Brújula de unión
How should I treat the stranger?
The stranger tests our ethics at the boundary. It is easy to love those like us. But what of the foreigner, the refugee, the one who does not share our language or customs? Here most of the traditions converge — though the reasons they give differ sharply.
Doce tradiciones responden
Buddhism
There are no strangers to one who has cultivated universal loving-kindness. Metta radiates in all directions without distinction.
mettā
Hinduism
The guest is god (atithi devo bhava). One who sees the same Self in all beings cannot treat any as truly "other."
atithi devo bhava·ātman
"He who sees all beings in the Self and the Self in all beings, he never turns away from It." — Isha Upanishad 6
Jainism
Every soul (jiva) is on its own path to liberation. Non-violence (ahimsa) and non-possessiveness extend to all without exception.
jīva·ahiṃsā
"The Arhats and Bhagavats of the past, present, and future, all say thus… all breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away." — Akaranga Sutra I.4.1
Judaism
Love the stranger, for you were strangers in Egypt. This command appears more often than any other in Torah — 36 times by rabbinic count.
gēr·ahavat ha-ger
"Love ye therefore the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." — Deuteronomy 10:19
Christianity
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the "neighbor" who fulfills the law is the despised outsider who stops to help. Christ identifies with the stranger: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me."
"I was a stranger and you welcomed me." — Matthew 25:35
Islam
God created humanity from a single soul and made you into nations and tribes that you may know one another. The believers are brothers — and hospitality to travelers is obligatory.
ḍayf·ummah
"O men! verily, we have created you of a male and a female; and we have divided you into peoples and tribes that ye might have knowledge one of another. Truly, the most worthy of honour in the sight of God is he who feareth Him most." — Quran 49:13
Sikhism
At the langar, all sit together regardless of caste, creed, or origin. The Guru taught that there is no Hindu, no Muslim — only the One Creator and the family of humanity.
langar·sangat
"Recognize the human race as one." — Guru Granth Sahib
Zoroastrianism
The righteous home welcomes the guest. Hospitality is an Asha-aligned duty in the cosmic struggle for good.
Asha
"And may we be such as those who bring on this great renovation, and make this world progressive…" — Yasna 30:9
Baha'i
The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. To see strangers is to fail to see. All are members of one human family.
"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." — Gleanings
Confucianism
Within the four seas, all are brothers. Ren (humaneness) extends beyond immediate family to all under Heaven.
rén·sìhǎi
"Within the four seas, all men are brothers." — Analects 12:5
Taoism
The sage is good to the good and also good to the not-good. Heaven covers all impartially.
tiān
"The sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind of the people his mind. To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good." — Tao Te Ching 49
Shinto
Hospitality honors the kami. The visitor may carry divine presence. Ritual purity and sincere welcome are one.
kami·makoto
Donde las tradiciones convergen
The stranger has a claim on our hospitality
This is one of the cleanest convergences on the Map. Every tradition commands welcome to the outsider. The claim "treat the stranger with dignity and hospitality" is cross-validated at near-universal strength.