Why should I remain Catholic vs. become a Buddhist or a Hindu?

[adamhovey1988]

I don’t have an answer, I went the other way

 

[Vico]

Why do some Catholics leave Catholicism and convert to Buddhism???

Lack of love for God. The end of man for Christians is union with God, but for Buddhists it is Nirvana (extinction of passion, aversion, and ignorance).

 

[kneedy93]

I see no contradiction between Buddhism and Christianity… I intend to become as good of a Buddhist as I can.” - Thomas Merton

 

[Dan_Defender]

IMO, Buddhism is inherently narcissistic. Plus nobody has ever been able to objectively verify reincarnation much less explain how those supposed past lives that nobody can remember add up to a greater present self. Just my two cents.

 

[meltzerboy2]

That might be another reason why some people “convert,” that is, they can convert but not really convert at the same time. In other words, they can practice, so they believe, Buddhism while still remaining true to their own religion. Two religions for the price of one.

I think of Leonard Cohen, for example, who even became a Buddhist monk, but still maintained his identity as an Orthodox Jew. He was also very much interested in Jesus. That guy wasn’t taking any chances!

 

[Welshrabbit]

The shotgun approach, I like it!

Unfortunately, that sounds like a whole lotta effort and I’m rather short on time these days. I don’t know enough about Buddhism…do the belief systems contradict what is taught in Judaism and/or Christianity?

Can one be a Buddhist and a faithful Jew or Christian at the same time?

 

[rossum]

Can one be a Buddhist and a faithful Jew or Christian at the same time?

Yes.

To avoid all evil,
to cultivate good,
and to cleanse one’s mind -
this is the teaching of the Buddhas.

– Dhammapada 14:5

To avoid all evil – follow the Ten Commandments.

to cultivate good – “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

to cleanse one’s mind – meditate. Even something as simple as counting breaths will help.

Buddhism generally ignores gods, so your relationship with God is not a part of Buddhist practice. You are free to attend a synagogue on Saturday or a church on Sunday. The Buddha is not a god – he was a Buddha.

 

[Welshrabbit]

Forgive my ignorance, but wouldn’t the concept of nirvana conflict with teachings on Heaven?

Do all Buddhists strive to reach nirvana or is that incorrect?

I like a lot of what I read about Buddhist teachings.

 

[huck]

IMO, Buddhism is inherently narcissistic. Plus nobody has ever been able to objectively verify reincarnation much less explain how those supposed past lives that nobody can remember add up to a greater present self. Juts my two cents.

Hello Dan,
With regards to verification does that mean that when you were younger you never had dreams about being in another location, but later dismissed them because you were a member of a one lifetime only church.
With regards to a greater present self, in reading the story of the Garden of Eden, as a result of eating the symbolic fruit we now had a basic awareness of right and wrong. This awareness had to be trained by multiple lifetimes where are lives could bump into each other. Through Karma we are able to develop this awareness.

 

[rossum]

Forgive my ignorance, but wouldn’t the concept of nirvana conflict with teachings on Heaven?

The heavens are separate from nirvana. You have to die to get to any of the Buddhist heavens; you do not have to die to get to nirvana.

Do all Buddhists strive to reach nirvana or is that incorrect?

Most strive, but there are many different ways to do so. The most obvious are monks, but merely trying to live a good life is enough to make progress.

I like a lot of what I read about Buddhist teachings.

There is much to like, at least in my somewhat biased opinion.

 

[Vico]

…

There is some conflict with the idea that there is no creator God. Some also embrace the idea of rebirth apart from the Christian Resurrection at the Final Judgment.

Brahmajala Sutta, 42:

Thereupon the being who re-arose there first thinks to himself: ‘I am Brahmā, the Great Brahmā, the Vanquisher, the Unvanquished, the Universal Seer, the Wielder of Power, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Supreme Being, the Ordainer, the Almighty, the Father of all that are and are to be. And these beings have been created by me. What is the reason? Because first I made the wish: “Oh, that other beings might come to this place!” And after I made this resolution, now these beings have come.’

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.01.0.bodh.html

To Buddhism, however, death is not the end of life, it is merely the end of the body we inhabit in this life, but our spirit will still remain and seek out through the need of attachment, attachment to a new body and new life. Where they will be born is a result of the past and the accumulation of positive and negative action, and the resultant karma (cause and effect) is a result of ones past actions.

http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma5/viewdeath.html

Ven. Thich Nguyen Tang Vice-Abbot of Quang Duc Monastery wrote:

This would lead to the person to be reborn in one of 6 realms which are; heaven, human beings, Asura, hungry ghost, animal and hell. R ealms, according to the severity of ones karmic actions, Buddhists believe however, none of these places are permanent and one does not remain in any place indefinitely. So we can say that in Buddhism, life does not end, merely goes on in other forms that are the result of accumulated karma. Buddhism is a belief that emphasizes the impermanence of lives, including all those beyond the present life. With this in mind we should not fear death as it will lead to rebirth.

https://www.urbandharma.org/udharma5/viewdeath.html

 

[HeDa]

Dr David Anders on EWTN Called to Communion Sept 4th 2019 has a good presentation of the differences of Christian and Buddhist faith. Maybe about 15-20 minutes into the programme.

