Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Piya Tan, Divine Qualities of Spiritual Dialogue, bahai-library.com.
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Divine Qualities of Spiritual Dialogue

Piya Tan

Abstract

Each religion needs an honest way of relating to other religions in an open
society that would be mutually beneficial, or at least reflective of
historical truth. The Buddhist basis for dialogue is found in its teaching of
the “four god-like qualities” {brahma, vihra) of love, compassion,
altruistic joy and equanimity.

By love is meant that Buddhism gives a central place to man’s spirituality
and the world as an extended family, including other religions.
Compassion implies a willingness to listen to others. Altruistic joy is the
willingness to joyfully learn from the success of others, for every religion
has something to teach us even if we are not its followers. Equanimity is
the courage to look at the spirituality of others even as one’s own, at a
level when truth defies words and points in the same direction of
liberation.

1. Reason for Dialogue

For me, the most wonderful thing today, right now, is that so many
religions are here represented, gathered together in peace and sharing.1
This alone is a great achievement for us all gathered here if we contrast
the harmony here with the suffering, injustice and ignorance that have
been propagated in the name of religion (and continue be so done in some
places even today). But man cannot live by bread or rice alone, he must
have faith. Even if his rice has bits of sand in it, he has to feed himself, for
he is ever hungry.

At the 6th Singapore Bahá'í Studies Conference
110 THE SINGAPORE BAHÁT STUDIES REVIEW

The title chosen by the Bahá'í Studies Conference2 is significant because
many (and a growing number) of followers of the world’s religions do not
regard their faith as a “religion” (i.e. a system of beliefs and worship) but
as something encompassing every aspect of their lives as individuals and
as a community, in short, as a culture or civilization. And there are many
civilizations, many religions. Even within each there are diverse systems.

Not everyone, certainly not everyone of a single civilization, is religious.
Indeed, there are systems, movements, groups and individuals that are
totally non-religious or try to be so, such as the materialists, agnostics,
atheists, and free-thinkers. Perhaps this is one reason why the cover letter
to this Dialogue contains the term “epistemic systems” (which, to my
understanding, attempt at a scientific study of knowledge).

Such a dialogue would not only keep us abreast of one another despite our
differences, but in communicating, we would also learn from each other to
be able to work better in a multi-religious society, and to benefit the world
at large: In short, dialogue with other civilizations, with other religions,
can help us become better followers and members of our own civilization
or religion.

2. Difficult Beginnings

The Bahá’í Faith had a difficult and painful beginning. Many thousands
were murdered and persecuted for their faith. For teaching a powerful
new faith, Bahá'u'lláh (Mírzá Husayn ‘Alí Núri) himself was imprisoned
in the notorious Black Pit in Iran, and then exiled to Turkey where he was
put under house-arrest by the powerful who felt threatened by his
spirituality.

Buddhists would see the suffering Bahá'u'lláh as a Bodhisattva, as a
person of great spiritual compassion and wisdom working under
insuperable difficulties for the benefit of others. Suffering is nothing new
in Buddhism. It is the beginning of Buddhism: that suffering is a
universal fact. Indeed, the reflection on suffering is the beginning of
religion and philosophy.

2 Dialogue Among Civilizations
Divine Qualities o f Spiritual Dialogue 111

3. Suffering as a Lesson

Suffering, the Buddha teaches, arises from our ignorance, or more
specifically, from our greed, hatred and delusion (the three roots of evil).
Conversely, suffering can also arise externally, caused by the ignorant, the
greedy, the hateful and the deluded. In short, very often we have to suffer
for what we believe in and for what we love! This suffering is greater
where the spirituality is deeper. The shadow is darkest where the light is
brightest!

Like Bahá'ís, Buddhists have a proverbial propensity for tolerance—
tolerance in the sense that every moment of suffering, every episode of
difficulty, is a lesson for spiritual development. That is, if we seek to
understand the suffering, to accept it as a teacher. (How true it rings when
a wise teacher tells his pupil, “Let this be a lesson to you!”)

