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I received a request this morning from somebody to talk about interfaith harmony
because there's been so much in the press that has been this horrible anti-Muslim sentiment
and this big ruckus about building a Muslim community centre near ground zero and about
this Christian minister who wants to burns all these Korans on September 11th. And it's
been very, very disturbing and yesterday I was very happy to read that some of the chief
religious people had an emergency meeting. I think it was in New York, it might have
been D.C. but I think it was New York, and, you know, they completely were against
this kind of anti- Muslim rhetoric that's going on in the country I was very happy to hear
that they spoke up about this. But this kind of talk and this kind of fear mongering that
people are doing is so dangerous for peace in one's own heart and for peace amongst human
beings and it's something that Buddhism is very, very clear on, and his Holiness speaks
on so much and so often. He has a new book out actually it's called-what is it? "The Kindred--"
I saw a copy on somebody's desk, it's something-- (Note, it's called "Toward a True Kinship of Faiths")
It's new by his Holiness. But he speaks so much about the fact that
each person has to find his spiritual path that is most conducive for him or her and
that what is good for one person is not necessarily good for another person. And even when people
get excited about Buddhism and want to become Buddhists he always says, you know, "Try
your own religion first and see if that works for you and if does stay with it and if it
doesn't then sure, you're welcome to become a Buddhist."
And so the point is really to see that all religions have something in them that is conducive
for human beings. They're all based on ethical conduct, you know, not killing, not stealing,
things like this. They're all based on having love and compassion and forgiveness. You know,
the historical times the books were written in were different. The cultures they were
written in were different but so much of just the basic teachings of how to live a good
human life and how to get along with people are, you know, so much the same in every religion.
So much so that in Buddhism if we criticise another religious teachings it's as if we
were criticising the Buddha's teachings when we're dealing with this level of commonality
of the teachings. And then, of course, there's theological differences, we can't
say all the religions are the same. There's theological differences but that's okay because
some of the theological reasons, let's say for cultivating love and compassion or ethical
discipline, some the reasons that are put forth in some religions make sense to some
people and not others, and the reasons put forth in other religions make sense to a different
group of people but not to this group of people. But the fact that the basic teachings on how
to live and be a kind human being and create a peaceful society are the same. So the theological
differences are actually inconsequential because they're trying to get you to the practice
of being a good person, OK?
So we don't get hung up on theological differences. We can debate. Buddhists debate amongst themselves,
you know. But the purpose of debate is to increase our own understanding, but you know,
criticizing another faith and criticizing the followers of that faith is so against
the teachings of love and compassion that are the foundation of all the world's religions,
you know. So I think if, you know... Here if I were to talk to Jews and Christians and
Muslims and Zoroastrians and Wiccans and everybody else, you know, to say that, you know, if
we really follow our own spiritual tradition well and understand it properly then we have
to respect other spiritual traditions. Because ... if you see let's say from a theistic
viewpoint that all human beings are created in God's image, ok, then from the theistic
viewpoint then you still have to respect all those human beings as if they were God
or related to God otherwise that would be going against you know the basic teachings
you follow as a Jew or a Christian or a Muslim. In Buddhism we say it in different language
you know everybody has the Buddha nature or everybody wants to be happy and not suffer,
you know, it comes in different words but the point is that to understand the teachings
of your own religion well involves respecting all different faiths and all different people.
And I think especially in our country this is so important and it really saddens me to
see people saying that in the name of the values that America stands for we have to
get rid of Muslims. That's completely contradictory, you know, because our country was founded
on the values of, you know, religious tolerance, you know, and tolerance of different political
views, free speech, free gathering, all these kinds of things. How can you take a view point that supports
the constitution and at the same time targets another religion and does hate; what I consider
hate; crimes against that religion? You know, to me that is not living according to our
constitution which we say is what we cherish, ok? So I think we have to really think deeply
about these things. And we have to speak out in our own communities to counter this kind
of hatred and just general fear mongering that has absolutely no purpose except to make
yourself famous, yes? And stir other people. It's so harmful.