September 2011
E-Newsletter
The Ikeda Center e-newsletter is designed to keep you up to date with our activities in support of peace, learning, and dialogue.
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Cultivating the Greater Self 8th Annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue to take place October 22 ![Flowers in light]()
The "greater self" of Mahayana Buddhism, writes Daisaku Ikeda, "always seeks ways of alleviating the pain, and augmenting the happiness, of others, here, amid the realities of everyday life."
Building on this Buddhist foundation, this year's Ikeda Forum will consider the greater self from a range of philosophical perspectives, with emphasis on ways that education and dialogue can encourage this enlightened state.
Throughout the day, we will ask: How might widespread awakening to the greater self help us realize a more harmonious and ultimately peaceful world? Speakers include Virginia Benson, Ann Diller, Bernice Lerner, and Lou Marinoff. Please join us on Saturday, October 22, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., for "Cultivating the Greater Self." >> Learn more about the event! >> Register to attend! |
| Social Healing and the Greater Self Judith Thompson featured in new video series ![Dr. Judith Thompson]() Judith Thompson recently talked with us about the many ways that the lense of social healing enables us to develop an expansive vision of self and community, one in which the well being of both are intertwined and interconnected.
Practicing compassion, she says, we grow beyond our isolated, lesser selves, thus transcending what she calls "the delusion of separation." Other topics include social healing as an evolutionary paradigm, the paradox of compassion, the role of self healing, and the value of evolving narratives. Dr. Thompson is Co-Director of the Social Healing Project. This video series features five brief clips. >> View the videos | | "The Age of Soft Power and Inner-Motivated Philosophy" September marks 20th anniversary of Ikeda lecture Twenty years ago this month, Center founder Daisaku Ikeda spoke at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government on the philosophical dimensions of "soft power," a term introduced and first explored by Harvard's Joseph Nye in his 1990 book, Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power. In his talk, called "The Age of Soft Power and Inner-Motivated Philosophy," Ikeda argues that a rejection of the coercive methods of "hard power" must be accompanied by a "corresponding strengthening of the inner resources" of individuals along with an inner-motivated commitment to the well being of society. For inspiration, Ikeda looks to the Japanese tradition of Bushido as well as figures such as Blaise Pascal and Ralph Waldo Emerson. >> Read the lecture |
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