World Affairs

Volume 7, Number 2 (April-June 2003)

Towards Greater Religious And Cultural Harmony
HH The Dalai Lama

For true global harmony it is necessary to understand the diversity of other cultures and traditions, through love and respect for every human being, every religion, every country.

 

Today's world requires us to accept the oneness of humanity. Many of the world's problems and conflicts arise because we have lost sight of the common experience that binds us all together as a human family. We tend to forget that despite the diversity of race, religion, ideology and so on, people are equal in their basic wish for peace and happiness. In the past, particular communities could afford to think of one another as fundamentally separate. Some could even exist in total isolation. But nowadays, what happens even in a remote region eventually affects many other areas. Within the context of our new interdependence, self-interest clearly lies in considering the interest of others.

I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warm hearted feeling for others, however different from us they may seem to be, automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.

Human beings naturally possess diverse mental dispositions and interests. Therefore, it is inevitable that different religious and cultural traditions emphasise different philosophies and modes of conduct. But this diversity is actually a source of enrichment. For example, the greater variety of food we have, the better are we able to satisfy different tastes of people's and their needs. When we only have bread, the people who eat rice are left out. And the reason some people eat rice is that rice is what grows best where they live.

Because of the astounding variety of human beings' intellectual and emotional dispositions, we need a variety of religious and cultural traditions and practices to meet our sundry needs, and their very existence can be our strength. Since the essence of our diverse religious traditions is to achieve our individual and collective benefit, it is crucial that we are active in maintaining harmony and mutual respect between ourselves. Concerted efforts to this end will benefit not only the followers of our own community, but will create an atmosphere of peace in society as a whole. Cultivating harmony, respect and tolerance is something that we can each start doing in our own lives and in our own actions.

On the other hand, if we take the differences between us as grounds for fighting and arguing, there will be no end to it. All of us will be weakened and diminished, even if one side manages to impose its point of view by force. History shows that coercion rarely yields positive results and in the present circumstances too no one will really triumph through adopting a belligerent and hostile approach. Now that people throughout the world can be made immediately aware of what is going on in one small part of the planet, it is extremely difficult to pursue one's own interests indifferent to the concerns of others. The impact of our actions is no longer isolated or localised. However we choose to look at it, hostility based on religious and cultural differences can have no meaningful or lasting benefit at all.

The more we understand one another's ways, the more we can learn from each other. Consequently we will more easily develop respect and tolerance in our own lives and in our behaviour towards each other. This will certainly help to increase peace and friendship throughout the world. We can all make a positive contribution to the common good. On the one hand, our need to live together, like members of a family, requires that we show each other tolerance and mutual support; On the other, our very diversity is a source of strength and creativity.

In the Buddhist tradition, to which I belong, not only are the desire and right of all sentient beings to achieve happiness and overcome misery viewed as equal, but also we all ultimately share the same potential to fulfil this goal. For, each sentient being, each being with a mind, possesses what we call 'Buddha nature'. Simply expressed this is the mind's fundamentally pure quality of clarity and awareness. It is this quality, unaffected by whether we are tall or short, thin or stout, whether our skin or hair is light or dark, which grants each and every one of us the opportunity to awaken to our mind's full potential -; if we take advantage of it.

Religion, for most of us, depends on our family background and where we were born and grew up. I think it is usually better not to change that. However, the more we understand each other's ways, the more we can learn from each other. All the major religious traditions carry a similar message. The presentation of love and compassion may differ, but the end results of practising them are the same. Once we realise this and appreciate its deeper implications, it automatically provokes genuine respect for other religions. And it also acts as a foundation for the development of harmony between different religious traditions. This will certainly help to increase peace and friendship throughout the world, which I believe we all want to achieve.

Historically individuals and communities have looked to their religion and culture as a source of basic values. It is sad to observe that in our present increasingly globalised world, there is not much concern for human values; everything depends on money and power. If human society loses the value of justice, the value of compassion, the value of honesty, we will all face greater difficulties in the future.

From my Buddhist viewpoint all things originate in the mind. A real sense of appreciation of humanity, compassion and love, are the key issues. If we develop a good heart, whether the field is science, agriculture or politics, since the motivation is so very important, the result will be more beneficial. With proper motivation these activities can help humanity; without it they can become destructive. This is why compassionate thought is so very important for humankind. Although it is difficult to bring about the inner change that gives rise to it, it is absolutely worthwhile to try.

It is natural, for example, that we should strive to improve our standard of living, but not at any cost. The more we pursue profit and material improvement, ignoring the contentment that comes of a corresponding inner growth, the quicker ethical values will disappear from our communities. Then we will all experience unhappiness in the long run, for when there is no place for justice and honesty in people's hearts, the weak are the first to suffer. The resentments resulting from such inequity ultimately affect everyone adversely. What we must do is to balance external material progress with the sense of responsibility that comes from education and inner development.

It is also natural that we should face obstacles in pursuit of our goals. But if we remain passive, making no effort to solve the problems we meet, conflicts will arise and hindrances will grow. Transforming these obstacles into opportunities for positive growth is a challenge to our human ingenuity. To achieve this requires patience, compassion and the use of our intelligence. It is extremely important to realise that the graver the crisis we encounter, the greater is our need for patience. Above all, we must not lose our determination.

The twentieth century was marred by conflict and war. I hope that we can take steps to ensure that this new century will be characterised instead by non-violence and dialogue, the preconditions of peaceful coexistence. It is natural that in any human society there will be differences and conflicts, but we have to develop confidence that dialogue and the support of friends are a valid alternative to violence in all our relations.

To begin on a practical level it is essential that we eliminate from our schools' curricula any tendency toward presenting others in a negative light. There are undoubtedly some parts of the world where the teaching of history, for example, fosters bigotry and racism toward other communities. This is wrong. It contributes nothing to the happiness of humanity. Now more than ever we need to show our children that distinction between 'my country' and 'your country', 'my religion' and 'your religion' are secondary considerations. Rather, we must insist on the observation that my right to happiness carries no more weight than others' right.

This is not to say that I believe we should educate children to abandon or ignore the culture and historical tradition they were born into. On the contrary, it is very important that they be grounded in these. It is good for children to learn to love their country, their religion, their culture, and so on. But the danger comes when this develops into narrow-minded nationalism, ethnocentricity, and religious bigotry. The example of Mahatma Gandhi is pertinent here. Even though he had a very high level of Western education, he never forgot or became estranged from the rich heritage of his Indian culture.

The challenge of the new millennium is surely to find ways to achieve international -; or better, intercommunity -; cooperation wherein human diversity is acknowledged and the rights of all are respected. How then might we bring about the harmony that is necessary to overcome cultural and inter-religious conflict? As in the case of individuals engaged in the discipline of restraining their response to negative thoughts and emotions and cultivating spiritual qualities, the key lies in developing understanding. We must first identify the factors that obstruct it. Then we must find ways to overcome them.

Perhaps the most significant obstruction to cultural and inter-religious harmony is lack of appreciation of the value of others' traditions. Until comparatively recently, communication between different cultures, even different communities, was slow or non-existent. For this reason, sympathy for other faiths and traditions was not necessarily very important - except of course where members of different religions lived side by side. But this attitude is no longer viable. In today's increasingly complex and interdependent world, we are compelled to acknowledge the existence of other cultures, different ethnic groups, and, of course, other religious faiths. Whether we like it or not, most of us now experience this diversity on a daily basis. We each have to take responsibility as best as we can within our own sphere of activity to create a true global harmony.