Peace Building
Natural, man-made disasters, and terrorism brought crisis
In recent years natural disasters worldwide, including the widespread flood in Central and Eastern Europe, the big earthquake in Afghanistan, and the heat wave in India, have resulted in many people losing their homes and relatives. Besides these natural disasters, ongoing terrorist attacks have caused panic around the world. The causes for terrorism are complex, touching on the ethnic, religious, political, economical, cultural, and historical backgrounds, of which the most fundamental factor is the different standpoints existing between ethnic groups. As a result, while trying to safeguard and protect their own benefit and safety, one ethnic group often fails to give equal consideration to the benefits and sense of security others expect.
Under such circumstances, an ethnic group that considers itself the object of insult and injury might then use terrorist attacks as a means of revenge, and may see this as a justifiable means to effect justice.
Global ethics and values
Every ethnic group has their own perspectives and standards to interpreting the concept of “justice”, and so this leads to contradiction and opposition among humanity, as everyone considers that they themselves are on the side of justice, with the opposition on the other side rooting for injustice. This happens when we cling to what we think is true and reject what we think is wrong. Today, therefore, we need to establish shared, global ethics, rather than insisting on the justice as identified by each respective group. We should be generous and tolerant with other people’s faults, reach out to help every individual, interact with others in peace and harmony, and seek mutual growth.
What are global, shared ethical values? Respect for every being, acknowledging that every individual has the right to exist, and that each person has the responsibility to protect and cherish all others. If any ethnic group seeks to protect its own people by harming people from other ethnic groups, global ethics will not allow it. Once all of humanity can treat each living creature as they would their compatriots and siblings, and strive to develop respect and tolerance for each other, then there will be no more arguments on who is and who isn’t on the side of justice.
Establishing a set of global, shared ethical values, serves not only to prevent and counter terrorist attacks, but also actively protect each individual within each ethnic group from suffering the threat of mutual harm, and to ensure that each individual on Earth will not be suspected, wronged, discriminated, denied, and attacked, besides enabling mutual respect, mutual consideration, mutual tolerance, mutual learning, and mutual help. This is the only way our world can enjoy universal and lasting peace.
Establishing global ethical values by means of education
How can global ethical values be established? The principle lies in replacing confrontation with tolerance, replacing violence with respect and love, replacing revenge and hatred with healing and rehabilitation. If there are any teachings in the sacred texts and ancient wisdom of all nations that contradict peace and harmony among all of humanity, then they are in need of reinterpretation from the angle of global ethics. Human society in the twenty-first century must be open, diverse, and interactive in its entirety, an environment that encourages mutual respect and mutual learning. It should be a society, as an ancient Chinese saying puts it, seeking common ground while allowing differences.
Its approach is to universally and continually promote the idea through multi-layered educational mechanisms around the world, such as schooling, social education, religious education, and family education. All of these different aspects of education must highlight respect for life, acknowledge that every individual has the right to survive and live, and promote the idea that everyone should develop the mindset tolerating differences and taking on responsibility to protect peace and happiness for all of humanity.
To sum up, global shared ethical education holds that every person should not only respect every individual living in the same environment, but must also fulfill their duty and responsibility to develop oneself, help others, and share knowledge, skills, and resources with relatives, family members, friends, as well as every individual in the world. Only then can the world enjoy universal and lasting peace.
Promoting the Protecting the Spiritual Environment campaign
We pray for peace, and devote ourselves to contributing to peace. Dharma Drum Mountain promotes the campaign of Protecting the Spiritual Environment. This requires us to keep our minds from being affected by the environment and to face all problems with peace of mind, seeking to solve the problem in that state. If our minds are in a state of harmony and peace, free from being affected, only then can we really stay objective.
Here, we would like to pray together, and urge everyone in the world to pray sincerely, for the world to enjoy peace, for society to enjoy stability, for all nations to have safety and security, and all people to have peace of mind.