Dear Gunnar and friends,

I should have made it clearer, but I really don't want to make it
lengthy. Many religious and political idealisms from the West, such
as Catholicism and Communism, believe in 'homogeneity'. We see
Crusades, Jihads, ethnic cleansing, inquisitions, secret police,
thought crimes, conspiracies, torture and terror, all done in that
name of the "greater good", be it religious or political. I know
people would say I am not fair to put Catholicism and Communism side
by side, but from my personal view, they are two sides of the same
coin. And each represent the wider spectrum of similar "idealisms"
they belong to. While both sides may never admit, they really have
more in common than they are different. One significant difference we
see in Catholicism is the amount of effort it put in reconciliation
and charity today. In fact, it is really our good karma, they never
agree with each other, until now, at least.

Buddhism is different from such Euro-african idealisms. As part of
the samana movement, Buddhism started off in a pluralistic
environment, and has been so until today. Frankly speaking, I have
not read as much of the Tipitaka as many of our fellow members in the
group, but I can recount a solidly good incident which give our an
idea how the Buddha wants us to treat other religions.

It was said that on one occassion a lay-disciple came to the Buddha,
and asked Him how he should treat his former religious teachers. In
India, most religious teachers collect alms for food. The Buddha
replied that he should continue giving food to his former teachers as
he previously did, and should treat them with respect.

Of course, in a "use your brain or lose it" situation, when a
religious teacher of some extreme fundamentalist group is coming for
my life, common sense will tell me to carry my legs and run.
Otherwise, besides being critical, from the Buddha's viewpoint, we
should also respect all religions as He instructed Sigala in another
sutta.

I like to say the world we live in today is much different from India
of Buddha's time. Besides, cultural differences have always existed
between all the races and groups. So, the Buddha's advice may be too
limited to be useful in today's world. And I agree we should keep our
eyes open. A more proactive approach, however, which some of you
might take, is to engage in dialogs with members of other faiths in
your community.


metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Gunnar Gällmo wrote:

> The Buddhist stand on other religions is always
> embrace and respect, and this discussion hardly
> leads us to anything we want to achieve.

Do you mean by this that we should "embrace and respect"

1. religious people, regardless of confession, or
2. religious practices and doctrines, regardless of how they look?

Although the election of Pope Ratzinger (called, even by some of his
own most devote followers, "Papa Ratzi" - perhaps the Pali nickname
would be "Paaparatana"?) is largely an internal affair of the
Catholics, it is nevertheless relevant to us as far as it has effect
on the relation between the Buddhist and Catholic communities, and on
the possibility to practice Buddhism even if living in an environment
dominated by the Catholic Church.

So I think it's well for us to keep our eyes open.

Besides, I just read that one of the new pope's favourite writers is
Hermann Hesse - perhaps not quite as Buddhist as some readers
believe, but certainly still less Catholic; so perhaps there is some
hope of a continued dialogue after all.