WORDS Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ

Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ has a conversation with Dharma Master Hsin Tao.

Accompanied by his interpreter and a group of Buddhist nuns dressed in grey, Dharma Master Hsin Tao came into the hotel foyer. The impersonal luxury of the hotel contrasted with the monk’s simple saffron and red robes and cap. But Master Hsin Tao is an unusual monk. Among his many enterprises he has founded a museum for the study of the great world religions.

Hsin Tao, in Melbourne for the Parliament of the World’s Religions, sits quietly, his face quick to show warmth and interest. To use one of his favourite words, his is a compassionate face. He speaks a little about his life. He was an orphan, and was forced to become a child soldier in Burma. He then found his way to Taiwan and reflected on his life.
‘I was thinking I ought to find a religion that I can rely on. I searched and eventually I found Buddhism’, he says.

Like many Christian people dedicated to prayer, he then went to the mountains to meditate and fast. He explains, ‘I went to the sanctuary, found a cave, and practised my meditation. Religion is to realise your goal in life, and to get insight. There I could find wisdom. With the help of many masters I integrated everything. I was able to understand more of the inner facts of inner truth. Fasting was important. We all tend to have a lot of vexations, and fasting helps to reduce the vexations and desires so that we can correspond better to the truth.’

He then founded the Wu Sheng monastery near the cave that overlooked mountains and sea. It met many needs.
‘I observed that many newly-emerging religions were becoming popular in society. People were becoming confused and didn’t understand the truth. We have a responsibility to society, and we could help people by meditating and practising. The town near the cave was pretty poor, too, and I thought we could help the townspeople through the monastery.’
Like Christianity at its best, Buddhism emphasises the personal path that takes us beyond the superficial to what matters most deeply in our lives. Both faiths also stress that what matters deeply is our connection with other people and the world around us. So in Buddhism, as in Christianity, compassion is a high virtue.

This compassion has inspired many of the things that Hsin Tao has done. He has founded many monasteries as centres of reflection. He has founded an agency for charitable works. It was one of the few foreign agencies that were allowed to work in Burma after the devastating cyclones there.

He has also tried to bring together people of different faiths to learn from one another and to care for the world. He believes that Buddhism can play a leading role in making these connections because it is such a tolerant religion. The Global Family for Love and Peace that he founded has enabled many conversations between Muslims and Buddhists.
This interest in bringing religions into conversation also explains why Hsin Tao established the Museum of World Religions in Taipei. Museums are full of strange and beautiful things that arouse our interest and take us into other people’s worlds. So a museum full of the books, clothing, art and ceremonial objects of the different religions can make us want to know more about the religions and the people who practice them. We can see freshly our similarities and differences.

Hsin Tao thinks often of young people on whom the future of the world depends. He emphasises the place of religion and of care for the environment in the life of young people. He explains, ‘Young people are very energetic. They want to experience, to know many things, but they must also learn from traditional experience and ethics. They should be receptive, optimistic towards life, and take responsibility. Religion offers consistent ethics and improves the quality of people’s lives. It helps young people to have a loving and compassionate heart, and to be open to other religions.’

He says that young people must take special responsibility for the environment. They have a mission to salvage the planet in the face of ecological disaster.

‘We have only one planet, the earth. It is a home that we must build cooperatively. We want a tranquil planet, and must safeguard it. Young people must practice tranquillity of mind and heart, and bring this tranquillity into their care for the environment.’

After talking we go outside and look out over the tree-lined river to the high buildings of the city. Hsin Tao’s compassion is rooted in the simple world of trees and rivers. But it also encompasses the world of the city in which human beings live and where human affairs are decided.

Pictured:Master Hsin Tao presents Fr Hamilton with prayer beads.

Some Catholic-run centres for interfaith dialogue:

Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations
Based in Sydney, and one of the first centres established exclusively for interfaith relations. www.columban.org.au

Asia Pacific Centre for Interreligious Dialogue
Operates out of Australian Catholic University. www.acu.edu.au

Sancta Sophia Meditation Community
A centre in Warburton, Victoria, for interfaith spirituality. www.sanctasophia.org.au

Janssen Spirituality Centre
Opened in 2008 in Melbourne. www.janssencentre.org

A number of dioceses also have ecumenical and interfaith commissions. Visit your local diocesan website for details.