buddhism and conflict resolution

Are you interested in working with conflict resolution? If so, you may like to contribute to this project. Please forward this to anyone you know who may be interested:

Dear Dharma friends,

We have created a weblog to act as a source of guidance and inspiration for those people following the dharma who seek to mediate conflict situations effectively using Buddhist principles.

It would be very helpful to us if you could spare a little time to
share with us your thoughts and experiences on the following:

1) What experiences of conflict have you encountered in your
daily life?

2) What in your experience constitutes 'right attitude' for
an individual seeking to mediate a conflict situation?

3) What in your experience constitutes 'right approach' for
an individual seeking to mediate a conflict situation?

4) Can you tell us about a situation in which you resolved
conflict using Buddhist principles?
4b) If you haven't got a personal example, then have you
witnessed another doing the above?

5) Do you know of skilled exponents in this field? If yes,
can you give us their names, any books they've authored,
and videos of them in action?

6) Can you recommend any books/conference
papers/articles/videos/websites/training resources etc.
that you think would be helpful to others in this field?

Thank you in anticipation of your contribution and hopefully
you will find the weblog itself useful in your life and something
that you can recommend to others.

The URL for the weblog is
http://amidatrust.typepad.com/buddhismandconflictresolu

Evan Bond and Susthama

::please contact Susthama for more details or to reply

 

Comments

[Tom]

3) What in your experience constitutes 'right approach' for
an individual seeking to mediate a conflict situation?

I think the best approach is to step around areas of heat and to focus on what each side ‘needs.’ Ignore the emotional elements completely, at least for a while.

Often what people want or need in a dispute is not what the other side wants or needs and it proves possible to give each side 80% of a loaf and there is serendipity.

A mediator should go to each side and try to make of list of the needs. Once having a full understanding of the situation, including the views of third-parties, and lists of the sides’ needs, the mediator should try to design a resolution that is fair and can satisfy everyone. The mediator should try to think outside the box, to finds means and aid from the government, social agencies and others.

I think that, generally, a mediator should present a plan of resolution that all parties can then consider and, hopefully, massage into a resolution. If the plan is flawed or not acceptable, at least it is a starting place. And at the very least it is an opening for the idea that fairness and objectivity should be deployed for finding a fix for the mess, whatever it is.