Why tolerance? We are all like the man pierced with a painful arrow.
To a speculative young man, the Buddha once said, imagine a man who is
pierced with an arrow, thickly smeared with poison, and friends and
relatives bring along a doctor. Would the doctor ask all kinds of questions
like “what class did the person who shot the arrow come from?” or “what
colour was the person?” or “what height was he?” or “what kind of bow
was it?” or “what kind of arrow was it?” By the time all the answers were
obtained, the victim would have died. Instead, the wise doctor would
immediately pull the poisoned arrow out. Then the doctor might ask
whatever questions he has.3

What does this mean? Let me invoke the compassionate wisdom of a
Dominican monk, Abbe Dominique Pire (1910-1969), the Nobel Prize
winner for peace (1958), who said, “What matters is not the difference
between believers and unbelievers, but between those who care and those
who do not care.”4 And this care must come as soon as possible, if not
immediately, like running out of “a burning house” (to echo the urgency
sounded in the Lotus Sutra).

3 Majjhima Nikaya 1:429 f.; cf. M 2:216. 2:258, 259.
4 E. Fromm, On Being Human, p. 93.
112 THE SINGAPORE BAHA’I STUDIES REVIEW

4. Man-Centered

The reason for this outlook is because, like the Bahá'í Faith, Buddhism too
is man-centred. BaháVlláh calls man “the noblest and most perfect of
all created things.” In the Buddha’s Teaching, being human is over and
over again declared to be the best state for spiritual development and
liberation.

Both the Bahá'í Faith and Buddhism take man as the starting point in their
spiritual quest. Both regard God as unknowable, even more so in the case
of the Bahá'í Faith. For Bahá'ís, God is, and has always been, the Creator.
Buddhists, too, accept the idea of a Creator, but this is the mind. This
universe, Buddhists believe, is mind-created. However, Buddhists do not
worship the mind, but seek to understand it and to liberate it.

5. Heaven and Hell

Both our faiths teach about heaven and hell. For Bahá’ís, heaven and hell
are symbolic of the soul’s relationship to God. Nearness to God results in
good deeds resulting in infinite joy, while distance from Him leads to evil
and suffering. Buddhists regard heaven and hell as happy states and
suffering states that are both impermanent and immanent, that is to say,
within our own being.

There is an ancient Indian parable which, like any good parable, has
traveled across continents. This one peregrinated all the way to Japan. I
will relate the Zen version in my own words. Once a samurai was
meditating, and a curious young man comes along and asks him:

“Where is hell?”

The samurai remains silent, so the young man keeps on asking the
question. Then the samurai gets up and brandishing his sword, chases off
the young man:

“This is hell!” shouts the samurai.
Divine Qualities o f Spiritual Dialogue 113

The brave young man, somewhat careful and clever, still running, glances
back, and then asks:

“Where is heaven?”

The samurai abruptly stops, and lowers his sword:

“This is heaven! Because I’m not going to kill you!”

As Zen Buddhist tradition goes, the young man probably became
enlightened after that harrowing experience.

6. Mankind is One

For Buddhists, godliness has the four qualities of love, compassion,
altruistic joy and equanimity. By love here is meant an unconditional
attitude towards others as if we were their mother. Yes, the symbolism
here is that of a “mother,” a feminine figure, since only she is capable of
bearing and nurturing life.

