Prof. Jolyon Thomas (University of Pennsylvania) will speak about Japanese anxieties about youths in the 1950s and 1960s and the attempt to use Buddhist teachings in public schools to help develop a morally upright citizenry. These creative Buddhist attempts to make "bad" kids "good" utterly failed, but they spurred some of the most doctrinally innovative Buddhist thinking of the twentieth century.
The event will feature a talk by Ven. Pomnyun, a Buddhist monk, peace activist, humanitarian assistance expert and environmentalist.