The full text of the 2008 Peace Proposal of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) President Daisaku Ikeda is now available at the official SGI website. Ikeda reprises concerns he raised in recent proposals regarding the unilateral use of force and the problem of fundamentalism:
The unhinged march of finance-centered globalization has produced a world riven by disparities of an unprecedented scale, the unabashed worship of material wealth on the one hand and a corresponding sense of frustration at the absence of economic justice on the other. This structural inequity is a key factor–perhaps the key factor–underlying the forms of terrorism now proliferating throughout the world. History teaches that any attempt to suppress terrorism and similar crimes through the unilateral application of force without a careful analysis of and response tothe structural factors involved will only make things worse. Order that relies on force is the near neighbor of chaos.
As a Buddhist, I direct my deepest concern toward the mentality that has arisen against this backdrop–what might be described as a slide toward fundamentalism. This is not limited to the religious fundamentalism that has been the subject of so much debate, but includes ethnocentrism, chauvinism, racism and a dogmatic adherence to various ideologies, including those of the market. Such fundamentalisms flourish in conditions of chaos anddisorder. What is common to all of them is that abstract principles and ideas take precedence over living human beings who in turn are forced into a subservient role.
What becomes clear even from a cursory reading, is Ikeda’s continued emphasis of the need for valuing human life and human dignity. Humanism is a key point in the survival of this planet. I strongly encourage close reading, study and dialogue on this document.
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