Two Gurus One Message

Book excerpt: Buddhism and Sikhism, founded by the Lord Buddha and Guru Nanak respectively are both religions of India with a two thousand-year gap between the two faiths. Tarungpa Tulku in his 1966 article Guru Nanak in Tibet—A Buddhist view point wrote that Tibetan Buddhists have a special connection with Sikhism due to the belief that Guru Nanak was a manifestation of Guru Padmasambhava. It is with this curiousity that the idea for this book was conceived, leading to the discovery of an astonishing number of similarities between the two spiritual traditions. This comparative study, the first major attempt of its kind, scoured the entire Sikh Scripture Shri Guru Granth Sahib and found numerous parallels with the Buddhist Canon, especially Pali; ranging from the life stories of the founding fathers of the two faiths, their social agenda and core tenets to articles of faith, including religious symbolism. It is hoped that this research can in some way, help to blur the divisions between religious labels and bring out pure spirituality—devoid of fixation on religious externalities which leads to much dissent, especially in this degenerate ere. While acknowledging the rich diversity and uniqueness of each spiritual tradition, this book eventually comes to the conclusion that spirituality transcends religious labels. We have come to appreciate that although the externalities of religion may differ vastly—spiritual insights remain universal!