March 2009

13th International Lotus Sutra Seminar Held in Hawaii

The 13th International Lotus Sutra Seminar, sponsored by Rissho Kosei-kai, was held March 17-20 at the Kona Retreat Center of the Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhist Church of Hawaii, with the theme "The Lotus Sutra and Interfaith Relations." Twenty-one scholars of Buddhist studies and theology from Japan, China, South Korea, Germany, Ireland, and the United States participated. On behalf of Rissho Kosei-kai, Dr. Michio T. Shinozaki, president of Rissho Kosei-kai Gakurin Seminary and director of the Chuo Academic Research Institute, and Rev. Munehiro Niwano, deputy dean of Rissho Kosei-kai Gakurin Seminary, took part. Dr. Gene Reeves, advisor to the International Buddhist Congregation, affiliated with Rissho Kosei-kai, and former dean of the Meadville/Lombard Theological School, University of Chicago, served as the principal organizer, and Joseph Logan, senior researcher at the Essential Lay Buddhism Study Center, Tokyo, served as the rapporteur.

Twelve participants presented papers on the theme. Each presentation was followed by comments by another participant, then discussed by all the participants. Other participants included Stephen Covell (Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan), Natalie Gummer (Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin), Hiroshi Kanno (Soka University, Tokyo), Hans-Rudolf Kantor (Huafan University, Taipei), Shiro Matsumoto (Komazawa University, Tokyo), Charles Muller (Toyo Gakuen University, Tokyo), Joseph O'Leary (Sophia University, Tokyo), Haiyan Shen (Shanghai University), Sung Jin Song (Methodist Theological University, Seoul), Ching-wei Wang (National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin), Yifa (Hsi Lai University, Los Angeles), and Brook Ziporyn (Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois).

The seminar included a presentation on Rissho Kosei-kai, in which Michie Tomizawa and Nick Ozuna of Rissho Kosei-kai International gave an overview of Rissho Kosei-kai's faith and its overseas dissemination. On March 21 the participants flew to Oahu and visited Rissho Kosei-kai of Hawaii in Pearl City, where they participated in a panel presentation for center members. The following morning, they attended a ceremony commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Rissho Kosei-kai of Hawaii.

Since 1994 Rissho Kosei-kai has held the Lotus Sutra seminars almost annually in Japan, and in China in 2005, 2006, and 2007, inviting international scholars to promote discussion and exploration of the Lotus Sutra. The seminars have aimed to make the sutra's teachings better known among Western scholars.

March 17, 2009

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