[Posted by M. Bogen, 7-17-13] Restorative justice, a profound concept which we explored in a 2003 seminar series, can play out and be practiced in many settings. A recent New York Times article (April 2013) shows how the principles of restorative justice are being applied in the Oakland, California public school system. School leaders there are trying to reduce reliance on on punitive measures such as suspension while proactively creating conditions for a more peaceful, just, and compassionate...
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Ambassador Juan Somavia, who, at the time of this interview in 1997, represented Chile at the Security Council of the United Nations, was the chairman of the 1995 World Summit on Social Development held in Copenhagen. From 1999 to 2012, he served as Director-General of the International Labor Organization.
BRC: To what do you trace your deep commitments to social justice and human rights?
JS: It is the central belief in the dignity of the human being: there is nothing more sacred in the world than the respect for human dignity. If that exists, you can organize...
[Posted by M. Bogen, 5-31-13] When Daisaku Ikeda spoke at Harvard in 1993, delivering the address that would become our "founding lecture"—"Mahayana Buddhism and 21st Century Civilization"—he did so at the invitation of professors John Kenneth Galbraith, Nur Yalman, and Harvey Cox. To help celebrate our 20th anniversary, I thought it would be fun to talk a bit about these three men who figure so vitally in our history. In this post I'll talk about Professor Cox and his seminal work of 1965, The Secular City.
Dr. Cox is presently Hollis Research...
Ambassador Williams was an Honorary Chair of the Massachusetts Conference on Women: Bringing Beijing Home, held September 1996 in Boston. She met with the Center’s staff several weeks before that conference to share her views on social change, women’s leadership, and grassroots movements. This excerpt from the interview considers women as problem-solvers.
What leadership roles do you foresee women taking in these social change efforts in this decade and into the next century?
Women must take leadership through analyzing the present historical moment and determining...
Tu Weiming was professor of Chinese history and philosophy at Harvard University until 2010, when he became Lifetime Professor of Philosophy and Dean of Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University. This 1994 interview is called "The Dialogue of Civilizations."
The first question for Professor Tu was: Why is the “dialogue of civilizations” important, and what is your own interest in this subject? Tu Weiming responded: "We are now confronted with two seemingly contradictory forces, both of which define the human condition for the twentieth century. The first is...
[Posted by M. Bogen, 5-15-13] By now we should know better than to be surprised by the wisdom of Fred Rogers, AKA Mr. Rogers, who died ten years ago but still maintains the power to inspire. We recently came across a link on Twitter to a lovely interview with Mr. Rogers conducted by Karen Herman in 1999. The following quote really illuminates the meaning of value creation.
“The major dramas in life are never center stage. And they’re rarely under the bright lights," said Rogers. "They’re always happening off-camera. The best things of life are, are way...
[New, from our archives, 5-9-13] Columbia University’s Robert Thurman served as a commentator on Center founder Daisaku Ikeda’s lecture, “Peace and Human Security: A Buddhist Perspective for the Twenty-first Century,” delivered at the East-West Center in Honolulu on January 26, 1995. At that time, Professor Thurman met with the Center’s staff to share these views on education, human freedom, and UN reform.
How do you view the role of education in society, and what influenced your thinking on the subject?
RT: I think the question should...
[Posted 4-20-13] The first topic considered during the two-hour, April 6 seminar with Profs. Garrison and Hickman was how to transform our lesser self and come to recognize and foster our greater self. In Buddhism, the former is associated with selfish desires and the latter with compassion and empathy. Garrison, who is Professor of Philosophy of Education at Virginia Tech University, observed that Daisaku Ikeda articulates an important perspective by insisting that “in striving to discover the greater self, the genuine Buddhist approach is not to try to...
[Posted 4-16-13] Yesterday’s destructive and tragic events at the Boston Marathon weigh heavily on all of us. Our hearts and our prayers are with those who have been injured and with the families who have lost loved ones. We deeply appreciate the many encouraging messages we have received from friends throughout the world.
We are reminded by these fateful events how very important it is to keep moving forward in the spirit of dialogue and tolerance, especially in times like these. The Center’s founder has said, "Everything is born from hope."...
[Posted 4-10-13] We must embrace the obligation and opportunity of multiple modes of dialogue if we are to achieve fulfilling lives and the peaceful and creative global community that is desired by diverse peoples of good will worldwide. This was the message of a wide-ranging discussion hosted at the Center on Saturday, April 6, as Professors Jim Garrison and Larry Hickman were on hand to engage with a gathering of national and Boston-area university students on themes drawn from the book A New Humanism: The University Lectures of Daisaku Ikeda. We...
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Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue
396 Harvard Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: (617) 491.1090 Fax: (617) 491.1169