Report on “Peace & Harmonious Coexistence:
An Islamic-Buddhist Dialogue”
Soka Gakkai Malaysia

Summary of Interfaith Dialogue
Introduction—Welcoming and Keynote Speeches

THIS interfaith dialogue was held in conjunction with The Lotus
Sutra Exhibition: A Message of Peace and Harmonious Coexistenceat Wisma Kebudayaan Soka Gakkai Malaysia (SGM) for the very firsttime in a South-East Asian country. The dialogue aims to enhance andpromote the understanding of peace and harmony from the perspectivesof Buddhism and Islam, based on parables and anecdotes drawn fromthe sacred texts of the Lotus Sutra as well as the Holy scriptures inIslam, Al-Quran and Al-Hadith.
The welcoming speech was delivered by Mr. Koh Sia Feai, General
Director of SGM. In his speech, he acknowledged the involvement ofmultiple parties in this dialogue; SGM, The Institute of Oriental
Philosophy (IOP) and Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, University ofMalaya (UMCCD), as well as the Department of National Unity andIntegration, Prime Minister’s Department (JPNIN). He reported that The
Lotus Sutra exhibition had received close to 40,000 visitors since its
commencement (as of April 13). He considered inter-religious dialogues
as vital for the promotion of mutual respect and understanding between
followers of different faiths and provided an opportunity to learn aboutparables or stories in the religious scriptures of Islam and Buddhism. He
expressed his gratitude to UMCCD, the speakers and especially to theformer UMCCD’s Director, Associate Professor Dr. Raihanah Abdullah
for initiating the event. He concluded by hoping to work together inpromoting harmonious coexistence and benefitting greatly from thedialogue and The Lotus Sutra’s exhibition.
Next, the guest of honour and keynote speaker of the day, Y.B. Tan SriDatuk Seri Panglima Joseph Kurup, Minister in the Prime Minister’sDepartment took the stage to deliver his speech. The minister began byreferring to the recent incident of missing Malaysian Airlines’ flight
MH370 en route to China from Kuala Lumpur on March 8th, 2014. He193

