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All of us Buddhists have the same Teacher, Lord Buddha. It would be to everyone's benefit if we had closer relationships with each other. I have had the great fortune to meet many leaders from the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Jain, and Sikh worlds, but I have had comparatively little opportunity to meet with the great teachers, meditators, and leaders of the different Buddhist traditions. Most Tibetan monastics and lay followers know little about other Buddhist traditions, and I believe the followers of other traditions know little about Buddhism as practiced in the Tibetan community. If our Teacher, the Buddha, came to our planet today, would he be happy with this? All of us, the Buddha's spiritual children, proclaim love for the same "parent", yet we have only minimal communication with our brothers and sisters.
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A central purpose of this book is to help us learn more about each other. ... Learning about our similarities and differences will help us be more united.
Another purpose of this book is to eliminate centuries-old misconceptions about each other. Some Theravada practitioners believe Tibetan monastics do not follow the vinaya - the monastic ethical code - and that as practitioners of tantra, they have sex and drink alcohol. Meanwhile Tibetan practitioners think that the Theravada tradition lacks teachings on love and compassion and characterize those followers as selfish. Chinese Buddhists often think Tibetans perform magic, while Tibetans believe Chinese Buddhists mainly do blank-minhded meditation. All of these misconceptions are based on a lack of knowledge. We offer this book as a step toward alleviating these misconceptions.
Now in the twenty-first century East and West, South and North, are coming closer. We Buddhist brothers and sisters must alos have closer contact and cultivate mutual understanding. This will benefit us as individuals, will help preserve and spread the Dharma, and will be an example of religious harmony for the world.
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Bhiksu Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
June 13, 2014
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