The Inner Realm of Life in Ikeda Daisaku’s Philosophy and Practice of Human Education
Considerations in the Context of Spirituality in Education
Abstract
This article examines Ikeda Daisaku’s perspectives on the inner realm of life in his philosophy and practice of ningen kyōiku, or human education. Also rendered incompletely as “heart” or “spirit” in English translations of Ikeda’s works, the inner realm of life pervades Ikeda’s corpus and is central to his view that external change in the world and society happens only through profound internal change in the individual. Through analyses of the original Japanese and English translations of Ikeda’s works, this article examines how Ikeda articulates the nature and cultivation of the inner realm of life in general and relative to human education, and explicates important denotative aspects of that Japanese that warrant attention as we consider Ikeda’s perspectives (in translation) relative to the meaning and role of spirituality and religiosity in education today, as well as to the constituent elements of human education.
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References
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Makiguchi, T. (1981–1996, Makiguchi Tsunesaburō zenshū (The com-plete works of Makiguchi Tsunesaburō). Tokyo: Daisan Bunmeisha, 10 vols.
Matsufuji, T. (2001). Daisan no kyōiku kakumei: Ikeda Daisaku “kyōiku teigen” wo yomu (The third education revolution: Reading Ikeda Daisaku’s education proposals). Tokyo: Mainichi Wanz.
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O’Sullivan, E. (1999). Transformative learning: Educational vision for the 21st century. London: Zed Books.
Roberge, J. (2011). What is critical hermeneutics? Thesis Eleven, 106(1): 5–22.
Rogers, R. (Ed.). (2004). An introduction to critical discourse analysis in education. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Venuti, L. (2008). The translator’s invisibility: A history of translation. London: Routledge.
Bethel, D. (ed.). (2000). A geography of human life. Montgomery Country: Caddo Gap.
Call for Papers Vol. 8, special issue June 2024. (2021, November 13). Philosophy & practice of human education: New perspectives. Critical Hermeneutics. https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/ecch/announcement/view/117 (last accessed: 07/25/2024).
Dewey, J. (1934). A common faith. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Dilthey, W. (1989). Introduction to the human sciences. In R. A. Makkreel & F Rodi (Eds.), Wilhelm Dilthey selected works, volume 1. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Gebert, A. (2024). A different kind of centering: Makiguchi Tsunesaburo’s deep anthropocentrism. Journal of Oriental Studies, 33: 175–200.
Goulah, J. (2008). Transformative world language learning: An approach for environmental and cultural sustainability and economic and political security. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 4(1): 6–23.
Goulah, J. (2010). Francis W. Parker, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Lucy Sprague Mitchell: Young geographers, geography studies and community life: An introduction to “from the archives”. Schools: Studies in Education, 7(1): 41–46.
Goulah, J. (2011). Ecospirituality in public foreign language education: A critical discourse analysis of a transformative world language learning approach. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies: An International Journal, 8(1): 27–52.
Goulah, J. (2018). Religion, “the religious”, and language education into the Anthropocene: A response to Huamei Han’s “Studying Religion and Language Teaching and Learning: Building a Sub-Field”. The Multilingual Journal, 102(2): 451–455.
Goulah, J. (2019). Language education into the Anthropocene: Possibilities and perspectives from Soka humanism at the posthumanist turn. Professing Education, 17(1/2): 6–16.
Goulah, J. (2020). Human education: Daisaku Ikeda’s philosophy and practice of ningen kyōiku. Schools: Studies in Education, 17(1): 153–170.
Goulah, J. (2021). Introduction: Daisaku Ikeda, and hope and joy in education. In I. Nuñez & J.
Goulah (Eds.), Hope and joy in education: Engaging Daisaku Ikeda across curriculum and context (pp. xiii-xxxiv). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Goulah, J. (2024). Daisaku Ikeda: Introduction to the man, his influences, and educational thought. In B. A. Geier (Ed.), The Palgrave handbook of educational thinkers. Palgrave: SpringerNature, online-first.
