Dhammic Life

Some religions have negative views about other religions. Do they fit Buddhism? Read the statements carefully, then read the comments.

1. Buddhism is the only one true religion. Other religions come from the devil.

Comment : THE BUDDHA NEVER TAUGHT THIS OUT DATED VIEW!THE BUDDHa encouraged people to accept the truth even if it’s found outside of Buddhism. by the truth, the buddha means the four noble truths.- i. suffering, ii. cause of suffering, iii. end of suffering, iv. way to end suffering.

2. Good deeds are useless. One will be saved and go to heaven only by believing in the Buddha. Otherwise, one will surely go to hell.

Comment : The Buddhist concept of ‘saved’ means being free from all suffering. Buddhists call this spiritual attainment Nibbana. The Buddha did not ask Buddhists to ‘believe’ in him to attain Nibbana but stresses that Nibbana can only be attained by our own effort to walk the Noble Eightfold Path. the buddha didn’t teach heaven is only for buddhists while unbelievers will burn in hell. rather, doers of good will get good results while evil doers will get evil results. in short, we reap what we sow.

3. One must worship the Buddha only. Other god/gods/ religious teachers are devils in disguise.
Comment : buddhists do not ‘worship’ anyone. buddhists only pay respect to the buddha, his teachings and the monastic order by recalling their qualities and then offer bows. buddhists also pay respect to anyone who is virtous, for example good religious teachers. in the mangala sutta, the buddha said meeting with a good religious teacher is a blessing. hearing his teachings is a blessing. paying respect to those who are worthy of respect is another blessing. so, in the buddha’s teachings, nobody is considered a devil in disguise.

4. Buddhists must not read books about other religions. It is a trap set up by the devil to lead Buddhists away from the truth.

Comment : buddhists do not have this primitive idea. it comes from the fear that the followers of a religion will convert to another religion upon finding ideas that appeal more to them. buddhists can read and investigate any non-buddhist books without fear. non-buddhists can also read the tipitaka (the buddhist scripture). in the kalama sutta, the buddha told the confused kalamas not to believe any thing, even the buddha’s own words! if any practise leads to harming oneself or others, leading to more greed, hatred or delusion, one should not believe. however, any practice that is harmless, leads to happiness is worthy of believing. thus one can see the buddha’s defination of truth does not cover buddhism alone. the buddha recognizes the peaceful elements in other religions too. therefore, to the buddhists, considering other religions as devil’s trap is not an acceptable view.

5. After you decide to become a Buddhist, you must destroy all things that remind you of your old religion. You must burn or throw them away so that the devil can leave you.

Comment : there is no such practice in buddhism! one can still maintain former religious artifacts and practises that does not go against buddhist principles. chinese buddhists have done it. they can still give offerings their gods, but they do ask favours any more. they do it out of respect and love for all beings. their spiritual lives are enriched with the buddha’s teachings.

6. You should not visit your former place of worship or support your former religion in any way.

Comment : the buddha never advocated disassociation from former religion to his new followers. in the upali sutta, the buddha himself adviced upali, a follower of another religion who wished to become the buddha’s follower, to continue to give offerings to his former religious mates.


7. Buddhists cannot enter other religion’s places of worship. It will pollute us spiritually. We must destroy their place of worship.

Comment : on the contrary, buddhists can enter any religion’s places of worship! buddhists do not associate different religious ideologies as sources of spiritual pollution. the only spiritual pollutants that the buddha pointed out are the evil tendencies in our minds such as greed, hatred and delusion; which every buddhists must clean out by morality, concentration and wisdom. a sane buddhist, or even a sane human being would never think of destroying places of worship! the act of worship, in any unique way, generates positive energy. it is an illogical reason for it to be destroyed just because the way other religion worships differs from our own.

8. Buddhists cannot join in other religion’s festivals or prayer because they do not worship the Buddha.

Comment : in the karaniya metta sutta, the buddha urge everyone to have loving kindness to all beings without exception. bearing this in mind, there is no reason for a buddhist not to attend a festival or prayer as these focus on the themes of love and care. there are so much positive values to be learnt and adopted from different festivals. whatever another person worships does not bother a buddhist. what matters most is tuning the mind so as to be free from evil tendencies such as greed, hatred and delusion.

9. Buddhists must convert followers of other religions so that they can be saved.

Comment : buddhists do not convert followers of other religions to buddhism. the buddha, in fact is only interested in introducing a way to solve life’s puzzle : how to attain the highest happiness? the buddha, in his first missionary message to his monks, was :
“ Go forth, o bhikkhus,
for the good of the many,
for the happiness of the many,
out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, for the good,
for the happiness of gods and men.
Let not two go by one way. Preach the doctrine that is beautiful in its beginning, beautiful in its middle, and beautiful in its ending. Declare the holy life in its purity, completely both in the spirit and the letter.” (( ~ Mahavagga, Vinaya pitaka ))
therefore, buddhists share buddhism when the moment is right. buddhists would be very happy if they manage to make an evil person good, and the good; a better person. whether the person accept buddhism or not is a matter of personal choice. remember, buddhism is not about heaven. it is about giving up evil tendencies of the mind, to purify the mind. for this reason, you will never find buddhist strangers knocking on doors to ‘witness’ to you. to share buddhism, buddhists have public talks, social activities and sponsor dhamma books & cds to be given free to the public.

10. Buddhists must punish those who say bad things about Buddhism.

Comment : for nearly 2,600 years of buddhist history, no war was ever fought in the name of the buddha or buddhism. the buddha never participated or planned any war. he was known to have appeared at the battlefield to stop war. in the brahmajala sutta, the buddha said:
“…if anyone should speak badly of me, of the Dhamma or of the Sangha, you should not be angry, resentful or upset . If you were to be angry or displeased, that would only be a hindrance to you… If others speak badly of me, the Dhamma or the Sangha, then you MUST explain what is incorrect as being incorrect…”
acts of violence, even to protect buddhism are not acceptable in buddhism.

· After reading the comments, you’ll be very much relieved Buddhists DO NOT AGREE with the 10 common negative attitudes. Whichever Buddhist speaker teaches these negative attitudes is indeed against the Buddha’s message of universal acceptance. Hence, you can conclude that the Buddhist attitude to other religions is that of deep respect and unbiased.