Omotenashi: Peace in Action
"Omotenashi" has recently received a lot of attention as Japan prepares for the 2020 Olympics. Although recognized globally for it’s impressive standard of service, the spirit of omotenashi is not actually unique to Japan. Throughout 5,000 years of the peninsula’s...
Omotenashi: Peace Begins in the Home
I watched my mother silently from the kitchen. She stood smiling at the dining table as she neatly folded a once-ordinary large paper napkin into a beautiful flower and set it next to my father’s dinner plate, repeating the process twice more for her daughter and...
A Day of Thanksgiving for the “Gracious Gifts of the Most High”
During the height of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a day of national thanksgiving. This would become the first of what is commemorated each year in the United States as Thanksgiving. The nation was divided. Families were literally torn down the middle,...
Omotenashi: A Wholehearted Path to Peace
A stranger followed my father into the house and closed the door on the cold wind. Crouching down to undo the laces of his shoe, he released a quiet cough. By the time he was seated across from my father, my mother was already setting a hot cup of tea in front of the...
In Victory and Defeat: “With Malice Towards None, Charity Toward All”
The U.S. Civil War was and still remains among the bloodiest war in U.S. history. The war had turned brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, and after the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, the country was weary of war and hoped for peace. There are...
Honoring Grandpa: A Tribute to Veterans
“Kinship among nations is not determined in such measurements as proximity of size and age. Rather we should turn to those inner things — call them what you will — I mean those intangibles that are the real treasures free men possess.” Later to become the 34th...
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, The World Is One Family
Western scholars like Max Muller and Paul Brunton have long lauded India for its unparalleled spiritual profundity, unmatched in terms of variety of spiritual expression and practices. Among the spiritual treasures of the Indian tradition is the crown jewel of...
The Spirit of Tae Kwon Do
A dozen children clad in white uniforms form orderly lines as they practice the front kick. Master Cho, with an ever-present grin, paces back and forth, correcting his students. This small dojang, or practice hall, located in western United States is an ocean away...
Getting to Peace
There is something much more sublime than the practical at work in human faith. If we were limiting ourselves to the logical and practical, then education and vocational training should do the trick. Religion is powerful precisely because it functions somewhat...
Interfaith ‘Twins’ Promote a vision of Peace in Northern Nigeria
The Christian and Muslim cleric from Kaduna State in Nigeria, Rev. Joseph Hayab and Sheik Abdulahi Maraya, are known as the “twins of Kaduna” for their affectionate personal relationship and evangelical commitment to publicly emphasize values shared among Christians...
Children of Dutsen-Wai Learn They Are One Family under God
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”...
The Korean dream: A vision for peace in Asia’s future
This opinion piece by Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon was published on Sept. 3rd, 2016 in the Sunday Guardian. See the original at: http://www.sundayguardianlive.com/opinion/6311-korean-dream-vision-peace-asia-s-future Principles such as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam can be an...