DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to the
suffering people of Tibet and their non-violent struggle to regain their
independence from a ruthless occupying force. May they soon succeed and
live in peace forever!
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When
we call ourselves by a religious brand-name (Jew, Buddhist, Christian,
Hindu, etc.), or a nationality (English, German, Thai,
Australian, Indian, and so on)—at the same time we are
saying, without words, what we are not. In this way, we limit ourselves
and deny ourselves the possibility of drinking at the well-springs of many
sources.
If
we were not so attached to and preoccupied with names and labels and saw,
instead, our basic humanity, the wealth of the world’s wisdom would be
available to us in incalculable amounts, and we would feel no shame or
hesitation in picking up gems wherever we find them; after all, a diamond
is a diamond no matter where it is found, is it not?
We
could avoid religious and racial conflict and antagonism if we realized
that we do not live in water-tight compartments, shut off from people of
other races, nations, and religions, and that we are now well-into a world
culture; our lives touch and overlap those of others like tiles on a roof
or the scales of a fish. Even if we never travel abroad, we depend so much
upon people from all over the world simply because of the global economy.
These are things to be considered.
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