A Buddhist Dialogue in Wood Green

You are invited to take part in a Buddhist Dialogue meeting at the Wood Green Central Library. The purpose of the Dialogue meetings is to encourage understanding between people of different cultural heritage and experiences. Nichiren Buddhists host the main theme for these dialogue meetings. Participants are welcome to advance discussion on the philosophical concepts of Buddhism within a multicultural setting thereby hoping to engender an atmosphere of respect and tolerance essential for dialogue to take place. Dialogue is an essential training for equipping individuals with important social skills where the qualities of listening and responding without judgment are a discernable outcome.

Quote: P39 - 40 Choose Peace.

A Dialogue Between Johan Galtung & Daisaku Ikeda.

GALTUNG

I see the dialogue as almost the opposite of the debate. There are winners and losers in debates. One party triumphs over the opponent by catching him or her in contradictions between values and facts or on facts or values. The dialogue, however, is open-ended. Participating in a dialogue in which the outcome is known from the start is a waste of time. Dialogues must promote mutual enrichment; in them there can be only winners.

IKEDA

A true dialogue must be a candid, sincere engagement. There is no place in it for condescension or false familiarity. Dialogues are most productive when they are incandescent, person-to-person exchanges of opinion...At their best, dialogues are unaffected encounters between two total personalities...I consider dialogue one of the noblest and most important acts in which human beings can participate.