By Purushottam Nayak
Bhubaneswar: Buddhism and Christianity should teach their followers to combat evil and challenge those fomenting violence, the Vatican says on the occasion of Vesakh, birthday of Lord Gautama Buddha.
The two world religions agree that violence comes from the human heart and that personal evils lead to structural evils, says a message signed by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and Monsignor Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, the secretary.
The message titled “Christians and Buddhists: Walking Together on the Path of Non-Violences,” wants the two religions to study the causes of violence so that they can liberate its victims and perpetrators.
The Vatican sees an “urgent need to promote a culture of peace and non-violence.”
It also wants the religions to inculcate in their people, especially children, the virtues that help them love and live in peace with everyone and with the environment. People should be taught that “there is no peace without justice, and no true justice without forgiveness.”
True followers of religions will work together to prevent conflict and rebuild broken societies, the Vatican message says and urges media to avoid and counter hate speech and eschew biased and provocative reporting.
Another step to foster world peace is to encourage educational reforms to prevent the distortion and misinterpretation of history and of scriptural texts, the Vatican officials assert.
They note that religions now assert much on the world scene, but at times in opposing ways. “This situation requires a call to nonviolence, a rejection of violence in all its forms.”
The message observes that many religious believers promote peace, but some exploit religion to justify their acts of violence and hatred, While many offer healing and reconciliation to victims of violence, some try to erase every trace of the “other.”
The emergence of global religious cooperation is opposed by politicization of religion and growing awareness of endemic poverty and world hunger is muted by the continuing and deplorable arms race, the Vatican regrets.
The council sent the Buddhists its “warmest greetings and prayerful good wishes” on the occasion of Vesakh and prayed, “May this feast bring joy and peace to all of you, to your families, communities and nations.”
The message also notes that Jesus Christ and the Buddha promoted non-violence although they lived in violent time. Jesus taught that the true battlefield is the human heart where violence and peace meet.
The Buddha heralded nonviolence and peace by urging all to overcome the angry by no-anger; the wicked by goodness; the miser by generosity; and the liar by truth.
Despite such noble teachings, many societies now grapple with past and present wounds caused by violence and conflicts, the Vatican message notes.
Buddhists throughout the world celebrate Vesak Day or Buddha Purnima with great ceremonial rituals. The day commemorates the birth, enlightenment and passing away of the Lord Gautama Buddha on one day.
The observation of the festival varies every year as it follows the lunar calendar. The day is celebrated on different dates by different traditions because of the diverse Buddhist cultures around the world. This year it falls on May 10.
The conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists held in Sri Lanka in 1950 decided to celebrate Vesak as the Buddha’s birthday. The Maharaja of Nepal then requested all Buddhist nations to make the first full-moon day of May a public holiday name. In China and Hong Kong Buddha’s birthday is celebrated on the eighth of the fourth month in the Chinese lunar calendar.