Daily Lessons from Life 03 April 2012 - Vatican cardinal hails Buddhist wisdom

1st thing 1st - my dinner was SOLD OUT by my children! This is great reward for the cooking I did. Very happy!! :-)

2nd thing - the Singapore Women Table Tennis Team came in 2nd to China relinquishing the World Champions title to them. I watched the match on TV and felt that they had done well despite losing 0-3 with 2 players taken 1 set each from their higher ranked opponents. I DON'T like the negative attitude of: 'we only have 1% chance of beating China' though!

"Vatican cardinal hails Buddhist wisdom - AFP Apr 03, 2012

VATICAN CITY - A Roman Catholic cardinal on Tuesday praised Buddhism for instilling the values of wisdom, compassion and non-violence in young people in a message to mark the Buddhist feast day of Vesak.

"As Buddhists you pass on to young people the wisdom regarding the need to refrain from harming others and to live lives of generosity and compassion," said Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's head of inter-religious dialogue.

He said this aspect of Buddhist education was "a precious gift to society".

"Today, in more and more classrooms all over the world, students belonging to various religions and beliefs sit side-by-side," he said.

The cardinal called for "deeper reflection" on the need "to be ready to join hands with those of other religions to resolve conflicts."

Young people "put pressure on us to destroy all the walls which unfortunately still separate us," he added.

Tauran last month condemned the "ignorance" in relations between Christians and Muslims, criticising in particular rising Islamophobia in Europe."

Good to learn of this recognition by the Vatican cardinal.

Lessons for me are:

1. should NOT all religions be preaching the same?;

2. IF not, why should that religion be allowed to be practiced?;

3. you CANNOT forced someone to embrace your religion as a religion has to be embraced voluntarily and it is a relationship between the believer and the Higher Being, whatever that may be in that religion.

May ALL preachers of ALL religions pay heed to this. May ALL the PRETENDERS be aware that you can fool everyone some time but you cannot fool them all the time!