The True Victor Is Happy and Fulfilled to the Very End How do we face the issues of aging, sickness, and death? What’s the secret of living long? What are the keys to a healthy life? Is aging a period of decline or an opportunity to bring one’s life to a satisfying conclusion? What example can we set for others in our third stage of life? Drawing on the lives of many individuals down through the ages, SGI President Ikeda discusses these and many other questions that affect us as we grow older. From the practical to the spiritual to the personal—as when Mrs. Ikeda joins the discussion in the later chapters—The Third Stage of Life will inspire you to lead a life that shines. "I hope that everyone can experience a third stage of life that is like a 'third youth.' Youth is not something that fades with age. Our attitude toward life is what makes us young. As long as we have a forward-looking, positive attitude and spirit of challenge, we will gain depth as people and our lives will shine with a brilliance that is ours alone." —Daisaku Ikeda Daisaku Ikeda is the president of the Soka Gakkai International and spiritual leader for some 12 million people in nearly every country in the world. Over his decades of leadership, he has brought the wisdom of Buddhism to bear on the practical issues of human life—birth, aging, sickness, and death—helping people find meaning and fulfillment in any circumstance.
Author
Daisaku Ikeda is a Buddhist philosopher, peacebuilder, educator, author and poet. He is 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 is 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 is 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 is a prolific writer who has published more than 100 works, ranging from Buddhist philosophy to biographical essays, poetry, children's stories and photographic collections.
