Buddhists continuing quest for world peace

Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is one of many Buddhist organizations or sects.  SGI is a lay Buddhist organization, a Buddhist association for peace, culture and education.  What does that mean really?  Did you know SGI that is also an NGO (non-governmental organization)?  It is one of 3187 NGOs with formal ties to the United Nations. As such, SGI has many ongoing initiatives towards the goal of world peace.  These initiatives below are listed in detail on the international SGI website and documented in the SGI NGO Activity Report:

Peace & Disarmament - SGI Youth continue their "Victory over Violence" campaign which tours the United States honoring  Mohandas Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Daisaku Ikeda, humanitarian advocates of peace in our time.

Human Rights -" SGI contributed to launching of the UN's World Programme for Human Rights Education in 2005. The exhibition "Toward a Century of Humanity: An Overview of Human Rights in Today's World" has been shown in 40 cities in eight countries since 1993"

Sustainable Development - "SGI supports the Earth Charter and also sponsors the exhibition "Seeds of Change: The Earth Charter and Human Potential" and the film "A Quiet Revolution: The Earth Charter and Human Potential" case studies of local people changing the environment . " SGI also has an Amazon Ecological Conservation Center in Brazil."

Interfaith - "SGI and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts are co-sponsors for a regular series of interfaith dialogues on issues such as environmental problems and human rights. SGI members have participated in the Parliament of the World's Religions and the World Religions Conference.  SGI's representative to the UN in New York served as president of the Committee of Religious NGOs at the UN from 2004 to 2007."

Humanitarian Activities -  SGI has provided relief, assistance, shelter and aid during natural disasters, such as, 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China and the cyclone in Myanmar.

Education - SGI has promoted a Youth Mentor Summit in Singapore in 2008, donated play equipment for a public park in Corsica, Italy and participated in an Annual Forum on Human Education in September 2008.

Culture - SGI may be best known for its cultural activities which have for generations brought together diverse peoples from different lands of different cultures, in harmony, to promote world peace, culture and education.

Antinuclear Exhibition - "In New York, in September 2007,  SGI commemorated the 50th anniversary of the founding president Josei Toda with the exhibition "From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace: Transforming the Human Spirit" for the abolition of nuclear weapons."

Peace Proposals - Each year, Daisaku Ikeda, President of SGI, submits a Peace Proposal to the United Nations in an ongoing initiative for World Peace, on behalf of the SGI.

These great steps into the future are just a few of the reasons to support these efforts to protect and preserve people and this wonderful world we have inherited.

 

 Miami Buddhist Examiner Quote of the Day:

"Peace, according to Soka Gakkai Buddhists, begins with individual peace and happiness, and spreads as enlightened individuals become active in the cause of peace at the local, national and international levels."
www.sgi.org

 

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