# Divine Qualities of Spiritual Dialogue

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> 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.
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> 
> 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.
> 118             THE SINGAPORE BAHÁ1 STUDIES REVIEW
> 
> 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.
>
> — *Divine Qualities of Spiritual Dialogue (Used by permission of the curator)*