The Obligations of Religions
The world’s religions differ from one another in many respects, not only in doctrine and practice, but also in rites and prayers, and it is clear that the reason for this is that different climates, peoples, and cultures have given birth to the world’s various religions.
Nikkyo Niwano
I think that religions have been caught up in their differences for too long. Religions have too long ignored the fact that beyond their superficial differences they share many essentials. As a result of this focus on differences, we all know, history shows, that conflicts attributed to religion have occurred repeatedly.
In the latter half of the twentieth century, however, many religions came to add introspection to their own histories. It dawned on them that rather than directing attention to their differences, they should be directing their attention to the points they have in common.
One person who focused on these common points and opened the way to dialogue among religions was Rev Nikkyo Niwano, the late founder of Rissho Kosei-kai. He firmly believed that “all religions are one” and “all religions spring from the same source.” He was propelled toward working for religious cooperation by his further conviction that since the happiness of all people and peace in the world were the common goals of all religions, religions should endeavor to have dialogue with one another.
These convictions were derived from the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, which Rev. Niwano came to believe in deeply. It is well known that the Lotus Sutra recognizes not just a variety of divinities, but also a variety of doctrines and beliefs. In the Lotus Sutra, they are all described as pathways toward the “One Vehicle.”
At Rissho Kosei-kai, there was a divine revelation that the truth and spirit of the Lotus Sutra will spread throughout the world through Rissho Kosei-kai’s efforts. This does not mean that the Lotus Sutra’s teachings will take the place of other religions, but rather the spirit of the Lotus Sutra, which recognizes all other religions, will spread throughout the world. This is what attracted me to Buddhism to begin with, I was so tired of the “if you don’t believe what we believe then your going to hell” mentality that instead of bringing me to religion, it was driving me further away.
Buddhism is called the “religion of tolerance,” and among the numerous Buddhist sutras, it is the Lotus Sutra that most advocates tolerance. Without such tolerance it would surely be difficult to continue or expand dialogue among religions.
Due to the population explosion, technological innovation, economic growth, and the like, intractable issues are piling up in the world of the twenty-first century, such as issues concerning natural resources, the environment, energy, poverty, and even finance. These are issues that must be solved through dialogue by all nations if the human race is to continue to survive and if we are to continue living together on this earth.
It is understandable that we must entrust these issues to politicians and economists as well as to scholars and specialists in various fields. But for issues of the human spirit, it is the religions that must work together through dialogue for the betterment of humanity. This is because no matter how much science and technology develop, if this is not accompanied by the betterment of humanity, the global crises will only keep increasing.
The chapter entitled “The Divine Power of the Tathagata” in the Lotus Sutra describe the ideal and goal for a society in the distant future, wherein all teachings will be integrated into one teaching, meeting the wishes of the gods and buddhas, and earthly society will become like a buddha land. Working toward such an ideal and goal, I believe it is the responsibility of people of religion living in the twenty-first century to further continue and develop the tradition of dialogue among religions that began in the latter half of the twentieth century.
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Words go on and on as we try to describe it all. People listen and people don’t, but it all seems lost, because we’re lost in all the words. The subconscious thinks in pictures. It gets the big picture. It can handle all the output of the Information Age. Call it what you may, but let’s call our thinking, left brain thinking. It doesn’t work. The way we’re supposed to think, we could call the way, the Tao or right brain thinking. Somehow when we listen to our thoughts instead of direct them, ask for clarification at the usually ‘different’ answers that come, instead of reject them, we find that behind these thoughts we don’t like of believe or reject, is all truth from the subconscious, God, the still small voice. Again, call it what you will from your understanding, by filling in your own words that reflect where you are coming from, we all can contact our other “mind’ and find our humanity, the Tao, the spirit of God, our love and peace. One way to think of it for the scientist is that we have a pure part of our brain, not yet contaminated from the world, that shows us all the things we all desire, no matter from which direction we come. The subconscious has all that for us if we only will listen and ask.
How can that bring us together? When Christians say that the way is narrow and straight, it can be narrow as we get near ‘there’, until then we are coming from all different directions. Even if we go around the world, we end up back at the same place. How can you get away from God? And when the Bible said that there is only one name under the sun by which man may be saved, Christians forget that God has many names, for instance Christ was called, among many names, the way, the truth and the life. I see science approaching religion from seeking the truth. Absolute objectivity lead to absolute truth. Objectivity is to observe and not make judgments until you observe absolutely objectively. That means an absolutely open mind to really see the big picture first and then see the details. So open mindedness brings us together and while we solve war and hunger we can work out the details, but absolute objectivity allows us to see the other meanings in all our scriptures and positions. They are deep and not shallow, only our thoughts, our understanding of language and arguings over words are shallow.
My point is that by asking our thoughts what they mean, inquiring into our thoughts, we just see the picture that words can hardly describe. We see the unity all religions speak of. We can reach enlightenment by what is, just about, a technology of the brain, how to think. There’s more, but a word to the wise and never enough for the rest of us. LOL I don’t think that any amount of words will do to see the picture of everything, the outworking of God’s purpose, but a peek at the subconscious, given by God, does show us our love for each other. Even the atheist should be able to appreciate the complete objectivity of the subconscious and the absolute open mindedness with which we have to approach it. Each question you ask it, it seems to look at all information that it has, real and imagined, before ’seeing’ a conclusion, an answer to our questions and we only have to inquire of it to get the ‘picture’ ourselves. It’s like talking to God. Close enough to say that we have the mind of God in us, we are made, especially our mind, in the image of God. We can see things as he does without knowing every detail, that’s saved for an eternity of enjoying the discoveries and the wonderments. I believe anyone can poll their mind and find a deep sense of wanting to work it out with each other. Who wants to be disconnected from humanity, disconnected from our mind or God. That’s the ultimate pain, speaking of which science and experience shows that pain is controlled from right brain thinking or experiencing the subconscious or what ever it is.
I think we should start a community and merge with other communities until we’re all together on a vision for the world that only we can put together and accomplish. Leaders can’t do it, We have to do it together and ought to start. You don’t start a business without a business plan based on a ‘vision statement’. It seems to be the time in history for it, and a majority of the world knows enough and is tired enough of this left brained world of arguing over words. It says that where the people lack vision they perish. We need to put together a world vision, admittedly somewhat general, for our people, for our leaders and for ourselves, the weak link in all our plans. I believe that when people start listening to their intuitive thoughts that they will be coming together to state what ‘they’ and or we, want. And I believe that God can give us a vision that even leaders and others can see, especially with this technology of the mind. I know that the leaders know that they don’t have a plan. We have the history of military leaders not having an administrative vision, only a military one. I can cite instance after instance where they know they need help and will be glad to get it, for the most part. We could have a world vote. Once we find how small we are and the greatness in us, we will see that if one person can change the world, what can a few, then hundred and then a common world view accomplish?