"Do to others what you want them to do to you and do not do to others what you would not want done to you"

The Golden Rule is an ethical principle of human behavior that, in various formulas exists in the sacred books of the main religions and in very many cultures. If it is lived out it generates reciprocity and therefore peace.

There is a universal law, found in various sacred books of world religions, which is unique because of its presence in all cultures: "Do to others what you want them to do to you and do not do to others what you would not want done to you"

It is so precious that it is called the "Golden Rule"!

It can be found, in different forms, expressed in the sacred books of the main religions and in the sapiential literature of many cultures.


JUDAISM: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah" (Shabbath folio:31a, Babylonian Talmud)

CHRISTIANITY: "Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets" (Gospel of Matthew 7:12)

ISLAM: "None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself" (prophet Muhammed, An-Nawawi's Forty Hadith 13 (p. 56)

BUDDHISM: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful' (The Buddha, Uadanavarga 5, 18)

HINDUISM:"One should never do to another that which one regards as injurious to one’s own self. This, in brief, is the rule of dharma. Other behavior is due to selfish desires.' (Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva, Section CXIII, Verse 8)

CONFUCIANISM: "Do not do to others what you would not like done to yourself" (Confucio, Analects 15.23)

JAINISM: "Just as sorrow or pain is not desirable to you, so it is to all which breathe, exist, live or have any essence of life' (Lord Mahavira, 24° Tirthankara)

SIKHISM: "Whom should I despise, since the one Lord made us all' (Guru Granth Sahib)

TAOISM: "Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss' (Lao Tzu T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien 213-218)

BAHÁ´Í FAITH: "Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself' (Bahá' u' lláh, Tablets of Bahá' u' lláh, Bahá'í World Centre, Haifa 1978)

ZOROASTRIANISM: "Do not do to others what is harmful to yourself' (Shayast-na-Shayast 13.29)

AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION: "What you give (or do) to others, this will be given you or done to you' (Rwandan proverb)