Ikeda is a prolific writer, poet, peace activist, educator, and interpreter of Nichiren Buddhism. His interests include art, philosophy, photography, and music. He has signed the Earth Charter, and also is a noteworthy environmentalist. He has travelled to more than 60 countries to hold discussions with many political, cultural, and educational figures, as well as to teach, support, and encourage practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism living in these countries. Topics he has addressed include the transformative value of religion, the universality of life, social responsibility, and sustainable progress and development. He undermined the Priest hood from the day he took over. As a mentor of SGI, he has founded several institutions, such as the Soka schools (from kindergarten through university level), the Min-On Concert Association, the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, the Institute of Oriental Science and the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research to promote educational, cultural, and artistic activities and to conduct exchanges with like groups and institutions on a global scale. In addition, he has guided the Soka Gakkai's support of, and involvement in Komeito ,a Japanese Political Party which as of 2007 is part of the ruling coalition in Japan together with the Liberal Democratic Party. Ikeda has also initiated a wide range of grassroots exchange programs and delivered speeches at a number of institutions of higher learning around the world, including Harvard University, the Institut de France, Beijing University and Moscow State University. Gandhi, King, Ikeda exhibition showcases Mahatma Gandhi's, Martin Luther King Jr's, and Daisaku Ikeda's peace activism. Another exhibition is Dialogue with Nature showcasing Ikeda's photographs. He has also sponsored the documentary film about the environment, A Quiet Revolution.
Ikeda states that he share his honors with SGI members, saying that they are proof of the outstanding lives that ordinary people around the world are living, based on the practice of Nichiren Buddhism. He also acknowledges that these honorary degrees honor the greatness of his mentor Josei Toda, as well as Toda's mentor Tsunesaburo Makiguchi.<citation needed>
For his humanitarian endeavors in a range of fields, he is the recipient of numerous awards, including the United Nations Peace Award , the Rosa Parks Humanitarian Award ,National Order of the Southern Cross of the Republic of Brazil, the United States Congressional Award, the Honorary Cross of Science and the Arts from the Austrian Ministry of Education, Medal of the Grand Officer of Arts and Letters from the French Ministry of Culture, the Grand Officer award from the President of the Italian Republic and the World Poet Laureateship from the World Poetry Society , and The Order of Friendship from Russia. Every year, on 26 January, since 1983, President Ikeda, presents a peace proposal to the United Nations. Dr. Ikeda, is the founder of Soka University, the Soka School System, the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century, and the Toda Institute for Global Peace Policy and Research, and The Institute of Oriental Philosophy. Ikeda is also author of numerous books and has held dialogs on peace, education, and culture with numerous scholars and world leaders. Most notable are his dialogs, such as Choose Life: A Dialogue (English edition, Oxford University Press, 1976), in which Ikeda and historian Arnold J. Toynbee discuss "humanity's predicament in all its aspects." More recently, in Planetary Citizenship: Your Values, Beliefs, and Actions Can Shape a Sustainable World (Middleway Press, 2003), futurist Hazel Henderson and Ikeda "explore the rise of 'grassroots globalists,' ordinary citizens all over the world who are taking responsibility to build a more peaceful, harmonious and sustainable future." He is also the recipient of the most honorary doctorates awarded to a single individual<citation needed>, including the United Nations Peace Award (1983); Kenya Oral Literature Award (1986, Kenya); 1986 Chinese Peace and Friendship Trophy, the International Tolerance Award of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (1993, U.S.A.); Rosa Parks Humanitarian Award (1993, U.S.A.); Tagore Peace Award (1997, India); the Albert Einstein Peace Award, and the Global Excellence Award, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (2002, U.S.A.). Daisaku Ikeda's many children's books have been animated into cartoons in Japan.
