=Buswell|first1=Robert E. Jr.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EGmYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA582|page=582|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|last2=Lopez|first2=Donald S. Jr.|date=24 November 2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-15786-3|language=en}} Sociologist of religion Peter Beyer in 2006 summarizes an understanding in the context of contemporary global society: "Until the 1990s, Soka Gakkai still was related formally to the monastic organization, Nichiren Shoshu, but conflicts over authority led to their separation (Métraux 1994)."{{cite book|last=Beyer|first=Peter|date=2006|title=Religions in Global Society|url= https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22728649M |publisher=Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group|isbn=0-415-39318-3|ol=22728649M|url-access=registration}}{{rp|277}}

{{further|Soka Gakkai International}}

By the 1970s, Ikeda's leadership had expanded the Soka Gakkai into an international lay Buddhist movement increasingly active in peace, cultural, and educational activities.{{cite book|editor=Queen, Christopher S. |editor2=Sallie B. King |title=Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia|year=1996|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany|isbn=0-7914-2844-3}}{{rp|371–72, 376}} On 26 January 1975, Soka Gakkai representatives from 51 countries created the Soka Gakkai International. Ikeda took a leading role in the global organization's development and became the founding president of the Soka Gakkai International.

Ikeda has elicited a variety of assessments from scholars and journalists. According to Asian studies professor Daniel Métraux in 1994, Ikeda is "possibly one of the more controversial figures in Japan's modern history".

In 1996, the Los Angeles Times described Ikeda as "the most powerful man in Japan - and certainly one of the most enigmatic", "condemned and praised as a devil and an angel, [...] a despot and a democrat".{{cite news |title=Japan's Crusader or Corrupter? |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=15 March 1996 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-15-mn-47383-story.html|quote=He is, by some accounts, the most powerful man in Japan - and certainly one of the most enigmatic: Daisaku Ikeda, leader of the nation's largest religious organization, has been condemned and praised as a devil and an angel, a Hitler and a Gandhi, a despot and a democrat}}

In 1984, Polly Toynbee, grand-daughter of British historian Arnold Toynbee, whose conversations with Ikeda were published, was invited by Ikeda to meet him in Japan. Following her visit, she wrote a critical article for The Guardian on meeting the leader. She writes:

"On the long flight to Japan, I read for the first time my grandfather's posthumously, published book, "Choose Life -- A Dialogue".. . . My grandfather [...] was 85 when the dialogue was recorded, a short time before his final incapacitating stroke (...) My grandfather never met Ikeda on his visits to Japan. His old Japanese friends were clearly less than delighted with lkeda's grandiose appropriation of his memories. Several days passed before we were to meet our mysterious host, time in which we learned more about Mr Ikeda and his Soka Gakkai movement. One thing above all others was made clear: this was an organisation of immense wealth, power and political influence (...) Asked to hazard a guess at his occupation, few would have selected him as a religious figure. I have met many powerful men—prime ministers, leaders of all kinds—but I have never in my life met anyone who exuded such an aura of absolute power as Mr Ikeda".

