Hello. 

Today, I will speak to you about religious harmony in the world. 

I want to begin by touching the base of all religions. In every religion, there is a golden rule. 

His Holiness addresses this.  It is the warm heart, love, compassion, kindness. This is the direct cause of real happiness. All religions talk about this. It is the golden rule shared by all religions. 

All religions have something in common.  That is humankind. Religion has been created to give purpose to life. That is the principle of religion. 

The fact that there is disharmony between religions makes no sense. Religion intends to promote harmony and inner happiness. All religions began this way. There are different levels but they state the same thing, that real happiness does not come as a result of being selfish.  Real happiness arises when one thinks of the other with a warm heart, being kind, considerate and compassionate.

Humankind shares things in common. We share the air we breathe, the earth’s surface, sunlight, space…. We share a lot of things. So, having a small, tiny, discriminative mentality thinking, “I am better than the other,”  is not what religions promote. 

Their purpose is to help people be happier and to improve their lives, both individually and collectively. Consequently,  any so-called religion which uses violence automatically has no right to be called, “Religion”.  The name of religion is sacred. 

We already know that, throughout history, humans have used the name of religion to achieve things we want.  For example, there have been wars in the name of god or religion. If a religion incorporates any kind of violence, aggression, or discrimination, it is not a religion. The basis of religion is unconditional love. We all have that within us.  It is given by nature. We are part of a love collective. 

Religion intends to help us by giving us the tools to realize the potential of our true self, who we truly are.  We are love.  We are beings of light. 

All religions speak about the same thing. For instance, somehow, all religions, speak about a better future, about creating the cause for a better future. 

In Buddha Dharma, there is a term called, “Karma”.  Every religion speaks of something similar: acting correctly now to cause the result of being able to be happy in the future. The basis is the same.  That is that inner happiness comes from wanting to help others and having a warm heart, as His Holiness the Dalai Lama states. 

If we do not have that concept, it is really difficult to understand what religion is. All religions have the same basis. They have different methods to arrive at the same place which is inner happiness where one can offer the best of oneself to all who surround us, in any situation. 

Through the use of a valid religion, you should be able to adapt positively to any situation.  In that way, you will be happy. You will, also, be an example for people showing them how to be happy themselves. 

It is very important to emphasize the love we have within us. If we only think selfishly, the result cannot be happiness.  It can only be suffering. If we only think of ourselves: I, I, I, me, mine, then, our result is: my suffering is huge, my problems are the biggest, etcetera, etcetera. 

However, if we change that so that we think that the most important thing to us is consideration towards others, the people around us, having concern for them before ourselves, that is the important ingredient to have happiness, mental stability, mental peace, and harmony. 

Of course, we cannot go to extremes.  Extremes are not healthy. 

That means self-love is very important. You cannot lose yourself or forget about yourself by only thinking of others.  You have to find some balance.  That is very important. 

For me, religion is a warm heart.  The Dalai Lama, also, says the same. He constantly says that his religion is love, compassion, kindness, the loving-kindness. This is very important.

We have too many things in common to have the space to discriminate and say that one religion is different from another. Or to say mine is better or yours is worse. It makes no sense. We should not compare. We cannot compare or judge. We do not even know each other enough to judge one another. 

We do not even know ourselves well enough to judge ourselves.  How are we going to judge other people, other religions, another way of living, or a different attitude towards life and others? How can we judge that if we do not even know ourselves? 

So we should not judge, nor discriminate.  That is the most important thing. To me, that is the basis of religion. It is the basis of the harmony between religions. 

Personally, it is ridiculous that a concept of religious disharmony even exists. This concept possibility has been invented by a few who want to take advantage of the situation for their own sake, selfishly. 

Think about it.  In human history, the majority of religions have always coexisted in harmony and peace.  This has always been the case. They have helped each other. In India, there are many examples between Muslims, Hindus, and Christians where people have helped each other harmoniously living in the same communities for thousands of years. 

This concept that religions do not get along is not real. It is political to create a political concept that there is no harmony but, truthfully, all religions have coexisted harmoniously. That is because the basis, which is us human beings, is love.  The basis is only love.  The rest are incorporated concepts based on other purposes. The real purpose of religion is to help the individual and the collective in the long run. 

Do not be mistaken.  Any so-called religion that is not the direct cause for harmony is not a religion. It is not entitled to be called a religion. 

The crusades, the jihads, were made up of individual people whose purpose was to obtain something.  They used the name of religion to have these wars, these disharmonies.  What they did is not and cannot be called a religion. The moment one tries to use religion to take advantage of or control others or manipulate them, it loses the name of religion. It loses its neutral, pure state. 

Let there be no confusion.  Religion is harmonious.  It is universal. 

Each religion is designed for different individuals.  This is how religion serves its purpose.   That does not mean that, if I am a Buddhist,  I can no longer be a Christian. Nor does it mean, if I am a Muslim, I cannot be a Hindu. It does not mean that. 

Each religion helps us to be better people, period. Each religion is based in a culture, in a group of people, in a piece of history, a piece of land, in a language. So, everyone has a point of view and a tradition. That does not mean that one thing prevails upon the other. On the contrary. All religions help us be better people. So, if I am a good Buddhist, I will, also, be a good Christian and a good Muslim or Hindu, etcetera. 

So, I wanted to share this. Also, thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the people who are helping and working so hard in improving humanity and the collective.  This starts with His Holiness the Dalai Lama who is constantly working so hard for this!

Thank you very much for paying attention to me! I embrace you all.