Peace and Harmony

Distinguished chairman, ladies and gentlemen：
It is a great pleasure for me to be invited to attend the Interfaith Summit for Peace and Harmony in Australia and Asia-Pacific Region, and share wisdom and experience with all of you.
One Humanity, Many Faiths, the theme of this summit, is of great significance. Multi-faith is related to the diversity of civilization, which is the basic feature of human beings’ society, and also the key momentum for the advancement of human beings’ civilization. Diversity means difference, which implies that all civilizations should learn from each other. All civilizations, no matter long or short in term of history, can not be divided into the good and the bad, and thus should not be regarded as the reason of conflict.
Peace and development are two major themes of today’s world。With frequent regional conflicts, the world is not tranquil. Many hot issues are related to religions. Sometimes, religions are utilized unfortunately as the tool to stir up violence and hatred resulting in clashes among different cultures and sects, which is just contrary to the holy faiths we deeply hold. Under such circumstances, all religions should strengthen dialogue, seek common ground and harmony, confront violence through multi-faith cooperation to push forward building harmonious world. Multi-faith, bringing mutual respect and understanding, could prevent trouble before it happens. I was ever told an old Chinese tale, which said, over a thousand years ago, in Han Dynasty, a rich man built a new house. However, the cooking range was not designed properly. The stove was too close to the firewood, and the chimney was straight. In this way, it was easy for sparks from chimney to light the firewood. An experienced friend warned him of this danger, and suggested him doing some betterment. That was to bend the chimney in proper angle and move the firewood far from the stove. The rich man did not regard this suggestion as right. Soon later, his house...