In the history of institutional relations between the religious movement Soka Gakkai and the political party Kōmeitō founded in 1964 by Ikeda as an outgrowth from Soka Gakkai,{{Cite web |last=Gebert |first=Andrew |date=2011-09-30 |title=Soka Gakkai |website=Oxford Bibliographies |url=https://oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195393521/obo-9780195393521-0053.xml |language=en |doi=10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0053|quote=The third president, Daisaku Ikeda (b. 1928), took over leadership in 1960; the founder of an affiliated political party, the Komei Party, and numerous educational and cultural bodies, he has further overseen the Soka Gakkai's international expansion.}}{{Cite book |last=Urbain |first=Olivier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YG_tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 |page=26|title=Daisaku Ikeda and Dialogue for Peace |date=2013-08-09 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85772-455-7 |language=en|quote=Also, when Ikeda founded the Komeito Party in 1964, he suggested including in the Party's program the political issue of normalizing relations with China.}}{{cite book |last1=Klein |first1=Axel |last2=McLaughlin |first2=Levi |date=January 2022 |editor-last1=Pekkanen |editor-first1=Robert J. |editor-last2=Pekkanen |editor-first2=Saadia M. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Politics |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Kōmeitō: The Party and Its Place in Japanese Politics |isbn=9780190050993 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190050993.013.5 |quote=The chapter then delves into the party's history, detailing its origins in 1964 as an outgrowth from Sōka Gakkai, an influential Japanese lay Buddhist organization.}} he has faced "unabated criticism against the alleged violation of the separation of religion and state"{{cite book|last=Dehn |first=Ulrich|editor1-last=Staemmler|editor1-first=Birgit|editor2-last=Dehn|editor2-first=Ulrich|title=Establishing the Revolutionary: An Introduction to New Religions in Japan|publisher=Lit Verlag|date=2011|pages=201–220 |chapter=Chapter 5: Soka Gakkai|isbn=978-3-643-90152-1|quote=(p203:) ...Japan at that time under authoritarian military rule was in close cooperation with Shinto shrines and Shinto imperial ideology. ...[I]n 1942 all households were ordered to display Shinto-ofuda (amulets) to keep away evil from their houses. Soka Gakkai refused to show the ofuda at the headquarters' entrance which caused the observation of Soka Gakkai's inner circle and led to the imprisonment of 22 leaders on 6 July 1943, on the charge of an offence against state security and blasphemy. Makiguchi had called the emperor a human being. The organization was disbanded by the government. In November 1944, Makiguchi died of undernourishment; following his death, most of the imprisoned Soka Gakkai leaders, except for Toda Josei and Yajima, withdrew their Soka Gakkai membership and were released.(p215:) In 1964, Soka Gakkai launched its political party Komeito after already in 1955 independent deputies had been elected through Soka Gakkai support into both houses of parliament. (p216:)There has been unabated criticism against the alleged violation of the separation of religion and state and the alleged ambitions of Soka Gakkai International president (and former Soka Gakkai president) Ikeda to gain supreme political power in the country.}}{{rp|203,215,216}} and been accused of "far-reaching political ambitions."{{Cite book |last=Kisala |first=Robert |title=Controversial New Religions |title-link=Controversial New Religions |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-515682-9 |editor-last=Lewis |editor-first=James R. |editor-link=James R. Lewis (scholar) |edition=1st |location=New York |language=en |chapter=Soka Gakkai: Searching for the Mainstream |editor-last2=Petersen |editor-first2=Jesper Aagaard |pages=139–152|quote=(p149:)Despite this lack of formal higher education, Ikeda has been prominent in international peace forums, addressing the United Nations General Assembly and keeping a high profile in his frequent exchanges with prominent statesmen and academics. In his numerous proposals on peace and disarmament, Ikeda makes continued reference to the ideal of universal disarmament and resolution of conflict through negotiation. Ikeda has been a controversial figure in Japan [...]. His critics accuse him of far-reaching political ambitions, and the tabloid press has played up unsubstantiated reports of sexual and financial scandals. Prefiguring the split with Nichiren Shoshu in 1991, Ikeda resigned as president of Soka Gakkai in 1979, in an attempt to repair the already strained relationship with the Shoshu monks over his power and the personality cult built around him. His continuing paramount role within the group, as well as the cult surrounding his figure, is evident, however, in the treatment afforded him by the Seikyo Shimbun, Soka Gakkai's daily newspaper, where the front page is commonly devoted to reports on his activities.}}{{rp|149}} Associate professor of government George Ehrhardt and co-authors write that "Sōka Gakkai's entrance into the political arena [...] permanently transformed the relationship between religion and politics in Japan by dividing those who opposed the creation of a religious political party from those who accepted it."{{cite book |last1=Ehrhardt|first1=George|last2=Klein|first2=Axel|last3=McLaughlin |first3=Levi|last4=Reed|first4=Steven R.|editor-last1=Ehrhardt|editor-first1=George|editor-last2=Klein|editor-first2=Axel|editor-last3=McLaughlin |editor-first3=Levi|editor-last4=Reed|editor-first4=Steven R.|title=Komeito: Politics and Religion in Japan|publisher=Institute of East AsianStudies |year=2015|pages=3–24|chapter=Chapter 1: Kōmeitō: The Most Understudied Party of Japanese Politics|isbn=978-1-55729-111-0}}{{rp|16}}

In 2015, addressing the "party's understudied history," political scientist Steven Reed and his co-authors write that "the image of Kōmeitō as a mere political branch of Sōka Gakkai is clearly mistaken" and that "the separation between party and religious group announced by Ikeda Daisaku in 1970 made a real difference." He also states that "sōka gakkai meetings are used to introduce Kōmeitō candidates and to advertise the party, particularly during the period leading up the election."

{{cite book|last1=Ehrhardt |first1=George|last2=Klein|first2=Axel|last3=Mclaughlin|first3=Levi|last4=Reed|first4=Steven R|editor-last1=Ehrhardt|editor-first=George|editor-last2=Klein|editor-first2=Axel|editor-last3=McLaughlin|editor-first3=Levi|editor-last4=Reed|editor-first4=Steven R |title=Kōmeitō: Politics and Religion in Japan|publisher=Institute of East Asian Studies|date=May 2015|pages=269–276|chapter=Chapter 11: Kōmeitō: Politics and Religion in Japan|isbn=978-1-55729-162-2|quote=Like other parties originating from a religious organization, Kōmeitō grew increasingly independent and turned into a self-contained, self-interested party with a distinct agenda that is not always compatible with that of Sōka Gakkai. While many aspects of the relationship between the organizations are still unclear, the image of Kōmeitō as a mere political branch of Sōka Gakkai is clearly mistaken. Concerns regarding Kōmeitō's link to religion remain, yet our findings indicate clearly that the separation between party and religious group announced by Ikeda Daisaku in 1970 made a real difference. Kōmeitō has matured into an organization that, in terms of policy and institutional behavior, has shifted both its strategies and policies in a politically rational manner. In the 1970s, Kōmeitō cooperated with opposition parties. When these attempts failed, the party responded positively to LDP approaches, leading eventually to the coalition government in 1999. Finally, as we detailed in chapter 10, none of the dire predictions about what would happen if Kōmeitō ever gained power have come to pass. First, Kōmeitō in power has not proven a threat to democracy. ... Second, Kōmeitō in power has not threatened other religious groups or tried to get special privileges for Sōka Gakkai relative to other religious groups. Indeed, Kōmeitō has acted to protect the interests of religious groups in general. ... A major motivation for producing this volume was our conviction that Kōmeitō is one of the most understudied aspects of Japanese politics.}}{{rp|271–272}}

