KUALA LUMPUR – Religious leaders must strive to learn and preach to their followers the respective original teachings of their faiths, especially on the theme of universality, if Malaysians are serious about creating a better, harmonious future.
Ven Datuk Kirinde Sri Dhammaratana Maha Thero, chief monk of the Buddhist Maha Vihara Kuala Lumpur, shares his concerns with The Vibes on many preachers using the teachings of their religions for personal gain, and interpreting those doctrines falsely.
He said some followers infuse the teachings with their own divergent opinions and ideas, resulting in friction within the religion.
“These planted mindsets of people tend to say ‘Hinduism says this… Christianity says that… Islam says this’, resulting in their followers (moving) further away from the original teachings of their religions. That is why it is crucial that religious leaders learn the teachings in-depth. It is only by this way are we able to educate our followers properly,” he said.
“Uttering such things as ‘I belong to this (particular) faith, which is the right path and so on’ will only deter us from understanding each other,” he said.
“Hence, it is important for us not only to master our respective religions and teachings, but it is also vital for us to know and respect others’.”
Sri Dhammaratna was speaking to The Vibes for the fourth episode of its five-part special series titled “Humanity beyond religion”, published every Sunday, starting December 20 last year.
The project features views of eminent thinkers from four different religions in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Sri Dhammaratna stressed that many religious leaders who are not well-educated in religion, use it to label themselves as a higher authority whose opinion or directive is untouchable, creating fear among their followers. Despite not having ventured deep enough in their own learning, they make assumptions and interpret the teachings of their faith in a very dangerous manner, causing their followers to only understand fragments of the religion, thereby becoming easy prey for irresponsible parties, he said.
According to Sri Dhammaratana, religious teachings should begin from a tender age so that society is able to live in harmony, especially in multicultural and multi-religious Malaysia.
Finding common ground
Instead of focusing on the things that differentiate us, Sri Dhammaratna said it is essential to see instead what we all have in common.
“Stop arguing (about) each other's religion. Stop arguing about all these different ideas and different opinions. We must only see all the similarities,” he said.
“When you talk about similarities as a human being, many things are common. We must all have a strong compassionate heart, we need to practise loving kindness, irrespective of race and religion.”
On advice for the future, Sri Dhammaratana said he strongly believes that we can learn many things from each other and, thus, be able to put all positive teachings of others into our practices as well.
When society learns the correct teachings of religion and follows the right path, then there is no force that can influence them towards doing bad, he said. This responsibility, in particular, must be taken up by religious leaders as well.
“We must cultivate (thoughts and actions) in such a way that each one of us possesses the same mentality, same behaviour and same attitude. As such, we will be able to live in a society with a multiracial and multi-religious platform,” he said.
“Earnestly, I hope we can build (ourselves) up together to bring peace and harmony. With understanding of the correct part of any religion, we do not have to worry about anything else.” – The Vibes, January 10, 2021
Watch out for the next edition of The Vibes’ special series on ‘Humanity beyond religion’ next Sunday. The five-part series, featuring eminent thinkers of major religions in Malaysia, runs every Sunday until January 17