If we regard others as our own children, then it is easy to regard the world
as one community, which is a very important Bahá'í teaching. “The
Bahá'í Faith,” Shoghi Effendi declares, “proclaims the necessity and the
inevitability of the unification of mankind.”5 Furthermore, he also
declares the following noble aspirations:

“It unequivocally maintains the principle of equal rights,
opportunities and privileges for men and women, insists on
compulsory education, eliminates extremes of poverty and wealth,
abolishes the institution of priesthood, prohibits slavery,
asceticism, mendicancy, and monasticism, prescribes monogamy,
discourages divorce, emphasizes the necessity of strict obedience
to one’s government, exalts any work performed in the spirit of
service to the level of worship, urges either the creation or the
selection of an auxiliary international language, and delineates the

5 Shoghi Effendi, Guidance fo r Today and Tomorrow, pp. 3-4.
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outlines of those institutions that must establish and perpetuate the
general peace of mankind.”6

Any informed Buddhist can easily identify with such a global spirit, and
we have a lot to learn from the Bahá'ís here. However, it is only fair for
me to remark that Buddhist social activism and social work are even now
a common thread in the fabric of Western society, especially in the US.
In Thailand, too, we have a number of well-known living social activists,
like Sulak Sivaraksa (himself imprisoned a number of times for his
stand), who echo such noble and universal sentiments of the Bahd'is.

7. Engagement

I find it very interesting that Shoghi Effendi in his statement asserts that
the Bahá'í Faith “prohibits..asceticism, mendicancy, and monasticism..”.7
Historically, Buddhism began as an ascetic, mendicant and monastic
system, mainly in response to the Indian society at the time. However,
very few Buddhists today are ascetics, mendicants or monastics. Rather,
such options serve as one of many choices that Buddhists have as tools or
“skillful means” in their spiritual quests.

In one of his books, Sulak Sivaraksa once related an instruction by a
Siamese king to his son: “If you want to lead an easy and wealthy life,
become a monk; if you want to help the people, be a good king.”8

Certainly in Singapore today, there is a growing movement towards the
secularizing of Buddhism, meaning here that more lay Buddhists are
giving more quality time to social and spiritual work, towards building an
emotionally and spiritually more healthy and affluent Singapore.

I must, on the other hand, add that in response to this open spirit, there is a
new generation of Sangha members who are “engaged” Buddhists, that
is, those who are proactive in people-helping. Many members of the

6 Ibid.,p. 4.
7 Ibid
8 Personal communication from Sulak Sivaraksa (International Network o f Engaged
Buddhists, Bangkok).
Divine Qualities o f Spiritual Dialogue 115

Buddhist monastic order here, for example, have started hospitals, free
clinics and schools in Singapore and elsewhere.

There are the Ren Ci Buddhist Hospitals (two of them caring for those
with chronic illnesses) run by Ven. Ming Yi, and a new one (under Ven.
Kuan Yan) will begin operating later this year (2001). The Taiwanese
nun, Ven. Zeng Yan also has her branch hospital called Chuzhi in Kreta
Ayer, Singapore. I know of at least five Buddhist free clinics here. There
are also a growing number of Buddhist workers involved in personal
counselling, prison ministry and hospice work.

8. Compassion

Earlier I mentioned the four god-like virtues beginning with love. The
second of these virtues is compassion. While love here refers to a selfless
mother-like nurturing attitude towards others, compassion is a proactive
response to the needs and failures of others. This response is, of course,
rooted in selfless love.

Like water finding its own level, the compassionate heart naturally seeks
to bring the less fortunate to a more wholesome level conducive to
spiritual development. Why is compassion vital in spiritual life,
especially for Buddhists? This is because the human state is an imperfect
state to begin with, that is, for as long as humans have vital needs and
unsatisfied wants.

This common ground of compassion is also the basis for spiritual
dialogue, since it involves the putting aside of differences. Says the
Buddha:

“As for those things, my friend, on which we do not agree, let us
leave them alone. As to those things that we do agree, let the wise
put questions about them, ask for reasons as to them, talk them
over with their teacher, with their fellow disciples.”9

l) Digha Nikaya 1:163.
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9. Altruistic Joy

Now we come to an interesting aspect of the four god-like virtues,
namely, altruistic joy, that is, rejoicing in the goodness and success of
others. When a child is young, the mother lovingly cares for it, and with
compassion protects it from harm and danger. When the child is more
grown up and independent, and able to play by himself, the mother looks
on with joy, altruistic joy, thinking, “Oh, how my child has grown!”

