Ly, Le Ngoc Bich. Enhancing interreligious dialogue competency for peacebuilding : learning from the Buddha's dialogue skills in the Sutta Pitaka. (). Payap University. Central Library. : , 2023.
Enhancing interreligious dialogue competency for peacebuilding : learning from the Buddha's dialogue skills in the Sutta Pitaka
Abstract:
Interreligious dialogue has been recognized as an important tool for peacebuilding. However, an effective dialogue requires skills. Hence, dialogue skill training is necessary. Being inspired by the Quebec education framework of dialogue competency for school students in Quebec Canada, this study looked into the Buddhist tradition to generate resources for building a similar and suitable educational model of interreligious dialogue competency for Asian countries where Buddhism is a dominant dialogue partner. Such a program has not existed in Asia. Literature on the Buddhas dialogue skills has been little and even not existent. This study filled in these gaps by studying the Buddhas dialogue skills in the three collections of the Sutta Pitaka, namely Digha Nikaya, Majjhima Nikaya, and Anguttara Nikaya by applying the Quebec framework of dialogue skills for analysis through a qualitative content analysis method. This framework includes forms of dialogue, methods of organizing a point of view, methods of examining a point of view, methods of reasoning and ways of examining a type of reasoning, factors fostering dialogue, and obstacles in dialogue. This study went beyond the above categories to include communication methods, and how to overcome obstacles in dialogue. It also gave recommendations for building an Asian educational model of interreligious dialogue competency.
The study found that the Quebec framework was helpful to analyze the Buddhas dialogue skills in the Buddhist texts. The study found both common elements and emergent ones from the data. The overall results show that the Buddhist dialogue narratives provide concrete criteria and distinctive understanding of each dialogue skill listed in the Quebec framework where applicable. Based on the findings, the study presented nine recommendations for the construction of an Asian model of interreligious dialogue competency for university students.