July–August 2003, Volume 30
The 20th Niwano Peace Prize
Reflections
Walking the Buddha Way in Everyday Life
by Nikkyo Niwano
In Praise of Mildness
by Nichiko Niwano
Shakyamuni’s teaching is the teaching of peace. If we could control and cut off anger and violence–and thus conflict and war–then peace and harmony would appear.
Essays
The Spirit of Nonviolence and Civil Disobedience
by Yoshiaki Iisaka
The only way we can avoid letting the twenty-first century become another “century of war” is to spread to the world the true spirit of nonviolence and civil disobedience. In this way, we can make our vision of peace a reality.
Mahayana and World Engagement
by John P. Keenan
The identification of emptiness and dependent co-arising is the foundational Mahayana teaching for world engagement. It is only when the silence of the ultimate meaning of emptiness has laid to rest all ideas of any stable being that conventional ideas of how to engage in the world are resurrected and the reality of the world–as co-arisen–is restored.
How Can Interfaith Organizations Address Global Problems?
by Marcus Braybrooke
In today’s world, it is always hard to know what to do and how to do it. And it is even harder for a group of people to come to any kind of meaningful consensus. Is the interfaith movement part of the problem of globalization or part of the solution? The president of the World Congress of Faiths examines this very question in great detail.
Building a Nuclear-Free World of Peace and Harmony
by Naomi Shohno
A scholar who was born in Hiroshima, but who escaped the city’s atomic bombing, describes the life experiences that led to profound changes in his thinking and his role in the antinuclear movement.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra
Penetrating Wisdom Buddha
by Gene Reeves
Through the tale of the fully-awakened buddha known as “Excellent in Great Penetrating Wisdom,” Shakyamuni Buddha teaches us that the best way we can serve the Buddha is to do something that will benefit all beings–indeed, it is by doing this that we are awakened to our own buddha-nature.
Buddhist Living
Lifting a Stone from the Heart by Ann Rinehard
An American member spoke at Rissho Kosei-kai of Oklahoma on July 4, 2001, describing how her experiences had taught her that what she does affects not only her own life but the lives of all.
Gotama Buddha (61)
Cunda’s Offering
by Hajime Nakamura
Having heard that Gotama was staying in his mango grove in Pava, the blacksmith Cunda went to greet him. In gratitude for Gotama’s teaching him the Dhamma, Cunda invited him to his house and offered him some cooked mushrooms.
Buddhist Sculpture
Enku and the Two-Headed Warlord
by Takeshi Kuno
A powerful warlord of the Hida region, Ryomen Sukuna opened Senkoji temple some 1,600 years ago. Then, 400 years ago, the building was rebuilt as a Buddhist temple. The itinerant priest Enku stayed briefly at the temple during the Edo period, carving buddha statues during his stay. Some 60 statues of his–including Ryomen Sukuna’s image–are kept at the temple.
