ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses core Buddhist teachings that ameliorate existential suffering and narcissism and examines how two of the greatest Buddhist teachers of our time, Thich Nhat Hanh and the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, provide inspiring visions for cultivating peaceful co-existence of religions and nations and an ethics of compassion grounded in the Buddha’s teaching about the interdependent nature of reality. Exemplary Western scholar-practitioner Rita Gross’s pragmatic insights regarding how to overcome fear of those who are different from us so that we may flourish in a world of religious diversity are also elucidated. The author shares his understanding of Hinduism and Buddhism as sister religions and how the latter complements and enriches the practice of the former.
