In his book Living Buddha, Living Christ, Hanh (1995) explores the issues concerning religious tolerance and peace among people pertaining to different traditions.
One of the most striking statements in his writing (which can be regarded as a thesis statement of the entire work) is as follows, “We have different… ways of seeing, but we share the common qualities of love, understanding and acceptance” (Hanh, 1995, p. 11).
It is necessary to note that this statement does not include something brand-new, but it reveals the universal truth. The most striking about it is that it is revealed in simple terms and the reader cannot but accept it.
I completely agree with the author as I also believe all religions and all major traditions are based on similar values. I think the metaphor used by the author is very suggestive as religions can be compared with flowers or any other objects in the universe as everything is constituted by a quite limited number of elements.
Likewise, religions are based on similar ideas of the good and the bad, just and unjust. Irrespective of the name of the religion and specific rituals, all major religions teach people to be rightful, i.e. to share such basic values as love, understanding and compassion.
There is one peculiarity of all religious groups: some people tend to stress that there can be only one rightful religion. As for me, this has little to do with religions as they are. It is about people’s desire to be different. Many people see that religions are largely similar, but they try to disregard that and still want to seem better than others. I believe equality is unaccepted when it comes to religions.
It is not enough to show that all religions are constituted by the same elements, it is more important to make people long for equality. When people are ready to accept they are equal to people of other religions, human society will develop in the peaceful world.
Reference List
Hanh, T.N. (1995). Living Buddha, living Christ. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.