Even so, in spiritual dialogue, we must have this motherly altruistic joy to
appreciate the goodness and success of other faiths. Of course, we must
admit an ulterior motive in all this! (All religions also teach truthfulness.)
We need to keep up with the progress and problems of other religions so
that we are not out of touch with social realities or lose sight of new ways
of looking at spirituality.

10. Cross-influences

In their apologetics and hermeneutics, the defence and propagation of
their faith, not all religions would readily admit that at various times in
their history they were influenced by other religions. And yet we find
interesting parallels and coincidences in the lives of our spiritual founders
and teachers (as in St. Luke’s Gospel account of Christ’s life and the life
of the Buddha, and the Hindu adoption of the Buddha as an avatar).
Ancient Buddhists have themselves transformed India’s rich store of
folklore into the well-known Jataka stories, very similar to Aesop’s fables,
to bring Buddhism down to the level of the common people.10

In ancient China, the successes of Taoism and Buddhism presented a
serious threat to Confucianism, whose pragmatism and primary concerns
with political and ethical issues failed to be a part of the lives of the
common people, as did the devotionalism of Pure Land Buddhism and the
magical panaceas of Taoism. It was to fill this gap in Confucianism that
there arose a movement known in modem scholarship as Neo-
Confucianism.

10 For a comprehensive idea o f this, we only need to read such works as Hajime
Nakamura’s A Comparative History o f Ideas.
Divine Qualities o f Spiritual Dialogue 117

The major proponent of Neo-Confucianism was Chuxi (Chu Hsi),
regarded as the most influential Chinese philosopher in the last 1000
years. Through his genius, he incorporated Buddhist meditation (“quiet
sitting”) into his system, among other things. His Neo-Confucianism long
dominated Chinese intellectual life. It won political patronage in Korea
and Japan, and deeply influenced the daily lives of those in these
civilizations.

Neo-Confucianism was introduced into Japan in the mediaeval period, not
by Confucianists, but by Zen Buddhists. It then became the state
philosophy of the Tokugawa feudal regime (1603-1867), and profoundly
influenced the thought and behaviour of the literati. Neo-Confucianism
went on to contribute to the development of the Bushido (Code of the
Warriors), which is a cultural root for contemporary Japan’s economic
success.

11. Adaptation

In his 1994 Jordan Lectures, the Pali Text Society (London) President,
Richard Gombrich, spoke on “How Buddhism Began.” In his very first
lecture, he explained why in the record of the Buddha’s 45-year public
ministry, there were apparent inconsistencies of expression and
terminologies. He quoted T.W. Rhys Davids (founder of the Pali Text
Society) as saying:

“When speaking on sacrifice to a sacrificial priest, on union with
God to an adherent of the current theology, on Brahman claims to
superior social rank to a proud Brahman, on mystic insight to a
man who trusts in it, on the soul to one who believes in the soul
theory, the method he follows is always the same. Gotama puts
himself as far as possible in the mental position of the
questioner.”"1

11 Introduction to Dialogues o f the Buddha,part 1, 1899:206-7.
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We have scriptural evidence for the Buddha’s protean teaching method
for the sake of effective spiritual dialogue. For example, in the Discourse
on the Great Final Decease (Maha Parinibbana Sutta), the Buddha says:

“Now I call to mind, Ananda, how when I used to enter an
assembly of many hundred kshatriyas,
nobles...brahmins...householders..wanderers., the heavenly hosts
of the Guardian Kings...of the Heaven of the Thirty-three
devas...of the Maras (Evil Ones), and of the Brahmas (High
Gods), before I had seated myself there or talked to them..., I
used to assume a colour like theirs, and (spoke) in a voice like
theirs. Then with religious discourse I used to instruct and move
them, and fill them with gladness. But they knew me not when I
spoke, and would say: “Who is this who speaks thus? Is he a man
or a god?”...”12

12. Jesuits in China

In the early days when the Christian powers of the West came to the East
for “gospel, glory and gold,” their missionaries adopted a similar protean
approach. The most remarkable case was that of the Jesuit Matteo Ricci
(1552-1610) who first entered China dressed in a Buddhist monk’s robes.
Then following the advice of Chinese friends he had made, he changed
into the garb of a Confucian scholar to win entry into the higher levels of
Chinese society.

