“We are threads in a vast tapestry of life.” – Zebada January, indigenous Khoe, South Africa (pictured above with Rinpoche)

ON AUGUST 28, several hundred people gathered beneath the vaulted ceiling of St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town for Boundless Compassion — a remarkable interfaith event and the first opportunity for the South African public to meet Mingyur Rinpoche.

The choice of venue added profound resonance to the evening. The cathedral is a sacred place of refuge, deeply linked with South Africa’s freedom struggle. Known as the “people’s cathedral,” St George’s was the seat of Archbishop Tutu and a center of resistance during apartheid. It sheltered activists, hosted vigils, prayer meetings, and peaceful demonstrations advocating for freedom, equality, and human rights.

For the Boundless Compassion gathering, co-created by the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative (CTII), Tergar South Africa, and Tergar International, the cathedral once again served as a meeting ground. Attendees came to hear Mingyur Rinpoche as well as leaders from diverse traditions — including isiZulu, isiXhosa, indigenous Khoe, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu — share wisdom from their respective lineages.

“It’s particularly poignant to be honoring the importance of compassion at a time of such unimaginable horror in the world,” said Janet Jobson from the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.

“Archbishop Desmond Tutu often reminded us that compassion is not just a sentiment to be admired at a distance. It is a force to be lived. He would say, ‘My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together.’ This is the essence of Ubuntu — that our flourishing is inseparable, that to turn away from another’s suffering is to diminish ourselves, and that to respond with compassion is to affirm life itself.”

A Legacy of Compassion

The evening unfolded as a weaving of traditions and practices. Traditional healer Dr. Christie van Zyl and her mentor led Zulu prayers. Indigenous Khoe leader Zebada January offered a Welcome to Land, and reminded those in attendance: “A person is a person through others.”

“In the spirit of Ubuntu and the wisdom found across spiritual traditions — from the Buddhist principle of interbeing to the indigenous understanding of kinship to the sacred teachings of unity and compassion — we recognize that we are not separate from this land, nor from one another,” Zebada said.

“Rinpoche was impressed when the concept of Ubuntu — I am, because you are — came across,” Nic Paton, one of the CTII organizers, said. “We observed how deeply it resonated with him.”

Nic was also the director of the newly created interfaith choir that performed numerous songs at the gathering. “I’ve convened choirs before, but this was really special,” Paton reflected. “The energy was remarkable.”

Genuine Dialogue

For Alex Kunkhyen, a director of Tergar South Africa and the event’s host, the true success lay in the quality of interaction. “We were thrilled to have around 500 attendees, which showed incredible community engagement,” he said. “But what pleased me most was witnessing authentic interactions between participants and Rinpoche, and seeing people from different traditions share their own expressions and flavors of boundless compassion. What we had hoped for was exactly what unfolded — genuine dialogue where participants could relate their own versions of compassion from within their traditions.”

“It wasn’t about promoting any single tradition,” Alex said, “but about embodying the universal principles of love and compassion that all our traditions share.”

Alex hopes the event’s spirit will ripple outward. “When people experience genuine connection across religious traditions—as they did with Rinpoche and with each other—it breaks down barriers and builds empathy. My hope is that participants will take this experience back to their own communities and continue fostering dialogue, compassion, and mutual understanding.”

A Legacy of Interfaith

The Cape Town Interfaith Initiative has been cultivating interfaith events since its establishment in 2000, following the Parliament of the World’s Religions held in Cape Town the previous year. That gathering of thousands drew inspiration from theologian Hans Küng, who is known for this statement: “No peace in the world without peace between religions. No peace between religions without dialogue between religions. No dialogue between religions without examining the foundations of the religions.”

CTII continues that vision in a grassroots way. “We’re lay people and activists. We do connect with religious leaders, yes, but we’re primarily focused on the ground, on bringing people together,” Nic said.

For Nic, the interfaith path is both personal and national. “Interfaith is a space for adventurous people — people who want to follow the intuition that we are connected,” he said. 

“Bishop Tutu used to talk about a deep, deep longing. There’s a longing for people to belong in a more authentic way and to realize compassion, which is at the heart of all faiths, but very often not realized,” he said. “I think in South Africa, with our history, we have a particular view on people who are different from us. We’ve got a view that we should learn to serve them.” 

“With an apartheid upbringing, you were very aware of being artificially kept separate from others. That creates a deep desire to connect across religious, racial, and cultural lines.”

September 2025