Human revolution--the inner transformation of the individual that produces actual change in their lives--is a defining concept of Nichiren Buddhism, practiced by millions worldwide. In this series of lectures, Daisaku Ikeda breaks down twelve key aspects of human revolution and provides inspiration and guidance for people to find peace and happiness for themselves and others.“Changing our heart is not a matter of doing something that will only temporarily lift our mood or make us feel better, without changing our reality,” he writes. “A true change in our heart is more profound; genuine inner change produces actual change in our lives. Deepening our 'heart'—our life state—is the true value of our religion of human revolution. When we speak of obtaining benefit through our Buddhist practice, we are ultimately referring to our inner transformation at the deepest level.”

Soka Gakkai is Japan’s largest and most influential new religious organization: It claims more than 8 million Japanese households and close to 2 million members in 192 countries and territories. The religion is best known for its affiliated political party, Komeito (the Clean Government Party), which comprises part of the ruling coalition in Japan’s National Diet, and it exerts considerable influence in education, media, finance, and other key areas. Levi McLaughlin’s comprehensive account of Soka Gakkai draws on nearly two decades of archival research and non-member fieldwork to account for its institutional development beyond Buddhism and suggest how we should understand the activities and dispositions of its adherents. McLaughlin explores the group’s Nichiren Buddhist origins and turns to insights from religion, political science, anthropology, and cultural studies to characterize Soka Gakkai as mimetic of the nation-state. Ethnographic vignettes combine with historical evidence to demonstrate ways Soka Gakkai’s twin Buddhist and modern humanist legacies inform the organization’s mimesis of the modern Japan in which the group took shape. To make this argument, McLaughlin analyzes Gakkai sources heretofore untreated in English-language scholarship; provides a close reading of the serial novel The Human Revolution, which serves the Gakkai as both history and de facto scripture; identifies ways episodes from members’ lives form new chapters in its growing canon; and contributes to discussions of religion and gender as he chronicles the lives of members who simultaneously reaffirm generational transmission of Gakkai devotion as they pose challenges for the organization’s future. Readers looking for analyses of the nation-state and strategies for understanding New Religions and modern Buddhism will find Soka Gakkai’s Human Revolution to be an especially thought-provoking study that offers widely applicable theoretical models.

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice An ABC Australia Best Book on Religion and Ethics of the Year Distinguished Book Award, Sociology of Religion Section of the American Sociological Association Religion in Human Evolution is a work of extraordinary ambition—a wide-ranging, nuanced probing of our biological past to discover the kinds of lives that human beings have most often imagined were worth living. It offers what is frequently seen as a forbidden theory of the origin of religion that goes deep into evolution, especially but not exclusively cultural evolution. “Of Bellah’s brilliance there can be no doubt. The sheer amount this man knows about religion is otherworldly...Bellah stands in the tradition of such stalwarts of the sociological imagination as Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Only one word is appropriate to characterize this book’s subject as well as its substance, and that is ‘magisterial.’” —Alan Wolfe, New York Times Book Review “Religion in Human Evolution is a magnum opus founded on careful research and immersed in the ‘reflective judgment’ of one of our best thinkers and writers.” —Richard L. Wood, Commonweal

Through this novelized history of the Soka Gakkai—one of the most dynamic, diverse, and empowering movements in the world today—readers will discover the organization's goals and achievements even as they find inspiring and practical Buddhist wisdom for living happily and compassionately in today's world. The book recounts the stories of ordinary individuals who faced tremendous odds in transforming their lives through the practice of Nichiren Buddhism and in bringing Buddhism's humanistic teachings to the world. This inspiring narrative provides readers with the principles with which they can positively transform their own lives for the better and realize enduring happiness for themselves and others.

What do Buddhism and Islam have in common? And what positive characteristics might Buddhist Japan and Muslim Indonesia be able to offer one another? In this thoughtful and wide-ranging discussion which draws on creative artists and thinkers as diverse as Beethoven, Goethe, Tolstoy, Thomas Jefferson and Akira Kurosawa distinguished representatives from each country demonstrate that meaningful dialogue between religions and cultures begins with a one-to-one conversation between individuals. Addressing the similarities of their nations as island peoples, with a shared history of trade and cultural exchange, Abdurrahman Wahid and Daisaku Ikeda agree that the aim of dialogue, like that of Buddhism and Islam alike, is fundamentally the goal of peace. A pivotal moment in the conversation comes when reference is made to the Indonesian story of the Bamboo Princess, from the Chronicle of the Kings of Pasai; this is seen to bear close resemblance to the Japanese Taketori Monogatari, or 'Tale of the Bamboo Cutter'. Such narrative interrelationship which can be discerned even in the midst of religious and cultural distinctiveness emerges as a powerful symbol of the common humanity not just of Indonesia and Japan but of all cultures. Both thinkers continue to draw on their respective traditions, on their personal experiences of war and adversity, and especially on the lives of the Buddha and the Prophet Mohammed, to show that harmony springs from an attitude of tolerance and nonviolence which is where true courage resides. Whether masterfully expounding the teachings of Nichiren, or indicating that a proper understanding of jihad is not about religious conflict but about communicating the truth of Allah, the discussants mutually transform our understandings of value, pluralism, and amity.

Addressing questions such as What constitutes a meaningful life? and What is true happiness?, this guide to Nichiren Buddhism presents the spiritual practice as a teaching of hope that can answer these and other important questions of modern life. Buddhist teacher Daisaku Ikeda offers insights into The Opening of the Eyes, a longer treatise written by Nichiren that calls for individuals to base themselves on a spirit of compassion and to fight for the happiness of others, regardless of the circumstances. Ikeda’s simple and straightforward commentary brings this integral writing to life for a contemporary readership. Through the text and the accompanying commentary, readers will not will discover a philosophy of inner transformation that will help them find deep and lasting happiness for themselves and for others.