Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings

[Ahimsa]

Buddhism and Christianity would appear to have little in common. One is non-theistic for instance, the other, theistic. But the sayings of Jesus and the Buddha, whose teachings gave rise to the two religions are another matter. They have much in common in the realms of ethical behavior, discipleship, compassion, materialism and the inner life. The following are some examples.
*

Reprinted from “Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings”* edited by Marcus Borg, published by Ulysses Press

Jesus: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31
Buddha: “Consider others as yourself.” Dhammapada 10:1

 **Jesus**: "If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also." Luke 6:29

Buddha: “If anyone should give you a blow with his hand, with a stick, or with a knife, you should abandon any desires and utter no evil words.” Majjhima Nikaya 21:6

 **Jesus**: "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." Matthew 25:45

Buddha: “If you do not tend to one another, then who is there to tend you? Whoever would tend me, he should tend the sick.” Vinaya, Mahavagga 8:26.3

 

[Gerry_Hunter]

To a Catholic, it is no surprise that a non-Christian would come up with moral directives similar to those of a Christian, and no surprise that Jesus came up with, really, no new moral directives at all. Even “love your enemies” is not shockingly new when one places it in the context of his Father’s steadfast love of an Israel that constantly turned from him, and the fact that the “love” in question is “agape”, not some warm fuzzy, pop psychology concept.

After all, honesty, generosity, loyalty, and the like are always and everywhere seen as virtues, and lying, greed, betrayal and the like never have been – and cannot even be conceived of as ever being so seen. Christians have no monopoly on discovering the effects of the Natural Law.

As for the observations of folks like Marcus Borg, well, they leave Catholics pretty cold. To call his pronouncements “Christian” is, to be temperate about it, fanciful. Like many fale teachers, he takes things and twists them into shapes that are utterly incompatible with Christian thought, and happens to continue to get a lot of attention for doing so from revisionists.

Blessings,

Gerry

 

[Ahimsa]

Gerry Hunter:

As for the observations of folks like Marcus Borg, well, they leave Catholics pretty cold. To call his pronouncements “Christian” is, to be temperate about it, fanciful. Like many fale teachers, he takes things and twists them into shapes that are utterly incompatible with Christian thought, and happens to continue to get a lot of attention for doing so from revisionists.

Blessings,

Gerry

Do you think Borg is being dishonest in his writings?

 

[mercygate]

Ahimsa:

Buddhism and Christianity would appear to have little in common. One is non-theistic for instance, the other, theistic. But the sayings of Jesus and the Buddha, whose teachings gave rise to the two religions are another matter. They have much in common in the realms of ethical behavior, discipleship, compassion, materialism and the inner life. The following are some examples.

Reprinted from “Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings” edited by Marcus Borg, published by Ulysses Press

Jesus: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31
Buddha: “Consider others as yourself.” Dhammapada 10:1

Jesus: “If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.” Luke 6:29
Buddha: “If anyone should give you a blow with his hand, with a stick, or with a knife, you should abandon any desires and utter no evil words.” Majjhima Nikaya 21:6

Jesus: “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” Matthew 25:45
Buddha: “If you do not tend to one another, then who is there to tend you? Whoever would tend me, he should tend the sick.” Vinaya, Mahavagga 8:26.3

This is not surprising, and I am sure that in the writings of Confucius you would find similar things. These would come under the heading of the natural, universal law, written on the hearts of all men by virtue of their humanity. Since God made all men for himself, he surely gave us all the basic equipment to make our way to him. Paul says that when it comes to the basics of human decency, “even the barbarians” without benefit of divine revelation have no excuse for their perverted practices.

 

[buzzcut]

There is another book I saw in the public library on this subject. The title is The Original Jesus: The Buddhist Sources of Christianity and it’s by Elmar R. Gruber and Holger Kersten. I got the idea it was a sort of amateur scholarship thing, and not the kind of book that professional (i.e. academic) historians of religion would take seriously.

 

[Gerry_Hunter]

Ahimsa:

Do you think Borg is being dishonest in his writings?

Any claim on his part that he is giving insight into Christian revelation would not be accurate.

Blessings,

Gerry

 

[jimmy]

Ahimsa:

Buddhism and Christianity would appear to have little in common. One is non-theistic for instance, the other, theistic. But the sayings of Jesus and the Buddha, whose teachings gave rise to the two religions are another matter. They have much in common in the realms of ethical behavior, discipleship, compassion, materialism and the inner life. The following are some examples.

