The Century of Africa
January 2005
Banner photo: ©SEKAI BUNKA PHOTO
East-West Connections
On October 1-2, the Boston Research Center (BRC) hosted its first Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue. The forum, "Re-Awakening East-West Connections: Walden and Beyond," traced the influence of Eastern philosophy on the philosophical development of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and their contemporaries, known as the Transcendentalists.
Alan Hodder, professor of comparative religion at Hampshire College, provided an extensive overview of the influence Eastern texts had on this group, including how the concept of "wakefulness" was incorporated in Thoreau's daily routine at Walden Pond. Dr. Yoichi Kawada, director of the Soka Gakkai-affiliated Institute of Oriental Philosophy, discussed wakefulness in the context of Buddhist philosophy, tracing Shakyamuni's own awakening, and the history and development of Buddhism, explaining how, at each important juncture in its history, individual awakenings resulted in a determination to work for the betterment of society.
Other speakers included Phyllis Cole, professor of English and American Studies at Pennsylvania State University, who spoke on "The Transcendentalists and the Art of Conversation," and Zoughbi Zoughbi, founder and director of the Palestinian conflict resolution center Wi'am, who stressed that righteous anger never justifies violence and that being true to one's core convictions leads to an inner spiritual transformation.
