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- Convenor:
-
Rosita Soryte
(International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Rosita Soryte
(International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees)
- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Zeta room
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 6 September, -
Time zone: Europe/Vilnius
Short Abstract:
The Japanese movement Soka Gakkai is known for its international anti-nuclear-weapon activities. However, it has also proposed a broader reflection on Buddhism and technology, which today extends to new fields such as artificial intelligence and also meets the concerns of some modern artists.
Long Abstract:
CThe Japanese Buddhist movement Soka Gakkai is known for its international anti-nuclear-weapon activities. However, it has also proposed a broader reflection on Buddhism and technology, which today extends to new fields such as artificial intelligence. Soka Gakkai's approach starts with a concern about the possible destructive use of modern technologies and abuse of human rights. However, its attitude is different from those religious movements that are against modern technology in general. It believes that technology can and should be used ethically. The panel will also explore how these concerns are similar to those of artists who have reacted to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings, not only in Japan. Soka Gakkai's approach, however, is based on specific Buddhist theological premises and is rooted in the tradition of Nichiren Buddhism.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 6 September, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
Iri and Toshiko Maruki painted between 1950 and 1982 in Japan the celebrated series of the fifteen Hiroshima Panels. The paper compares the Panels to the reaction to the atomic bombings in the Italian artistic movement Eaismo and the aesthetics of Soka Gakkai anti-nuclear-weapon campaigns.
Paper long abstract:
Iri Maruki (1901-1995) and his wife Toshiko (1912-2000) painted between 1950 and 1982 the celebrated series of the fifteen Hiroshima Panels, now on display in the Japanese city of Higashimatsuyama (except the fifteen, which is in Nagasaki). A masterpiece of modern Japanese art, the panels are a strong anti-nuclear-weapon statement. The paper compares their view of the atomic bomb and war with the one proposed after World War II by the Italian movement Eaism (Atomic-era-ism). In Italy, a country that had not suffered an atomic bombing, artists were both fascinated and scared by the new technologies. Eaism has been examined with interest by the Italian members of Soka Gakkai, whose anti-nuclear- weapon movement Senzatomica has been particularly successful. The paper examines the aesthetics of the Hiroshima Panel and some Eaist works and compares them with the Buddhist roots of the work and style of Senzatomica.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will explore a case of preventive diplomacy to avoid nuclear war: Daisaku Ikeda (Soka Gakkai Honorary President)’s private diplomacy and Soka Gakkai’s movement against the weapons.
Paper long abstract:
Nuclear weapons are a culmination of leading-edge technologies in the human history. Humankind has never invented weapons which prevail them. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has elevated the risk of using the weapons of mass-destruction to a level not seen since the Cold War period. Soka Gakkai has been modernizing Buddhism as a religion relevant for contemporary human societies through a worldwide action promoting peace, culture, and education over a half century. Their anti-nuclear weapon activities are an embodiment of the teachings of Nichiren Buddhism, which was founded in the 13th century, Japan, in the present day. Preventive diplomacy is a comparably new concept of diplomacy, which was introduced after the Cold War, but Ikeda conducted his private diplomacy to mitigate tensions between nuclear weapon states and to avoid their warfare since 1960s. This Soka Gakkai’s historical case might deliver an ideal model of preventive diplomacy to avoid apocalyptic nuclear war.