The Universal Golden Rule: Your Thoughts?
Bahá'í:
"Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not." "Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself." Baha'u'llah
"And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself." Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
Brahmanism:
"This is the sum of Dharma [duty]: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you". Mahabharata, 5:1517
Buddhism:
"...a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?" Samyutta Nikaya v. 353
"Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18
Christianity:
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12
Confucianism:
"Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you." Analects 15:23
"Tse-kung asked, 'Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?' Confucius replied, 'It is the word 'shu' -- reciprocity. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.'" Doctrine of the Mean 13.3
"Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence." Mencius VII.A.4
Ancient Egyptian:
"Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do." The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, 109 - 110.
Hinduism:
This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you. Mahabharata 5:1517
Islam:
"None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." Number 13 of Imam "Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths." 5
Jainism:
"Therefore, neither does he [a sage] cause violence to others nor does he make others do so." Acarangasutra 5.101-2.
"In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self." Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara
"A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated." Sutrakritanga 1.11.33
Judaism:
"...thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Leviticus 19:18
"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary." Talmud, Shabbat 31a.
Native American Spirituality:
"Respect for all life is the foundation." The Great Law of Peace.
"Do not wrong or hate your neighbor. For it is not he who you wrong, but yourself." Pima proverb.
Roman Pagan Religion:
"The law imprinted on the hearts of all men is to love the members of society as themselves."
Shinto.
Sikhism:
Compassion-mercy and religion are the support of the entire world". Japji Sahib
"Don't create enmity with anyone as God is within everyone." Guru Arjan Devji 259
"No one is my enemy, none a stranger and everyone is my friend." Guru Arjan Dev : AG 1299
Sufism:
"The basis of Sufism is consideration of the hearts and feelings of others. If you haven't the will to gladden someone's heart, then at least beware lest you hurt someone's heart, for on our path, no sin exists but this." Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Master of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order.
Taoism:
"Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss." T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien.
"The sage has no interest of his own, but takes the interests of the people as his own. He is kind to the kind; he is also kind to the unkind: for Virtue is kind. He is faithful to the faithful; he is also faithful to the unfaithful: for Virtue is faithful." Tao Teh Ching, Chapter 49
Zoroastrianism:
"That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself". Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5
"Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others." Shayast-na-Shayast 13:29
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
I've been a spiritual wanderer for much of my life. There's a problem with taking a few isolated words from any form of spiritual expression and attempting to compare them to each other without their larger framework. The words alone lose any meaning they might have carried. Or come to mean anything the reader might desire them to mean.
Obviously no one person could ever claim to have explored or followed all the myriad paths listed above. But I have at one point or another either followed or explored with an idea that I might follow a not too small subset. It's from that which I'll speak.
First, I've heard others try to reduce all those paths to some binary distinction between them and Christianity. In other words, Christianity holds this and all others offer this perspective. Now, I'm beginning (just beginning) to see that there is indeed something within Christianity that is unlike the other paths when taken in its whole. But there is no singular difference. And the various paths are often as different from each other as they are from Christianity.
For instance, there is a common theme in a number of ancient 'pagan' (not really the best word, but one which everyone understands) religions that is best captured in your Roman quote above. 'Love' (and that word is too complicated to unpack) those of your own tribe/nation/society. Sacrifice for them. They will sacrifice for you (or yours) in turn. So love is something you freely offer to those like you. Left out are those who are 'the other'.
Many of the Eastern forms of spirituality are speaking from within a framework of one sort of monism or another, typically couple with some form of what is usually labeled panentheism. That's too large a topic for a comment, but the statements must be read and understood from within that framework. The problem I've seen when many from a Western perspective read them is that they read them through a distinctly Western lens and thus misunderstand.
What Christianity does is something of an amazing juggling act the pattern of which I'm only beginning to discern. First, it affirms the positive form rather than the more common negative form of this 'Rule'. It does so in a way that breaks down all us/them divisions. The Christian is to sacrifice out of love for all other human beings. Why? Because they -- like yourself -- are created in and bear the image or eikon of God. However, it is not an impersonal God. It is a God who is deeply personal and has eternally existed in communion. We do not seek to return to some sort of union with this God that is separate from our individual identity. Rather, this God becomes intimately involved with his creation, becoming part of it, in order that we might all exist in communion with him and with each other, retaining all that we are as true persons.
And it is out of that whirlwind that God love us and thus we love the other. The versions of the 'Golden Rule' in other paths tend to lack one or the other of the things that Christianity affirms in its great juggling act. Some juggle many of the balls. Some only one or two. But I've not found one that would say all that Christianity would say behind the command to do to others what you would have them do to you.
Scot,
I just want to take a moment to thank you for perhaps the most gracious, generous and intelligent comment ever posted on this site.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Literally.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
Thanks. I appreciate it. Though I see that even when I try to edit and keep my thoughts brief, I'm still pretty wordy. Ah well. It's who I am, I guess. I always have all the things I'm not saying at the moment running around my head.