Ikeda, D. (1975). Nayami sakezu taidō ayumō (Advance on the great path without fearing difficulty). Ikeda kaichō koenshū (President Ikeda Lecture Collection). Tokyo: Seikyō Shinbunsha, vol. 5, pp. 178–195.
Ikeda, D. (1988–2015). Ikeda Daisaku zenshū [The complete works of Ikeda Daisaku]. Tokyo: Seikyō Shinbunsha, vols. 1-150.
Ikeda, D. (1997). A new humanism for the coming century. https://www.daisakuikeda.org/sub/resources/works/lect/lect-09.html
Ikeda, D. (2001). Creating and sustaining a century of life: Challenges for a new era. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai.
Ikeda, D. (2002). The humanism of the middle way: Dawn of a global civilization. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai.
Ikeda, D. (2003). A global ethic of coexistence: Toward a “life-sized” paradigm for our age. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai.
Ikeda, D. (2004). Inner transformation: Creating a global groundswell for peace. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai.
Ikeda, D. (2005). Toward a new era of dialogue: Humanism explored. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai.
Ikeda, D. (2008). Humanizing religion, creating peace. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai.
Ikeda, D. (2010). A new humanism: The university addresses of Dai-saku Ikeda. London / New York: I. B. Tauris.
Ikeda, D. (2014). Value creation for global change: Building resilient and sustainable societies. Tokyo: Soka Gakkai.
Ikeda, D., Saito, K., Endo, T., & Suda, H. (1996–2000). Hokekyō no chie: Nijyūisseiki no shūkyō wo kataru [Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra: On 21st century religion]. Tokyo: Seikyō Shinbun, vols. 1-6.
Ikeda, D., Saito, K., Endo, T., & Suda, H. (2000–2003). The wisdom of the Lotus Sutra: A discussion USA: World Tribune Press, vols. 1-6.
Inner Development Goals Foundation. (2023). Inner Development Goals: Transformational skills for sustainable development. https://innerdevelopmentgoals.org/about/ (last accessed: 07/25/2024).
Isomae, J. (2003). Kindai nihon no shūkyō gensetsu to sono keifu: shūkyō, kokka, shintō [Discourse and genealogy of religion in modern Japan: Religion, the state, and Shinto]. Iwanami Shoten.
Kartha, R. (2023, August 17). Learning to look inwards: Exploring hope, courage, and the greater self in teachers. Paper presented at In-terdependence, Literary Selfhood, and the Restoration of Humanity, 3rd International Conference on Ikeda/Soka Studies in Education. De-Paul University, Chicago, IL.
Makiguchi, T. (1981–1996, Makiguchi Tsunesaburō zenshū (The com-plete works of Makiguchi Tsunesaburō). Tokyo: Daisan Bunmeisha, 10 vols.
Matsufuji, T. (2001). Daisan no kyōiku kakumei: Ikeda Daisaku “kyōiku teigen” wo yomu (The third education revolution: Reading Ikeda Daisaku’s education proposals). Tokyo: Mainichi Wanz.
Meyer, H., & Smith, P. (2024, June 29). Ten commandments. Many variations. Why the Louisiana law raises preferential treatment con-cerns. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/ten-commandments-louisiana-public-schools-religious-views-7c4af860da21df52c304346fab76c4ae (last accessed: 07/25/2024).
Nuñez, I., & Goulah, J. (Eds.). (2021). Hope and joy in education: Engaging Daisaku Ikeda across curriculum and context. Teachers College Press.
O’Sullivan, E. (1999). Transformative learning: Educational vision for the 21st century. London: Zed Books.
Roberge, J. (2011). What is critical hermeneutics? Thesis Eleven, 106(1): 5–22.
Rogers, R. (Ed.). (2004). An introduction to critical discourse analysis in education. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Venuti, L. (2008). The translator’s invisibility: A history of translation. London: Routledge.
Published
2024-07-28
How to Cite
Goulah, J., & Kartha, R. (2024). The Inner Realm of Life in Ikeda Daisaku’s Philosophy and Practice of Human Education. Critical Hermeneutics, 8(1), 213-236. https://doi.org/10.13125/CH/6322
Section
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Copyright (c) 2024 Jason Goulah, Riya Kartha
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