The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives has published a new book Two Gurus One Message – The Buddha and Guru Nanak: Legacy of Liberation, Egalitarianism and Social Justice by Savinder Kaur Gill and Sonam Wangmo.
This is the first-ever attempt to bring out the similarities between the two distinct world religions – Buddhism and Sikhism – both of which originated in India.
The book published in e-format recently is a timely comparison of the teachings of Buddha and the Sikh Gurus that matches expert rigour accessible style.
This easy-to-read book celebrates the parallels between two of the world’s most widespread and influential faiths – Buddhism and Sikhism.
The book was released electronically on November 12, 2019 to mark the global celebrations of the 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism’s founder, Guru Nanak.
Guru Nanak was born on November 12, 1469.
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“I am confident that this work will help to promote mutual appreciation and friendship between followers of these two great masters,” said the 14th Dalai Lama world as a champion of interfaith dialogue.
“The strikingly similar teachings of both masters could be due to Guru Nanak being born two thousand years after the Buddha and having access to the Buddha’s teachings because Guru Nanak travelled extensively on four long-term journeys (udasi) reaching Tibet, Sikkim, Ladakh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where he came into contact with Buddhism,” say authors Savinder Kaur Gill and Sonam Wangmo.
The book is available with Amazon and it can be purchased at Rs. 449.
This book explains sacred verses of the Shri Guru Granth Sahib (Sikhism’s central holy scripture) in great philosophical depth, backed by strong Buddhist philosophical understanding based on the Nalanda tradition.
The study draws out surprising similarities, powerfully dispelling the conceptual thoughts that dwarf everyday complications.
There are 27 million Sikhs around the world, out of whom 83% live in India, whereas there are 488 million Buddhists around the world representing 7% of the world’s population.