Đạo Hay Nhất! by như-ý on Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:05 pm
Translated by Kylin, edited by Xiaobaiyun.
The story below was allegedly attributed to Sathya Sai Baba, a modern Indian spiritual leader entitled: Which religion is the best by monk Thich Tri Sieu in his book: What religion is it?
“Once upon a time, there was a wise and virtuous King who ruled his country with fairness and his people lived in peace. One day, at the request of the members of his cabinet, the King gathered all the leaders of all religions in his country and said to them: I have invited all of you religious leaders here today because I want to choose THE religion among all and make it a national religion for my country. I have confidence in your wisdom in choosing the best religion, one that would be worth royal good graces. Any religion is acceptable as along as everyone agrees and respects it; no one can find fault with it or deny it.
Though many years had passed, the King still had not received any answer to his request, because everyone considered their religion as the best one, but did not get the approval of others. Thus they continued to argue one year to the next. Then one day, a nomad sage stopped at the King’s country, and hearing about the King’s quest for the best religion he came to see him.
“Your Majesty, I will show you the best religion that no one could find fault with or deny.”
The King was very happy hearing what he heard because his wish was about to be fulfilled after many years of waiting.
“Really? Please tell me right now. I had been waiting for it for so long already!”
“Your Majesty, please be patient. I will reveal the name of that religion in the most peaceful and quiet place. I will wait for you by the Ganges river, we will cross the river and I will tell you the name of this religion once we get to the other side.”
The day after, at the appointed time, the King and the sage met together at the Ganges riverside. A boat was brought over by the order of the King and he was about to go on board when the sage stopped him short, saying that he had to make sure that the boat was safe enough.
“This boat is not good because the plank at the bottom is cracked and water might leak,” said the sage.
Another boat was brought over for the sage’s inspection, and he found that some planks at the side of the boat were a little loose because a few nails were lacking. The King called for another boat, and was again refused because the boat’s paint was peeling. And so, one boat after another was examined and refused as the sage kept pointing out all the weakness of all the boats until the King became impatient and the sun was setting.
“Sir! You have refused all of these boats. So what if the painting was peeling off, or if a few nails are lacking? They can still take us to the other side. Why do you pick on these petty things?”
The sage smiled at the King and said: “Your Majesty, you yourself noticed that although there are a few imperfections, all of those boats can take us across the river. Likewise, all the religions in your country can take you to become one with God. Finding faults with other religions is useless and unwise. Your majesty should return to your palace and continue to rule your people with your virtue. You need to respect all religions equally and consider each one as your own.”
The king prostrated at the sage’s feet, feeling very happy, being permeated with wisdom.
Through the above story Sathya Sai Baba states that all religions are like boats that can take people across rivers. This sounds reasonable at first but upon deeper reflection on the matter I’d like to contribute some thoughts about it.
Although we must practice tolerance toward all religions by accepting that all religions come from one source and that religions all have its good points, we cannot jump to the conclusion that all religions are the best. Even though any kind of boat can carry people, still considerations should be made about the right kind of boat such as the boat’s size and capacity, its condition, its engine. If one carelessly gets on a damaged boat it may not be able to cross the river, let alone sailing through the ocean.
Likewise, although all schools operate under the government’s authorization not all schools are the same. There are primary schools, secondary schools, high schools and universities and post university programs. It is unreasonable to say that students in primary schools are on the same level with those enrolled in university pursuing a Masters or Ph.D program, not to mention that there are unaccredited schools and universities, schools with unqualified teachers, and schools that just sell diplomas without any studying requirement. And even famous American universities are ranked from 1 to 150 based on various standards for students to choose which one they like best.
In selecting a spiritual school we need to clearly define how good or bad, profound or superficial, true or false it is, how many people are cultivating that spiritual path, and how many among them have reached spiritual enlightenment (graduated). We must accurately separate the true from the false religions, because if we make a mistake it will be as dangerous as getting aboard a rotten boat, hoping to use it to sail across the ocean. The sage in the given story says that all religions are equally good because he does not want to offend anyone, and by saying so, religious war may be avoided, but it is not a practical and true answer to the king.
So, then the King’s question remains: Which religion is the best one? I have to set this aside because in order to answer the question, one would have to put forward much objectivity and great effort in researching all the religions in the world, and evaluating their good or bad results, before they can be graded and ranked for their efficacy. This is in fact, the mission of the religious scholar.
