Finding Out the Knitting of Diversity at Vihara

By Erik Poae

Indonesia, is an archipelago country with its richness in cultures, ethnicity, race, religion, abundant natural resources, biological resources, and the gift of having Unity in Diversity. Being a big and rich country certainly cannot be separated from various problems, one of which is intolerance where religion is manipulated to gain power. I still remember well the riots in 1999/2000  in which religion was abused to reach power and people had to bear the sufferings, such as forcely leaving school, losing playing time, even our rights as children were taken away.

The real problem is just simple but it killed thousands of innocent people because of religion conlict, where one claimed truer than others, and the other did not accept to be treated unjust by others. Intolerance is not simple, but it must be our focus to continue in knitting love among people and religious communities, hand in hands promoting human values of each religion as well as local beliefs in this nation.

Started from the bitter past, I wanted to be able to learn and clarify my prejudices toward other believers so that I would distinguish my prejudice about others and vice versa. The opportunity came from Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta training on Multiculture and Inter-religion Dialogue on March 6-8, 2020 at Wisma Pojok Indah with a theme ‘Together, Compiling Indonesia’. This training revealed obstacles in relating believers and provided space to know and understand each other. I had opportunity to discuss with friends from various regions, religions and ethnics, even I was able to visit Karangdjati Monastery, the first time I entered a Buddhist place of worship.

I was so impressed with their hospitality to welcome us and how Totok Tejamano, S.Ag, as the head of the monastery, explained about Buddhist values and how the monastery was open to public regardless of religious, social, ethnic or occupancy backgrounds to come for meditation. Meditation itself has goal to help people manage emotions, to get rid of negative energy and to bring happiness in lives. If we can be happy then we can think better to be able to build tolerance between religious communities and how harmony is created. It is interesting for me when Vihara is open to anyone without prejudice and I imagine the same situation for each religion so that peace can be realized in Indonesia.

Thank you Stube-HEMAT Yogyakarta for giving me the opportunity to visit Karangdjati monastery, meet new friends from Aceh to Papua, and I clarify my own prejudice, now I believe that all religions are good. If I find someone doing something that is not good, it does not mean that his religion is not good, but it depend on the person who has not been able to comprehend the religious  teachings and apply in his/her daily life. (EP)