Although,
from one perspective, religious plurality may look like a problem to be solved,
or an "issue leading to division and conflict", from another viewpoint,
it's not good or bad - it just is.
The most precise answer to the question,
"what difference does religious plurality make?" is this: it all depends
on the person and on the particular religious tradition! An exclusive religious
tradition which provides a strict set of guidelines for salvation and denies plurality
may be found threatening. Conversely, an inclusive tradition accepts diversity
and may even welcome it. A major strength of Buddhism is its insistence upon distinguishing
between the world-as-it-is and our judgements about the world. Plurality, Buddhist
say, is neither good nor bad. It just is. Good and bad are mental constructs,
ego - and culture-based sunglasses we use to protect ourselves from the bright
light of a diverse and brilliant world. All of us, Buddhists say, tend to confuse
our perception and our judgement of things with the things themselves. The result
is resistance and conflict.
One of the most popular art figures in Chinese
Buddhism is a multi-armed and a multi-eyed Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. In this
figure, each arm of the Bodhisattva is holding a different object. Each object
represents means and methods used by the Bodhisattva to help the sentient being
who needs help. According to Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is one who vows to enlighten
other beings by seeing the different predisposition in each of them and exercises
his/her wisdom to develop different means of approach. This is called "expedience"
(upaya), one of the most important skills Buddhists need to develop. Buddhism
sees the different nature and various needs of each individual just as, in school,
a good teacher needs to know each student's personality and what approach works
best for each. With compassion, a Bodhisattva accepts the fact of various human
cultures and practice, understanding they exist because of the needs of different
individuals.
A woman told me that she does not want to be a woman again in
her next life. I asked her what was wrong with being a woman. She answered that
women are always discriminated against. Then I asked her to think if this world
were all men without women, would things be going better? She was startled for
a while and said no. I asked her to think "if there is only one colour people
on the earth, would this world be better?". She said that was impossible.
I suggested she consider the variety in religions in the same way.
A brilliant
young man studying in Princeton University asked me whether, if his parents were
Buddhists, does he need to be a Buddhist too? I told him that he needed to allow
himself to explore all religions and find a religion or a belief which suited
him.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet tells his audiences that they should
welcome and respect all religious traditions. "After all," he says,
"no one would go to a restaurant that serves only one dish. It would be boring
to eat the same thing day after day."
According to Buddhism the cause
of conflict is the judgmental mind. We create the discrimination against people
in different categories. We decide x is bad and y is good, so we are obliged to
fight on the side of y to try to destroy x. As a result of this misperception,
we spend enormous amounts of energy fighting arbitrary distinctions. We confuse
the map for the territory and the menu for the meal.
The Chinese Buddhist Master
Hsing Yun teaches: "The deepest significance of equality lies in the truth
that there is no difference between the one and the many." From the Buddhist
perspective, the one is many and the many are one. According to the Buddhists,
things are the same in principle and different in form. All sentient beings have
the Buddha nature. The seed of good and evil is present in all of us, awaiting
the conditions, which cause one or the other to emerge. He says it this way:
"All
things in the world have differences in form, appearance, energy and function.
If you look deeply into their fundamental natures, however, you will see that
they all are truly equal because we understand the process of cause and effect
which produces forms and appearances. Then you will understand that all of us
are an inexorably part of this huge process.
Don't think there is anything
anywhere that has no connection to you. Everything does. A blade of grass, a tree,
an animal, and every drop of water in the ocean are connected to you and all of
them are truly a bounty and a blessing in our lives."
Venerable
Yifa is a Buddhist nun from Taiwan