ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a possible answer to questions pertaining to minorities in terms of what can be identified as the original message of the Buddha. It suggests the present inquiry will be confined mainly to an analysis of the textual material which serves as the primary source of information about the tenets of the original Buddhist doctrine. The theory that human beings cannot be distinguished and separated into a hierarchy of species differing in aptitudes is consistently held in the social philosophy of Buddhism. Buddhism emphasises the unity of mankind as a single species, and supports this view with biological arguments. In the Buddha's teaching there is direct guidance for a Buddhist life in a multi-religious social context. The Buddha himself has set guidelines on the issue of attitudes toward other religious groups. Buddhism advocates free inquiry unhindered by prejudice and emotional involvement in dogmatic views.
