This Thursday, November 12, 2009, the Charter for Compassion will be introduced to the world. It is the result of Karen Armstrong’s 2008 TED Prize wish. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It is an annual conference that brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). The TED Prize is awarded to three individuals each year who receive $100,000 and granted "One Wish to Change the World." Take a look at TED.com when you have the time.

Karen Armstrong's wish is to come up with a Charter like the Charter of Human Rights that everybody can commit to. Everybody - atheists, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Jews, Muslims - is invited to be part of this.

The Golden Rule is found in almost all the religions in the world – there are at least 19 religions that have the equivalent of the Golden Rule in their writings or teachings.

Ancient Egyptian: Eloquent Peasant, 109 - 110
Baha'i Faith: Gleanings
Buddhism: Udana-Varga 5.1, Samyutta Nikaya v.353, Sutta Nipata 705
Christianity: Bible Matthew 7.12, Matthew 22.36-40, Leviticus 19.18
Confucianism: Analects 15.23, Mencius VII.A.4
Hinduism: Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva 113.8, Mahabharata 5:1517
Humanism: British Humanist Society
Native American Spirituality: The Great Law of Peace, Black Elk, Pima proverb
Islam: Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 13
Jainism: Acarangasutra 5.101-2, Sutrakritanga 1.11.33
Judaism: Leviticus 19.18, Shabbat 31a
Shinto:Ko-ji-ki Hachiman Kasuga
Sikhism: Guru Granth Sahib, pg. 1299
Sufism: Javad Nurbakhsh
Taoism: T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien, 213-218
Unitarianism: Unitarian principle
Wicca: Wiccan Rede
Yoruba: Yoruba Proverb (Nigeria)
Zoroastrianism: Shayast-na-Shayast 13.29



The Golden Rule requires that we use empathy -- moral imagination -- to put ourselves in others’ shoes. We should act towards others as we would want them to act towards us. We should refuse, under any circumstance, to carry out actions that would cause them harm.

I am going a bit off tangent for a while - so bear with me and let me and I hope you hang in there till you see where I am heading.

One of the reasons why this congregation – New Spirit – is the one I want to be part of, is the ability of this congregation to allow space for different ideas, different beliefs, different theologies to come together and INTER-ACT. We allow ourselves to be changed in the process, and be on this journey of continuous growth and exploration and refinement. We aspire to be better and do better. We hope that we can be agents of change in transforming this world to be better and bring the Kin-dom of God – not the Kingdom but Kin-dom in that we are one big family.

I believe that there is no perfect religion. It does not exist. All religions have their problems, and we need to continuously explore, question, re-examine our beliefs, our values, and our ideas on this spiritual journey. Hetero-patriarchy pervades all religions – just last week, Ajahn Brahm, the Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Australia was expelled for ordaining nuns.
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen Master whom Martin Luther King Jr nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, pointed out that there are as many forms of Buddhism, as many ways of understanding Buddhism, as there are Buddhists. He wrote, “If you have one hundred people practicing Buddhism, you may have one hundred forms of Buddhism. The same is true for Christianity.”

The readings today are taken from the book "Jesus and Buddha: the parallel sayings" by Marcus Borg. They demonstrate the centrality of compassion in the two faiths I am most familiar with.
Compassion is the heart of the Golden Rule. Compassion in made up of two roots "com" - meaning "together with" and "passion" - meaning "suffer." (passion coming from the root word pathi as in pathos.) Thich Nhat Hanh points out the problem with the idea that we need to suffer to remove suffering from another person.

Thich Nhat Hanh wondered as a novice, that if the world was filled with suffering, why does the Buddha have such a beautiful smile? He discovered later that Buddha has enough understanding, calm, and strength that suffering does not overwhelm Buddha and we need to be aware of the suffering but retain our clarity, calmness and strength so we can transform the situation. Isn't it interesting that in Christianity, we often see Jesus depicted as the suffering Christ on the cross? I can understand and see what Thich Nhat Hanh is saying, but in my course studying here, I also learned of the concept that God who suffers with us when we suffer that exist in the Christian tradition.

We need to realize that we live in a time that loves to dichotomize everything – Faith and Reason, Church and State, Religion and Spirituality, East and West. But are we deceived into thinking in either - or? Can it be possible to be both - and? Can we allow for interaction between the dichotomies?

We need to understand that both prophets - Jesus and Buddha - come from a different social-historical context, which invariably shape their teachings.

Marcus Borg points out, “There is a social and political passion in Jesus which we do not find in the Buddha. In the judgment of many Jesus scholars, in addition to being a wisdom teacher and healer, Jesus was a social prophet. He challenged the domination system of his day and its ruling elites, and affirmed an alternative social vision.”

He suggests that the difference lies in the social context of their births – Jesus was born poor, son of a carpenter, and grew up under the oppression of the Roman Empire. He grew up in a world in the midst of social and political turmoil, and he inherited a long tradition of Jewish prophets who were voices that spoke to power.

Buddha, on the other hand was born Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince. His spiritual journey began when he came to the realization that all of humankind suffers - nobody can escape age, illness and death, and he sought to find a way to alleviate suffering.