 

[rossum]

Brahmajala Sutta, 42:

Thereupon the being who re-arose there first thinks to himself: ‘I am Brahmā, the Great Brahmā, the Vanquisher, the Unvanquished, the Universal Seer, the Wielder of Power, the Lord, the Maker and Creator, the Supreme Being, the Ordainer, the Almighty, the Father of all that are and are to be. And these beings have been created by me. What is the reason? Because first I made the wish: “Oh, that other beings might come to this place!” And after I made this resolution, now these beings have come.’

You need to look at the context of this quote. It is in a section on various errors: “Sixty-two wrong views”. This particular quote comes from wrong view #5, a partly eternalist and partly non-eternalist error. The error is to claim that god is (or gods are) eternal while other beings are not. What you quoted is spoken by the first god who is reborn into a renewed universe (“the being who re-arose there first”) describing himself. That god is mistaken, hence the error.

 

[AlbertDerGrosse]

The error is to claim that god is (or gods are) eternal while other beings are not.

And by extension Christian dogma is, according to Buddhism, an error. Therefore Christianity and Buddhism are irreconcilable unless one dissents from orthodoxy in one or more tenet(s) of one or both of the religions.

 

[rossum]

And by extension Christian dogma is, according to Buddhism, an error. Therefore Christianity and Buddhism are irreconcilable unless one dissents from orthodoxy in one or more tenet(s) of one or both of the religions.

The Christian God is not eternal in the Buddhist sense. Jesus is God and Jesus died on the cross. Any being that dies cannot be eternal in Buddhism.

 

[AlbertDerGrosse]

So you’re agreeing with me? God is eternal in the Christian sense and so the Christian and Buddhist senses are mutually exclusive. Your earlier statement that a person can simultaneously be a faithful Christian and a faithful Buddhist is, therefore, false. In order to be orthodox at one she necessarily must be heterodox at the other.

 

[Vico]

…

You need to look at the context of this quote. It is in a section on various errors: “Sixty-two wrong views”. This particular quote comes from wrong view #5, a partly eternalist and partly non-eternalist error. The error is to claim that god is (or gods are) eternal while other beings are not. What you quoted is spoken by the first god who is reborn into a renewed universe (“the being who re-arose there first”) describing himself. That god is mistaken, hence the error.

What I was pointing to is the re-arising – the rebirth in a new realm – which his incompatible with Christian theology. That a person would could be reborn to heaven and then mistakenly think “I am the Maker and Creator, the Supreme Being” in in conflict with Christianity.

 

[rossum]

So you’re agreeing with me? God is eternal in the Christian sense and so the Christian and Buddhist senses are mutually exclusive.

Lots of things are, obviously, incompatible between the two religions. The Buddhist definition of “Bodhisattva” is different from the christian one, because the Christian definition does not exist.

As to incompatibility, you might want to have a look at two Saints, Barlaam and Josaphat.

To quote the Catholic Encyclopedia:

The story is a Christianized version of one of the legends of Buddha, as even the name Josaphat would seem to show. This is said to be a corruption of the original Joasaph, which is again corrupted from the middle Persian Budasif (Budsaif=Bodhisattva).

If the Buddha is a Christian saint, then there cannot be too great a difference between the two religions.

 

[Mary888]

I think because a lot of pretty famous people claim that Buddhism is cool.
That is just my bet, a blind one, since it’s a guess.
But you have to admit that for decades Buddhism has been simply labeled as “cool” while Christianity, especially organized Christianity like Catholicism has been labeled publicly as “uncool” or “needs to change”.
So you read about this regularly in magazines and online and it sticks to your mind. So when you have a crisis in your life or a deep for spirituality, you just rush to what you read worked for a lot of people or they said it worked.
On the other hand there isn’t much Christianity can do about it, because we simply cannot say that our religion “functions” like it’s a computer, or that it’s easy (because Jesus said it’s not), or that it can change to become cool (because the worldly opinion is shallow Jesus said), or that we should panic if people leave (because Jesus said He forces no one to follow Him), or that we should expect success (because Jesus said we will face many difficulties).
We have to respect what people believe and be honest about our religion. We cannot just twist it to make it more attractive based on numbers. We have to stick with it and be patient and not read too much into the fluctuating success of our own religion in the world.
It is as it is.

 

[mhmtas63]

Do Muslims convert to Buddhism? I really just don’t know!