Principle: Every Tradition Is Welcome

What this means in practice

People from any tradition, and people from none, find a place here. Each tradition is met on its own terms. When you read the library, you read texts from Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Confucianism, Jainism, Sikhism, Stoicism, and more. They stand side by side, on equal ground.

In practice, this means you bring your own tradition or your own questioning, and you find yours alongside others. You belong as you are, and your path is your own to walk. You read a passage from the Tao Te Ching and a passage from the Psalms and a passage from the Dhammapada, and each one speaks in its own voice.

It also means you speak from your own tradition and leave another person's tradition to speak for itself. When you disagree with what a text says, you say so plainly. When a tradition presents itself in terms that are foreign to you, you let it speak and move on.

A passage

To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good; and thus (all) get to be good.

Source: The Tao Te Ching, ch. 49, James Legge (Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 39), 1891

A question to sit with

When I meet a tradition new to me, what am I listening for?

A practice to try

Pick one text from a tradition new to you. Read it on its own terms, setting your own aside for now. Let it speak. Notice what you find when you are simply listening.