I have been interested in world religions since living in Asia for three years. It is also a subject which is very relevant to my current studies in Human Rights. Mistakenly religion is used as the cause of wars, violence and terror. Looking at the universal message of all religions they are actually based on love, compassion and tolerance. Their teachings are ways of encouraging people to look at the world with love for all things in it: our fellow neighbour, animals, the environment. We have much to gain by trying to understand world religions. There are around 6 billion people in the world; 2 billion follow Christianity, 1.3 billion follow Islam, 900 million are Hindu and 360 million are Buddhist.[1] We have to learn to live in harmony and understand each other. We can all do our part to learn not just about each other but from each other. All of the major world religions can teach us something about bettering our lives.
I had the honour of attending a series of speeches in India given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet. The focus was compassionate action. I would like to share with you some of the teachings of His Holiness which come from Buddhism. It is not enough to be compassionate. We must act. There are two ways to do this. One is to calm ourselves, our own minds. Then we can reach out to others with a peaceful heart and act in compassion. If you can proceed in service to others with the purest of motives, you proceed sincerely and without regret. When we understand that all people suffer in their own ways then we feel a connection with them. We are an individual amongst millions of others but we are all connected by the things we share in common: one is our desire for happiness.
Living in Asia made me realise how small the world is when you look at it in terms of the interconnectedness of all peoples. People are really just the same all the world over, shaped only by their minds, their hearts and their experiences. By searching for the common ground we can do our part to try and understand each other. I believe that this is the only way we can achieve world peace. Each of us can contribute to this by our own knowledge. A great philosopher once said that we do not have to travel to new places to understand the world; we can just look at the same place with new eyes. May peace be with you all.
I had the honour of attending a series of speeches in India given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet. The focus was compassionate action. I would like to share with you some of the teachings of His Holiness which come from Buddhism. It is not enough to be compassionate. We must act. There are two ways to do this. One is to calm ourselves, our own minds. Then we can reach out to others with a peaceful heart and act in compassion. If you can proceed in service to others with the purest of motives, you proceed sincerely and without regret. When we understand that all people suffer in their own ways then we feel a connection with them. We are an individual amongst millions of others but we are all connected by the things we share in common: one is our desire for happiness.
Living in Asia made me realise how small the world is when you look at it in terms of the interconnectedness of all peoples. People are really just the same all the world over, shaped only by their minds, their hearts and their experiences. By searching for the common ground we can do our part to try and understand each other. I believe that this is the only way we can achieve world peace. Each of us can contribute to this by our own knowledge. A great philosopher once said that we do not have to travel to new places to understand the world; we can just look at the same place with new eyes. May peace be with you all.
[1] Statistics taken from the National Geographic 2002
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