Global Civilization

A Buddhist-Islamic Dialogue

Global Civilization emerged from a series of conversations between two peace advocates of Japanese and Iranian origin. It covers the encounters between Buddhist and Islamic civilizations from the 7th century to the present. For all their cultural differences, Buddhism and Islam share a surprising number of intrinsic similarities. Now more than ever, the search for common ground across civilizations is of vital importance. The topics discussed in this spirit of dialogue include such diverse subjects as the nature of religious faith today, global ideological terrorism, religious fanaticism and universal human rights. Ikeda and Tehranian, two important representatives of their respective faiths, propose dialogue as the most effective method of conflict resolution at interpersonal, intra-national and international levels. Global Civilization is addressed to students of Buddhism, Islam and international communications but most importantly to the general reader. It is a call for tolerance, for dialogue and ultimately for peace.