Kansai Soka Gakkai Students Hold Peace Symposium in Osaka, Japan

On June 21, 2009, the Kansai Soka Gakkai Student Division hosted an international peace symposium at the Soka Gakkai Kansai Culture Center in Osaka, Japan. The event included students from China and India who gave presentations about their respective countries. This was followed by group discussions among students, university professors and other experts. Participants exchanged opinions on how to overcome egoism and greed to cause a paradigm shift toward "humanitarian competition"--a concept first proposed by founding Soka Gakkai President Tsunesaburo Makiguchi in 1903, in which nations and individuals compete to contribute the most to global society. Osaka Sangyo University Professor Hideharu Saito expressed his appreciation for the symposium, stating that it offered students an opportunity to think more broadly and deeply about peace and to put it into practice.

[Adapted from an article in the June 25, 2009 issue of the Seikyo Shimbun, Soka Gakkai, Japan]