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noted that it had brought many different faiths together to pray for thesafety of the crews and passengers of the flight. He also mentioned hehad proposed to the cabinet to designate March 8th as “National PrayersDay”. Hence, he acknowledged the need of interfaith dialogues among
the many religions in Malaysia as they were imperative to generatemutual understanding and respect among followers of any religions.
However, he added, a dialogue should be sincere with the aims ofstrengthening the community, not to serve own, narrow interest. He concluded by congratulating the audience present and bade them to have anenjoyable and enlightening day.
Interfaith Dialogue Session
The moderator commenced the session by introducing the speakers tothe audience. She remarked that this dialogue would be based on theparables drawn from the holy scriptures of Islam and Buddhism as they
were easier to understand and remember. She explained that a parable isbrief, succinct story in prose or verse which illustrated a moral orreligious lesson.
“Light your own lamp of peace before lighting the lamp of others”
The first speaker, Dr. Ramzy began by noting an interesting parable inthe Lotus Sutra about Buddha rescuing people from a burning house bypreaching the message of peace, which was similar to a parable inAl-Quran that the message of Islam is to protect people from hellfire(Al-Quran, 3:103). He explained that Al-Quran is a divine revelationfrom God to Prophet Muhammad S.A.W and was recorded anddocumented during his lifetime whereas Al-Hadith is a practical explanation of Al-Quran and contains the reports of his sayings, deeds andquotes of Prophet Muhammad S.A.W during his lifetime and some weretransmitted 50 years after his death. He emphasized that Muslims do not
accept any interpretations or opinions contrary to Al-Quran andAl-Hadith. Like any other religions, he added, Islam promotes peaceand harmony. This is reflected in the greetings among Muslims whichmeans, “Peace upon you”. The God in Islam is described as God of AllMerciful (Al-Rahman and Al-Rahim) and in Al-Hadith, Allah is said tolove His creations more than a woman loves her child (Hadith: Sahih
Bukhari: 5999). The prophet S.A.W. is also known as a prophet ofmercy, or Rahmatan lil-Alamin (Al-Quran, 21:107) and the believers arecalled Muslims or peacemakers. Thus, he argued, Islam should haveguidance for peace.
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it is absence of fear other than fear of Allah. There are three basic
principles for peace. Firstly, the existence of human being is sacred.
Secondly, human being is not peaceful as human in nature is violent.
Finally, human has weaknesses in knowledge and emotions and it is
God who guides people to peace. He added that there are two methodsof peace in Islam, that is establishing and managing peace. To establishpeace, it should start within a person by ensuring that he or she ispeaceful, like lighting one’s lamp before lighting the lamp of others.
Further, he explained that Islam gives equal importance to humanneeds. Human needs include physical (hunger), intellectual (search fortruth) and spiritual (religion). Islam encourages social interactions
whereby it is better to mingle with others rather than keeping to oneself.
Islam discourages anything that breaks social interactions, such asspying and backstabbing. According to a story in Al-Hadith, companions of the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W asked the prophet’s wife
about the deeds and daily activities of the prophet. One of themsuggested that he would refrain from sleeping and pray all night, anotherwould refrain from sexual activities and would not marry, and anotherfrom eating. To this, the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W rebuked that heobserved fasting and breaking fast, he performed prayers and slept atnight and he also married. The prophet cautioned them by saying, “Whoever turns away from my Sunnah (my way) is not from me. (HadithSahih Bukhari: 4776)”
On the other hand, managing peace falls under two types of responsibilities. Firstly, the individual responsibility which stands on one’sconsciousness that is taqwa, or fear of Allah. The other is socialresponsibility, as described in a story of travelers boarding a ship. Eachof them has their own seats, but one of them claimed that his seatbelonged to him and started to make a hole under the seat. Unlesssomebody tried to stop him, the whole ship shall sink. Another concept
is repentance. In Islam, any sin against God is forgivable by God but if aperson commits a sin towards other people, the sin is only forgivable by
the person affected.
Such respect for other cultures and religions, he elaborated, wereshown when the guide for Prophet S.A.W’s journey from Mecca toMedina was a Jew. Moreover, the first peace treaty is the Medina Treaty,
Egyptian people invited Muslims to their land (Saad bin Abi Waqas);
and Arab traders went to Sri Lanka to trade and live harmoniously. In
his conclusion, Dr. Ramzy highlighted that the current problem isbecause Islam has become exclusive for only Muslims. This is contrary
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for all.
The moderator, Dr. Faridah then highlighted again that Islam isreligion of peace and in order to have peace there must be peace at theindividual level and at the societal level. She then passed the floor overto the second speaker, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Christopher Boey.
“Dialogue is the Tradition of All Founders of the World’s Religions”
Dr. Boey began by stressing that an interfaith dialogue is crucial in
today’s world which is one characterized by so much separation, distrust
and loneliness. He cited technological advancements over the lastcentury in communication enabling data to be easily transmitted todifferent parts of the world in a matter of moments. He raised thequestion whether inspite of these advances, people were truly able tocommunicate and conduct dialogue in the true sense of the word. He
also noted the many wars which had been fought and continue to befought today in the name of religion and highlighted the need to returnto the prime point, examining the underlying philosophies of thesereligions and the thinking or ways of life of the founders of thesereligions. He was convinced that all the founders of these religions love
peace, love life and love humanity, and if they had the opportunity to get
together, they would become the best of friends.
Dr. Boey noted that this conviction was strongly shared by the second
President of the Soka Gakkai, Mr. Josei Toda, who once remarked, “Allthe problems will be solved if only the founders of the world’s religions
and schools of philosophy would get together to talk things out”.
Buddhism places great emphasis on dialogue. It is the very tradition ofBuddhism and the tradition of all the founders of the world’s religions.
He said that Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed placed great importance on talking to the people. He also noted that the sutras whichcontain teachings of Buddhism are collections of dialogues conductedby the Buddha with the different people facing diverse problems as hetravelled across India amidst a background of power strife and societalturmoil.
Genuine dialogue, in his opinion, is the first step to true friendship. Itis an expression of a sincere desire to get to know another. He explainedthat the basis of genuine dialogue is two-fold. Firstly it is to respect thepreciousness and immense potential of our own lives and those ofothers, Secondly, it is to respect the diversity of all lives.
Dr. Boey drew upon the Parable of the Jewel in the Robe in the Lotus
Sutra, Chapter 8. The parable was about a rich friend who took pity on
his poor friend and sewed a jewel on the underlining of his drunken poorreport on “peace & harmonious coexistence”

