Here are more selected passages from Global Civilization: A Buddhist-Islamic Dialogue, continuing from my previous post. Interestingly, this is from the first chapter titled "Why Dialogue?" Emphasis are all mine.
The Human Revolution: Source of Value Creation
Ikeda: “Transcend your personal worries and sufferings and transform yourself in such a way as to contribute your due share to society and humanity”—this is the motto of the SGI movement aimed at human revolution.
Tehranian: That’s where I find the name Soka, or “value creation”, particularly significant. Take Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King—people who opened a new path for creation in history. They were invariably born and lived in an era when established values were in crisis. In order to live fully in an age of crisis and make “wisdom for creation” of new values shine forth, one must cultivate strong willpower and self-discipline so as to be able to cope with all adversity.
Generally, the better disciplined a person is, the more likely he/she will challenge the established authority and open up a new path of creation in the course of struggle against the old.
Ikeda: A path of value creation in an age of crisis requires well-tempered self-discipline— I could not agree more with the point you have just made.
Professor Nur Yalman of Harvard told me that he believes “sustained challenge is the fountain of great value creation”. As I interpret it, “sustained challenge” means that each man and woman must hone his or her wisdom to build up a network of solidarity among awakened people. Peace, for example, will remain an empty dream unless people have an ability to check any reckless moves of the power elite; the tragedy of war will never cease unless people unite to prevent it.
About the Title
Ikeda: As I recall it, you wanted to entitle this volume “Choose Dialogue” when we first talked about it.
Tehranian: Your two previous dialogues with two distinguished scholars, Arnold Toynbee and Johan Galtung, are titled “Choose Life” and “Choose Peace”, respectively. They both focused on how to preserve the sanctity of life through the pursuit of peace by peaceful means.
Those topics are problems as old as humanity itself, yet they remain of primary importance today. But we have now entered a stage of history during which “dialogue” is becoming as necessary as “life” and “peace”. In fact, dialogue may be the only means by which we can guarantee life and peace.
Ikeda: After all, the proof that human beings are human lies in the spirit of dialogue. The great Persian poet Sa'adi wrote in the 13th century, “Man is superior to the beast by being able to talk, but if you do not talk about good things, the beast will be superior.”
Tehranian: Globalization of markets and societies has brought different nations, cultures, and civilizations into intimate contact with each other on a massive scale. These contacts, on the other hand, have led to both competitive and cooperative economic and political formations, clashes in perceptions and interests, as well as
conversations and negotiations. To the extent that dialogue is absent in such contacts, as under conditions of violence and domination, the seeds of animosity will be sown for years, even decades, to come.
Ikeda: I suppose it is against the backdrop of such a situation that some scholars like Professor Samuel Huntington of Harvard have presented the “clash of civilizations” and other similar theses.
In my view, it is not only incorrect to assume a clash is inevitable but even dangerous because such a thesis might encourage fixation on the confrontational picture of the world. Even if a clash should occur, civilizations themselves are not to blame, for the true cause lies in the kind of barbarism that does not accept groups of people that are different from one’s own.
In order to prevent such a clash from taking place, we cannot emphasize too much the importance of the spirit of dialogue. For genuine dialogue requires an ultimate trust in the goodness people are endowed with and an effort to strike the right chord in their minds.
Tehranian: If dialogue is chosen as a method of dealing with our friends and foes, there is hope that we can better understand them and thereby the possibility of mutual accommodation of perceptions and interests.
Ikeda: Dialogue is the weapon of peace, and that is the fundamental spirit of Buddhism.
The Indian society of Shakyamuni’s time was, in a way, similar to the present-day world as it was in the period of transition and change. Values were in utter confusion, and various contending forces were engaged in violent struggles for power and influence.
Even at home, it is said, people had to have their weapons close at hand. Such social unrest notwithstanding, Shakyamuni literally traversed the country, preaching peace and demonstrating his teaching by action.
The weapon Shakyamuni used was none other than “nonviolent dialogue”. Through dialogue he taught the sanctity of life and tried to eliminate violence from society.
Tehranian: Without dialogue, we will have to walk in the darkness of self-righteousness.
More selections will follow.
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