About "the changing role of the Komeito in Japanese politics in the 1990s", Daniel Métraux states that: "While it is difficult to determine his exact role, an examination of his daily itinerary would reveal that he would have very little time personally for political management and that most of the aging leader's time is devoted to religious affairs, traveling, and writing. Ikeda may well have influenced the Komeito in a macrosense, but in a microsense he is clearly not involved. The Komeito and its successes have a life of their own; they are certainly not lifeless puppets ready to react to Ikeda's or to the Soka Gakkai's every whim."{{cite journal|last=Métraux|first=Daniel|title=The Changing Role of the Komeito in Japanese Politics in the 1990s|journal=Japan Studies Review |volume=3|publisher=University of North Florida |date= 1999 | pages=41–60|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iygOAQAAMAAJ|quote=(p43:) The actual role of Soka Gakkai's spiritual leader Ikeda Daisaku has been a matter of some controversy in Japanese politics for several decades. As the self-proclaimed founder and avid supporter of the Komeito, he potentially wields considerable influence in the political world. Some journalists and conservative politicians as former Komeito president Takeiri Yoshikatsu have claimed that Ikeda plays an active role in Komeito affairs.... (p44:) While it is difficult to determine his exact role, an examination of his daily itinerary would reveal that he would have very little time personally for political management and that most of the aging leader's time is devoted to religious affairs, traveling, and writing. Ikeda may well have influenced the Komeito in a macrosense, but in a microsense he is clearly not involved. The Komeito and its successes have a life of their own; they are certainly not lifeless puppets ready to react to Ikeda's or to the Soka Gakkai's every whim.}}{{rp|44}}

A lot of newspapers and scholars have proven though that, despite the formal separation, there are still "strong links"{{Cite book |author=Darren F. McClurg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vt-vDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA363 |title=Religion and Contemporary Politics: A Global Encyclopedia [2 volumes] |date=19 September 2019 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-3933-7 |editor1=Timothy J. Demy |page=363 |language=en |quote=As a result of the fallout from this attack on free speech, Soka Gakkai and Komeito were forced to separate, and both renounced their goal of converting the population to Nichiren Buddhism. Although weakened, strong links between the two remained, and Gakkai voters continue to supporter Komeito politicians. Ikeda stepped down from leadership of the organisation in 1979 but remains its honorary president and its spiritual leader to this day. The Economist called him "the most powerful man in Japanese politics" as late as 1999. |editor2=Jeffrey M. Shaw}}{{rp|363}}{{Cite book |last=Porcu |first=Elisabetta |title=Religion and Politics: European and Global Perspectives |date=23 April 2014 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=978-0-7486-9174-6 |editor-last=Arnason |editor-first=Johann P. |pages=168–183 |language=en |chapter=Religion and the State in Contemporary Japan |quote=The strong link between Soka Gakkai and Komeito (since 1998, Shin Komeito or New Komeito) however still remains and the support for candidates by the religious group continues. Such a situation is made possible because Article 20 does not deny the possibility of a religious organisation forming a political party, which is seen as an expression of religious freedom by those religious groups involved in politics |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVirBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA170}}{{rp|170}} and that the Komeito has remained to some extent the "political arm" of Soka Gakkai.{{Cite news |author=Obuchi, Keizo |date=1 July 1999 |title=Support, at a price |url=https://www.economist.com/asia/1999/07/01/support-at-a-price |access-date=6 October 2020 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613 |quote=He has been called the most powerful man in Japanese politics, yet he is not even a politician. Daisaku Ikeda is the spiritual leader of the Soka Gakkai, a lay Buddhist group that can muster nearly 7m votes—a tenth of Japan's voting population (and a fifth of those who turn out in most elections). The Soka Gakkai's political arm, the New Komeito, is the second-largest opposition party in the Diet (parliament) and is notably influential in the upper house. That is a measure of Mr Ikeda's power.}}{{Cite book |last=Corduan |first=Winfried |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yba83tvjvZEC&pg=PA479 |title=Neighboring Faiths: A Christian Introduction to World Religions |date=22 October 2012 |publisher=InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-3970-4 |edition=2nd |page=479 |language=en |quote=footnote 37: The Komeito severed its organizational ties to SG in 1970, but has nonetheless remained the political arm of Sokka Gakkai in Japan. The party has gone through several mergers and divisions with other parties, but is presently a separate party again, known as 'New Komeito' (see Dobbelaere, Soka Gakkai, pp. 60–73).}}{{rp|479}}{{Cite book |last1=Tellis |first1=Ashley J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oNvb4RBmZQUC&pg=PA75 |title=Domestic Political Change and Grand Strategy |last2=Wills |first2=Michael |date=2007 |publisher=National Bureau of Asian Research |isbn=978-0-9713938-8-2 |page=75 |language=en |quote=In addition to forging coalitions with and even absorbing different conservative mini-parties, the LDP has since 1999 developed a partnership with the Komeito, the political arm of the religious group Sokagakkai with a strong base in Japanese cities.}}{{rp|75}}

