Islam and Buddhism

islamoyankee

Islam and Buddhism.

On May 12, 2010, in Bloomington, USA, the Dalai Lama, joined by a panel of select scholars, officially launched the Common Ground project, which he and HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan had planned over the course of several years of personal conversations. The project is based on the book ‘Common Ground between Islam and Buddhism’, which was commissioned by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad. It is hoped, with the publication of this work that the spiritual relationship between the two traditions will flower in many ways, including the promotion of a new realm of scholarship and research. The participants on the panel included Ingrid Mattson, Eboo Patel, and Reza Shah-Kazemi.

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7 thoughts on “Islam and Buddhism”

  1. Salaam,
    Interesting. I’ve often felt that there was a certain amount of common ground between Islam and Buddhism. The Quran says that “Everything is perishing except for the face of Allah” so one could even argue that Buddhism is a good description of the creation apart from Allah.
    And then of course there are the Zensunni wanderers from Dune.

  2. For Christianity the cause is sin and the effect is salvation.
    For Buddhism the cause is stress or suffering and the effect is awakening.
    For Islam the cause is pride and the effect is submission.

  3. @Abdul Halim Salaam. It’s an interesting take on the question of nature of the “face of Allah.” It echoes alot about what I know of early Hindu apologetics in response to increasing Muslim political power in the medieval period.
    As for the sci-fi connection, I think we need to rope in some people and do an Islam/Sci-Fi carnival soon. 🙂

  4. @Islamoyankee, Salaams,
    Actually I already have a bunch of entries on Islam and sci-fi on my blog. It is funny how many connections there are between Dune, Chronicles of Riddick, They Live and even Star Wars…
    In terms of non-fictional interactions with Buddhism, one can also look at Islam in China. Chinese Muslim scholars would often use pre-existing concepts from Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism to express Islamic ideas. “Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light” is one book which discusses this but there are definitely others…
    @Adam I think those descriptions are more true than false, but they aren’t so exclusively true that you couldn’t switch them around… at least, you could probably find individuals and movements under each umbrella (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam) which lean in each direction (seeking salvation, enlightenment, obedience)

  5. @Abdul Halim, I know your sci-fi posts well. Big up for them. BTW, someone has written a short article on the fact that Dune was based on an early Islamic Shi’ah history. I’ll find the relevant passage and post it.

  6. @Islamoyankee- glad you posted the story. The Dali Llama an amazing spiritual individual, and it is wonderful to see the Prince of Jordan HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad envisions such fantastic projects. I’d enjoy hearing more about the project. Thanks for the info.
    I certainly think of the buddislamics from Dune.. I’m a Sci Nerd at heart.

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