Located in the Yonghe District of New Taipei City, the Museum of World Religions (MWR) recently welcomed two meaningful interfaith exchanges, serving as a bridge of understanding that quietly connects people and faiths. One was a Central American delegation from Guatemala's Advanced Education Commanding Unit—the "National Development Course" and the other was a group visit with Catholic clergy from Taipei and Tainan churches. The two visits did not overlap and differed widely in background and vocation. Yet both groups discovered the common language of human faith at the MWR—Love & Peace.

Religion knows no boundaries, and culture affords compassion. Guatemala's first lady, Excma. Sra. Dra. Lucrecia Peinado visited the MWR this past June, and the country's 47-member delegation was accompanied by 5 instructors of Taiwan's National Defense University for a visit to the MWR on November 12. The visitors admired how the MWR employs modern communications to interpret the religious spirit and reiterated that 'there is peace in the MWR from faiths respecting and mutually accepting one another'. Delegation members were impressed with the MWR's founding philosophy: 'Respect for all Faiths, Tolerance for all Cultures, and Love for all Lives'. On that note, the Central American visitors qualified their visit as 'an education of the mind that transcends national borderlines'.

Fr. Lu Tien-en, parish priest of the Jingliao Holy Cross Church in Tainan, co-curated the special exhibition 'The Jingliao Holy Cross Church' with the MWR. Together with many fellow priests and missionaries, Father Lu and the Catholic delegation visited the MWR on November 9 to tour the exhibition series of Artsy Window "Appa dipo bhava" for an in-depth dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism.

The power of religion lies not only in the depth of faith, but also in the breadth of understanding. MWR's section chief of collection research, Chen Yu-Wei, escorted the Catholic delegation along the 'The Path of Awakening' portion of the special exhibition, before entering the 'World of Mandala' from the Pilgrimage Trail, to reach the 'The Vanished Secret Chamber' that symbolizes retreat in silence for enlightenment.

The Catholic group paid close attention to the guided tour and stopped multiple times to appreciate exhibition details. Deeply intrigued by the Buddhist idea of equality as manifested by the notion that 'sentient beings all are hopeful of attaining Buddhahood', while pursuing answers to questions such as karma, reincarnation, and the cosmic concept. Through analogy and reflection, the visitors came to realize, then appreciate, faith's commonality in compassion and wisdom, as well as the resonance between Catholicism and Buddhism in the pursuit of spirituality, which further cements the value of MWR as a cultural platform for interfaith dialogue.

MWR founder, Grand Master Hsin Tao, firmly believes that 'Love is our shared truth, Peace is our eternal hope.' These cross-national and cross-denominational exchanges and visits precisely highlight the vision that the MWR has relentlessly pursued since its inception.

Ma Yu-Chuan, director of the Museum of World Religions, commented that the two recent visits, spanning from Central America to northern and southern Taiwan, echo each other in the space and time of the MWR. Different languages, cultures, and faiths converged in understanding and respect, reflecting a blueprint for 'interfaith common good.' Besides displaying religious culture, the MWR facilitates spiritual dialogues to render possible that 'peaceful co-existence' grows from an idea into a daily reality. As Grand Master Hsin Tao often says, 'The world is beautiful for all the diversities there are, and harmonious through mutual understanding.'