Daisaku
Ikeda is the president and founder of Soka Gakkai International
(SGI), a lay Buddhist association with 12 million members in 192
countries and territories. SGI's aim is to promote peace, culture
and education and believes that the best way to bring about change
for a more peaceful, just and sustainable world is by changing
ourselves and empowering individuals to engage in service for
a better world. This concept is best explained in one of Daisaku
Ikeda's books, The Human Revolution: "A great inner revolution
in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the
destiny of a nation and, further, will enable a change in the
destiny of all humankind." Daisaku Ikeda has written numerous
other books and has also founded many other cultural, educational
and peace research institutions worldwide, including the Soka
University, the International Committee of Artists for Peace and
the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research. Daisaku
Ikeda has received many awards and honors including being recognized
by the houses of representatives of Georgia, Illinois and Missouri
for dedicating "his entire life to building peace and promoting
human rights through education and cultural exchange with deep
conviction in the shared humanity of our entire global family."
