Comments on Soka Educators International Network (SEIN): 1st General Meeting

Thanks everyone for a great General Meeting!Nichir...

2007-11-06T03:10:00.000-05:00

Thanks everyone for a great General Meeting!

Nichiren Daishonin writes:

We must congratulate each other on the happy occasion of the arrival of spring. Your visit to me here last year was an event as rare as the blossoming of the udumbara flower. I am still wondering if perhaps it was something I merely dreamed or imagined.
And now at the beginning of this year

Vitória completa de SEIN no Brasil - 2010!Constanc...

2007-11-05T10:57:00.000-05:00

Vitória completa de SEIN no Brasil - 2010!

Constance Haig (Maryland, USA)

Hi everyone, wonderful idea of accomplishing this ...

2007-11-05T09:25:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, wonderful idea of accomplishing this symposium in Brazil in 2010. I am going to take this proposed for Educational Centre of BSGI. We are going to prepare us!!!!!!!! You are going to know the BSGI Country Cultural Center in Brazil!!! And our new Cultural Center in Sao Paulo!!! If possible until the Center of Ecological Researches of Amazônia !!!! And if possible could know the

Anne, thank you also for sharing your challenge in...

2007-11-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

Anne, thank you also for sharing your challenge in France. I have been concerned about this for some time, and after hearing your voice am determined to chant more seriously to support your work. The destinies of the United States and France are definitely linked in the area of nuclear arms!

Constance and Anne, what a wonderful idea for 2010...

2007-11-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

Constance and Anne, what a wonderful idea for 2010!

Greetings All - I wholeheartedly support Anne's id...

2007-11-04T11:31:00.000-05:00

Greetings All - I wholeheartedly support Anne's idea of meeting face-to-face in 2010 for our SEIN General Meeting or for a SEIN Symposium!

When a group of the SEIN members happened to get together this past summer while at FNCC Culture Dept. Course we found we were able to exchange ideas and move forward very rapidly.

Maybe we could chant to meet in 2010 in Brazil where the

Hi everybody, I thank all of you who participate t...

2007-11-04T11:11:00.000-05:00

Hi everybody, I thank all of you who participate to this initiative which is very interesting for me. I began to incorporate me to this forum since last june.
As member of the educators group of SGI-France, I apreciate this way of exchange at international level. I think it's a manner to motivate ourselves and to exchange experiences. At the same time, it could also be an impulsion to create

Hi, It's great to be able to learn from all this s...

2007-11-04T07:58:00.000-05:00

Hi, It's great to be able to learn from all this shared wisdom. It definately feels like a starburst. After x-mas this year I'm planning to start my PhD in New Media and Sustainable Development at Exeter University (This all follows from the Seeds of Change Exhibition Jill!) and I'm in particular interested in how New Media can contribute in exploring values for Sustainable Development as

I think this discussion is a starburst!And here is...

2007-11-04T01:47:00.000-05:00

I think this discussion is a starburst!

And here is where disarmament & dialogue go together:

"When viewed over the short-term, Gandhi's advocacy of nonviolent resistance to the Nazis might seem idealistic to the point of being unrealistic. From the longer perspective, looking back over the history of the postwar period, I think that we must acknowledge the truth of this "voice

Wow, Constance. This guide articulates the respons...

2007-11-04T00:19:00.000-04:00

Wow, Constance. This guide articulates the responsibility of a leader for kosen-rufu in a way that's really engaging!
Thank you for sharing it.
Jill, I'm happy that you, too, remember reading Sensei's words.
I found some other related thoughts when he was referring to his ongoing dialogue with the Brazilian astronomer Dr. Ronaldo Rogerio de Freitas Mourao. (Dec. 1, 2006 WT) "Dr.

Hello again - Stephanie, I was quite moved to read...

2007-11-03T23:34:00.000-04:00

Hello again - Stephanie, I was quite moved to read about Bob's speech on sustainability, especially the aspect of creating trust. Creating trust has never been something I have been very good at doing, but believe it is a critical aspect of deep dialogue. Today as I was leaving a meeting one of the group leaders came up to me and said: "I trust you so much now, I feel as though I can tell you

Stephanie, the reference to star bursts came from ...

2007-11-03T19:17:00.000-04:00

Stephanie, the reference to star bursts came from a speech Sensei gave at a headquarters leaders meeting in 2006. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to track it down, since it's one of my favorites:
A Revolution in One Person Inspires Others, President Ikeda’s address at the 58th Headquarters Leaders, WT, March 31, 2006, Page 1
In the beautiful swirling galaxies found throughout space

Sensei mentions these starbursts in a speech - Ter...