In 1970, there was a freedom of speech controversy about the intent to prevent the publication of Hirotatsu Fujiwara's polemical book, I denounce Soka Gakkai, that vehemently criticized Ikeda, Soka Gakkai and the Komeito.{{Cite book|last=Hrebenar|first=Ronald J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P6yhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT148|title=The Japanese Party System: From One-party Rule To Coalition Government|date=9 July 2019|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-000-30274-5|language=en}}{{rp|148}}{{Cite book|last=Baffelli|first=Erica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFCFCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT112|title=Media and New Religions in Japan|date=5 February 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-11783-2|language=en}}{{rp|112}}{{rp|96}} In his 3 May 1970 speech, addressing, among others, Soka Gakkai members, guests and news media, Ikeda responded to the controversy by: apologizing to the nation "for the trouble...the incident caused," affirming the Soka Gakkai's commitment to free speech and religious freedom, announcing a new policy of formal separation between the Soka Gakkai religious movement and Komeito, calling for both moderation in religious conversion practices and democratizing reforms in the Soka Gakkai, and envisioning a Buddhist-inspired humanism.{{rp|97–98}}{{cite book |last=McLaughlin |first=Levi |editor-last1=Ehrhardt |editor-first1=George |editor-last2=Klein |editor-first2=Axel |editor-last3=McLaughlin |editor-first3=Levi |editor-last4=Reed |editor-first4=Steven R |title=Komeito: Politics and Religion in Japan |publisher=Institute of East AsianStudies |year=2014 |pages=51–82 |chapter=Chapter 3: Electioneering as Religious Practice: A History of Soka Gakkai's Political Activities to 1970 |isbn=978-1-55729-111-0

}}{{rp|76–77}}

In October 1982, Ikeda had to appear in court concerning three cases.{{Cite book|last=Hrebenar|first=Ronald J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P6yhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT150|title=The Japanese Party System: From One-party Rule To Coalition Government|date=9 July 2019|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-000-30274-5|language=en|page=150|quote=October 1982 was an especially bad month for Soka Gakkai leader Ikeda Daisaku, who appeared in court three times to deny having affairs with Komeito Dietmembers, to testify the Yamazaki blackmail case, and to acknowledge that Soka Gakkai members had wiretapped the house of JCP leader Miyamoto Kenji.}}{{rp|150}}

Ikeda's relationship with his mentor, Jōsei Toda, and influence of Tsunesaburō Makiguchi's educational philosophy, shaped his emphasis on dialogue and education as fundamental to building trust between people and peace in society.{{Cite book|last=Goulah|first=Jason|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8YntCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT106|title=Daisaku Ikeda, Language and Education|date=8 April 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-91485-2|language=en|pages=106–107}} He interprets the Middle Way as a path between idealism and materialism.

