Interreligious Dialogue: Means and End
Kees Boukema
During the “John Main Seminar” in London in September 1994, the Dalai Lama – at the invitation of the World Community for Christian Meditation – commented on some passages from the New Testament submitted to him. He assured his audience beforehand that it is not his intention to sow doubt among Christians about their own faith. On the contrary, he advised everyone to deepen their understanding and appreciation of their own tradition. Human feelings and cultures differ too much to justify a single path to the truth. He also kindly but firmly rejected the suggestion that Buddhism and Christianity are different languages for what is essentially the same faith. He did see some similarities regarding ethics, but noted that Buddhism has neither a Creator God nor a personal savior like Christianity.
[See: ‘The Good Heart’, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, 1996 Wisdom Publications, Boston USA, updated edition 2002, Rider London. p. xii.]
Religious traditions can be the cause of conflicts and arguments. The Dalai Lama knew from experience that a good way to deal with these conflicts is close contact and exchange between different believers. Not just an exchange on an intellectual level, but also of deeper spiritual experiences. In his opinion, that is the best way to develop mutual understanding and respect.
Meetings in which scholars from different religious backgrounds discuss the differences and similarities between their religions can promote solidarity and increase mutual knowledge, but the most effective dialogue between religions, according to the Dalai Lama, is a conversation between sincere practitioners from the perspective of their own faith to share the insights they have gained as a result of their practice [….] A dialogue based on experience presupposes that there is an underlying universal truth that can be approached by practitioners of different religions, provided they are willing to suspend their feelings of exclusivity towards each other. He added: “I believe that the purpose of all great religious traditions is not to build great temples outside, but to build within, in our hearts, temples of goodness and compassion.”
The Dalai Lama is convinced that the diversity of religious traditions today is valuable and relevant. He has personally experienced that all major religions have a common language and message, on the basis of which we can build genuine mutual understanding. He is therefore in favor of people continuing to follow the religion of their own culture and heritage. Of course, anyone who truly believes that another religion is more effective or better suits his or her spiritual needs has every right to switch, but in general it is better to discover and experience the value of one’s own religious tradition.
In this context, the Dalai Lama specifically addressed the Christian brothers and sisters who practice meditation in their daily lives: “I believe the practice of meditation is extremely important. Traditionally in India, there is samadhi meditation, “stilling the mind”, which is common to all the Indian religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. And in many of these traditions, certain types of vipasyana, “analytical meditation”, are common as well. We might ask why samadhi, “stilling the mind”, is so important. Because samadhi, or focusing meditation, is the means to mobilize your mind and channel your mental energy. Samadhi is considered to be an essential part of spiritual practice in all the major religions of India, because it provides the possibility to channel all one’s mental energy and the ability to direct the mind to a particular object in a single-pointed way.
“It is my belief that if prayer, meditation and contemplation -which is more discursive and analytic- are combined in daily practice, the effect on the practitioner’s mind and heart will be all the greater. One of the major aims and purposes of religious practice for the individual is an inner transformation from an undisciplined, untamed and unfocused state of mind toward one that is disciplined, tamed and balanced.(….).
“Once this transformation has been achieved, then in following your spiritual tradition, you will discover that a kind of natural humility will arise in you, allowing you to communicate better with people from other traditions and cultural backgrounds. You are in a better position to appreciate the value and preciousness of other traditions because you have seen this value from within your own tradition.
“I believe the best way to counter the feeling that one’s own path is the only true path, is to experience the value of one’s own path through a meditative life, which will enable one to see the value and preciousness of other traditions.”
The current Pope Franciscus has also made himself known during his term of office as a strong supporter of interreligious dialogue. For example, in Rome he received delegations of Buddhists from Mongolia, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand. During the visit of Buddhist leaders from Cambodia and Finland on January 19, 2023, he spoke out in favor of strengthening interreligious dialogue as a contribution to an ‘ecological conversion’, which in his view can only begin if “we recognize the human share in the roots of dare to acknowledge the current environmental crises.” (www.kerknet.be January 19, 2023). Franciscus made an unannounced visit to the Sri Maha Bodhi temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka in January 2015 (Boeddhistisch Dagblad, January 15, 2015). At the beginning of February 2019, the Pope visited the United Arab Emirates (Volkskrant, February 3, 2019) and Morocco in April of that year; both in the context of the “dialogue between Muslims and Christians” (raad van kerken.nl).
In November 2019, Pope Franciscus met with the Buddhist Patriarch at the Maha Simaram Temple in Bangkok during his visit to Thailand. There he reiterated his commitment to an open and respectful dialogue ‘in the service of peace and well-being’ (www.kerknet.be November 21, 2019).
In October 2020, a meeting of leaders from all world religions took place in Rome ‘in the spirit of the meeting in Assisi in 1986’, with the theme “No one can survive alone. Peace and brotherhood”. Pope Franciscus called the cultivation of universal brotherhood “the highest religion” and emphasized the importance of cooperation and interreligious dialogue for “peace and security in the world” (kifkif.be 19/12/2020).
Pope Franciscus made a great impression with his four-day visit in early March 2021 during the corona pandemic to Iraq, ravaged by attacks and attacks. He visited the cathedral in Baghdad where thirty-eight worshipers were killed in an attack by extremists in 2010. Bearing in mind the command that Jesus gave to his substitute, the apostle Peter: “Feed my sheep” (Matthew 16: 18, John 10: 14 and 21: 15 ff.), Franciscus called for the protection of the Christian Yezidis, targets of genocide. Franciscus also made a pilgrimage in Iraq to Ur, the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch not only of Jews, but also of Christians and Muslims. He advocated tolerance and brotherhood towards members of one and the same human family [See: Ana van Es, De Volkskrant, March 7, 2021].
On September 3, 2023, Pope Franciscus met with ten religious leaders, representatives of Tibetan Buddhism, Shamanism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and the Russian Orthodox Church, on the last day of his visit to Mongolia. Franciscus said in his speech that interreligious dialogue cannot undo mutual differences, but it does help to understand each other better and can also contribute to mutual enrichment (www.kerknet.be September 3, 2023).
There has not (yet) been a meeting between the Dalai Lama and Pope Franciscus. The Dalai Lama had hoped to meet the Pope during the meeting of Nobel Prize winners on December 12, 2014 in Rome. Pope Franciscus appeared unwilling to do so, in order not to ‘jeopardize the laboriously built up diplomatic relationship with Beijing.’ (China count about 12 million Roman Catholics). The Dalai Lama showed understanding for this decision. [See ad.nl, February 6, 2014, Boeddhistisch Dagblad, December 12. 2014, NOS.nl December 12, 2014 and www.kerknet.be, March 17, 2023].
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kees Boukema has been a student of Vedanta and other philosophical systems for decades. He has contributed variously to the field of higher thinking. He has written numerous articles on philosophical subjects, reviewed books, and has translated important articles and books. Mr Kees Boukema’s most recent work is the translation into Dutch of the book The Practice of Meditation.