Why Indo-Asian religions must support each other

[Guest guest]

Namaste!

 

My insistence of a fundamental similarity between Advaita and

Buddhism has generated a certain amount of disagreement. Perhaps

this is getting to be too much of a digression from this month's

topic, but please allow me to clarify my motives.

 

Just as animals and plants come in families bearing a family

resemblance, so do religions. Of course, it is dangerous to

overgeneralize, but I do believe that there is a significant kernel

of truth to the following sweeping generalizations.

 

There are basically two families of religions that dominate the world

today: the Indo-Asian (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, ...) and the

Middle Eastern (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). It seems rather

clear to me that there are some basic trends, although there is also

much variation. The Indo-Asian religions tend to find the divine

within, to rely on intuition, to advocate yoga in some form, and to

avoid aggressive proselytization. The Middle-Eastern religions tend

to believe in God, to impose dogma, to favor worship and submission

to an organized religion, and to have historically engaged in much

aggressive and even bloody proselytization.

 

There are many exceptions to these trends, but no informed person can

doubt the basic historical truth. Many Christians have come to

realize their past errors, especially regarding the unholy mixture of

colonialism and missionary activity. Unfortunately, the pope even

today insists that there is no salvation except through the Catholic

Church, because that poor man's brain is programmed that way. Not

all Muslims are fanatical, but a great many are. (Just read the BBC

online every day. That's one very good thing the British have given

us!) And there are many passages in the Bible and Koran that

strongly suggest that there is only one true religion, which must be

imposed on the world by force. There is an incredible amount of

politically correct hypocrisy going around that denies all of this,

yet any informed person knows that there is a strong core of truth to

it.

 

Now, look around the world today. About 2 billion people (33%)

claim to be Christian, though many of the more educated ones are in

name only. More than 1 billion people (22%) are Muslim, and they are

growing fast. Hindus come in at 900 million or 15%. Buddhists at

360 million or 6%. Nonreligious people are 850 million or 14%.

Then there are the rest.

 

See http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html

 

So the Christians and Muslims together are more than half. The

Christians count for more than their third, because they control the

world economy, more or less. The Muslims count for more than their

22%, because of their political volatility and tendency towards

violence. (Sorry, but this is true. Maybe only a small fraction of

them engage in terrorism, but most of the terrorism seems to come

from them, although there are also the Tamil Tigers and the IRA.)

 

Now I absolutely do not see the solution as the elimination of

Christianity and Islam. Many fine people have progressed

spiritually under these traditions. But I just can't help thinking

that the Indo-Asian religions have tended to show far more wisdom

throughout the ages. So I want them to support each other in guiding

the world to enlightenment.

 

Finally, I believe that there is indeed a fundamental spiritual

affinity between the Indo-Asian religions. This is another huge

topic in itself, but I really believe that the differences on paper

are not that important. That is why I have tried to argue that the

Buddhist 'emptiness' represents a similar state of consciousness to

the Hindu Moksha, and one can even find support for this in the

Upanishads (Neti, Neti, etc). Of course even great Hindu master

have criticized Buddhists and vice versa. These people are human

too, and they may have been thinking of degenerate forms of their

adversary's positions and behavior. Can we not think of some present

day gurus of dubious ethical credibility? I think so.

 

So I am not trying to suppress sincere discussions and disagreements.

I simply wish to emphasize the fundamental spiritual affinity. I

want the Indo-Asian religions to support each other and to continue

to inspire, guide and fertilize the other more straight-jacketed

religions, however long this takes. Also, Advaita and Buddhism are

the best hope for those who believe in no religion, since all you

have to do is believe in your own Consciousness, which is not hard to

do unless you are a brain-dead materialist.

 

Om!

Benjamin

[Guest guest]

Hi Benjamin,

 

You make some very good points about the attitudes of various religions. I

especially liked the one about the present frustrations of what you called

the 'pie in the sky' approach.

 

But I am not sure about your advocating that Indo-Asian religions should

somehow 'club together' to enlighten the rest. For one thing, you have

already decried the proselytising attitude of those other religions. Surely

you wouldn't think it right for one religion to do this but not for another?

A second point however is far more significant. If you believe that the

world is ultimately illusory, effectively no more than a dream, what point

would there be in trying to convert all of those illusory 'others'?

 

Best wishes,

 

Dennis