..续本文上一页 like bland or bitter food. Now, if one person prefers sweet, hot, bitter or sour, you can”t correct him and say he”s wrong. Someone may argue, and say "Hot, spicy food is the best, how can you like salty food

　　 You”re wrong!" You can”t righteously say that, because verybody has a different palate, a flavor they prefer. It”s simply a matter of taste.

　　Religions are the same way. The people who like sweet flavors have no basis in criticizing those who like bitter flavors. Simply because when the person who likes it bitter swallows his food, he feels comfortable with that flavor. The person who likes the sweet flavor, feels hers is the best, and enjoys the feeling when she swallows it. There”s no basis for criticism. Religions are the same way, whoever prefers, according to their taste, has a right to believe and to follow as he pleases. It”s a question of habits.

　　Now, at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, following the same analogy, we have established our monastery to accord. The first thing we did was to heal the artificial pision between the so-called Mahayana and Theravada (The Great Vehicle and The Small Vehicle), we put them together so that the two Vehicles no longer mutually engage in criticism or set up an adversarial relationship. This never existed at the City of Teri Thousand Buddhas. The many Vehicles are one at that Buddhist community. We welcome all religions there. In the past, I know it was the case, that Buddhists stayed in their Buddhist circles that was all that they knew. There was little contact with other religious groups; and this is not the way it should be. While there was no open hostility, there was still a pision, you knew where you belonged and you didn”t join other groups. I always felt that this attitude was disadvantageous to world peace.

　　So the policy at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas has been that we welcome Catholics to perform the mass in our Buddha hall, and in fact, this has occurred on a regular basis. We also welcome Protestants to give their services in our worship halls. We also welcome Jewish Rabbis to chant their Holy ceremonies in their worship halls; we don”t want to say ours because they are theirs equally. We want the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas to be the home of all religious people. It won”t be any different than if the Buddhists were there, it is the same. So, at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas we want to create harmony among all peoples. That is how this stupid person has set up his monastery.

　　I call myself a stupid person because my wish is to learn the ways of wisdom. I can”t say that I have any wisdom of my own, but I am, all the same, willing to unify with all of you, and become one. Not only am I willing to do this with all religious people, but, at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas our credo, our principle, is that we want to unite with all living beings completely; that is to say we want the view all the world as a single family and live in harmony, the way a family should.

　　This is our principle: We treat all living beings alike. It should be this way among all people and how much the more so should it be with all living beings. So, I welcome all of you to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. At our City, in Talmage, near Ukiah, we keep a very low profile, we do our daily rounds in silence, we don”t advertise, or blow our own horn. As a result, even our next-door neighbors, know little about us. But, our central goal is to lose the discriminations that set people and religions apart.

　　I don”t know whether you believe the things I”ve said. I acknowledged at the start they my comments were coming from a stupid person. Some of you may have taken my advice and stopped listening, but if you plugged your ears then you did not hear what I said. My goal, noneth…

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