Let me clarify here, quoting the famous Trappist monk and writer,
Thomas Merton, that when Ricci dressed as a Confucian scholar, “this
was not a Jesuitical disguise. The Jesuits wore the traditional robes of the
Chinese scholar because they earned the right to do so just as seriously as
any other Chinese scholar...by their knowledge of science and
philosophy.”13

12 Digha Nikaya 2:109, abridged.
13 T. Merton, Mystics & Zen M asters, p. 81.
Divine Qualities o f Spiritual Dialogue 119

13. Accommodations

Having finally received permission to enter the Forbidden City, Beijing,
in 1600, Ricci won imperial favour by his skill in regulating clocks and
making maps. Being a man of extraordinary learning, he mastered the
Chinese language, comprehended Chinese culture, and adapted Catholic
rites for Chinese converts—a process known as “accommodation” by
which he bent Christian dogma to conform to the Confucian world-view.
The number of converts grew, even more were there who admired his
scholarship and personality.

Then followed two other famous Jesuits who continued his successful
missionizing of and dialogue with the Chinese. The first Chinese bishop
was consecrated in 1685. In 1692 an imperial edict tolerating Christianity
brought Franciscan and Dominican missions to China. They rejected the
Jesuit “accommodations,” particularly for funerals, ancestor-worship and
titles for God, and the Chinese Rites Controversy raged from 1693 to
1705.

The Jesuits obtained an imperial ruling upholding their view that Chinese
rites had no heretical religious significance, but in 1704 (again in 1715
and 1742) the Holy See, taking “the safer and more conservative course in
order to limit the spread of the controversy”14 ruled against the Jesuit
practice. The Chinese Emperor thereupon expelled all the Christian
priests who refused to accept “accommodations” and so official toleration
of Christianity ended abruptly.

14. Re-evaluation

In his book, Mystics and Zen aster, Merton remarks that
M
years (i.e. the middle of the last century) have we begun to appreciate the
significance of Matteo Ricci’s entering Beijing “with his map of the
world, his clock, his telescope, and his hydraulic machines.” In fact,
Merton gives an impassioned vindication of the sad misunderstanding
regarding “The Jesuits in China” in a whole chapter in the same book. His
writing is so important that I shall quote what I think is most relevant to us

14 T. Merton, Mystics & Zen , p. 88.
120 THE SINGAPORE BAHÁ1 STUDIES REVIEW

here, who are interested in spiritual dialogue, and above all, in tasting the
true spirit of our own faiths. Of the true meaning and profound
importance of Ricci’s “originality,” Merton writes:

“He not only made an intelligent diagnosis of a totally unfamiliar
condition, but also, by implication, diagnosed his own condition
and that of Western Christian civilization as a whole. In
confronting the culture, the philosophy, and the religion of China,
he immediately took stock of Catholicism as he had known it in
Italy, and in the light granted him by the Holy Spirit he
distinguished what was essentially Christian and truly Catholic—
that is, universal—from cultural and accidental accretions proper
to a certain time and place. Guided by the Holy Spirit, he was able
to sacrifice all that was secondary and accidental. Like a true
missionary, he divested himself of all that belonged to his own
country and his own race and adopted all that belonged to the
good customs and attitudes of the land to which he had been sent.
Far from being a shrewd “natural” tactic, this was a supernatural
and Christian sacrifice, a stripping of himself in imitation of
Christ, who “emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant,” and
of St. Paul becoming “all things to all men”.15

15. Lesson

I have related this interesting episode of Church history in its dark
moments, what is sometimes known as “the shadow,” because it is a
classic case of what one contemporary psychotherapist calls “a heresy of
orthodoxy.”16 That is to say, the letter has killed the spirit. If not for its
“shadow,” in this case, the external Western forms and sectarian rivalry,
the Catholic Church of Ricci’s time would have successfully laid down
the foundations for a more Christian China today!

