In a past issue of these "Paths of dialogue", speaking about the activity of Shinmeizan for the formation to interreligious dialogue, we mentioned briefly the annual courses for students of the Kitakyushu University of Industrial Medicine. This initiative deserves to be dealt with more in detail.

Hanamatsuri (in Japanese; Vesakh, in sanscrit) is perhaps the most important feast for Buddhists, celebrating the birth of the Buddha Sakyamuni. In various Countries of the Asian Continent, this feast falls in the month of May, but in Japan it is celebrated on April 8th, and is known as "hanamatsuri", the feast of flowers. On this occasion the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has been sending for many years an annual congratulatory message to all Buddhists in the world. It is a good and important occasion to practice the so called "dialogue of life" which aims at creating friendly relations among people of different religious traditions.

It is important to emphasize the need for formation for those who promote interreligious dialogue. If it is to be authentic, this dialogue must be a journey of faith. How necessary it is for its promoters to be well formed in their own beliefs and well informed about those of others. It is for this reason that I encourage the efforts of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue to organize formation courses and programmes in interreligious dialogue for different Christian groups, especially seminarians and young people in tertiary educational institutions.