Bristol Catholics Offer Buddhists Message Calling for Greater Understanding

May 10, 2006

Source: BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2006/05/10/vatican_message_feature.shtml

On May 10, 2006 BBC News reported, "A message from the Vatican calling for greater understanding between faiths has been presented to Bristol Buddhists. The message, written by English archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, was given to the Lam Rim community on the Buddhist feast of Vesakh. Vesakh (also known as Wesak and Visakha) is the most important of the Buddhist festivals and is celebrated on the full moon in May. It marks the Buddha's birthday, and, for some Buddhists, also marks his birth and death. Father Robert King, the Clifton Diocese interfaith officer, and Marie Hackett, Catholic representative and chair of the Bristol Interfaith Group, met with Branwen Griffiths of the Lam Rim Buddhist community and Venerable Geshe Lobsang Thinley, a Tibetan Buddhist monk... Receiving the message, Branwen Griffiths said: 'Loving kindness and compassion are central to the Buddha's teachings, so it's interesting to compare what they mean to us as Buddhists with the significance of love in other faith traditions.'"