[Buddha-l] Buddhism won “The Best Religion In The World” award

[Weng-Fai Wong]

Not sure how true this one is but heck...

==========================================================

Buddhism won “The Best Religion In The World” award
15 Jul 2009, Tribune de Geneve
 

The Geneva-based International Coalition for the Advancement of
Religious and Spirituality (ICARUS) has bestowed "The Best Religion
In the World" award this year on the Buddhist Community.


This special award was voted on by an international round
table of more than 200 religious leaders from every part of
the spiritual spectrum. It was fascinating to note that many
religious leaders voted for Buddhism rather than their own
religion although Buddhists actually make up a tiny minority
of ICARUS membership. Here are the comments by four voting
members:


Jonna Hult, Director of Research for ICARUS said
"It wasn't a surprise to me that Buddhism won Best
Religion in the World, because we could find literally not
one single instance of a war fought in the name of Buddhism,
in contrast to every other religion that seems to keep a gun
in the closet just in case God makes a mistake. We were hard
pressed to even find a Buddhist that had ever been in an
army. These people practice what they preach to an extent we
simply could not document with any other spiritual
tradition."

 
A Catholic Priest, Father Ted O'Shaughnessy said from Belfast ,
"As much as I love the Catholic Church, it has always bothered
me to no end that we preach love in our scripture yet then
claim to know God's will when it comes to killing other
humans. For that reason, I did have to cast my vote for the
Buddhists."


A Muslim Cleric Tal Bin Wassad agreed from Pakistan via
his translator. "While I am a devout Muslim, I can see
how much anger and bloodshed is channeled into religious
expression rather than dealt with on a personal level. The
Buddhists have that figured out." Bin Wassad, the
ICARUS voting member for Pakistan 's Muslim community
continued, "In fact, some of my best friends are
Buddhist."

And Rabbi Shmuel Wasserstein said from Jerusalem, "Of course,
I love Judaism, and I think it's the greatest religion
in the world. But to be honest, I've been practicing
Vipassana meditation every day before minyan (daily Jewish
prayer) since 1993. So I get it."

However, there was one snag - ICARUS couldn't find anyone to give
the award to. All the Buddhists they called kept saying they
didn't want the award.

When asked why the Burmese Buddhist community refused the award,
Buddhist monk Bhante Ghurata Hanta said from Burma,
"We are grateful for the acknowledgement, but we give
this award to all humanity, for Buddha nature lies within
each of us." Groehlichen went on to say "We're
going to keep calling around until we find a Buddhist who
will accept it. We'll let you know when we
do."