Islam

Buddhism spread to West Turkistan (the present-day former Soviet Islamic republics of Central Asia) in the 1st century BCE and was present there, at various times, until the mid-18th century.

An overview of the basic Buddhist concepts that allowed Islam to consider Buddhists “People of the Book” – those who follow the ethical teachings of a higher authority.

The health of a society arises dependently on each of its members developing a healthy mind and sense of ethics. See how the various world religions would tackle a disaster in accord with their own system of ethics.

The Dalai Lama’s emphasis on reaching out to the Muslim world with respect and making correct information about each other’s beliefs widely available are the best roads for Buddhist-Muslim harmony in areas in Asia where the two cultures meet.

The Dalai Lama believes it is wrong to characterize a whole religion as bad because of the actions of a few mischievous people. This is true regarding Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism alike.

Before 1959, Tibetan Muslims living in Central Tibet were the descendents of Muslim merchants who spoke Tibetan and followed most Tibetan customs. In Indian exile as well, the Muslim and Buddhist Tibetan communities live in harmony, with religious tolerance.

With the hope of defraying some common misunderstandings and exploring resonances between Islam and Buddhism, “Inquiring Mind” set up a conversation between Dr. Alexander Berzin and Dr. Snjezana Akpinar, a Buddhist practitioner with an academic background in Islam.

The Dalai Lama encourages students to develop their inner values and ethics alongside their education.

The two major Islamic minorities in the People’s Republic of China are the Uighurs and the Hui. The Tibetans and Uighurs see the Hui immigrants, more than the Han, as a greater threat to their cultures, a tension that does not arise from religious grounds, but from economic...