Translated by Kylin, edited by Xiaobaiyun.
The story below was allegedly attributed to Sathya Sai Baba, a modern Indian spiritual leader entitled: Which religion is the best by monk Thich Tri Sieu in his book: What religion is it?
“Once upon a time, there was a wise and virtuous King who ruled his country with fairness and his people lived in peace. One day, at the request of the members of his cabinet, the King gathered all the leaders of all religions in his country and said to them: I have invited all of you religious leaders here today because I want to choose THE religion among all and make it a national religion for my country. I have confidence in your wisdom in choosing the best religion, one that would be worth royal good graces. Any religion is acceptable as along as everyone agrees and respects it; no one can find fault with it or deny it.
Though many years had passed, the King still had not received any answer to his request, because everyone considered their religion as the best one, but did not get the approval of others. Thus they continued to argue one year to the next. Then one day, a nomad sage stopped at the King’s country, and hearing about the King’s quest for the best religion he came to see him.
“Your Majesty, I will show you the best religion that no one could find fault with or deny.”
The King was very happy hearing what he heard because his wish was about to be fulfilled after many years of waiting.
“Really? Please tell me right now. I had been waiting for it for so long already!”
“Your Majesty, please be patient. I will reveal the name of that religion in the most peaceful and quiet place. I will wait for you by the Ganges river, we will cross the river and I will tell you the name of this religion once we get to the other side.”
The day after, at the appointed time, the King and the sage met together at the Ganges riverside. A boat was brought over by the order of the King and he was about to go on board when the sage stopped him short, saying that he had to make sure that the boat was safe enough.
“This boat is not good because the plank at the bottom is cracked and water might leak,” said the sage.
Another boat was brought over for the sage’s inspection, and he found that some planks at the side of the boat were a little loose because a few nails were lacking. The King called for another boat, and was again refused because the boat’s paint was peeling. And so, one boat after another was examined and refused as the sage kept pointing out all the weakness of all the boats until the King became impatient and the sun was setting.
“Sir! You have refused all of these boats. So what if the painting was peeling off, or if a few nails are lacking? They can still take us to the other side. Why do you pick on these petty things?”
The sage smiled at the King and said: “Your Majesty, you yourself noticed that although there are a few imperfections, all of those boats can take us across the river. Likewise, all the religions in your country can take you to become one with God. Finding faults with other religions is useless and unwise. Your majesty should return to your palace and continue to rule your people with your virtue. You need to respect all religions equally and consider each one as your own.”
The king prostrated at the sage’s feet, feeling very happy, being permeated with wisdom.
Through the above story Sathya Sai Baba states that all religions are like boats that can take people across rivers. This sounds reasonable at first but upon deeper reflection on the matter I’d like to contribute some thoughts about it.
Although we must practice tolerance toward all religions by accepting that all religions come from one source and that religions all have its good points, we cannot jump to the conclusion that all religions are the best. Even though any kind of boat can carry people, still considerations should be made about the right kind of boat such as the boat’s size and capacity, its condition, its engine. If one carelessly gets on a damaged boat it may not be able to cross the river, let alone sailing through the ocean.
Likewise, although all schools operate under the government’s authorization not all schools are the same. There are primary schools, secondary schools, high schools and universities and post university programs. It is unreasonable to say that students in primary schools are on the same level with those enrolled in university pursuing a Masters or Ph.D program, not to mention that there are unaccredited schools and universities, schools with unqualified teachers, and schools that just sell diplomas without any studying requirement. And even famous American universities are ranked from 1 to 150 based on various standards for students to choose which one they like best.
In selecting a spiritual school we need to clearly define how good or bad, profound or superficial, true or false it is, how many people are cultivating that spiritual path, and how many among them have reached spiritual enlightenment (graduated). We must accurately separate the true from the false religions, because if we make a mistake it will be as dangerous as getting aboard a rotten boat, hoping to use it to sail across the ocean. The sage in the given story says that all religions are equally good because he does not want to offend anyone, and by saying so, religious war may be avoided, but it is not a practical and true answer to the king.
So, then the King’s question remains: Which religion is the best one? I have to set this aside because in order to answer the question, one would have to put forward much objectivity and great effort in researching all the religions in the world, and evaluating their good or bad results, before they can be graded and ranked for their efficacy. This is in fact, the mission of the religious scholar.