In his book “Living Buddha. Living Christ”, famous Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, addresses the theme of parallels between Christianity and Buddhism. The essence of Hanh’s argument is in the fact that people may use the information that they receive during the studies of the other religion to strengthen their own faith and become stronger spiritually. Besides, Hanh believes that Christianity and Buddhism are very similar in their teaching and traditions. Hanh’s major position in the book can be seen in the following comment, “I do not think there is that much difference between Christians and Buddhists. Most of the boundaries we have created between our two traditions are artificial. Truth has no boundaries” (1995, p. 9).
The position that Christianity and Buddhism have a lot in common can be supported by a variety of facts. First of all, Christ’s and the Buddha’s teachings agree in many points. Both Christ and the Buddha thought their disciples the ideas that would help them maintain peaceful relations with their neighbors. For example, they emphasized the importance of forgiveness. Jesus taught, “Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Hanh, 1995, p. 75). The Buddha also spoke about the value of being appeasable. He explained that no matter what the other person might do to us, the only enemy that we have is our own consciousness. Hanh comments on this, saying that the world is filled wickedness, anger, hatred, and envy, and on this reason, it is useless to blame someone that he or she hurt us because his or her upbringing was without love and care. He also says that forgiveness and collective thinking directed on overcoming hatred in the world may save humanity. According to Hanh, the Buddha’s teaching shows that “we ourselves have to contribute, in small and large ways, toward ending our own violence. Looking deeply at our own mind and our own life, we will begin to see what to do and what not to do to bring about a real change” (1995, p. 76).
Next, Christians and Buddhist beliefs regarding prayer are also very similar. This is seen in many ways including the theme for prayers and the approach to praying to God as to speaking with a caring father who is concerned about his children. When explaining how to pray to his disciples, Jesus said that they must ask not only for themselves, but for their neighbors, and even their enemies. Jesus brought into focus the necessity to pray for offenders and enemies because in this way those who pray may find a true forgiveness from God for their own sins, and will learn a new way of thinking, free from selfishness and egoism. Similar piece of advice regarding prayers was offered by the Buddha to his followers. In particular, he taught to pray for enemies because as a result of such prayers, the very idea of an enemy will be replaced by the idea of compassion for the one in need of help and forgiveness from God, and instead love will come to substitute loathing. Also, both Christ and the Buddha taught that prayers needed support by deeds. For example, once the Buddha explained, “if someone is standing on one shore and wants to go on the other shore, he has to either use a boat or swim across; he cannot just pray, “Oh, other shore, please come over here”” (Hanh, 1995, p. 79). This means that Buddhists do not agree that a person who does not practice his words in prayers even prays, and they do not even believe that such a person has faith in God. Christians have the same position as they are confident that faith without works is dead.
The other similarity between the two religions is seen in the fact that both of them encourage people in the world to stop wars and enjoy peaceful relations, based on mutual understanding. In regard to this Jesus stated that the one who came with a sword will be killed with a sword, and on this reason there is no sense in collecting more and more weapons, and in rising military potential. Rather than this, people should think of ways to peace and harmony among all the inhabitants of the Earth. Similar statements were often made by the Buddha, whose basic teaching was in the necessity of peace in the world – the peace that would overwhelm all the living creatures in the Universes and would lead to an eternal harmony. In his book “Living Buddha. Living Christ”, Hanh many times emphasizes this teaching by the Buddha. For example, he states:
We often think of peace as the absence of war, that if powerful countries would reduce their weapon arsenals, we could have peace. But if we look deeply into the weapons, we see our own minds- our own prejudices, fears and ignorance. Even if we transport all the bombs to the moon, the roots of war and the roots of bombs are still there, in our hearts and minds, and sooner or later we will make new bombs. To work for peace is to uproot war from ourselves and from the hearts of men and women. To prepare for war, to give millions of men and women the opportunity to practice killing day and night in their hearts, is to plant millions of seeds of violence, anger, frustration, and fear that will be passed on for generations to come (1995, p. 76, 77).
Also, the idea that boundaries between Christianity and Buddhism are questionable can be supported by the common view of human equality existing in the two religious. In this vein, Christ dedicated much time of his service to people to convince them that all humans are created equal, and thus, in God’s eyes they have the same value despite their social status, economical situation, race, origin or any other factor that separate people in society. Therefore, all people have the same chances of drawing closer to God, and acquiring his favor and blessings. Another important rule, which is sometimes called a commandment, is derived from this principle of equality. This rule is usually called “a golden rule”, and its essence is in acting toward all the other people in a way that an individual wishes the others to act toward him. In Hanh’s argument, similar statements can be found that prove the close connection between the visions of the two religions on people’s equality. Particularly, Hanh says that all humans have a close bond with “the divine” in the Universe, and thus, they all may expect to acquire equivalent prospects in gaining blessings from above, becoming spiritually perfected, and achieving nirvana. Not only the principle of equality is supported in Buddhism, but the “golden rule”, coming from it, is also justified by Buddhist teachings. The importance of the “golden rule” in Buddhism is even supported by the five precepts coming from it. Those five precepts are seen as the principal moral regulations for all the adherents of this religion. The five precepts include:
- abstaining from murdering any living beings (this even includes insects and animals);
- abstaining from the temptation to take any object that is not offered;
- abstaining from having illicit sexual relations including immorality, homosexuality, bestiality and corruption of minors;
- abstaining from lying;
- abstaining from all forms of addictions including alcoholism, the drug habit, etc.
