True Dialogue

In Living Buddha, Living Christ, renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh offers a rich word about true dialogue while reflecting on interfaith conversations. He writes:

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change. We have to appreciate that truth can be received from outside of—not only within—our own group. If we do not believe that, entering into dialogue would be a waste of time. If we think we monopolize the truth and we still organize a dialogue, it is not authentic. We have to believe that by engaging in dialogue with another person, we have the possibility of making a change within ourselves, that we can become deeper. Dialogue is not a means for assimilation in the sense that one side expands and incorporates the other into its “self.” Dialogue must be practiced on the basis of “non-self.” We have to allow what is good, beautiful, and meaningful in the other’s tradition to transform us.

Let me highlight one truth this passage carries: A good dialogue partner converses with the hope that the conversation will change them—not simply their interlocutor—so that they “become deeper,” and so more firmly rooted in and nourished by goodness, beauty, and truth.

Amen y Amén.