Such internecine rivalry within and amongst faiths confuses their
followers and keeps away potential converts. Indeed, thinking people

15 Ibid., p. 83.
16 M. Scott Peck, Further Along the Road Less Travelled, p. 207.
Divine Qualities o f Spiritual Dialogue \ 21

who are dissatisfied with the rivalry of the more traditional religions,
often find the Bahá'í Faith attractive.

Furthermore, if there is going to be any dialogue amongst our
civilizations, we must try to rise above the letter of the dialogue as much
as we can in order to taste the spirit of the guest civilizations. This is, of
course, no small task, but it is not impossible. I shall now give a few
remarkable examples of how this has happened between Catholic
Christianity and Buddhism.

16. Revival

In fact, the revival of Hinduism and Buddhism during the 19th century
owed largely to the impact of the Christian missions on them. Then,
especially from the Second World War onwards, the tide turned in the
other direction with a growing popular Western interest in Oriental faiths,
especially in the methods of spiritual training and meditation. This new
encounter rejuvenated Western Christianity in interesting ways that sadly
I cannot list here due to time constraints.

The 20th century can be said to be a “century of apologies and
apologetics,” culminating with Vatican II (1962-65) which officially
opened the Church doors to ecumenical dialogue, and being punctuated by
the Pope himself apologizing for the past mistakes and painful atrocities
that less spiritual Catholic conquistadors, missionaries and inquisitors had
committed in the name of their faith. This examination of conscience is
very healing and conciliatory. Such openness promotes a spirit of
generosity that allows various faiths to grow healthily amongst one
another.

Modem Buddhists, I must say, have benefited significantly from this new
religious glasnost. This generosity comes especially by way of the
excellent scholarship of Christians who study (and even practise)
Buddhism with an open mind. The famous Belgian Thomist, Msgr.
Etienne Lamotte, has gained indisputable international authority by
editing, translating and commenting on some of the most significant
works of Mahayana Buddhism (such as the Surangama samadhi Sutra and
the Mahayana sangraha). His magnum opus is the voluminous Histoire du
Bouddhisme Indien, des origins a I'ere Saka (1958), translated as History
122 THE SINGAPORE BAHÁ1 STUDIES REVIEW

o f Indian Buddhism, From the Origins to the Saka Era (1988). For his
erudite scholarship, he was awarded the title of “Expert in Buddhist
Scriptures” a few weeks before his death.

Another famous Christian scholar of Buddhism is the Jesuit Father
Heinrich Dumoulin (1944-), who is one of the world’s foremost Zen
scholars. He wrote on Zen for the Encyclopedia o f Religion (Macmillan).
His magnum opus is the acclaimed two-volume Zen Buddhism: A History
(1959 in German; 1963 English translation; 1988 revised English
translation).

I have already mentioned the famous Trappist monk, Thomas Merton
(1915-1968). The Trappist Order is famous for its vow of silence. So for
Father Merton, his experience of Zen meditation, besides making him an
authority in that Buddhist tradition, also enriched his own Christian roots.
In fact, he wrote 29 books, inspired by his quest for “trans-Christian
ecumenism through religious experimentation.”17 Agehananda Bharati, in
his Encyclopaedia Britannica article on “Monasticism,” remarks that it is
of great significance that Thomas Merton was killed in an accident while
in Bangkok—he was going to visit the Dalai Lama.18 But death has not
silenced Merton. For a man of spiritual silence, he has spoken volumes!

