January–March 2015, Volume 42
Features
Cultivating Hearts That Welcome the Other
In the twenty-first century, globalization has created more work for people worldwide, with better chances of economic success. Globalization also facilitates international communication and helps innovative ideas become everyday reality.
The United Nations proclaimed 2001 as the “United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations,” expressing its firm determination to facilitate dialogue to build mutual understanding and tolerance among peoples of different cultural backgrounds, through active exchanges of ideas, visions, and aspirations.
The new century opened with a “War on Terror,” however. Confrontations over racial, ethnic, and religious differences have worsened since the end of the Cold War and have raised tensions in many parts of the world.
Under such circumstances, leaders of world major religions have continued to call attention to ethnic and religious-based fear and distrust, which take the form of intolerance, and too often violence. They convened in November 2013 in Vienna the ninth World Assembly of Religion for Peace, whose main theme was “Welcoming the Other—A Multi-Religious Vision of Peace.”
They discussed how to eliminate all forms of the negative images of “the other” and prejudice that sees “the other” as enemies or threats, and how to transform intolerance into mutual understanding, thereby revering the worthiness of “the other.”
To achieve this aim, the religious leaders focused on the role of education to share the idea of “welcoming the other” with members of their religious communities.
We believe there can be joy in living in harmony with “the other” through each and every individual’s deep understanding of all people’s virtues and values and through sincere interaction. It may be also true that “welcoming the other” needs spiritual transformation to live in harmony with those who antagonize us and those who have put harm on us.
“Welcoming the other” is a radical challenge for people of faith dedicated to the cause of world peace. We would like to know how religious communities can be guided in facing this most timely challenge, and how they can foster a culture of dialogue that will enable all people of faith to cultivate the hearts that welcome “the other.”
Embracing the Joy of Living with All Who Are Different
by Yoshitaka T. Hatakeyama
An Educational Pathway through the Root Causes of Past Violence toward Peace Building
by Johnston McMaster
Education is personal and political, about social participation and action. Education empowers us to be community participants and is a dynamic source of social reform, transformation, and liberation from injustice, violence, oppressive structures, and a paralyzing past.
The Role of Religion and Peace Education in Cultivating Hearts That Welcome the Other
by Kathy R. Matsui
The minds of the leaders of the world are still set in thinking that national security is about being equipped with military arms and strength, that violence can be prevented by violence, and that violence can be resolved by violence. But is that so? . . . How can we change the mind-set of our leaders and our society from the culture of war to the culture of peace?
Cultivating Hearts That Welcome the Other
by Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot
When we speak of “cultivating hearts,” we refer to cultivating human persons themselves, inculcating in them values that will make them more and more humane—loving, generous, compassionate, and merciful—and will help them nurture human relationships whereby they are able to “see others not as enemies or rivals but as brothers and sisters to be accepted and embraced.”
Buddhism’s Modern Challenge
by David R. Loy
Is modern Buddhism opening up new perspectives and possibilities that challenge us to transform ourselves and our societies more profoundly—to seek genuine happiness in a different way, as the Buddha did?
Essay
Kenji Miyazawa’s Discombobulated Lotus Literature: Japanese Literature as Benevolent Guerilla War on Common Sense
by Gerry Iguchi
The benevolent guerilla warfare of Miyazawa’s literature potentially functioned . . . by discombobulating common sense and disrupting unexamined and unnecessarily fixed assumptions.
Seminar Report
Perspectives on the Lotus Sutra
by Rebecca Mendelson
The 2014 International Lotus Sutra Seminar, sponsored by Rissho Kosei-kai, was held near Tokyo on May 29–31, 2014, at the National Women’s Education Center of Japan.
Interview
Championing an Equal Voice for Women of Faith, East and West
An Interview with Ms. Dena Merriam, Recipient of the Thirty-First Niwano Peace Prize
The Niwano Peace Foundation awarded the thirty-first Niwano Peace Prize on May 16, 2014, to Ms. Dena Merriam of the United States for her leadership of the Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW). On May 19, Dr. Hiroshi M. Niwano, chair of the foundation, interviewed Ms. Merriam at the International House of Japan, in Tokyo. The interview highlighted the importance of interfaith dialogue and partnership between men and women in building harmony between people as well as between humanity and nature.