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friend’s robe before parting urgently. Upon waking up and not realizing
the existence of the jewel underneath his robe, the poor friend continued
his life roaming the streets for years until he met his rich friend again.
The rich friend was shocked to find the poor friend in a dire state andasked the poor friend to look underneath his robe. The poor friend was
ecstatic to find the precious jewel underneath his robe which he had
been carrying all this while. He explained that the underlying teachingof the Buddha is that the supreme life condition of Buddhahood exists
within every being. This is the basis of the Buddhist belief that everyone
is equal because they are endowed with this supreme life condition in
their lives regardless of their religion, creed, culture or gender.
Another example was drawn from Parable of the Three Kinds ofMedicinal Herbs and Two Kinds of Trees from the Lotus Sutra Chapter
5, to illustrate the Buddhist concept of harmonious co-existence. In thisparable, the three kinds of medicinal herbs and trees were distinguishedby their different appearances, colours, height and structures. When therain fell, they would absorb the water according to their needs in orderto grow. The rain signifies the nourishment of the life force from theuniverse which is also the Buddha’s teaching which nourishes themillions of creatures of the universe. The 13th century Buddhist leader,Nichiren used the analogy of the cherry, plum, peach and damson toexplain how the Buddha strives to create an atmosphere for cultivationof all forms of life allowing each of them to develop to the fullest. Eachherb when developed to the fullest is unique and beautiful in its ownway. In the same way, we, as human beings do not need to model
ourselves according to any stereotypes. This respect for the diversity ofeach individual was the main point of this parable.
Furthermore, Dr. Boey emphasized that Soka Gakkai International(SGI) movement led by Mr. Daisaku Ikeda, the current President of SGI
is fully committed to such dialogues. When Mr. Ikeda visited Malaysia
in 2000, he used a local Malaysian idiom to express this idea offriendship, “Bagai isi dengan kuku” (Friendship is a bond as indivisible
as a fingernail and the flesh beneath it). It illustrated the deep friendshipbetween two human beings. He quoted Mr. Ikeda: “The movement of
SGI is about spreading of trust, spreading friendship and spreading ofhappiness”. He also added that Mr. Ikeda emphasized the importance ofdialogue and had conducted numerous dialogues throughout the world
with people of different backgrounds. In the Muslim world, Mr. Ikeda
has carried out profound dialogues such as the ones with the late Mr.
Abdul Rahman Wahid Mohamad, former President of Indonesia and thelate Professor Dr. Majid Tehranian, who came originally from Iran.

