A Piece of Mirror and Other Essays

by Daisaku Ikeda

A collection of 22 essays about life lessons. Buddism.

Genres: Buddhism

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Daisaku Ikeda was a Buddhist philosopher, peacebuilder, educator, author and poet. He was the third president of the Soka Gakkai lay Buddhist organization and the founding president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI), which is today one of the world's largest and most diverse lay Buddhist organizations, promoting a philosophy of character development and social engagement for peace.

Ikeda was the founder of the Soka (value-creation) schools, a nondenominational school system based on an ideal of fostering each student's unique creative potential and cultivating an ethic of peace, social contribution and global consciousness. The school system runs from kindergarten through graduate study and includes a university in Tokyo, Japan, and another in California, U.S.A.

Ikeda was a staunch proponent of dialogue as the foundation of peace. Since the 1970s he has pursued dialogue with a wide range of individuals around the world in political, cultural, educational and academic fields. Over 50 of these have been published in book form, with people such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Elise Boulding, Joseph Rotblat and André Malraux. In furtherance of his vision of fostering dialogue and solidarity for peace, Ikeda has founded a number of independent, nonprofit research institutes that develop cross-cultural, interdisciplinary collaboration on diverse issues: the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century, the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research and the Institute of Oriental Philosophy. The Min-On Concert Association and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum promote mutual understanding and friendship between different national cultures through the arts.

Ikeda was a prolific writer who has published more than 100 works, ranging from Buddhist philosophy to biographical essays, poetry, children's stories and photographic collections.

Reviews

[Victor]

Full of shallow metaphors and examples, and of fairly obvious observations, it's characterised by a grossly oversimplified idea of how human psychology works and of the complexity of the world, and especially disappointing for a philosopher is that he tends to give prescriptions and affirm certainties about the world and life, again oversimplifying them. On this last point (it being prescriptive), I admit that I am formed on Western philosophy and I'm aware that Japanese philosophy is very different and I don't know enough about it, not enough to judge how close this book is to the usual methods of inquiry of Japanese philosophy, but I also think that considering this book a valid example of Japanese philosophy would do the latter considerable injustice. Overall, it reads more like a cheap self-help book rather than as a collection of valuable essays from a respected Japanese philosopher.
The only positive observation I have to make is that - although it had me on edge a few times, with some now outdated or vaguely questionable ideas like the need in the first place to make an essay about how women should view their jobs - it ultimately contains multiple explicit messages of anti-racism and feminism, and obviously of pacifism, which is certainly appreciable.

[Ashlee]

every time that i want to get inspired in my day i read the essays of writer daisaku ikeda. the book itself is small and not lenghty like a novel, but its just one of those book where a little says a lot. this one especially does. he writes about his young life in japan , ones purpose in life, love , peace, raising a family , and lifes obstacles in between. i really thank my friend for buying this for me without knowing!

[Bobbie]

Loved this book!

[Jarellyn]

Very inspiring. Touched my heart. Easy reading, worth every second!