2. Beneath the Differences Are Universal Elements

World Scripture

A number of disciples went to the Buddha and said, “Sir, there are living here in Savatthi many wandering hermits and scholars who indulge in constant dispute, some saying that the world is infinite and eternal and others that it is finite and not eternal, some saying that the soul dies with the body and others that it lives on forever, and so forth. What, Sir, would you say concerning them?”
The Buddha answered, “Once upon a time there was a certain raja who called to his servant and said, ‘Come, good fellow, go and gather together in one place all the men of Savatthi who were born blind… and show them an elephant.’ ‘Very good, sire,’ replied the servant, and he did as he was told. He said to the blind men assembled there, ‘Here is an elephant,’ and to one man he presented the head of the elephant, to another its ears, to another a tusk, to another the trunk, the foot, back, tail, and tuft of the tail, saying to each one that that was the elephant.
“When the blind men had felt the elephant, the raja went to each of them and said to each, ‘Well, blind man, have you seen the elephant? Tell me, what sort of thing is an elephant?’ “Thereupon the men who were presented with the head answered, ‘Sire, an elephant is like a pot.’ And the men who had observed the ear replied, ‘An elephant is like a winnowing basket.’ Those who had been presented with a tusk said it was a ploughshare. Those who knew only the trunk said it was a plough; others said the body was a granary; the foot, a pillar; the back, a mortar; the tail, a pestle, the tuft of the tail, a brush.
“Then they began to quarrel, shouting, ‘Yes it is!’ ‘No, it is not!’ ‘An elephant is not that!’ ‘Yes, it’s like that!’ and so on, till they came to blows over the matter. The raja was delighted with the scene.
“Just so are these preachers and scholars holding various views blind and unseeing… In their ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome, wrangling, and disputatious, each maintaining reality is thus and thus.”
Then the Exalted One rendered this meaning by uttering this verse of uplift: O how they cling and wrangle, some who claim For preacher and monk the honored name! For, quarreling, each to his view they cling. Such folk see only one side of a thing.⁵
Udana 68-69: Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant (Buddhism)

Some Hindus had brought an elephant for exhibition and placed it in a dark house. Crowds of people were going into that dark place to see the beast. Finding that ocular inspection was impossible, each visitor felt it with his palm in the darkness. The palm of one fell on the trunk. “This creature is like a water-spout,” he said. The hand of another lighted on the elephant’s ear. To him the beast was evidently like a fan. Another rubbed against its leg. “I found the elephant’s shape is like a pillar,” he said. Another laid his hand on its back. “Certainly this elephant is like a throne,” he said. The sensual eye is just like the palm of the hand. The palm has not the means of covering the whole of the beast. The eye of the Sea is one thing and the foam another. Let the foam go, and gaze with the eye of the Sea. Day and night foam-flecks are flung from the sea: How amazing! You behold the foam but not the Sea. We are like boats dashing together; our eyes are darkened, yet we are in clear water.
Jalalu’l-Din Rumi, Masnavi 3.1259-1272 (Islam)

A man among the Muslims and a man among the Jews reviled one another. The Muslim said, “By Him who chose Muhammad above the universe,” and the Jew said, “By Him who chose Moses above the universe.” Thereupon the Muslim raised his hand and struck the Jew on his face, and the Jew went to the Prophet and told him what had happened between him and the Muslim. The Prophet summoned the Muslim and asked him about that, and when he informed him the Prophet said, “Do not make me superior to Moses, for mankind will swoon on the day of resurrection and I shall swoon along with them. I shall be the first to recover and see Moses seizing the side of the Throne; and I shall not know whether he was among those who had swooned and had recovered before me, or whether he was among those of whom God had made an exception… Do not make distinctions between the Prophets.”
Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim (Islam)

Some call on the Lord, “Rama,” some cry, “Khuda,” Some bow to Him as Gosain, some as Allah; He is called the Ground of Grounds and also the Bountiful, The Compassionate One and Gracious. Hindus bathe in holy waters for His sake; Muslims make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Hindus perform puja; others bow their heads in namaz. There are those who read the Vedas and others— Christians, Jews, Muslims—who read the Semitic scriptures. Some wear blue, some white robes, Some call themselves Muslims, others Hindus. Some aspire to bahishat [Muslim heaven], some to swarga [Hindu heaven]. Says Nanak, Whoever realizes the will of the Lord, He will find out the Lord’s secrets!
Adi Granth, Ramkali, M.5, p. 885 (Sikhism)

Of whatsoever teachings, Gotamid, you can assure yourself thus, “These doctrines conduce to passions, not to dispassion; to bondage, not to detachment; to increase of worldly gains, not to decrease of them; to covetousness, not to frugality; to discontent, not contentment; to company, not solitude; to sluggishness, not energy; to delight in evil, not delight in good”— of such teachings you may with certainty affirm, Gotamid, “This is not the Norm. This is not the Discipline. This is not the Master’s Message.” But of whatsoever teachings you can assure yourself thus, “These doctrines conduce to dispassion, not to passions… to delight in good, not delight in evil”—of such teachings you may with certainty affirm, “This is the Norm. This is the Discipline. This is the Master’s Message.”
Vinaya Pitaka 2.10 (Buddhism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

In every culture, religion should be the core and standard of public righteousness. Hence each religion holds pride in keeping its own traditions and thinks itself superior to any other. However, the universal elements in each of their teachings come from the one God.
(234:222, August 20, 1992)

Lamentable it is that the very religions that were supposed to serve as the leading elements of the human spirit and as the leading mediators of conflict have themselves become sources of conflict, thereby diminishing religious dignity and authority even further. Judaism fights Islam; Catholicism conflicts with Protestantism; Christianity contradicts Buddhism. Even within one religion, different denominations fight among themselves.
The basic cause of religious conflict lies in the ambiguity of their doctrines about Ultimate Reality. The Absolute Being is only one; there cannot be two absolute beings. However, when the leaders of each religion claim that only their absolute being is the true God, it leads to the contradiction that there is more than one absolute being. We would then conclude that the god of each religion is only a relative god, and that there is no basis for believing that the Absolute Being exists.
Consequently, although God has been promoting through the various religions a universal teaching about God’s love and truth, their various perspectives remain only relative. We can conclude that religions have been incapable of establishing the absolute value perspective that can bring the prevailing confusion under control. This is the inevitable result of the fact that no religion has been able to present the correct explanation about the Absolute Being.
(122:300-01, November 25, 1982)

As most people live in two dimensions, all religions appear to them to be the same. However, if looking at their backgrounds, especially from the standpoint of God’s providence for the restoration of humankind, we recognize that religions are at different levels: the servant of servant-level religion, the servant-level religion, the adopted son-level religion, the half son-level religion, the son-level religion, the mother-level religion, the father-level religion, and finally the True Parent-level religion. Throughout history, religions have developed from stage to stage.

Yet all religions, regardless of their level, have something in common: Love God and serve Him as the absolute Lord. Most of their basic teachings are the same. For this reason, it is hard to distinguish the difference of their levels. If so, are all religions really the same? No, they are not.
(143:75-76, December 9, 1990)

Good and evil are not determined by your beliefs and thoughts. They are determined by your daily life. Whether you are destined for heaven and hell is not determined by your doctrines and perspectives on the world, but by your daily life.
(40:294-95, February 7, 1971)