The Passion and Energy of Youth
October 2009
Banner photo: [Sanna Lindberg/Getty Images]
Preparing for the Parliament
SGI-USA Peace and Community Relations Director Ian McIlraith at the SCCPWR event [World Tribune] In December 2009, the city of Melbourne, Australia, will play host to the world's largest interfaith gathering, the Parliament of the World's Religions. During the months of April through June, SGI organizations in the United States and Spain participated in a variety of preparatory events for this fifth parliament.
On April 19, SGI-USA's World Peace Ikeda Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, hosted the Los Angeles Pre-Parliament Event of the Southern California Committee for a Parliament of the World's Religions (SCCPWR). Some 300 people representing 20 religious groups attended.
The forum, whose theme was "Hearing Each Other, Healing the Earth"--the official theme of the Melbourne parliament--offered a unique opportunity to address the pressing concerns of humanity from religious and spiritual perspectives. It featured musical performances, an interfaith service, interactive workshops and an art exhibition.
Lotus Sutra exhibition in Lleida [© Seikyo Shimbun] SGI-Spain cohosted a similar event, the fourth Catalan Parliament of Religions, on June 14, at the University of Lleida (UdL) in Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. Titled "Spirituality, Women and Society: Unity in Diversity," the gathering was organized by the UNESCO Association of Lleida and attended by 800 people.
As an opening event for the Catalan Parliament, "The Lotus Sutra--A Message of Peace and Harmonious Coexistence" exhibition was on display at the Lleida Public Library from April 28 to May 16. Some 5,000 citizens visited the exhibition, which was cosponsored by UdL, the UNESCO Association of Lleida, the Institute of Oriental Philosophy (IOP), the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences and SGI-Spain.
Symposium at the University of Lleida, Spain [© Seikyo Shimbun] The exhibition displayed facsimiles and romanized texts of Lotus Sutra manuscripts published by the Soka Gakkai, including a recently published edition of a Sanskrit Lotus Sutra manuscript from the British Library, as well as 52 photographic panels and displays of items such as relics, documents, manuscripts and different editions of the Lotus Sutra.
In conjunction with the exhibition, representatives of the IOP participated in a symposium entitled "A Dialogue between East and West--Toward Social Cohesion and Harmonious Coexistence" on April 29, which was held at UdL.
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