A New Humanism: The University Addresses of Daisaku Ikeda
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Pub. Year
1996
Publisher
Weatherhill
ISBN
0-8348-0334-8 (hardcover)
0-8348-0367-4 (paperback)
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Addressing students, educators, and intellectuals, Daisaku Ikeda has engaged scholarly communities East and West in exploring humanism from a Buddhist perspective. This volume brings together for the general reader Ikeda’s lectures and papers, delivered between 1974 and 1994, on the many dimensions of this timeless theme.
In those 20 years, the author spoke at more than 20 academic and cultural institutions, among them:
• the Brazilian Academy of Letters
• Harvard University
• the Institut de France
• Moscow State University
• the National Museum of India
• Peking University
• the University of Bologna
• the University of California at Los Angeles
As a Buddhist and ardent advocate of peace, Ikeda offers fresh insights that connect the philosophy and values of the Buddhist tradition with the legacy and future of the humanist tradition largely associated with the West.
In each piece, the author examines cultural and philosophical themes relevant to his particular audience in the light of today’s world and its challenges. From the ages-old inquiries of the humanities to the modern role of culture and religion, Ikeda uses highly accessible language to discuss human nature in all its complexity and the human potential for change and transformation.
The themes in this collection of addresses reflect the larger body of the author’s works on Buddhist humanism and its application in contemporary society.
A New Humanism: The University Addresses of Daisaku Ikeda is also available in Japanese, French, Thai, Spanish, Malay, Chinese (traditional version) and Italian.
CONTENTS
Preface
Editors’ Note
Part I: ART, LITERATURE, AND EDUCATION
- Creative Life (Institut de France, 1989)
- The Kemalist Revolution: A Model (Ankara University, 1992)
- A Matter of the Heart (Peking University, 1990)
- Beyond the Profit Motive (University of the Philippines, 1994)
- The Flight of Creativity (University of Bologna, 1994)
- The Magnificent Cosmos (Moscow State University, 1994)
Part II: DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE
- A New Road to East-West Cultural Exchange (Moscow State University, 1975)
- The Mexican Poetic Spirit (University of Guadalajara, 1981)
- A Harmonious Blend of Cultures (Saint Kliment Ohridsky University of Sofia, 1981)
- Crossroads of Civilization (University of Bucharest, 1983)
- A New Global Awareness (University of Macau, 1991)
- The Making of History (Fudan University, 1984)
Part III: RELIGION AND OUR TIME
- A Godless Civilization (Peking University, 1980)
- The Enduring Self (University of California at Los Angeles, 1974)
- Gandhism and the Modern World (National Museum of India, 1992)
- An Ethos of Symbiosis (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 1992)
- Mahayana Buddhism and Twenty-first-Century Civilization (Harvard University, 1993)
Part IV: THE IMPERATIVE OF PEACE
- Radicalism Reconsidered (Claremont McKenna College, 1993)
- An Infinite Horizon (Shenzhen University, 1994)
- A Garden of Imagination (Brazilian Academy of Letters, 1993)
- Globalism and Nationalism (University of Buenos Aires, 1990)
- The Age of Soft Power (Harvard University, 1991)