Ikeda's use of the term ōbutsu myōgō in his 1964 book Seiji shūkyō (Politics and Religion) has been interpreted to mean "politics by people, with mercy and altruism as a Buddhist philosophy, different from the union of politics and religion (seikyo icchi)."{{Cite web|last=Daisuke Akimoto|first=Sōka University Peace Research Institute|date=1 May 2012|title=Kōmeitō in Japanese Politics|url=https://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/ejcjs/vol12/iss3/akimoto.html|access-date=18 February 2021|website=www.japanesestudies.org.uk|language=en-gb}}{{rp|4}} The term is also used by Ikeda in the Komeito's founding statement.{{Cite book |last1=Hardacre |first1=Helen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8mUuEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 |page=166|title=Japanese Constitutional Revisionism and Civic Activism |last2=George |first2=Timothy S. |last3=Komamura |first3=Keigo |last4=Seraphim |first4=Franziska |date=2021 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-7936-0905-2 |language=en|quote=Ikeda's use of ōbutsu myōgō in Komeito's founding statement reaffirmed Toda's goal, and members continued to be inspired by this millenarian aim as they worked for Komeito campaigns.}} In the 1969 edition of Seiji shūkyō, "he declared that obutsu myogo would not be an act of Soka Gakkai imposing its will on the Japanese state to install Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism as the national creed," and that "Soka Gakkai, through Komeito, would instead guide Japan to a new, democratic world order, a 'Buddhist democracy' (buppo minshu shugi) combining the Dharma with the best of the Euro-American philosophical tradition to focus on social welfare and humanistic socialism."{{cite book |last=McLaughlin |first=Levi |editor-last1=Ehrhardt |editor-first1=George |editor-last2=Klein |editor-first2=Axel |editor-last3=McLaughlin |editor-first3=Levi |editor-last4=Reed |editor-first4=Steven R |title=Komeito: Politics and Religion in Japan |publisher=Institute of East AsianStudies |year=2014 |pages=51–82 |chapter=Chapter 3: Electioneering as Religious Practice: A History of Soka Gakkai's Political Activities to 1970 |isbn=978-1-55729-111-0}}{{rp|73}} Another interpretation of his views at that time was that "Buddhist democracy" could be achieved by a "religious revolution" through kōsen-rufu on the premise of achieving "social prosperity in accordance with individual happiness" for the entire society.{{Cite book|last=Baffelli|first=Erica|editor-last=Starrs|editor-first=Roy|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QLqADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA233|title=Politics and Religion in Modern Japan: Red Sun, White Lotus|date=9 August 2011|publisher=Springer|pages=216–239|chapter=Chapter 8: 'The Gakkai is Faith; the Kōmeitō is Action': Soka Gakkai and 'Buddhist Politics'|isbn=978-0-230-33668-1|language=en}}{{rp|233, 232}} In 1970, after Ikeda announced the severing of official ties between the Soka Gakkai and Komeito, the use of "politically charged terms such as obutsu myogo" was eliminated.{{cite journal |last=McLaughlin|first=Levi|date=12 October 2015|title=Komeito's Soka Gakkai Protesters and Supporters: Religious Motivations for Political Activism in Contemporary Japan |journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal/Japan Focus |volume=13|issue=41|pages=1–31}}{{rp|15}}

Ikeda refers in several writings to the Nine Consciousness as an important conception for self-transformation, identifying the ninth one, "amala-vijñāna", with the Buddha-nature. According to him, the "transformation of the karma of one individual" can lead to the transformation of the entire society and humankind.{{Cite book|last1=Braidotti|first1=Rosi|author-link=Rosi Braidotti|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g-TaDwAAQBAJ|title=Deleuze and the Humanities: East and West|last2=Wong|first2=Kin Yuen|last3=Chan|first3=Amy K. S.|date=14 March 2018|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-78660-601-3|language=en|pages=45–58|chapter=Tony See, "Deleuze and Ikeda: Two Concepts of revolution"}}

{{further|Soka School System}}

Ikeda founded a number of institutions to promote education, cultural exchange and the exchange of ideas on peacebuilding through dialogue. They include: Soka University in Tokyo, Japan, and Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo, California; the Victor Hugo House of Literature, in France; the International Committee of Artists for Peace in the United States; the Min-On Concert Association in Japan...

From 1990, Ikeda partnered with Rabbi Abraham Cooper and the Simon Wiesenthal Center to address anti-Semitic stereotypes in Japan. {{Citation needed}}

Since 26 January 1983, Ikeda had submitted annual peace proposals to the United Nations, addressing such areas as building a culture of peace, gender equality in education, empowerment of women, youth empowerment and activism for peace, UN reform and universal human rights with a view on global civilization.{{cite book|last=Chowdhury|first=Ambassador Anwaraul K|editor-last=Urbain|editor-first=Olivier|title=A Forum for Peace: Daisaku Ikeda's Proposals to the UN|publisher=I.B. Taurus|date=2014|pages=xi–xiv|chapter=Foreword|isbn=978-1-78076-840-3}}

Ikeda's proposals for nuclear disarmament and abolishing nuclear weapons were submitted to the special session of the UN General Assembly in 1978, 1982 and 1988. {{Citation needed}}

Ikeda has described his travels, meetings and dialogues as citizen diplomacy.Métraux, Daniel A. 1994. The Soka Gakkai Revolution. Lanham/New York/London: University Press of America {{ISBN|0-8191-9733-5}}{{rp|126}}Seager 2006, p119.

Researchers linked to Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai have suggested the body of literature chronicling Ikeda's diplomatic efforts and his international dialogues provide readers with a personalized global education and model of citizen diplomacy.Goulah, Jason. "Dialogic Practice in Education." In Urbain, Olivier. 2013. Daisaku Ikeda and Dialogue for Peace. London/New York: I.B. Tauris. p83. {{ISBN|978-1-78076-572-3}}

