Peace & Disarmament | Words of Wisdom by Daisaku Ikeda

Each of us, no matter how weak or ineffectual we may feel ourselves to be, must build deep within our hearts a stronghold for peace, one that will be capable of withstanding and in the end silencing the incessant calls to war. This is the only way humanity’s tragic predilection for violence can be reformed and its energies channeled in new directions.

Hell is by no means a figment of the imagination. It exists in our very lives, right here on earth. Hell, indeed, is the agony we suffer during life, and there is no man-made hell worse than war.

The idea that nuclear weapons function to deter war and are therefore a “necessary evil” is a core impediment to their elimination; this idea must be challenged and dismantled.

It is vital that humankind develop a shared consciousness that nuclear weapons are an absolute evil whose existence can never be justified—for any reason or under any circumstance.

Today, many people have given up on the possibility of nuclear abolition. But peace is always a competition between resignation and hope. Indifference and acquiescence in the face of the negative, destructive functions of life is, ultimately, to side with the forces of destruction.

Crying out in opposition to war and nuclear weapons is neither emotionalism nor self-pity. It is the highest expression of human reason based on an unflinching perception of the dignity of life.

Just as fire is extinguished by water, hatred can only be defeated by love and compassion.

Stories of Hope

The Writer's Path

Chingiz Aitmatov

Author of what has been called “the most beautiful love story in the world,” Chingiz Aitmatov underwent severe suffering in his youth.

Stories of Hope

A Piece of Mirror: Wartime Memories

Ikeda’s personal account of the suffering and sorrows of war experienced by his family that fueled his lifelong opposition to war and commitment to dialogue as a path to peace. Read here ...

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Stories of Hope by Daisaku Ikeda

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