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Common Ground - Islam and Buddhism

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Ethics of Detachment <strong>and</strong> Compassion<br />

is that ultimately nothing can escape or be separated from God’s allembracing<br />

Rahma, which is the divine matrix containing the cosmos.<br />

The word ‘matrix’ should be taken quite literally, in relation to its root:<br />

‘mother’. The word for womb, rahim, derives from the same root as<br />

Rahma. The entire cosmos is not just brought into being by Rahma,<br />

it is perpetually encompassed by Rahma which nourishes it at every<br />

instant, as the mother’s womb nourishes <strong>and</strong> encompasses the embryo<br />

growing within it. As we saw above, the Tathāgatagarbha, literally<br />

means: the ‘womb’ of the Tathāgata, the ‘one thus gone’. This womb<br />

or matrix not only contains all things, it is also contained within the<br />

soul, being one with the immanent Buddha-nature (Buddhadhatu)<br />

which each individual must strive to realize.<br />

The analogy evoked by this etymological relationship between<br />

maternal love <strong>and</strong> the compassionate matrix of creation is mysteriously<br />

implied in the chapter of the Qur’ān named after the Blessed<br />

Virgin, the Sūrat Maryam (chapter 19). For in this chapter we notice<br />

that the name al-Rahmān is mentioned repeatedly as a virtual synonym<br />

for God: the Blessed Virgin seeks refuge in al-Rahmān (19:18),<br />

she consecrates her fast to al-Rahmān (19:26), Satan is described<br />

as the enemy of al-Rahmān (19:44), when the verses revealed by<br />

al-Rahmān are recited, the Prophets fall down prostrate (19:58), <strong>and</strong><br />

so on. The name al-Rahmān is repeated no less than 16 times—<br />

more times than in any other chapter of the Qur’ān. Since this name<br />

occurs altogether 57 times in the sūras of the Qur’ān (apart from its<br />

occurrence at the head of every chapter but one), this means that the<br />

Sūrat Maryam contains more than one quarter of all the instances in<br />

which the name al-Rahmān comes in the Qur’ān. 42<br />

These considerations help to substantiate the point made above:<br />

that in the <strong>Islam</strong>ic worldview, God’s Rahma is not just mercy; rather<br />

it is the infinite love <strong>and</strong> overflowing beatitude of ultimate reality, one<br />

of whose manifestations is mercy. In this light, one can better appreciate<br />

such perspectives as the following, within Jodo Shin <strong>Buddhism</strong>:<br />

The inner truth is: ‘From the Eternal Love do all beings<br />

have their birth’. 43<br />

42. The name al-Rahīm occurs 95 times, apart from its occurrence in the basmala.<br />

The root, r-h-m <strong>and</strong> its derivatives occurs 375 times, not including the 114 instances<br />

of the basmala.<br />

43. Kenryo Kanamatsu, Naturalness—A Classic of Shin <strong>Buddhism</strong>, op. cit.,<br />

p. 113.<br />

105

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