Daisaku Ikeda

Doctor of Humane Letters

College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and Humphrey School of Public Affairs, May 14, 2022

Daisaku Ikeda is a peacebuilder, Buddhist philosopher, educator, author, and poet who has made countless contributions to our global, environmental, and humanitarian well-being. Dr. Ikeda is the founding president of Soka Gakkai International, a community-based Buddhist network that promotes peace, culture, and education linking 12 million members in 192 countries and territories around the world. For 39 years, he has submitted annual peace proposals to the United Nations, which in 2015 resulted in a Nobel Peace Prize nomination to the Buddhist lay organization he is president of. In addition, Dr. Ikeda has founded a number of independent, nonprofit research institutions, both within the U.S. and Japan, that promote peace through cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration. He is also a prolific writer who has published more than 250 translated works, ranging from commentaries on Buddhism to biographical essays, poetry, and children’s stories. Dr. Ikeda is the recipient of over 200 honorary degrees, as well as numerous international honors, including the United Nations Peace Medal (1983), the International Tolerance Award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center (1993), the Rosa Parks Humanitarian Award (2008), and the Gandhi International Peace Prize for Social Responsibility (2014). His accomplishments directly align with the University of Minnesota and our state missions to foster cross-societal dialogue between researchers, practitioners, and citizens to fight for environmental quality, human rights, and prosperity.

Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.