Method guide · Progress through phases
Pause and Parse
Pause conflicting statements and separate facts, interpretations, and requests before returning to the conversation.
- People
- 3–16
- Base procedure time
- 20 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Explore through dialogue; Build working relationships.
English guide
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How this method works
A conversation method for stopping conflicting statements and restating them as facts, interpretations, and requests. Use it when a loud speaker assumes the other's motives, people keep giving different meanings to the same event, or fast rebuttals make requests disappear. After the stop signal, the people involved separate their own words into three kinds of short statement, and recorders write them without changing their order. Separating facts from interpretations before choosing requests makes it easier to move from arguing about who is right to a next action. The result is a three-part record separating agreed facts from requests to try. Do not use it where abuse, intimidation, or danger continues and participant safety cannot be maintained. The whole group sits around the two people and helps with recording and deciding when to resume.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Agree on a signal0–2 minutes from the start (2 minutes)
Action: Agree. Participation: Everyone.
Recording not separately specified for this phase
- Stop the exchange2–6 minutes from the start (4 minutes)
Action: Stop. Participation: The two people involved and the whole group.
Individual record
- Separate the statements6–12 minutes from the start (6 minutes)
Action: Separate. Participation: The two people involved and the whole group.
Shared record
- Choose requests12–16 minutes from the start (4 minutes)
Action: Choose. Participation: The two people involved and the whole group.
Shared record
- Decide what comes next16–20 minutes from the start (4 minutes)
Action: Decide. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 2 minutes, choose one stop signal and confirm with everyone: ‘After the signal, do not rebut; restate in the three parts.’
- For 4 minutes, the two people in the centre each write one sentence containing the conflicting statement, while everyone around them watches without rebuttal.
- For 6 minutes, the two people read facts, interpretations, and requests in that order, and the surrounding recorders separate and post them in the three parts.
- For 4 minutes, the whole group checks only whether the three kinds are present and does not resume rebuttals until all three are there.
- For 4 minutes, the two people choose one request to try, and the whole group writes its owner and the conditions for reviewing it in one line.
If something changes
If
There are 2 or more interruptions of the other person's statements after the stop signal.
Then
Both people write silently on cards for 1 minute, and the recorder reads only in the order written.
If
During statement separation, the interpretation section is at least twice as large as the fact section.
Then
Extract only actions or statements actually seen or heard from the interpretation text and move them to the fact section one sentence at a time.
If
During request selection, 3 or more requests have no person to carry them out.
Then
Mark only requests one person can try alone by tomorrow and keep the others as a record.
Preparation
Materials
- Three three-part record cards per person, headed facts, interpretations, and requests
- One dark-coloured writing implement per person
- One large sheet of paper or whiteboard for recording
- One stop-signal card per group, approximately A5
Room and setup
- One pair of seats facing one another in the centre for the two people involved
- Recorder seats in a semicircle for everyone except the two people involved
- One display surface for posting the three-part record side by side
Adjust for people and time
With 2 people, after speaking each person writes their own statement as facts, interpretations, and requests, and they take turns reading. Up to 16 people, the whole group helps the central pair with recording and deciding when to resume. Above 16, divide into groups of no more than 8, each with the two people involved and no more than 6 recorders. Each group keeps a three-part record of the conflict and just one request to try.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Do not use the method if continuing abuse, intimidation, or danger prevents participant safety. After the stop signal, do not rebut; preserve the statement order and check the presence of facts, interpretations, and requests before resuming. Requests to try remain separate from the agreed facts.
Historical translation and source notes
These original notes are retained verbatim with their fixed source versions. This historical label does not resolve a source-specific concern or establish current acceptance.
- The catalogue metadata states a minimum of 3 participants, while scaling explicitly describes a two-person version. Both are retained without changing the metadata.
- The second branch compares the interpretation and fact sections at a ratio of at least 2, but the source does not say whether this means statement count, text length, or another measure. No measurement rule is invented.
- Above 16 participants, the source specifies groups of no more than 8 with two people involved and up to 6 recorders but gives no allocation rule for additional participants or selection of each pair. No allocation procedure is added.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- Taiwa no Fumen editorial team: Pause and Parse
Original description and illustrations
Diagram, print, and video language
Original Japanese guide, diagram, and print view. Their labels and print text have not been translated; an English print edition is not provided here.
English video-library navigation. Original Japanese audio, subtitles and transcripts remain labelled Japanese resources. Their translations are separate later work. No remote player is embedded here.
The manual English phase controls are a navigation aid, not a live facilitation timer. Interactive diagram motion remains pending.
Editorial provenance
Japanese source status and logs are provenance only. They do not mean this English text or interface was field-tested. Historical fixed-text acceptance and hold records remain specific to their recorded versions; displaying them neither asserts current acceptance nor resolves source-specific restrictions.