Since late last century, we are seeing a growing number of Christian
scholars of religion whose open-minded scholarship, especially in
comparative religion and religious dialogue, is so learned and truthful that
they could be used as textbooks in any faith (that is equally open-minded,
of course). Such scholars include illustrious names like Hans Kung
(Germany) and John Hick (Britain), whose remarkable works can be
found in the bookshops and libraries of Singapore.

17. Bahá'í Evolution

Let me now briefly address how Bahá'ís view other religions. For Bahá'ís,
although God is unknowable, he has chosen to reveal himself through his
messengers or “Manifestations” (to use the Bahá'í term), among them

17 Ency. Brit. 12:342h.
Divine Qualities o f Spiritual Dialogue 123

Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and the Báb,
who “are one and all the Exponents on earth of Him Who is the central
Orb of the universe.. ,.”19

Many, if not all, the religions whose founders I have mentioned, often
object to this Bahá'í doctrine, that is, being reinterpreted outside their
context. However, if we understand the nature of religious language, then
we would be more generous and equanimous at this level of the letter. For
it is only the letter of the spirit that is being traded here: the spirit of the
letter remains with those who have tasted it. Like the great ocean that has
only one taste, the taste of salt, the Buddha declares that the Dharma (True
Teaching) has only one taste, the taste of freedom. It is a very large ocean
for all to swim or sail in.

Let me elaborate on this thorny issue using Bahá'í terminology. The
messengers or “Manifestations” are viewed as occupying two “stations,”
or occurring in two aspects. The first is “the station of pure abstraction
and essential unity,”20 in which one may speak of the oneness of the
messengers of God because all are manifestations of his will and
exponents of his word. This is not syncretism because the other station is
“the station of distinction.... In this respect, each manifestation of God
hath a distinct individuality, a definitely prescribed mission....”21 As
such, the Bahá'ís argue, while the essence of all religions is one, each has
specific features that answer the special needs of a given time and place
and to the level of civilization in which the manifestation appears.

This is not exactly a new idea. Even within the Buddhist tradition itself,
especially in ancient China, a number of efforts were made to classify the
numerous, apparently contradicting, doctrines and discourses of
Buddhism into an hierarchical system (called pan chiao), each level
applying to its corresponding time and audience, and yet each level is
unique and complete in its own way.

19 Bahá'u'lláh, Book o f Certitude, pp. 99-100.
20 Ibid, p. 152.
21 Ibid.,p. 176.
124 THE SINGAPORE BAHÁ1 STUDIES REVIEW

18. Equanimity

The last of the four godly virtues on which framework this paper rests is
equanimity. In symbolic language, we call this the “mirror-like mind”
that reflects what is before it, looking at things just the way they are, and
seeing ourselves as an irrevocable part of this universal network of life
and light, all interconnected with a common destiny. That destiny, or
purpose of life, if you like, is to grow, and there is only one kind of real
growth, that is, spiritual growth.

All spiritual truths are somehow, at some level, interconnected. All
religions share some parallel (even identical) doctrines, and the personal
experiences of their saints often ineffably coincide. How can we, for
example, discriminate between the ecstasy of St. Theresa of Avila or St.
John of the Cross, and Muhammad’s divine experiences, or the joyful
state of a Hindu yogi, or the dhyanic bliss of a Buddhist meditator. For
only one who has tasted salt knows the taste. If not, then we only need to
read such works as Hajime Nakamura’s A Comparative History o f Ideas
to relish scholarly examples of the amazing parallels and tangents of
spirituality.

On a higher level, equanimity is an even-minded heart in the face of any
crisis oi; situation. It is to surrender oneself to a higher will, whether one
calls it God, the Holy Spirit or Bodhicitta (the will to enlightenment). We
all have some goodness in our lives, be it divine grace or good deeds sown
in the past. If we make no conscious effort to harbour evil, then good will
follow in due course.