Reprinted from “Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings” edited by Marcus Borg, published by Ulysses Press

Jesus: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31
Buddha: “Consider others as yourself.” Dhammapada 10:1

Jesus: “If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.” Luke 6:29
Buddha: “If anyone should give you a blow with his hand, with a stick, or with a knife, you should abandon any desires and utter no evil words.” Majjhima Nikaya 21:6

Jesus: “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” Matthew 25:45
Buddha: “If you do not tend to one another, then who is there to tend you? Whoever would tend me, he should tend the sick.” Vinaya, Mahavagga 8:26.3

Ahimsa, have you ever read the writings of St. John of the Cross or Pseudo-Dyonysius or The Cloud of Unknowing? You might like these authors and books.

 

[Ahimsa]

jimmy:

Ahimsa, have you ever read the writings of St. John of the Cross or Pseudo-Dyonysius or The Cloud of Unknowing? You might like these authors and books.

Yes, I’m a big fan of Pseudo-Dionysius, Cloud, and de la Cruz, not to mention Meister Eckhart, Origen, Merton, and de Chardin.

 

[b_justb]

Any moral system will have no problems with Jesus’ ethics and morality. The problems come when we look at Who Jesus is and Who He says He is.

Buddha never claimed to be Divine, Jesus did. This is where the various faith systems run into irreconcilable differences.

 

[Ahimsa]

b_justb:

Buddha never claimed to be Divine, Jesus did. This is where the various faith systems run into irreconcilable differences.

Actually, within the context of Buddhist understanding of the universe, the Buddha did claim what Christians would call “Divinity”. In Christianity, Divinity is what is transcendent of time and space. (This definition might be questioned, but we can work with it for now.) Likewise, in Buddhism, there is nirvana, which is beyond time and space as well. Buddhists don’t use the word “divinity”, but the basic idea of transcendence of space and time, is a central part of Buddhism, and the Buddha claimed to fully enter nirvana, or “divinity”.

 

[Neverland]

Buddhism is beautiful. One of my best friends is a Buddhist. And the teaching, I don’t think is contradicting Christian’s teaching.

 

[Ahimsa]

Ahimsa:

…but the basic idea of transcendence of space and time, is a central part of Buddhism, and the Buddha claimed to fully enter nirvana, or “divinity”.

Of course, the Christian idea of the “Beatific Vision” and the Buddhist idea of “Nirvana” are not identical, but they have some commonalities.

 

[jimmy]

Ahimsa:

Actually, within the context of Buddhist understanding of the universe, the Buddha did claim what Christians would call “Divinity”. In Christianity, Divinity is what is transcendent of time and space. (This definition might be questioned, but we can work with it for now.) Likewise, in Buddhism, there is nirvana, which is beyond time and space as well. Buddhists don’t use the word “divinity”, but the basic idea of transcendence of space and time, is a central part of Buddhism, and the Buddha claimed to fully enter nirvana, or “divinity”.

That is a very simplified version of divinity that does not fit the Christian view. The Christian view says that divinity is something that transcends time and space and is immutable. God is eternal, He had no beginning and will have no end. Budda never claimed this for Himself, Christ did. Christ claimed to be the alpha and the omega. He claimed to be there in the beginning. He claimed He was before Abraham. He claimed He was the great I AM.

 

[Contarini]

Ahimsa:

Actually, within the context of Buddhist understanding of the universe, the Buddha did claim what Christians would call “Divinity”. In Christianity, Divinity is what is transcendent of time and space. (This definition might be questioned, but we can work with it for now.)

Well no, I’m not sure we can. Transcendence of time and space is not the single defining characteristic of divinity for Christians–as you note, it isn’t even uncontroversial. For Christians, one of the most important characteristics of God is creation. God is the Creator of all that is. I don’t see how that fits into Buddhism at all. Buddha did not claim to be the Creator, as far as I know.

Edwin

 

[Neverland]

Dear Ahimsa,

Well, Ahimsa, correct me if I am wrong, but the highest form of awareness in Buddhism, isn’t it NOTHINGNESS (Annata?). I still have to ask a lot to my Buddhist friends though. Means that we are no longer in the circle of Karma?

