Religious Harmony

Lecture by the Dalai Lama at the University of Maryland, USA promoting religious harmony and the implementation of moral values in everyday life.

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.

Some people have misunderstood the intent of a Kalachakra initiation and tantra practice in general, thinking it propagates Buddhist domination. To avoid interfaith suspicion and mistrust, it is important to examine the issues in light of the historical and cultural contexts...

Harmony in a multireligious society comes from education about each other’s beliefs and customs and, from knowledge, comes respect.

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.

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.

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

It is very important to maintain a nonsectarian point of view of Bon with regard to the Tibetan traditions. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama always stresses, these different traditions share the same ultimate aim: they all teach methods for achieving enlightenment to benefit...

A Q&A session between Dr. Berzin and his students about similarities between Buddhism and Islam.