19. Gethsemane

I know of a Christian who was asked what for him was the most
spiritually significant event in the Bible. He answered that it was the
passion of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before the
crucifixion. Judas had already betrayed him to the Romans. While his
disciples lay asleep, Christ was alone in agonizing prayer.

Christ could have fled into the night and escaped crucifixion but he chose
to stand his ground (just as the Buddha resolved not to rise from under the
Divine Qualities o f Spiritual Dialogue 125

Bodhi tree until he had gained enlightenment). If Christ had fled, we
would not have remembered him. There would have been no Christianity.
If the Buddha had walked away from the Bodhi tree, we would have had
no Buddhism today.

The lesson here is very significant: in our moment of greatest spiritual
crisis (or any real crisis for that matter), we are essentially alone.
Muhammad was alone in the desert cave when an angel of God declared,
“Iqra!” to him. The Buddha was all alone under the Bodhi tree, forsaken
by his erstwhile attendants, the Five Monks. These remarkable giants all
stood their ground until they gained spiritual insight. So were bom the
great world religions.

Indeed, the questions of life, death, and the beyond are too complex and
profound for any one religion to pride itself with all the correct answers.
Often we need to refer to different faiths like perusing valuable volumes
in a spiritual library before their pages are faded or lost, or their language
forgotten.

Furthermore, no religion can stand alone, not for long anyway before it is
weighed down by worldly ways. We need rejuvenating voices of truth to
remind us that there are other ways of looking at the same mountain and
that any faith works just as well for those who believe. In this global
society, we may have the power to destroy the “idols” of others, but our
own idols remain insidiously in our religious shadows waiting to turn
upon ourselves.

We have long passed the Axial Age (800-200 BC) when the great
religions began to arise. We are now heading towards greater discovery
that our different faiths share many common spiritual genes that makes us
all siblings in the spirit. I shall not dwell on this point as this is a basic
Bahá'i tenet: they can speak better on this matter.

The highest spiritual act for us on earth is to give of ourselves with love,
compassion, joy and equanimity, to transcend our limitations, to surrender
the limiting ways of the world, to walk humbly with our God, to bow
deeply before the Buddha. Only when our heart and hand are open, can
we receive the highest gift.
126 THE SINGAPORE BAHÁ1 STUDIES REVIEW

Peace in heaven and on earth!

CITED WORKS

BaháVlláh, The Book o f Certitude, The Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
Wilmette, Illinois, USA, 1950.

Effendi, Shoghi, Guidance for Today and Tomorrow, Bahá'í Publishing
Trust, UK, 1953.

Fromm, Erich, On Being Human. NY: Continuum, 1994.

Lamotte, Msgr. Etienne, Histoire du Bouddhisme Indien, des origins a
I ’ere Saka (1958), translated as History o f Indian Buddhism, From the
Origins to the Saka Era, Louvain: Institut Orientaliste de l'Universite
Catholique de Louvain, 1988.

Merton, T., Mystics & Zen Masters, Dell, NY, 1961.

Nakamura, H., A Comparative History o f Ideas, KPI, London, 1986.

Peck, Scott, Further Along the Road Less Travelled, Simon &
Schuster, NY, 1993.

Buddhist Texts

The Middle Length Discourses o f the Buddha, tr. Bhikkhu Nanamoli, rev.
Bhikkhu Bodhi, Boston: Wisdom, 1995.

The Long Discourses o f the Buddha, tr. Maurice Walshe, Boston:
Wisdom, 1995.

Introduction to Dialogues o f the Buddha, part 1, Pali Text Society,
London, 1899, repr 1977 (since repr)

Zen Buddhism: A History (vol. 1 India and China), Macmillan, NY, 1988.
Divine Qualities o f Spiritual Dialogue 127

Encyclopaedias

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 15th ed, Chicago, 1983. 30 vols.

Encyclopedia o f :R
eligon Ed. Mircea Eliade, with Charles J. Adams, 1
vols., Macmillan, NY, 1987.

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