all of the religions in the world, however diverse, are of one family and in harmony with each other

In fact, all of the religions in the world, however diverse, are of one family and in harmony with each other. As the name of the Avatamsaka Sutra suggests, various species of magnificent flowers in a garden, each giving forth a beautiful fragrance, together create a beautiful scene. But if the garden is limited to only one species, the scene will be boring.

In ancient times, travel was inconvenient and communication among different groups was rare. So the true God used different appearances. Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, the Buddha, Confucius, and Lao-Tzu all had features of the respective people in different areas. Looking like everybody else, they were able to pass down their sacred teachings.

From this we can tell that all religions are the teachings of one true God, and their core is the teaching of love. The Bible tells us, “For God so loved the world . . . .” [John 3:16, NIV] The chapters in the Koran all begin with “In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.” [Yusif Ali] The Buddha taught us, “Compassion is the essence, and expediency is the means.” Confucius said: “The benevolent man loves others,” and Lao-Tzu said: “I have three treasures which I cherish and prize. The first is called compassion.” [Dao De Jing, Susuki]

Today, travel and communication are convenient. Instead of avoiding one another, religions should cooperate and learn from each other. We have to understand the teachings given by the true God to different people, and we have to deepen our understanding of our own religious texts. We have to bring ourselves closer to the true God, and most importantly, religious believers have to express the love of God through their actions, propagate it to people of the world, and, finally, save this world.

Today’s world emphasizes multiculturalism and seeks cooperation among different religions, ethnic groups, and countries. We are one entity. We need to respect, love, care about, care for, and cooperate with each other. We need to pursue harmony. How? Harmony begins within ourselves. Instead of asking others to respect and get along with us, we ourselves need to respect and get along with others first. It does not matter whether others pay equal respect to us or try to get along with us. Eventually we will move them and influence them if we persevere in respecting them.

If I have the merest thought of demanding that others first get along with me, harmony can never truly be achieved. It is because I place myself in a conflicting position with the thought of demanding, dominating, and possessing others. So I do my utmost to love other people, care about and for them, and help them wholeheartedly. I do all this without asking anything in return because I know that we are one and that this universe is one living entity.

http://www.purelandcollege.org.au/page44.html

From
The 3rd World Peace

Forum

Yogyakarta Indonesia

30 June 2010