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In addition, Mr. Ikeda founded the Toda Institute for Global Peaceand Policy Research in 1996 in order to carry on the ideals of peace of
his mentor Josei Toda. He appointed Dr. Tehranian, a Muslim and nonSGI member as the founding director of the institute. This appointment
immediately demonstrated Mr. Ikeda’s conviction that what Buddhistsand Muslims share in common is much more powerful than what
divides them and that people of good will must work together and beenriched by the diversity and not be steered away from it. Dr. Boey said
that the dialogue between Mr. Ikeda and Professor Tehranian is one of
the best dialogues he had ever read. Although the contents of thedialogue were meaningful and inspiring, it was the beautiful friendshipbetween the two authors that really moved him. He ended his speech byquoting a poem written by Professor Tehranian at the end of the bookthat described the friendship and unity between two people of different
religions.
Question and Answer (Q&A) Session
The first question was posed by Mr. Taka, a Japanese student fromUniversity of Malaya on why Sri Lanka is not as peaceful as Malaysia
even when the people are also diverse. Dr. Ramzy who hailed from Sri
Lanka opined that the current political unrest has no religion involvement. He went on to elaborate that prior to colonialization, no record ofviolence among the Sri Lankan in terms of religious dispute. However,during colonial period, many quarters employed anti-colonial concepts
to go against colonialisation. To do so, they included some ideologies
which implied that Sri Lanka is an island of Buddhism and other people
with different ideologies (religion) are not accepted. It was proveneffective and as a result, even after the nation’s independence, somepoliticians continue to use these ideologies to profit themselves.
The next question was posed by Dr. Zobaida from University ofMalaya. She asked how to be peaceful within one self. Dr. Ramzy
replied that people could change their nature to be peaceful and theyneeded courage. He added that in Islam, prayer is the best way to attainpeace and other ways may also include meditation and so on. Dr. Boey
also expressed his opinion from Buddhist perspective. To attain peace,people must reflect on their own lives and develop a solid sense of self.
It is the important role of religion to enable a person to perceive the true
nature of their own lives and bring forth their own unique potential,
thereby contributing to the betterment of society. One person who hasdone this has the power to inspire and influence others to do the same.

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The potential of a single person is illustrated by the example of RosaParks, a renowned figure in the American Civil Rights Movement, whostood up for herself because she believed she had the same right as otherwhite people in the country, thereby encouraging others to do the same.
This kind of courage is important as it will teach young people thatevery single life matters and once a person sees the greatness in himself
or herself, then he or she will see greatness in others.
The moderator Dr. Faridah also took the opportunity to inquire thepanelists on how men and women can contribute to peace. She referredto the painting at the back of the hall depicting Muslim women and waspainted by a Chinese artist. Dr. Boey replied that over the centuries,
women have suffered greatly and often silently in times of war andviolence and yet, unlike in the case of men, their pain is rarely
highlighted in the news. This suffering of women has the potential to
give rise to a great passion and powerful drive for peace. The SGI has
always placed great importance on the role of women for peace which
will increase even further in the future. Meanwhile, Dr. Ramzy provided
an example of the roles of women with their neighbours. It was encouraged in Islam to have a cordial relationship with Muslims and nonMuslims neighbours as they have rights according to the religion.
The final question was from Mr. Yong, a Malaysian. He posed ahypothetical question to the panelists; if the founders of Islam (ProphetMuhammad SAW) and Buddhism (Gautama Buddha) were to cometogether, what would be their ultimate messages? Before the panelists
replied, Mr. Abdullah, a member of the audience wanted to express hisopinion on the matter. He said that God has created mankind and hebelieved that both religious figures were the messengers of God. Dr.
Boey believed that both figures would discuss the current problems in
the world today and try to come up with solutions. Dr. Ramzy also
concurred and stressed that if it indeed happened, they would surely
come together and do the best for the world.
Conclusion
At the end of the dialogue, the moderator Dr. Faridah concluded that thiswould not be the last dialogue between Islam and Buddhism. The
speakers had given an overview to the concept of peace in bothreligions. In Islam, humans are given “Al-Aql”, or mind, to think. The
audiences were the people who could talk about peace and at the sametime, applying it in their lives. Peace is very precious to all the people ofthis world.

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The way forward is to encourage more open and sincere dialogue
between religions and within the religion. People of goodwill mustcome together and realize that they are the messengers of peace in orderto make the universal values of Islam and Buddhism accessible to all.
The ceremony ended with a souvenir presentation and photo sessions
with all the speakers and honourable guests present in the afternoon.