The Buddhist Universal Association (BUA) is a worldwide organization of progressive Buddhists from different backgrounds and ideologies. We are proudly pluralistic, and recognize that every person has the potential for Buddhahood within her or his current lifetime. We place particular emphasis on expanding human rights, and especially the rights of children and adolescents, with the hope that young people may be able to enjoy freedom and happiness.

Since Buddhism is dedicated to the liberation of the human spirit, BUA stands strongly opposed to discrimination and injustice. We welcome, value, and appreciate people of all ages, sexes, gender identities (including a person’s choice of gender presentation), sexual orientations, abilities, races and ethnicities. We don’t just tolerate diversity, we celebrate it.

BUA is firmly committed to promoting the human rights of all people to be proud of who and what they are, and to allowing stigmatized minorities to live in peace and dignity without interference in their personal lives by governments or other forces. In BUA we don’t waste people; we believe that every person has their gift, and every person has their valuable contribution to make. We want every single individual to have an equal opportunity to realize their full potential as a member of society and as a precious child of the Buddha.

BUA encourages people to be free-thinkers, to make up their own mind, to draw insights from all branches of Buddhist thought, and to avoid sectarian feuding. Because we feel that Buddhism is the best hope for the future of humanity, we wish to assist Buddhists from different sects in spreading Buddhist influence throughout our local communities and around the world. Our aim is to build societies that are full of persons whose lives are characterized by peace, love, joy, self-acceptance, fulfillment, and compassion for all other beings. Individual lives are not the means to a goal, but are the goal itself.

If you agree with these principles and would like to join the Buddhist Universal Association, send an email to buddhistuniversal@gmail.com
with your name, address, telephone, email, and a statement of your areas of expertise and how you might like to contribute to the BUA campaign.

LIVE IN THE MOMENT

Make the most of every single day, indeed of every single moment.

Take control of your life, and build a life where each day is focused on happiness and fulfillment. Life is not worth living if you cannot feel alive. There is nothing more tragic than holding back, hesitating, being afraid to do with your life what you really want to do, and then later realizing it is too late and that life has already passed you by.

ACCEPT YOURSELF

Life is not a dress rehearsal. You owe it to yourself and to those you care about to live your life for yourself first and foremost. Otherwise, you will not be much good to anyone else.

The need to come to terms with one’s self overrides any other agendas. One has to decide, to be or not to be, to live or to die. If you choose life, then you can go on with the process of self-discovery. Become a self-explorer. In many ways, self-explorers are not unlike the explorers of centuries ago. Set your sails on uncharted seas, in search of the promise of a new world.

 

QUESTION AUTHORITY

Do not simply accept everything that you are told, but challenge everything in order to make a decision for yourself.  Use your own thinking and experiment to see if it is right for you.

SHOW RESPECT AND COMPASSION FOR OTHERS

Every person has the potential for Buddhahood within them. Even the most uneducated, low-class, downtrodden, and impoverished person has the ability to reach deep within her or his soul and draw out that potential.

When you meet a person, try to seek out and discover that part of them, so that you can benefit from their gift.

 

DEVOTE YOURSELF TO HELPING OTHERS

What is the point of a beating heart if you never actually use it to help another? Life all comes down to a choice: do you want to make a difference in the world, or do you want to just invisibly float along with the general status quo. A fulfilled life means to choose the former and not the latter.

 

COMMIT YOURSELF TO EXPANDING HUMAN RIGHTS

The following quotes are taken from the book "Faith Into Action," by Daisaku Ikeda. Dr. Ikeda is the president of the Soka Gakkai International, a Buddhist lay organization.

"Everyone has a right to flower, to reveal his or her full potential as a human being, to fulfill his or her mission in this world. You have this right, and so does everyone else. To scorn and violate people’s human rights destroys the natural order of things. We must become people who prize human rights and respect others, above all."

"Buddhism thoroughly protects the sanctity of life and the freedom of the human spirit, and this constitutes our mission…. We must be prepared to protect people whose rights are in danger, or who are threatened by tyranny or oppression."

"Human rights are fundamental and must take priority over all else; without human rights, neither peace nor human happiness is possible…. Their violation cannot be permitted, whether by states or by any other force."

"Our schools must teach human rights, our religions must preach human rights, our governments must respect human rights….

Unless we can build a society that regards human beings not as a means to a goal but as the goal itself, we will remain forever a society of discrimination, unhappiness, and inequality."

"Youth must have the spirit to attack injustice, the spirit to refute what is wrong…. [To be] afraid of ‘making waves,’ are the actions of self-serving youth who are already spiritually old and decrepit."

"We must stand up for our beliefs and take action. Human rights will never be won unless we speak out, unless we fight to secure them…. Do not say you will do it ‘someday;’ now is the time. Do not say ‘someone’ will do it; you are the one. Now is the time for youth to take full responsibility and courageously pave the way."

Wow. What a world we could create if every religious leader thought like Daisaku Ikeda. Imagine these words coming from the lips of a Pope, or an Ayatollah, or a fundamentalist preacher on television. Maybe we would indeed be able to create a world in which the most important thing is to bring about peace, and to maximize happiness, and to love one another.

 

LIVE A FULFILLED LIFE

"Rather than a life of blank pages, live a life crammed full of memories—of battles well fought, and wonderfully diverse experiences. Not to leave behind any history, just to grow old and die, is a sad way to live."

--Daisaku Ikeda, President of the Soka Gakkai International, a Buddhist lay organization.

Stand up for what you believe in, become an activist for peace, for human rights, and at the same time have a wonderful life with many memories and diverse experiences. Create history. Let your life be an example of what one person can do to bring about a difference, to make the world a better place. Be devoted to your dreams, and never give up. Always keep making sure that you are on the right side of history. But no matter how many accomplishments you engineer, never forget that you are standing on the shoulders of giants. Honor those who came before you, and celebrate the potential for those who will come after you. You then will become part of the great chain of being, linking your life into a purposeful line stretching from primordial times to the Buddha and from the bodhisattvas of the earth into the limitless future.