First in 1967 then several times in 1970, Ikeda met with Austrian-Japanese politician and philosopher Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder of the Paneuropean Movement. Their discussions which focused on east–west relations and the future of peace work were serialized in the Sankei Shimbun newspaper in 1971.{{cite book|last1=Teranashi|first1=Hirotomo|editor1-last=Urbain|editor1-first=Olivier|title=Daisaku Ikeda and Dialogue for Peace|date=2013|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=978-0-85773-413-6| page=23|quote=However, his meetings with Count Coudenhove-Kalergi that took place in 1967 and 1970 were of a different nature. These meetings covered subjects such as a comparison of the cultures of East and West and discussions on the future direction the world ought to take. This may be considered Ikeda's first full-fledged exchange of views with the international intelligentsia.}}{{cite web |year= 2013 |url= http://www.law.tohoku.ac.jp/~tozawa/RCK%20HP/RCKjap3.htm |script-title=ja:クーデンホーフ·カレルギーと創価学会 (Coudenhove-Kalergi and the Soka Gakkai) |last=Tozawa|first=Hidenori |publisher=Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi Forum (School of Law, Tohoku University) |access-date=25 April 2019 |language=ja}} In 1974, Ikeda conducted a dialogue with French novelist and then former Minister of Cultural Affairs Andre Malraux.{{cite book|title=Ningen kakumei to ningen no joken (Changes Within: Human Revolution vs. Human Condition)|author=Andre Malraux and Daisaku Ikeda |publisher=Ushio Shuppansha Tokyo |year=2010}}

In January 1975, Ikeda met with Henry Kissinger, then United States Secretary of State, to "urge the de-escalation of nuclear tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union."{{cite news |title=No More Nukes |date=3 February 2015 |work=Tricycle |url=http://www.tricycle.com/blog/no-more-nukes |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218005402/http://www.tricycle.com/blog/no-more-nukes |archive-date=18 February 2015 |access-date=19 February 2015}} The same month Ikeda met with Secretary-General of the United Nations Kurt Waldheim. Ikeda presented Waldheim with a petition containing the signatures of 10,000,000 people calling for total nuclear abolition. The petition was organized by youth groups of the Soka Gakkai International and was inspired by Ikeda's longtime anti-nuclear efforts.{{cite book|last1=Nanda|first1=Ved P.|editor1-last=Krieger|editor1-first=David|title=The Challenge of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons|date=2009|publisher=Transaction Publishers|location=New Brunswick, N.J.|isbn=978-1-4128-1517-8}}{{cite journal|last=Ikeda |first=Daisaku |date=1987 |title=The Human Revolution: A Prerequisite for Lasting Peace |url=https://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/7763 |journal=McGill Journal of Education|volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=246–257 |access-date=20 January 2022 |quote=In 1972, I suggested the initiation of a youth movement to devent the sanctity of life, and its dignity. ... First, a campaign to collect signatures for petitions seeking the abolition of nuclear weapons and an end to war was carried out across Japan. Ten million signatures were collected; ten million people announced their wish for peace and a nuclear-free world. In 1975, I passed these petitions to Kurt Waldheim, then secretary-general of the United Nations.}}{{rp|250}}

Ikeda's meetings with Nelson Mandela in the 1990s led to a series of Soka Gakkai International-sponsored anti-apartheid lectures, a traveling exhibit, and multiple student exchange programs at the university level.Seager 2006, p120. Their October 1990 meeting in Tokyo led to collaboration with the African National Congress and the United Nations Apartheid Center on an anti-apartheid exhibit inaugurated in Yokohama, Japan "on the 15th anniversary of the Soweto uprisings (16 June 1976)."{{cite journal |last= Dessì |first=Ugo |date=2020 |title=Soka Gakkai International in Post-Apartheid South Africa |journal=Religions |volume=11 |issue=11 |page=598 |doi=10.3390/rel11110598 |doi-access=free }}{{rp|9}}

Ikeda made several visits to China and met with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1974, though Sino-Japanese tensions remained over the brutalities of war waged by the Japanese militarists.{{cite web| url=http://www.zhouenlaipeaceinstitute.org/en/building-peace/world-youth-symposium/ |title=World Youth Symposium, Nankai University, Tianjin |last=Zhou |first=Xiaofang |date=6 December 2014 |publisher=Zhou Enlai Peace Institute |access-date=22 November 2016 |quote=At that time, Premier Zhou met with the great scholar and peace advocate, Mr. Daisaku Ikeda. His heart was still in pain, because of the campaign of the Japanese militarists against China, and the war between the two peoples was still fresh with the memory of enormous pain and suffering. But Premier Zhou Enlai of China received Dr. Ikeda with dignity and compassion; their conversation is of historic significance and bore great fruit. It set the stage for breaking the deadlock with the US and China, through the visit of Mr. Kissinger and President Nixon to China, and signalled the beginning of a move toward the normalization of relations.}} The visits led to the establishment of cultural exchanges, and opened academic exchanges between Chinese educational institutions and Soka University. Chinese media describe Ikeda as an early proponent of normalizing diplomatic relations between China and Japan in the 1970s, citing his 1968 proposal that drew condemnation by some and the interest of others including Zhou Enlai.Chong Zi and Qin Jize, [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2008-05/09/content_6671868.htm "Praise for man that called for friendship"]. China Daily. 9 May 2008. p3."Ikeda was strongly criticized and even received death threats from right-wingers. Ikeda saw peace with China as fundamental to the stability of Asia, and considered the reintegration of China into the international community as vital to world peace. His call and behind-the-scenes efforts helped establish the groundwork for a series of political-level exchanges between China and Japan, culminating in the restoration of diplomatic relations in 1972." Excerpted from Cai Hong, [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012btforum/2012-07/04/content_15546761.htm "Books to connect cultures."] China Daily. 4 July 2012. It was said that Zhou Enlai entrusted Ikeda with ensuring that "Sino-Japanese friendship would continue for generations to come."南开大学周恩来研究中心 (Zhou Enlai Research Center, Nankai University). 2001. 周恩来与池田大作 (Zhou Enlai and Daisaku Ikeda). 主编王永祥 (Edited by Wang Yongxian). Beijing, China: Central Literature Publishing House (Central Literature Publishing House). p2. {{ISBN|7-5073-0973-8}}.

