The Asian American / Asian Research Institute invites you to an Evening Lecture Series talk, The Power of Listening: Hearing Voiceless Voices, by Rev. Dr. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, on Friday, March 14, 2014, from 6pm to 8pm, at 25 West 43rd Street, 10th Floor, Room 1000, between 5th & 6th Avenues, Manhattan. This talk is free and open to the general public.
Rev. Dr. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki believes that Asian values such as “listening” are as valuable as the western values of “talking." "Express yourself” seems to be the way of Western society, but this tends to create a more selfish society with little respect for others, and inattention towards people who don’t express themselves strongly. Rev. Nakagaki will discuss the need to develop more mutual-understanding and mutual-respect among different cultures, religions and ethnicity, through listening and learning from others. Listening is the way to respect and learn from others. This nurtures kindness and compassion towards others who are also members of society.
Rev. Dr. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, D. Min. is a Buddhist priest, ordained in the 750-year-old Jodoshinshu tradition of Japanese Buddhism. He is President of the Buddhist Council of New York, a Vice President of The Interfaith Center of New York, Clergy-on-Call for Columbia University, Community Clergy Liason for the NYC Police Dept., and Religious Advisor to the Japanese-American Lions Club.
Since 1994, Rev. Nakagaki has organized an Interfaith Peace event to commemorate the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. He organized the annual 9-11 WTC Memorial Floating Lanterns Ceremony from 2002-2011. Rev. Nakagaki is also the author of two books in Japanese: “No Worry, No Hurry, Eat Curry: New York Bozu Indo o Aruku” (A Buddhist Monk Walks in India, published by Gendai Shokan, 2003) and “Manhattan Bozu Tsurezure Nikki” (Diary of Manhattan Monk, published by Gendai Shokan, June 2010).
To RSVP for this talk, please visit www.aaari.info/14-03-14Nakagaki.htm. Please be prepared to present ID to the security desk upon entering the building. If you are unable to attend, live webcast of the talk is available on the AAARI website starting at 6:15PM EST, with post-live video and audio podcast the following week.
For details on all of AAARI’s upcoming events, please visit www.aaari.info.