I am in no way disparaging Buddhism here - many Buddhists are involved in fighting oppression and very involved in political struggle in the past, and in the present - in Tibet, Burma, Vietnam - one image etched in my mind is the photo of Thích Quảng Đức who immolated himself in protest of the discriminatory treatment endured by Buddhists under the Roman Catholic administration of President Ngô Đình Diệm in South Vietnam on 11 June 1963. Through a Christian lens, I see Christ here.

The most accurate predictor of a person’s faith is where he or she comes from – his or her socio-geographical location largely determines his or her faith. Why am I a Christian, and not a Buddhist, since I am ethnically Chinese, and come from Singapore, where 42.5% of the population is Buddhist? What am I doing in the US, pursuing a Masters in Divinity?

The Buddhism I grew up with is a form of Buddhism that is mixed with Chinese traditions. When I was younger, I followed my grandmother to the temple, and prayed like many other Buddhists in Singapore - we prayed for health, wealth and success in life. It did not resonate with me spiritually - I think when a person is attached to material things, one is hardly spiritual.

The Christianity I was exposed to on the other hand was the simple refrain I heard and sang as a child "Yes Jesus loves me, for the Bible tells me so" and it etched into my being that no matter what, I am loved as a child of God. Perhaps that is why when Stephanie played the piece For the Bible tells me so mixed with Claire de Lune, I was moved to tears.

I see my faith, my religion as a path to the Divine. My path is shaped by the context of my life - perhaps if I had experienced Buddhism as how I know it today, I may stand before you speaking as a Buddhist. It is how I experienced Christianity as a child that anchors my spirituality. The same applies to everyone else.

I remember my one and only Church camp experience – I was invited to it by my schoolteacher, and it was a camp that lasted a week. There were worksheets where we fill in the blanks for verses from the Bible, most of which I copied. They taught during the camp that no matter what good things a person has done, if he or she did not believe in Jesus Christ, he or she will end up in the fiery furnace. That was not love, I thought – and what about my grandmother, and all those who were not Christians?

Every night, before we went to bed, we gathered in the hall and the pastor would ask us to bow our heads, and pray. And he would ask those who want to be saved from being thrown into the fiery furnace to raise their hands. I didn’t raise my hand. That God of judgment and wrath was not the God of love I knew when I was younger. On the last day, kids being kids, we asked each other who raised their hands and who didn’t – and I came to know I was the only one who didn’t from day one.

Perhaps, if I never experienced the simple love of God when I was younger, I would have been so turned off by Christianity that I may stand before you an atheist like some of my friends. Even as I struggled with the realization that I am gay as a teenager, I never doubted that God loved me for who I am, and that anchored me during the bouts of depression in my teenage years. No matter what anyone said, “Jesus loves me, this I know.”

It is this love that drives me in my work in the LGBT movement in Singapore – to fight for the acceptance of LGBT folks. It is the revelation that God loves everyone that connects me to my work that gives it meaning.

Today, I claim both Buddha and Jesus as my spiritual ancestors. Their teachings on compassion shape my theology. I don't think they are mutually exclusive. I do think that we may not need to suffer to understand and alleviate suffering of another - but I also feel comforted and believe that God suffers with us in our suffering. The cross we bear is not suffering that masochistic idea that we need to suffer to earn God's grace, but the denial of our selves that calls us out of our self-centeredness to be compassionate. “Deny yourselves, take up the cross, and follow me,” Jesus said. Through a Buddhist lens, I see Buddha here.

Compassion cannot be divorced from action. It is not just a feeling - it should lead us into action - to be in solidarity with those who suffer, and recognize our common humanity - that Divine Image in each and everyone of us, and treat everyone with justice, equality, dignity and respect.

There are many ways of compassionate action. I would like to suggest one. The first time I attended New Spirit a year ago - there were announcements about the weekly sessions to cook for the shelter for homeless youths, YEAH (Youth Engagement, Advocacy and Housing). We may seem too insignificant to change the world, but I think we can make a world of a difference for these youths. Come speak with me after church, and let's sign up and work out a schedule to volunteer with YEAH.

I end here with a passage from the website of the Charter for Compassion:

Compassion is most clearly and simply expressed in the Golden Rule which can be read as both “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” and “Do not treat others as you would not like to be treated yourself.”

A commitment to compassion calls us to live in the world conscious of all with whom we share the Earth and Earth’s bounty and resources.
Compassion insists that, in recognition of our common humanity, we treat every creature with justice, equality, and respect.

The Charter for Compassion calls all religions to mutual respect of one another and insists that all compassionate interpretation of scripture denies hatred and violence.

Compassion calls us to a courageous life in which risks are joyously taken on behalf of a world in which all people must be fed and housed and clothed and freed.

Compassion is not only a matter of the heart, but a mindful commitment to engage one’s whole self in the alleviation of suffering.

The call to compassion is addressed to religious bodies, to governments, to businesses — yes, even to the military. All whose power and decision-making affects others need to honor the sanctity and safety of all.

Compassion can be a dynamic force in protecting the Earth and its for generations yet to be born.

Compassion calls us out of our narrow self-centered selves, saves us from wasteful self-involvement, and opens us to the well-being offered to those who share themselves, their resources, and their love with all of humanity.

May you live out your lives with compassion.