The urgent development of understanding, friendship and respect among world religions through interfaith activities is important if religious movements are to contribute towards creating a new state of peace and prosperity on our highly endangered planet. International conferences and formal religious gatherings are certainly positive moves in this direction, but they alone are not enough to achieve the real goals. Developing closer relationships and understanding through the exchange of experiences at the community level are thus extremely important and necessary.

I am happy that Tibetan religious communities in exile have been able to establish various inter-monastic programs with Christian communities in America, Europe and Australia. These programs, including several rounds of monastic exchanges, are unprecedented and have been highly valuable to both religious traditions.

If we consider the basic principles of Buddhism and Christianity and their monastic precepts, they have a great deal in common. The three fundamental rules of the Buddhist monastic orders are: the study of scriptures, contemplative meditation and selfless service in the community at large. These rules, known in the Buddhist scriptures as the three wheels of spiritual activity, closely correspond to the Christian monastic rules of study, prayer and work. Similarly, embracing the conditions of solitude, simplicity and tranquility, while laying special emphasis on the maintenance of complete harmony and observance of basic rules within the community, are common to both the Buddhist and Christian monastic orders.

Our recent experiences, through Christian-Buddhist monastic dialogue, have revealed that there is a strong basis for a genuine give and take relationship between the two monastic traditions. For instance, members of Tibetan monasteries feel that they have much to learn from Christian monasticism in terms of community management, educational and economic systems, as well as charitable and social service activities. At the same time our Christian brothers and sisters have been deeply impressed by the Tibetan religious traditions of systematic and penetrating study and training, the richness of philosophy and epistemology and the unique tradition of uniting faith with discriminative investigation.

I believe that Buddhist-Christian inter-monastic dialogue can serve as an ideal model for relationships between various traditions and so make a valuable contribution to the universal cause of peace and happiness for all living beings.