{{Further|List of awards and honours received by Daisaku Ikeda}}

Ikeda lived in Tokyo with his wife, Kaneko Ikeda (née Kaneko Shiraki), whom he married on 3 May 1952. The couple had three sons, Hiromasa, Shirohisa (died 1984), and Takahiro.

Hiromasa Ikeda is the executive vice-president of the Soka Gakkai International and trustee of the Soka University in Japan.{{Cite web |last=DePaul College of Education |title=Acceptance Speech on the Conferral of the Degree of Doctorate of Human Letters, Honoris Causa from DePaul University |url=https://education.depaul.edu/about/centers-and-initiatives/institute-for-daisaku-ikeda-studies/Pages/messages-from-daisaku-ikeda.aspx |access-date=9 September 2024}}

Takahiro Ikeda is director of the Soka School System, the educational corporation of the Sôka Gakkai.

Daisaku Ikeda died on 15 November 2023, at the age of 95. His death was publicly announced on 18 November.{{cite web |url=https://nordot.app/1098486361100419680?c=899922300288598016 |title=池田大作名誉会長は15日に老衰で死去 |date=18 November 2023 |website=Kyodo News |access-date=18 November 2023 |language=ja |trans-title=Honorary Chairman Daisaku Ikeda died of old age on the 15th. |author1=共同通信 }}

The 1976 publication of Choose Life: A Dialogue (in Japanese, Nijusseiki e no taiga) is the published record of dialogues and correspondences that began in 1971 between Ikeda and British historian Arnold J. Toynbee about the "convergence of East and West"McNeill, William H. 1989. Arnold J. Toynbee: A Life. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. p273. {{ISBN|0-19-505863-1}} on contemporary as well as perennial topics ranging from the human condition to the role of religion and the future of human civilization. As of 2012, the book had been translated and published in twenty-six languages.{{cite journal | author = Goulah Jason, Ito Takao | year = 2012 | title = Daisaku Ikeda's Curriculum of Soka Education: Creating Value Through Dialogue, Global Citizenship, and 'Human Education' in the Mentor-Disciple Relationship | journal = Curriculum Inquiry | volume = 42 | issue = 1| page = 65 | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-873X.2011.00572.x| s2cid = 143095558 }}

But Toynbee being "paid well" for the interviews with Ikeda raised criticism : "he accepted the dialogue with the controversial Ikeda primarily for the money", according to historian Louis Turner.{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1fV5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA292|page=292|author=Louis Turner|editor=Hugh Cortazzi|editor-link=Hugh Cortazzi|chapter=Arnold Toynbee and Japan: From Historian to Guru|title=Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits, Vol. VII|date=2010-09-23|publisher=Global Oriental|isbn=978-90-04-21803-1|language=en|quote=Toynbee "was paid well for six days of extended interviews [...]. The Toynbee-Ikeda dialogue was the final book in Toynbee's prolific career, which meant that his career ended on a controversial note. In some ways this dialogue played into the hands of Toynbee's critics who disliked his obsession with money. Just as his reputation had suffered in the US from his obsession with accepting lucrative lecturing engagements without much concern about the quality of the institutions he was addressing, so it can be argued that he accepted the dialogue with the controversial Ikeda primarily for the money. [...] The controversial Ikeda/Soka Gakkai attempt to use Toynbee's name and reputation needs to be seen in a wider context.}} To an expat's letter critical of Toynbee's association with Ikeda and Soka Gakkai, Toynbee wrote back: "I agree with Soka Gakkai on religion as the most important thing in human life, and on opposition to militarism and war."Qtd. in McNeill 1989, pp 272–273.

Ikeda's most well-known publication is the novel The Human Revolution, which is an autobiography in 30 volumes, but with great freedoms in relation to the facts.

