April 2009
German Interfaith Dialogue Group Visits Rissho Kosei-kai
During April 5-8, 26 members of a German interfaith dialogue group headed by Rev. Masanobu Hirata, a lecturer at Evangelischen Hochschule (evangelical school), Dresden, and Dr. Gotthard Fermor, a professor at the Evangelic University of Applied Science Rheinland-Westfalen-Lippe in Bochum, Germany, visited Rissho Kosei-kai in Tokyo.
They visited Japan to study religious- and humanity-related themes in Japanese culture and discuss them with Buddhists and Christians. Rev. Hirata had visited Rissho Kosei-kai headquarters once before, in April 1990 with Dr. Dietrich Mann, director of the Center of Interreligious Dialogue and of the Evangelical Lutheran Missions Seminary in Hanover, West Germany. Rev. Hirata, the center's secretary-general, and Dr. Mann conferred with Founder Nikkyo Niwano.
On the afternoon April 5, Rev. Yasutaka Watanabe, chair of Rissho Kosei-kai's board of trustees, welcomed the group at the Great Sacred Hall. He outlined the brief history of Rissho Kosei-kai and explained how the lotus flower symbolizes the essence of the Lotus Sutra. The group then toured various Rissho Kosei-kai headquarters facilities.
On the following morning, the group had exchanges with students of Rissho Kosei-kai Gakurin Seminary at the Kosei Library. Dr. Michio T. Shinozaki, president of the seminary, explained his faith and the spirit of Founder Nikkyo Niwano's teachings, based on the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sutra, and the importance of bodhisattva practice for the attainment of buddhahood. The group then heard presentations by headquarters staff members on the seminary and Rissho Kosei-kai's social work.
On the morning of the 8th, after attending the celebration of the Buddha's birthday in the Great Sacred Hall, they met President Nichiko Niwano in the Horin-kaku Guest Hall for an informal talk. President Niwano referred to his meeting with Rev. Hirata and Dr. Mann at a Christian seminary in Frankfurt am Main after attending the Global Conference of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival at Oxford University in April 1988. President Niwano and Rev. Hirata expressed delight over their reunion in Tokyo.
April 8, 2009
[back to News Archive]
