Common Ground - Islam and Buddhism

Introduction to Common Ground By H. R. H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
pious Buddhists neighbours for hundreds of years, despite what
their scholars will tell them about doctrinal difference between the
two faiths.
On a more personal note, may I say that I had read Zen Buddhist
texts as a younger man when studying in the West (such as
some of the writings of D.T. Suzuki and such as Eugen Herrigel’s
seminal Zen in the Art of Archery). I had greatly appreciated them,
without for all that being fully able to situate Buddhism in the context
of my own faith, Islam. More recently, I had noticed in myself
an effect when meeting with H. H. the Dalai Lama. It was simply
this: I performed the five daily prayers with greater concentration,
and during the rest of the day I was better able to monitor my
own thoughts, and censor and control my own impulses more easily.
I did not have any particular urge to go out and learn more
about Buddhism, as one might expect, but I nevertheless realised
that there was something positive taking place. I asked my friend
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson (who I knew had read a lot about
Buddhism) why he thought this happened, and he wisely answered
that this was because: ‘Buddhists are heirs to a very powerful spiritual
training’. Thus I am personally very gratified to learn of the
underlying Common Ground between Islam and Buddhism in an
explicit manner. Indeed, as a Muslim I am relieved and delighted
— if I may say so — to know that one eighth of the world who is
not Muslim practises Buddhism and makes the practice of compassion
and mercy the centre of their lives (in theory at least). And
I hope that this book will lead to Muslims and Buddhists vying in
the compassion and mercy which is at the core of both their religions.
God says in the Holy Qur’ān:
And unto thee have We revealed the Scripture with the
truth, confirming whatever Scripture was before it, and a
watcher over it. So judge between them by that which God
hath revealed, and follow not their desires away from the
truth which hath come unto thee. For each We have appointed
a law and a way. Had God willed He could have
made you one community. But that He may try you by that
which He hath given you (He hath made you as ye are).
So vie one with another in good works. Unto God ye will
all return, and He will then inform you of that wherein ye
differ. (The Holy Qur’ān, Al-Ma’idah, 5:48)
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