【Philosopher Café】Promise and Betrayal
Theme: Promise and Betrayal
Time: 2010/12/18下午02:00～05:00
Location: 10F, Library at Dharma Drum Degui Academy
The sixth session of Philosopher’s Café titled “Promise and Betrayal” was held at the Library of Dharma Drum Degui Academy at the 10th Floor. Some of the participants just returned to Taiwan by plane from abroad in the morning, and some arrived at the activity site with expectations and attempt in mind, hoping for the chance to participate after the registration was full. There were also many participants who had participated in previous course sessions held by Dharma Drum University, and came to try a different mode of learning with curiosity! The people gradually entered the specially designed dialogue area, planned by the guiding teacher, Mr. Gu. As they enjoyed the coffee and deserts, the participants were prepared to engage in this philosophical style dialogue with an easy and relaxed mindset.
At the beginning of the activity, Teacher Gu first introduced the origin, spirit, and rules of the Philosopher’s Café, hoping that everyone could fully express their thoughts, and engaged in a wisdom exchange and dialogue in a safe and comfortable environment. Later, the dialogue began with Teacher Gu’s first question to stimulate everyone’s thoughts: “What is the definition of promise and betrayal? What are their values?” “Did you ever experience a personal story of promise and betrayal in your life? Is betrayal always wrong?” In the process of dialogue, some participants shared the definition they learned from their professional background, and some merged the idea with the thoughts and teachings of Buddhism. Some participants used the movie Monga as an example to share the definition of promise. In addition, people gave thought to the pros and cons of promise and betrayal, and also shared many personal life stories and experience.
“What is your mode of promise? Are you a person who would easily make promises? What kind of person or thing would you make promises? Does your promise last forever? Or is it temporal?” “In the experience of betrayal that you encountered, what are bearable and what are not?” Or even “How could one keep one’s promise in this human world of impermanence?” etc. All of these were issues that Teacher Gu and everyone discussed and considered. “Sometimes a promise is done out of force. Is it deemed a betrayal if one changes a promise due to different circumstances and subjective, objective factors?” “It is more difficult to endure a betrayal from a relative because one feels one can take it for granted…” “One feels more secure in front of family members, so one feels safe to speak harmful words…” “One should inform the other party if one cannot meet a promise in order to avoid over expectation from the other party and the burden for oneself…” “Do not make hasty promises, and once a promise is made, one should keep it because a promise carries the meaning of responsibility.”
Within the process of this short three hours activity, everyone proposed their own thoughts and consideration, and responded to the point of views proposed by fellow participants. As the discussion continued, the guiding Teacher Gu also provided feedback to the thoughts proposed by everyone, and encouraged everyone to take a step further in their thinking.
Many of the people present were first time participants joining the activity of the Philosopher’s Café, but all expressed eagerly and took notes diligently in the process of the activity. After the activity ended, many of the issues discussed were also for participants to further their reflection and retrospection in daily life, to experience and feedback.
At the last few minutes of the activity, Teacher Gu asked everyone to share their experience and thoughts in this participation, everyone felt that they learned a lot today, and it was a wonderful experience, and Teacher Gu concluded the activity with a perfect ending. (Reporter/Zheng Xin Li)