The Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue

The Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue is a nonprofit peace institute located at 396 Harvard Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded by Daisaku Ikeda, the Buddhist philosopher and peacebuilder, following his September 1993 lecture at Harvard University titled "Mahayana Buddhism and Twenty-first Century Civilization." The Center was originally established as the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century (BRC) and adopted its current name in 2009 to honor its founder and more clearly express its core objectives. The Center's mission is to build cultures of peace through learning and dialogue inspired by Buddhist humanism. Its work aims to help establish a shared global ethic across cultures and religions—an ethic based on respect for the absolute sanctity of life, a firm belief in the human potential for good and for transforming the world, and a clear recognition of the interdependence of all life. The Center pursues this mission through a range of programs, including multi-author books on topics in peace, learning, and dialogue; a fellows program to advance research on value-creating education; an annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue; "Dialogue Nights" for college students and young professionals; a seminar series for graduate students on global citizenship; and Indigo Talks, a speaker series featuring renowned intellectuals engaging with the works of Daisaku Ikeda. In its early years, the Center focused on supporting global civil society through dialogues, seminars, and publications centered on human rights, nonviolence, economic justice, and environmental ethics. A notable highlight was hosting conferences and working closely with scholar Steven Rockefeller to draft the global initiative known as the Earth Charter. Key publications from this period include "Subverting Hatred" and "Subverting Greed," multi-author volumes exploring what the world's religions can tell us about nonviolence and human-centered economics. In its next phase, the Center concentrated on building a network of scholars and established peacebuilders. The Center maintains a resource library featuring articles, essays, lectures, poems, and interviews that document the cumulative wisdom of people associated with the Center. It also hosts an annual Ikeda Forum, with a recent theme being "A New Vision of Global Citizenship." The Center's work is inspired by Daisaku Ikeda's belief that open-hearted, open-minded dialogue presents humankind with the surest path to peace. As Ikeda wrote, "My hope is that the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue will lead the effort to create spiritual sanctuaries of life-affirming dialogue."

The Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue traces its origins to a lecture delivered by Daisaku Ikeda at Harvard University in September 1993, titled "Mahayana Buddhism and Twenty-first Century Civilization." In that lecture, Ikeda highlighted the contributions Mahayana Buddhism can make to the peaceful evolution of humanity. Soon after, he established the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century (BRC) in Cambridge as a tangible commitment to the spirit behind his talk—the spirit to engage diverse voices in contributing value to humanity. In 2009, the BRC changed its name to the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue, which both honors its founder and more clearly expresses its core objectives. These objectives derive from the main themes of the 1993 lecture, including the primacy of interdependence and the power of dialogue to overcome the artificial, human-conjured differences that divide us. The Center is devoted to investigating the ideas and values best suited for the creation of diverse cultures of peace in the 21st century. In its initial decade or so, the Center focused on supporting, and exploring issues vital to, the flourishing of global civil society. During this period, the Center engaged in dialogues, seminars, and publications largely focused on four frameworks: human rights, nonviolence, economic justice, and environmental ethics. One highlight was hosting conferences and working closely with scholar Steven Rockefeller to draft the global initiative known as the Earth Charter. Key books from this period include "Subverting Hatred" and "Subverting Greed," multi-author publications explicating what the world's religions can tell us about nonviolence and human-centered economics, respectively. In its next phase, considerable focus was on building a network of scholars and established peacebuilders who could bring their expertise to bear on the Center's mission. The Center also developed a range of ongoing programs, including multi-author books on topics in peace, learning, and dialogue; a fellows program to advance research on the humanistic form of learning called value-creating education; an annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue; "Dialogue Nights" for college students and young professionals; a seminar series for graduate students on the topic of global citizenship; and Indigo Talks, a speaker series featuring renowned intellectuals engaging with the works of Center founder Daisaku Ikeda. The Center maintains a resource library featuring articles, essays, lectures, poems, and interviews, allowing visitors to experience the cumulative wisdom of the people who have been associated with the Center and to co-investigate the themes explored through its events, dialogues, and projects. In June 2017, fourteen education scholars gathered at the Center to discuss directions that will advance the practice of Soka, or value-creating, education. The Center continues to host events such as the 2009 Ikeda Forum on "Dewey, Ikeda, and a New Humanism," which featured original insights into ways that ideas and principles in American pragmatism, as articulated by John Dewey, and Mahayana Buddhism, as articulated by Daisaku Ikeda, can point us toward humanistic solutions for the problems of our time.

• 2026

  Dialogue Nights #38 commemorates the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

• 2024

  The Center releases a new video introducing its work and community.

• 2017

  Fourteen education scholars gather at the Center to discuss advancing Soka education.

• 2009

  BRC changes its name to the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue.

• 2009

  Ikeda Forum on "Dewey, Ikeda, and a New Humanism" is held.

• 1993

  Daisaku Ikeda delivers lecture "Mahayana Buddhism and Twenty-first Century Civilization" at Harvard University.

• 1993

  Boston Research Center for the 21st Century (BRC) is established in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

A peace institute and dialogue center inspired by Buddhist humanism, dedicated to building cultures of peace through learning and dialogue.

• Subverting Hatred

  A multi-author publication explicating what the world's religions can tell us about nonviolence.

• Subverting Greed

  A multi-author publication explicating what the world's religions can tell us about human-centered economics.

• Creating Waldens

  A publication featuring a message from Daisaku Ikeda about the Center's role.

1. 1The Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning & Dialogueikedacenter.org
2. 2History | Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogueikedacenter.org
3. 3Contact | Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogueikedacenter.org
4. 4What We Do | Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogueikedacenter.org
5. 5The Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue - Wikidatawikidata.org