Further, both Christianity and Buddhism speak about the importance of mutual love between people. Jesus Christ said that the second commandment was to love the neighbor just as one loves him- or herself. Jesus explained that such love should be higher than everything else that may appear between people including bias, discrimination, hatred, quarrels, material controversies, envy, and so on. Jesus also said that the one who was not able to love one’s neighbor was not able to love God because it was impossible to love someone unseen when a person did not love the one seen. Christ also said that if someone loved his neighbor, he or she would never offend or hurt the person deliberately. According to Jesus, loving neighbors is a key obligation of real Christians because people are able to identify Christ’s followers only if they can see their genuine love to neighbors. Also, Jesus not only spoke about the necessity to love neighbors, but about the necessity to prove these words by practical deeds. Similar statements regarding the importance of love to people around were often made by the Buddha along with the comments on how to show love in practice. Regarding Buddha’s teachings concerning love to neighbors, Hanh stated, “If you love someone but rarely make yourself available to him or her, that is not true love” (1995, p. 83). Again, there is a full harmony between the love teachings of the two religions.
Yet another argument supporting the position that Christians and Buddhists are religions that have no boundaries between them is explained by Hanh in the following words, “just as a flower is made only of non-flower elements, Buddhism is made only of non-Buddhist elements, including Christian ones…We have different roots, traditions, and ways of seeing, but we share the common qualities of love, understanding, and acceptance” (1995, p. 11). This means that Hanh beliefs that mixing religions just like fruits are mixed in a salad is a good idea that may unite the world and benefit humanity because fruit salad is delicious and useful. Thus, according to Hanh, people should dwell on the common ideas derived from Christianity and Buddhism.
However, the idea of solidarity between Christians and Buddhists has many opponents. This position can be refuted by many facts. Firstly, Jesus’ teachings are concentrated around the idea that there exists the only true religion that is approved by the only true God. Christ many times spoke of this fact, when he addressed the Day of Final Judgment, and explained that only his true followers would survive this day, but the others will be rejected. For example, many people can remember the words of Jesus in the book of Mathew, chapter seven, where he says that many religious people who will use his name to even expel demons will be rejected by him because they have not fulfilled the will of his Father. In addition, Jesus warned his followers that there would come times when false teachers would appear, and would try to mislead even Jesus’ faithful followers by mixing the true teachings with false ones. Christ warned his disciples against such false teachers, and said that one who stood behind them was the Devil. Jesus explained that Satan the Devil was a father of false religions, and he was capable of ‘becoming an angel of light” or the one who seemed to do good works for people, but he was only motivated by the idea to mislead people. Therefore, Jesus admonished his disciples to abstain from those who wanted to add infusions to the Christian faith.
Moreover, many doubts come on mind when Hanh says that boundaries between Christianity and Buddhism are made artificially. Although it is true that there are many similar teachings in Christianity and Buddhism, there are also many different teachings in these religions. In general, all religions teach something good and ethical including the necessity to love neighbors, to forgive offenders, to lead a highly moral life, to be honest, etc., but this does not mean that their basic teachings are same. In this vein, the fundamental Christian teachings such as the teachings about the Kingdom of God, about paradise, about the ransom of Christ, about the soul, and many more are very different from the fundamental teachings of Buddhism. This can be said about any religions when they are compared because there is always something common between them (majorly, this is the idea about the standards of morality), and still, the majority of teachings and traditions will be very different. So, Hanh’s statement that boundaries between Christianity and Buddhism are artificial is exaggerated.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the position that Christians and Buddhists have a lot in common is proved by a variety of evidences. Among these evidences are similar teachings and religious traditions that the representatives of the two religions support including the believes regarding the necessity to love neighbors, to avoid hatred, to be forgiving, to pray for enemies, to show genuine love in practice, to stop wars between people in the world, to prove faith by the works of faith, and many more. However, the position that Christians and Buddhists are “petals” of the same flower can be refuted by numerous evidences. For example, according to Jesus, there exists the only true religion, and this is Christianity, but all the other religions along with their supporters will be destroyed on the day of God’s Judgment. In addition, Jesus’ message for humanity warns that during a certain period of time, false teachers will come, who will try to mix the true teachings with their own understanding, and that will be from the Devil who wants to mislead people by all means possible even if it requires taking the form of angel of light. Moreover, the idea that boundaries between Christianity and Buddhism are artificially made seems to be seriously exaggerated due to significant differences between the fundamental teachings of the two religions.
References
Hanh, Thich Nhat. (1995). Living Buddha, Living Christ. The United States: Riverhead Trade.