 |
|
 |
||||||||
Report: Vancouver BPF Hosts "Seeds of Peace" Symposium at the World Peace Forum June 2006 The first World Peace Forum assembled in Vancouver, Canada from June 23 to 28, 2006, to discuss Cities and Communities: Working together to end war and build a peaceful, just and sustainable world. Over 5000 people from around the world attended, sharing a commitment to create cultures of peace. The Vancouver BPF chapter sponsored an event titled “Seeds of Peace: Buddhist Perspectives on Social Engagement,” which drew a full house of 50 people. Five speakers from a variety of Buddhist traditions and backgrounds responded to the insight There is no way to peace. Peace is the way. Speakers included Lucy Leu, who started the Freedom Project, which trains incarcerated people in mindfulness and nonviolent communication; Kate McCandless, a bereavement counsellor and recently-ordained Zen priest; Miguel Rodriguez, a philosophy writer who works with street people with addiction problems; Bonni Ross, a Buddhist teacher and co-founder of Path of Peace Study Centre; and Lorraine Strand, a Zen student who is dedicated to animal rights work. Each speaker brought up different aspects of how their spiritual practice and social engagement connect and sustain each other. Despite the different life experiences and perspectives of the speakers, there was a shared experience of a deepening knowledge of how important the feeling of interconnectedness is to any real peace. Lucy told a story about how she could not truly connect to a colleague and former-inmate of hers who had done some heinous crimes until she could see how, under different circumstances, she herself would do the same. It is this type of connection, of seeing no enemies and feeling no division, that is necessary in living peace. Click here to see the "Seeds of Peace" program (PDF file) For more background and information about the Vancouver BPF, visit: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VancouverBPF/ (sign-up not required). At the end of the group description you will see links to the World Peace Forum site and to program details (PDF) for this event.
Photos
|
||||||||||
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |