Works of Daisaku Ikeda

Author: He Jingsong
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Today, we are editing the "Library of Foreign Cultural Figures in the 20th Century." The intention is to showcase the fundamental characteristics of several generations of intellectuals through the compilation of individual selections, outlining the general contours of the development of humanities thought in this century. This is a preliminary sketch, far from a grand mural. The predecessors had "Myriad," with everything contained within it, truly magnificent. However, with our capabilities and conditions, we can only select a series of cross-sections. Naturally, striving for completeness need not be considered a choice. The translation of modern foreign thought has a history of over a century, yet many classic authors remain untranslated, their names rarely known. For a culturally advanced nation, this is highly inappropriate. Pound said, "A great literary century must also be a translation century." Broadly speaking, culture is no exception. Given this, when we undertake a cultural summary of the century, we have decided to cede part of it to others. The remaining work, the work at hand, as Lu Xun would say, is still called "stealing fire from heaven." As a large-scale series of books, it should not be limited to cultural accumulation. The ultimate goal remains the reconstruction of modern culture. In this era of global information integration, the development of national culture is inevitably set against the backdrop of world culture. We can only draw on heterogeneous ideas, cultural knowledge, and humanistic attainments to create a favorable ecological environment within our innate traditional system, preserving, developing, and improving ourselves.