The afternoon featured Dr. Yoichi Kawada (r) and Dr. Mary Catherine Bateson. The lecture built on themes found in Daisaku Ikeda's 1993 lecture delivered at Harvard University, "Mahayana Buddhism and Twenty-first Century Civilization."

Dr. Kawada is the director of the Tokyo-based Institute of Oriental Philosophy. He has written widely on Buddhism. A trained immunologist, he has addressed topics such as terminal care and death with dignity.

Mary Catherine Bateson is a cultural anthropologist and author of the best-selling books Composing a Life and Willing to Learn. She also participated in the BRC's February 2008 event exploring the topic "Understanding Death, Appreciating Life."

Dr. Kawada's lecture communicated core Buddhist principles and practices essential to meeting and greeting death with acceptance and joy. He emphasized the concept of engi (understood in the West as interdependence) and the bodhisattva orientation (concern and actions for the welfare of others).

Dr. Kawada worked with Andrew Gebert, who interpreted the lecture from Japanese into English.

Dr. Bateson explored themes from the lecture, encouraging attendees to find correspondence within our Western culture. She drew special attention to the aforementioned concept of engi as highly relevant to the tradition of Christian love.

Attendees shared their impressions of the lecture and commentary during a brief dialogue session.

BRC Executive Director Virginia Benson moderated a concluding plenary Q & A session.

Questioners were especially interested in how we can best establish connection with others in our highly individualized American society.

Dr. Kawada observed that, for Buddhists, self-mastery is conducive to building positive and creative interactions with others.

Dr. Kawada was joined in Boston by several colleagues from the Institute of Oriental Philosophy. They spoke at a conference at Wellesley College the following day.

More than 150 students, scholars and community members attended this public event.