Michael Saso

Three Religions, One Culture

When religions are prayer (not belief) oriented, mutual encounter becomes a powerful tool for peace. “3 teachings one culture” define the Chinese view of religion’s role in society: “Confucius for the head, Buddha for the heart, and Dao for the belly.” Confucian ethics, Buddhist compassion, Daoist harmony, make religion a source of peace in China, Japan, Korea, SE Asia, Tibet, and Mongolia. Put in more practical terms, Confucian Ethics govern social relations, Buddhist compassion rules the heart, Daoist wisdom “intuits” others’ needs, from the belly, forming a three-fold practice based cultural unity.

Scripture based religions, on the other hand, are more inclined to be belief, not compassion oriented. They allow only one “faith” per person, making enemies of all other belief systems.

At the mystic or apophatic level, however, Islamic (Sufi), Judaic (Kabala), and Christian mystics, find deep agreement, through mutual prayer encounter. The 4 stages or paths to unitive prayer, (purification, illumination, apophatic emptying, and union) are structurally the same for all religious systems – whether scripture or practice based. So Evelyn Underhill stated in her classic work “Mysticism.”

The Sufi (and Daoist “Pole Star”) seven steps, Kabala and Daoist ten steps (sefirot) and Ignatius of Loyola’s four step “Exercitia Spititualia” are structurally (if not verbally) analogous to each other.

Religion brings peace, not war, when prayer is made the focus of inter-faith encounter.

Lao-Tsu, Buddha, and Confucious