Appendix 6
The
Golden Rule
"The
teaching that we should treat others
as we ourselves would wish to be treated,
an ethic variously repeated in all the great religions, ..."
Buddhism:
"Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would
find hurtful."
Udana-Varqa,
5:18
Zoroastrianism:
"That nature is good only when it shall not do unto
another whatever is not good for its own self."
Dadistan-i
Dinik, 94:5
Judaism:
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow
men. That is the entire Law; the rest is commentary."
The
Talmud, Shabbat, 31a
Hinduism:
"This is the sum of all true righteousness: deal
with others as thou wouldst thyself be dealt by. Do nothing to thy
neighbour which thou wouldst not have him do to thee after."
The
Mahabharata
Christianity:
"As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also
to them likewise."
Luke
6:31
"All things whatsoever ye would that men should do
to you, do ye even so to them: For this is the law and the prophets."
Matthew
7:12
Islam:
"No one of you is a believer until he desires for
his brother that which he desires for himself."
Sunnah
Taoism:
The good man "ought to pity the malignant tendencies
of others; to rejoice over their excellence; to help them in their
straits; to regard their gains as if they were his own, and their
losses in the same way."
The
Thai-Shang, 3
Confucianism:
"Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not
unto others that you would not have them do unto you".
Analects,
XV, 23
Bahá'í:
It is Our wish and desire that every one of you may
become a source of all goodness unto men, and an example of uprightness
to mankind. Beware lest ye prefer yourselves above your
neighbors.
Bahá'u'lláh: Gleanings, 315
Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before
himself.
Bahá'u'lláh: Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh,
71
And among the teachings of Baha'u'llah is voluntary
sharing of one's property with others among mankind. This voluntary
sharing is greater than equality, and consists in this, that man should
not prefer himself to others, but rather should sacrifice his life and
property for others.
`Abdu'l-Bahá: Selections from the Writings of
`Abdu'l-Bahá, 302
Excerpted from "To the Peoples of the World",
a statement by the Universal House of Justice,
The Association for Bahá'í Studies, Ottawa, 1986, page 53
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