Robert Elliott Allinson is an American philosopher, and a Professor of Philosophy at Soka University of America. [1] He was formerly Full Professor of Philosophy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Nichiren Buddhism, also known as Hokkeshū, is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) and is one of the Kamakura period schools. Its teachings derive from some 300–400 extant letters and treatises either authored by or attributed to Nichiren.
Soka Gakkai is a Japanese Buddhist religious movement based on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren. It claims the largest membership among Nichiren Buddhist groups.
Tu Weiming is a Chinese-born American philosopher. He is Chair Professor of Humanities and Founding Director of the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University. He is also Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow of Asia Center at Harvard University.
Daisaku Ikeda was a Japanese Buddhist philosopher, educator, author, and nuclear disarmament advocate. He served as the third president and then honorary president of the Soka Gakkai, the largest of Japan's new religious movements. Ikeda was the founding president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), the world's largest Buddhist lay organization, which claims a membership of 12 million practitioners in 192 countries and territories, more than 1.5 million of whom reside outside of Japan as of 2012.
Peng or Dapeng (大鵬) is a giant bird that transforms from a Kun giant fish in Chinese mythology.
Gohonzon (御本尊) is a generic term for a venerated religious object in Japanese Buddhism. It may take the form of a scroll or statuary. The term gohonzon typically refers to the mainstream use of venerated objects within Nichiren Buddhism, referring to the calligraphic paper mandala inscribed by the 13th Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren to which devotional chanting is directed.
Japanese new religions are new religious movements established in Japan. In Japanese, they are called shinshūkyō (新宗教) or shinkō shūkyō (新興宗教). Japanese scholars classify all religious organizations founded since the middle of the 19th century as "new religions"; thus, the term refers to a great diversity and number of organizations. Most came into being in the mid-to-late twentieth century and are influenced by much older traditional religions including Buddhism and Shinto. Foreign influences include Christianity, the Bible, and the writings of Nostradamus.
Robert Merrihew Adams was an American analytic philosopher, who specialized in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, ethics, and the history of early modern philosophy.
Jōsei Toda was a teacher, peace activist and second president of Soka Gakkai from 1951 to 1958. Imprisoned for two years during World War II under violating the Peace Preservation Law and the charge of lèse-majesté from against the war, he emerged from prison intent on rebuilding the Soka Gakkai. He has been described as the architect of the Soka Gakkai, the person chiefly responsible for its existence today.
Tsunesaburō Makiguchi was a Japanese educator who founded and became the first president of the Sōka Kyōiku Gakkai, the predecessor of today's Soka Gakkai.
Lou Marinoff is a Canadian-born academic, author, and Commonwealth Scholar. He is Professor of Philosophy and Asian Studies at The City College of New York and founding President of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association.
Michael Allinson was a British-American stage and film actor.
Soka University of America (SUA) is a private liberal arts college in Aliso Viejo, California. Originally founded in 1987, it was established on its current campus in 2001 by Daisaku Ikeda, the founder of the Soka Gakkai International Buddhist movement. Though affiliated with Soka Gakkai, it maintains a secular curriculum which emphasizes pacifism, human rights, and the creative coexistence of nature and humanity.
Soka University, abbreviated typically as Sodai (創大) or Sokadai (創価大), is a Soka Gakkai-affiliated private university in Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan. In 2014, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) designated Soka University as one of the 20 universities in Japan that "are leading the globalization of Japanese society".
Jizang (549–623) was a Persian-Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar who is often regarded as the founder of East Asian Mādhyamaka. He is also known as Jiaxiang or Master Jiaxiang because he acquired fame at the Jiaxiang Temple.
Michael Weiner is a professor of East Asian history and International Studies and is the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Soka University of America (SUA). Previously, he was professor and chair of Asian studies at San Diego State University. He received his B.A. from Sophia University in Tokyo and his Ph.D. from University of Sheffield, England.
Ronald A. Bosco is the Distinguished Professor of English and American Literature at the University at Albany, State University of New York, is currently President of the Association for Documentary Editing and General Editor of The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson published by Harvard University Press. Bosco is one of the country's leading experts on the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and on American Puritan homiletics and poetics.
Alfred Balitzer is an American professor of government at Claremont Graduate University.
Bodhisattvas of the Earth, also sometimes referred to as "Bodhisattvas from the Underground," "Bodhisattvas Taught by the Original Buddha," or "earth bodhisattvas," are the infinite number of bodhisattvas who, in the 15th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, emerged from a fissure in the ground. This pivotal story of the Lotus Sutra takes place during the "Ceremony in the Air" which had commenced in the 11th chapter. Later, in the 21st chapter, Shakyamuni passes on to them the responsibility to keep and propagate the Lotus Sutra in the feared future era of the Latter Day of the Law.
The Soka School System is a Japanese corporate body that oversees a series of kindergartens, elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools in Japan and several other countries as well as an educational support and research facility. It is part of a wider network of "Soka" schools which includes Soka University of Japan, Soka University of America, and Soka Women's College. In addition, it has a supportive relationship with several non-affiliated schools and research associations in countries outside of Japan.