Neverland.

 

[Ahimsa]

Contarini:

Well no, I’m not sure we can. Transcendence of time and space is not the single defining characteristic of divinity for Christians–as you note, it isn’t even uncontroversial. For Christians, one of the most important characteristics of God is creation. God is the Creator of all that is. I don’t see how that fits into Buddhism at all. Buddha did not claim to be the Creator, as far as I know.

Edwin

In Theravada Buddhism, events (whether physical events or mental events) ‘arise’ moment by moment. Out of ‘what’ do they arise? What ‘creates’ them? In Theravada Buddhism, the answer is that ‘intentions’ (otherwise known as ‘karma’) create them. Whose intentions? The intentions of all beings.

In Mahayana Buddhism, you come across the idea of Buddha Nature as the source, the ‘creator’ if you will, of all things. And since the Buddha is not separate from Buddha Nature…

But, in general, you’re correct. To say that the Buddha (as an individual) is the ‘creator’ is to diverge from the thrust of Buddhist concern, which is freedom from what binds.

 

[Ahimsa]

Neverland:

Dear Ahimsa,

Well, Ahimsa, correct me if I am wrong, but the highest form of awareness in Buddhism, isn’t it NOTHINGNESS (Annata?). I still have to ask a lot to my Buddhist friends though. Means that we are no longer in the circle of Karma?

Neverland.

Greetings Neverland,

The highest form of awareness is awareness of nirvana, which can be described as the ‘highest happiness’. But nirvana is so beyond our understanding, that the Buddha discouraged too much speculation and description of it.

I think you’re thinking of ‘anatta’, which means ‘no eternally unchanging thing’. The Buddhas are fully aware of anatta, which means they are fully aware that there is no eternally unchanging ‘thing’. (‘Anatta’ is often translated as ‘no self’, but that is misleading for English speakers, because the Buddha never denied that individual people existed. He simply denied that such individuals are immune to change.)

 

[deb1]

mercygate:

This is not surprising, and I am sure that in the writings of Confucius you would find similar things. These would come under the heading of the natural, universal law, written on the hearts of all men by virtue of their humanity. Since God made all men for himself, he surely gave us all the basic equipment to make our way to him. Paul says that when it comes to the basics of human decency, “even the barbarians” without benefit of divine revelation have no excuse for their perverted practices.

When I was Protestant I was taught that all religions except Christianity were not only false but possibly demonic. For some odd reason the concept of natural law written on all men’s heart, despite being very biblical, was never taught in my previous church. I attended a fundamentalist church so my experiences might not be in line with the majority of Protestant thinking.

One of the beauties of Catholicism is that we are allowed to see the truth in another religion.

 

[b_justb]

Ahimsa:

Actually, within the context of Buddhist understanding of the universe, the Buddha did claim what Christians would call “Divinity”. In Christianity, Divinity is what is transcendent of time and space. (This definition might be questioned, but we can work with it for now.) Likewise, in Buddhism, there is nirvana, which is beyond time and space as well. Buddhists don’t use the word “divinity”, but the basic idea of transcendence of space and time, is a central part of Buddhism, and the Buddha claimed to fully enter nirvana, or “divinity”.

Light transcendents time and space but we (Christians) don’t say light is divine. Divinity is far more than the various aspects of Divinity. The Buddha never claimed divinity and told Ananada (as well as many others) NOT to follow him. Jesus told people to follow Him specifically.

 

[Ahimsa]

b_justb:

Light transcendents time and space but we (Christians) don’t say light is divine. Divinity is far more than the various aspects of Divinity. The Buddha never claimed divinity and told Ananada (as well as many others) NOT to follow him. Jesus told people to follow Him specifically.

Hi b_justb,

I’m no physicist, but light is fully within space and time. Light takes time to reach the earth from the sun (8 minutes, I believe), and light photons can be localized (to some degree, at least) in space. Light is not transcendent of space and time.

On divinity, maybe we could describe what divinity is. I proposed that divinity (at the very least) included the idea of transcendence of space and time.

The Buddha told Ananda and others to rely on their self-effort, while at the same time taking refuge in the Buddha. (In fact, just by saying that you take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, is enough to make you Buddhist, according to many – or at least enough to get you going .) Buddhism is a mix of self-effort and reliance upon an ‘other’.