Witnesses of Mercy for Peace and Reconciliation

78 space for interconnectedness, for religious and commu- nity leaders to come together. Initially, we worked with nearly 300 religious and community leaders to start the discourse through intra-faith and interfaith dialogue, sensitisation activities, advocacy and lobbying. It has been a process of bringing all of the religious traditions together, to be on the same page. It is within this process that an organic model called the Interfaith Dialogue Centre was born, operating healing hubs and catalysts for reconciliation. This was created as a safe space for diverse faith groups to come together to recognise, accept, respect, nourish and cele- brate diversity. We succeeded in creating a neutral and safe physical space for different faith groups to come together. It turned out to be a process that can contribute to develop trust and confidence, giving birth to collective decision-making mechanisms. This process has been further expanded with the inclusion of female religious leaders as a separate entity in order to explore and establish their role in healing and reconciliation. This female religious leader group is expected to be maturing into the Interfaith Female Religious Leaders’ Council by 2017. Through interfaith dialogue centres and other mechanisms, the CPBR has been focusing on the above-mentioned central themes, supporting reli- gious and community leaders to be connected with those qualities and values and to nourish them. We have accompanied them on the journey of cultivating loving kindness and compassion. In religious traditions, wisdom is associated with compassion. Compassion is the core and the starting point. Compassion helps people find their inner peace, community peace, societal peace and global peace. Com- passion is the starting point of healing and the opening path for revealing and achieving truth and justice. Com- passion and empathy are not only for human beings but for the entire universe. How can we become compas- sionate towards all animate and inanimate beings on an equal footing? That is where all systems including ecological systems can come together to bring harmony, peace and reconciliation. Compassion is a mind that is motivated by cherishing other living beings and wishes to release them from their suffering. Dishani Jayaweera Dishani Jayaweera is programme designer and strate- gist at the Centre for Peacebuilding and Reconciliation (CPBR). She is also a member of the Tanenbaum Peace- makers in Action Network. A former attorney from Colombo, Sri Lanka, Dishani left the legal profession in answer to a deeper calling – to work closely with people to create a peaceful and just soci- ety. She co-founded the CPBR in 2003with her life partner, Prof. Jayantha Seneviratne. The organization operates on the belief that the peacebuilding process begins with indi- viduals. CPBR targets young people, women, community and religious leaders, understanding them to be powerful shapers of social attitudes and behaviours in Sri Lanka, and key to bridging religious and ethnic divisions. CPBR encourages personal transformations that will, in turn, empower communities to seek structural and politi- cal change. The organization’s interfaith work promotes understanding among Sinhalese Buddhists, Tamil Hindus, Muslims, and Tamil and Sinhalese Christians through dialogue, training in conflict analysis and transformation, and supporting clergy as they mobilise communities to experience the joy of interdependence and coexistence. WITNESSING MERCY FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIAT ION Picture © Jayanth Dhramawardana