Religious Harmony

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.

The Dalai Lama shares his conviction that in today’s interconnected world, belief in one religion and one truth can be helpful for one individual, but acceptance of multiple truths is needed for society as a whole.

“A Meeting of Two Oceans; Dialogue on Sufism and Buddhism”: a dialogue at the Roshan Center for Persian Studies, University of Maryland.

Buddhism and Islam offer different strategies for motivating people to deal with shared common problems such as environmental degradation, pollution and global warming. With more knowledge of each others’ methods comes more understanding and mutual respect.

An in-depth presentation of the self, self-centeredness and love in Islam, based on the “Quran,” and in Buddhism, based on the Mahayana teachings.

Outlines of similarities between Sufism and Buddhism go in the right direction concerning generalities, but need to be supplemented with detailed analyses of specific cases in order to avoid misunderstanding.

When, through education, Buddhists and Muslims recognize and appreciate their common universal values of love, compassion, patience and forgiveness, then despite their philosophical differences, they have laid the foundation for religious harmony.

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

The main aim of the Islamic-Buddhist dialogue, as experienced by Dr. Berzin, is educational, for each to learn more about the other’s beliefs and cultures. The prospects for increasing contact and cooperation are vast.

Helping others, if possible, but at least not harming them is the way to live an ethical life.