Friendship--An Introduction
January 2004
Banner photo: Hokkaido, Japan ©SEKAI BUNKA PHOTO
Interfaith Dialogues
The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA) hosted its ninth interfaith dialogue, titled "The Conception of Man," at the EASA headquarters in Salzburg, Austria, on October 24. Among the attendees were Prof. Karl Matthäus Woschitz from the University of Graz, Austria, and Dr. Yoichi Kawada, director of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy (IOP), Tokyo.
Following keynote speeches, participants discussed various religious conceptions of the human being, considering the context of the modern world where disregard of life has escalated in tandem with advances in technological development. In his speech, Dr. Kawada introduced the peace-building suggestions of SGI President Daisaku Ikeda which were recently published in The Japan Times, an English-language daily printed in Japan. Dr. Kawada stated that his participation in EASA's interfaith dialogues has enabled him to find the transcendent values such as peace, nonviolence and respect for life that are shared by many religions.
