1. The Values of Buddhism
World Scripture
The best of paths is the Eightfold Path. The best of truths are the Four Noble Truths. Nonattachment is the best of mental states. The best of human beings is the Seeing One. This is the only Way. There is no other that leads to the purity of insight. You should follow this path, for this is what bewilders Mara. Embarking upon that path, you will make an end of pain. I have declared this path after having learned the way for the removal of thorns.
Dhammapada 273-75
Not by matted hair, nor by family, nor by birth does one become a Brahmin. But in whom there exist both truth and righteousness, pure is he, a Brahmin is he. I do not call him a Brahmin merely because he is born of a Brahmin womb or sprung from a Brahmin mother. Being with impediments, he should address others as “sir.” But he who is free from impediments, free from clinging—him I call a Brahmin. He who realizes here in this world the destruction of his sorrow, who has laid the burden aside and is emancipated—him I call a Brahmin. He who has laid aside the cudgel in his dealings with beings, whether feeble or strong, who neither harms nor kills—him I call a Brahmin. He who is friendly among the hostile, who is peaceful among the violent, who is unattached among the attached—him I call a Brahmin. In whom lust, hatred, pride, and detraction are fallen off like a mustard seed from the point of a needle—him I call a Brahmin.14
Dhammapada 393, 396, 402, 405-07
Even ornamented royal chariots wear out. So too the body reaches old age. But the Dhamma of the Good grows not old. Thus do the Good reveal it among the Good.
Dhammapada 151
What, brethren, is causal happening? “Conditioned by rebirth is decay and death.” Whether, brethren, there be an arising of Tathagatas or whether there be no such arising, this nature of things just stands, this causal status, this causal orderliness, the relatedness of this to that.
Samyutta Nikaya 2.25
I pay homage to the Perfection of Wisdom! She is worthy of homage. She is unstained; the entire world cannot stain her. She is a source of light, and from everyone in the triple world she removes darkness, and she leads away from the blinding darkness caused by the defilements and by wrong views. In her we can find shelter. Most excellent are her works. She makes us seek the safety of the wings of Enlightenment. She brings light to the blind; she brings light so that all fear and distress may be forsaken… She is the mother of the Bodhisattvas, on account of the emptiness of her own marks. As the donor of the jewel of all the Buddha-dharmas she brings about the ten powers [of a Buddha]. She cannot be crushed. She protects the unprotected, with the help of the four grounds of self-confidence. She is the antidote to birth-and-death. She has a clear knowledge of the own-being of all dharmas, for she does not stray away from it. The Perfection of Wisdom of the Buddhas, the Lords, sets in motion the Wheel of the Law.
Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines 7.1
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
In ancient times, Buddhism and Buddhist culture emerged out of God’s will, in order to reform the society of India. Buddhism presented a new ideal through a new understanding of subject and object relationships.15
(144:182, April 24, 1986)
Buddhism, which emerged from India, is a world-level teaching. Only religions like Buddhism, which transcends the practical domain of life and contains a world-level point of view and a transcendental philosophy, will remain in the Last Days.
(9:279, June 12, 1960)
Among the Oriental religions, Buddhism is the closest to God’s providence… However, as Buddhism teaches the logic of Sarvadharma [the oneness of all things],16 it is ignorant of a personal God—a major weakness. Nevertheless, God set things up this way to prepare the people of Asia to one day be united [with God’s Kingdom] through the Oriental religions when Buddhism would connect with Judaism [had the latter received Christ].
(208:311, November 21, 1990)
Buddhism teaches the existence of God, but it focuses on God’s lawful aspect. It does not explain that God is actively working in the world.
(53:297, March 4, 1972)
The Buddha’s entire philosophy is based on law (dharma). However, the object of dharma is the circumstances of human beings as objects, not the human being himself. Actually, the measure of a human being is love, not law. But the Buddha taught a standard based on law; hence his teachings are called Law Sutras.17 Buddhism teaches self-realization, but what should happen after attaining self-realization? Is that the end of it? That is why, even though Buddhists live solitary lives deep in the mountains and work hard for self-discipline and self-realization, they still are ambiguous about the ideal world of love.
(50:116, November 6, 1971)