In their 1984 book Before It Is Too Late, Ikeda and Aurelio Peccei discuss the human link in the ecological consequences of industrialization, calling for a reform in understanding human agency to effect harmonious relationships both between humans and with nature.{{cite news|url=https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2015/11/23/book-review-aurelio-peccei-and-daisako-ikeda-before-it-is-too-late/|title=Book Review: Aurelio Peccei and Daisaku Ikeda, "Before It Is Too Late"|last=Scales Avery|first=John|date=23 November 2015|website=Human Wrongs Watch|access-date=30 September 2020}}

In Life—An Enigma, a Precious Jewel (1982), Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth and Death (1984), discussions of a Buddhist ontology offer an alternative to anthropocentric and biocentric approaches to wildlife conservation.{{cite journal|last=Paterson|first=Barbara|date=February 2006|title=Ethics for Wildlife Conservation: Overcoming the Human–Nature Dualism|journal=BioScience|volume=56|issue=2|pages=144–150|doi=10.1641/0006-3568(2006)056[0144:efwcot]2.0.co;2|doi-access=free}}

The sixteen conversations between Lou Marinoff and Ikeda in their book The Inner Philosopher (2012) introduce classic Eastern and Western philosophers.

In 2003, Japan's largest English-language newspaper, The Japan Times, began carrying Ikeda's contributed commentaries on global issues.{{cite news | url= http://www.japantimes.co.jp/author/int-daisaku_ikeda/ | title= Author Daisaku Ikeda | newspaper = The Japan Times | access-date = 29 October 2015}} By 2015, The Japan Times had published 26 of them. But the column raised criticism among the Japan Times' journalists, who protested their disagreement with Ikeda's writing in 2006.{{Cite news |date=2006-07-02 |title=Japan Times infighting erupts over "Daisaku Ikeda column" |url=http://blog.livedoor.jp/catnewsagency/archives/21319893.html |access-date=January 7, 2025 |work=Cat News Agency}}

{{div col|colwidth=40em}}

• Choose Life: A Dialogue with Arnold J. Toynbee, Richard L. Gage (Editor), (1976), Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-215258-9}}; London and New York: I. B. Tauris, Reprint edition, 2008; {{ISBN|978-1-84511-595-1}}
• On Peace, Life and Philosophy with Henry Kissinger (tentative translation from Japanese), Heiwa to jinsei to tetsugaku o kataru,「平和」と「人生」と「哲学」を語る, Tokyo, Japan: Ushio Shuppansha, 1987; {{ISBN|978-4-267-01164-1}}
• Humanity at the Crossroads: An Intercultural Dialogue with Karan Singh, New Delhi: Oxford University Press India, 1988; {{ISBN|978-0-19-562215-7}}
• Dawn After Dark with René Huyghe, (1991), Weatherhill, {{ISBN|978-0-8348-0238-4}}; London and New York: I. B. Tauris, Reprint edition, 2008; {{ISBN|978-1-84511-596-8}}
• The New Human Revolution (an ongoing series) (30+ Volumes, this is an ongoing series), Santa Monica, California: World Tribune Press, 1995–;
• Dialogue of World Citizens with Norman Cousins, (tentative translation from Japanese), Sekai shimin no taiwa, 世界市民の対話, Paperback edition, Tokyo, Japan: Seikyo Shimbunsha, 2000; {{ISBN|978-4-412-01077-2}}
• Dialogue for a Greater Century of Humanism with John Kenneth Galbraith (in Japanese: 人間主義の大世紀を―わが人生を飾れ) Tokyo, Japan: Ushio Shuppansha, 2005; {{ISBN|978-4-267-01730-8}}
• Moral Lessons of the Twentieth Century: Gorbachev and Ikeda on Buddhism and Communism with Mikhail Gorbachev, London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2005; {{ISBN|978-1-84511-773-3}}
• The Human Revolution (The Human Revolution, #1–12), abridged two-book set, Santa Monica, California: World Tribune Press, 2008; {{ISBN|0-915678-77-2}}
• A Dialogue Between East and West: Looking to a Human Revolution with Ricardo Díez Hochleitner, Echoes and Reflections: The Selected Works of Daisaku Ikeda series, London and New York: I. B. Tauris, 2008
• The Inner Philosopher: Conversations on Philosophy's Transformative Power with Lou Marinoff, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Dialogue Path Press, 2012; {{ISBN|978-1-887917-09-4}}

{{div col end}}

• America Will Be!: Conversations on Hope, Freedom, and Democracy, with Vincent Harding, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Dialogue Path Press, 2013; {{ISBN|978-1-887917-10-0}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.daisakuikeda.org daisakuikeda.org] – Official Daisaku Ikeda website
• [http://www.soka.ac.jp/en/about/philosophy/founder/lecture/ soka.ac.jp/en] – Full text of selected lectures by Soka University Founder

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{{Succession box| before=Jōsei Toda| title= 3rd President of Soka Gakkai | after=Hiroshi Hōjō (北条浩) | years=3 May 1960 – 24 April 1979}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikeda, Daisaku}}

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Category:2023 deaths

Category:20th-century Buddhists

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Category:Japanese anti–nuclear weapons activists

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Category:Members of Sōka Gakkai

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Category:Activists from Tokyo