Part 3: Kosen-rufu and World Peace
Chapter 31: The Great Path to World Peace [31.9]
31.9 A University without Walls
In this selection, President Ikeda stresses that educating and fostering people is a vital undertaking that will ensure the lasting success of any endeavor. He describes the Soka Gakkai as a “university without walls” dedicated to humanistic education.
The Soka Gakkai is engaged in a worldwide movement for peace, culture, and education, based on Buddhism. As a whole, it may be described as a “university without walls.” It is a wide-ranging realm of humanistic education, grounded among the people, that nurtures individuals and fosters them into humanistic leaders. This educational role is what prompts me to speak to our members on so many different subjects.
*
Currents of thought and spiritual legacies have tremendous influence over human events. Now we of the Soka Gakkai are engaged in creating the current for a great spiritual civilization that will endure for tens of thousands of years. There can be no doubt that with time the current we are creating will grow into a mighty river and eventually expand into a vast ocean.
Viewed from this long-term perspective, you can see how foolish it would be to be swept away by momentary superficial ripples. I ask you to cultivate an expansive state of mind and lead noble lives that accord with our great objective.
*
In a sense, no endeavor is more profoundly important than education. Recently, when I was asked to write something on the first page of the visitors’ book at the Kansai Soka schools, I penned the following message: “Education is the most sacred task in life.”
Only a human being can foster another human being. It takes a person of genuine humanity to raise a person of genuine humanity. For teachers, of course, but also for every one of you, earnestly striving to foster people is the noblest task you can undertake in this life, one that has lasting value.
From a speech at a Kansai Region chapter leaders meeting, Osaka, February 2, 1989.
The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace brings together selections from President Ikeda’s works on key themes.