Mission Statement
"EMPATHY FOR ALL HUMANITY"
The Bunkyo University Foundation was established in 1927 with a founding spirit and educational philosophy of "The Rissho Spirit (Standing up for Truth)" and has developed as of today into a comprehensive group of schools which includes a kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, senior high school, foreign student department, seven faculties in the four-year college and five graduate schools.
The school's original educational philosophy, "The Rissho Spirit (Standing up for Truth)," derives from the spirit of the Lotus Sutra as mastered by the Buddhist saint, Nichiren. It implies affirmation of the absolute value of humanity and its unlimited potential for development and thus hopes for the realization of an ideal society. This is the original premise for "Empathy for All Humanity", which takes as its basis the principle of the dignity of all life.
The spirit of "Empathy for All Humanity" consists, above all, of the "belief in the importance of all life." That is to say, the life of each and every one of us, no matter whose life it may be, is so precious as to be irreplaceable and of the utmost importance. The spirit of "Empathy for All Humanity" is the heartfelt affirmation of the principles of tolerance, respect, forgiveness, and sympathy for one another, as well as the hope that a society based on those principles will inevitably be realized.
Bunkyo University Foundation, what is most important to kindergarteners, primary and secondary school pupils, and university students in the process of gaining knowledge, skills, and techniques is to what end this knowledge and these skills will be put to use. What is most important then is that the spirit of "Empathy for All Humanity" be made to form the core of their characters, because fundamentally, the true aim of education is character formation.
Bunkyo University Foundation believes that the practical application of education based on "Empathy for All Humanity" boils down to the "desire to see the faces of Kindergarteners, primary and secondary school pupils, and university students shining happily, never sadly, in their experience of the learning process" and a "commitment to protect the children from sorrow." Thus, this institution is producing and advancing the spirit of "Empathy for All Humanity" between its staff and the children, amongst the children themselves, and between members of the staff.