2007-11-03T17:11:00.000-04:00

Sensei mentions these starbursts in a speech - Terry was it in March for the youth division? I can't remember it exactly and maybe Terry has it somewhere to copy and paste here? I think it is that stars go supernova very suddenly and the whole sky lights up. In evolution also, steps of development don't happen gradually as Darwin thought, but very quickly in one or two generations, suddenly

Terry -- can you tell us what "star bursts of capa...

2007-11-03T16:44:00.000-04:00

Terry -- can you tell us what "star bursts of capable leaders" refers to? I hadn't heard of this and it sounds wonderful. The next forum deals a lot with these issues so we should be able to forge an even deeper foundation for the disarmament exhibition.

Ann -- everywhere I go people are thirsting for learning to be better at dialogue. I think it should include dialogue skills,

Greetings all SEIN- I tried to install a survey on...

2007-11-03T14:41:00.000-04:00

Greetings all SEIN-

I tried to install a survey on our blogsite during this General Meeting asking "what is your native language," but removed it because survey software was not working correctly. We can try to do something similar on the website at a later date to help us understand current language usage if everyone is interested.

Terry – I admire your disarmament research

Greetings All!I have to say that I find this site...

2007-11-03T07:34:00.000-04:00

Greetings All!
I have to say that I find this site and technology amazing! Unfortunately, I still have much to learn about "how to use it"!
So glad to see everyone again. As has been said by others, it was a thrill see many at the Culture Department conference in July. I think that is an activity I must absolutely never miss. It was like going home. I enjoyed it so very much and was so

Hi Everyone, (from Terry Ellis)I'm just catching u...

2007-11-02T18:44:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone, (from Terry Ellis)
I'm just catching up on the comments this week. Thanks to Constance and Stephanie for this great new blog environment, complete with music!
Disarmament has become something of an obsession with me, enabled also by the focus that Sensei has put on Toda's declaration for the past few months. My ideas for the exhibit and website are mushrooming!
As with

Wow -- we certainly went into depth about the buil...

2007-11-02T09:39:00.000-04:00

Wow -- we certainly went into depth about the building a more global reach.

The next subtopics are the Disarmament Exhibition and the Dialogue Primer.

What would be useful in your classrooms or community?

How can we improve the dialogue within our SGI community and build a stronger voice in the greater community?

Just checked and currently there are 6,800 languag...

2007-11-01T13:44:00.000-04:00

Just checked and currently there are 6,800 languages world-wide! I am going to create a survey which I will post on our blog- I will not be able to list all the languages. If I am leaving someone's language out please email me. Maybe we can get an idea from the survey of our current needs for our translation buddy system. Please take the survey when you can. Constance (Maryland, USA)

YES, We sure can setup a link : "...for people to...

2007-11-01T10:03:00.000-04:00

YES, We sure can setup a link : "...for people to apply for tranlation buddy if they are non-native English speakers." That is an excellent idea and I am going be bold as Sensei says and TAKE ACTION right now and put a link on the blogsite - later to be created also on the website!

Constance (Maryland, USA)

I agree with Stephanie "it is example, Brazilians ...

2007-11-01T09:01:00.000-04:00

I agree with Stephanie "it is example, Brazilians could gather during forum or create an email..."

Do I agree with Constance "How can we make it open have people who exists for native language which does not uses Roman based alphabet?"

Another idea, perhaps in parallel, would like to form a group to evaluate the possibility of use the Esperanto. There is much free material,

I would like to partner or buddy people who want t...

2007-11-01T06:57:00.000-04:00

I would like to partner or buddy people who want to participate but have other languages. Ideally, the use of tranlators would be fantastic, people who can tranlate back into Portuguese or French or Japanese. Next best would be buddies of the same language together interpreting the site and especially in determining the exact sense of Buddhistic terminology and ideas. If people are physicaly

Hello everyone - as we build upon this Soka system...

2007-11-01T01:34:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone - as we build upon this Soka system of education we need translation which is accurate and deep. Perhaps like Sensei we need in the beginning to use our best translators. As time passes software will be invented which people can speak into with instant translation capability and posting to our website. What I worry about right now is how to be the most inclusive in every way as we

Grüße zum Deutsch sprechend soka Erzieher!

2007-11-01T01:13:00.000-04:00

Grüße zum Deutsch sprechend soka Erzieher!

Okay, let's now talk about the website and the str...

2007-10-31T16:36:00.000-04:00

Okay, let's now talk about the website and the struggle to enable as many people to participate in SEIN as possible -- either on the Forums or to be able to make use of the website and/or improve it with their wisdom.

One way we can become a more deeply international community is through live meetings in countries. For example, Brazilians could gather during the forum or create an email