Presenting Christianity to Buddhism Research Paper

There is a conventional understanding that Buddhism and Christianity, like most religions, are fundamentally dissimilar. Religious fundamentalists are bent to pursue this belief to preserve their religion for fear of weakening or diversifying the grasp or influence on its current believers or practitioners. Understandably, since Buddhism and Christianity arose from different historical and cultural beginnings, the differences in the practices and teachings are at some level unique and specific to their backgrounds. Comparing these two religions based on their inherent characteristics would therefore be futile. Any similarities would not be readily apparent and assessing them would require a thorough understanding of these two religions. In other words, this entails looking at either belief while maintaining the essential teachings of the other. This paper aims to achieve this purpose by understanding the Christian Gospel through the eyes of a Buddhist. Eight major teachings in the Gospel will be analyzed in relevance to the Buddhist teachings. These eight teachings are regarding Love, Giving, Service, the kingdom of God, The Commandments, The Golden Rule, Perfection, and Repentance.

Love

“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so also should you love one another. By this will all know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13: 34-35.

The above words from the Bible indicate Christ’s instructions to love one another. In Matthew 19:19 He adds that one must love his neighbor as he loves himself. Followers of Buddhism can relate to these teachings since they are taught to conquer anger, evil, greed, and lies by love, goodness, generosity, and truth, respectively. Buddhists are also taught to love one another like how a mother loves and nurtures her only child. Furthermore, to have harmony and unity Buddhists are encouraged to be full of love for others. Love frees a person’s heart, a concept repeatedly invoked in Buddhist scriptures (Salm, p. 8).

Giving

Generosity or charity is one of the main teachings of Christ. In Luke 18:18-25, He commands men to give all material belongs to the poor and follow Him. He added that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. In Buddhist teachings, giving is not simply mere providing material things to those needing help”. A giver imparts strength and wisdom among other virtues. A giver shares these qualities in heaven and among people while living. In addition, Dharma should inspire everyone including the environment since everyone should be given service even those who have nothing (Salm, p. 12).

Service to Others

Regarding service, Christians are very familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:30-37. The passage tells of a story of a man robbed and injured while traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. A priest and a Levite passed him by but not by the Samaritan who took care of him and gave him money and other needs. Christ reminds everyone that service to one another should be the primary goal of His followers. Buddhists are also taught of the same concern for others especially the suffering. Aside from physical services to the needy, they are also encouraged to take care of the spiritual needs of other people. Buddhists are taught to give compassion to impure persons to free them from imprisonment from bad karma. In addition, Buddha has a central doctrine of non-self called annatta (Knierim, p. 13). This doctrine instills that a person suffers for his actions while living and rendering service to other people takes away suffering (Salm, p. 13).

Kingdom of God

“The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17: 20b-21. The above words from the Bible show Christ describing when what and where the real heaven is – inside everyone. Buddhist beliefs have a similar view of this teaching. Nirvana which constitutes truth, enlightenment, and liberation can aptly describe the said Christian teachings. Although Nirvana roughly translates to extinguishing, the word is used to describe the long and arduous road of a whole-hearted seeker towards enlightenment (Dhammanada 10). A Buddhist can therefore relate to the phrase ‘kingdom of God’ as the process of living and discovering the heaven that is located within a person’s heart. The ultimate reward for any person is to achieve enlightenment (Salm, p. 21).

The Commandments

‘A certain aristocrat asked him, “Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? None is good except one, God. You know the commandments, you shouldn’t commit adultery, you shouldn’t kill, you shouldn’t steal, you shouldn’t bear false witness, honor your father and your mother.”’ Luke 18: 18-20.

In the above scripture, Christ laid down the commandments for his followers to enter the kingdom of God. If one is a Buddhist, he can easily comprehend these commandments since they also have a set of rules for the same purposes. With the above beliefs in Dharma, annatta, and Nirvana, a Buddhist can recognize what Christ was referring to. Buddhists are taught that anyone without compassion for living things is supposed to be considered an outcast (Dhammanada, p. 6). Anyone who helps himself or takes an interest in other’s properties is to be considered an outcast. Anyone who speaks falsely of others is to be considered an outcast. Anyone who takes the interest of the wives of other men is to be considered an outcast. Finally, anyone who neglects his parents is to be considered an outcast (Salm, p. 40).

The Golden Rule

“In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12. The very core of practicing Christianity is doing to others all that are good such as love and service. A Buddhism believer can easily relate to this teaching since this is a universal rule accepted by many races and cultures. Although it is a more sober version of the tooth-for-a-tooth law of early times, the idea is the same as good begets good. In Buddhist teachings these are summarized in the phrase: I am the heir to everything I do. This means that good or bad, the actions of the person will affect him ultimately in the future. The concept of karma demonstrates these principles as specified in the Mahabharata. Whoever strives to achieve enlightenment must believe in karma or the Golden Rule. Christ also urges everyone to do the same to enter the kingdom of God (Salm,p. 46).

Perfection

“You therefore must be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48. Christ urges us all to strive to be perfect like God in every action, word, and thought. In doing so, Christians can be worthy of entering God’s kingdom. Everyone must remain steadfast in commitment to His teachings, not for only a certain period but every moment of life. The Buddhists are well aware of such teachings as specified by karma (Dhammanada, p. 7), annata, and Nirvana. Life is a long and arduous road to perfection, enlightenment, and liberation (Knierim, p. 10). This is not achieved in a single act of goodness but of consistent adherence to these teachings. A series of rebirths are required to achieve full enlightenment and this is consistent with Christ’s commandment of casting away evil ways. Achieving Nirvana is tantamount to perfection therefore needs consistent improvement in the spiritual needs of a person (Salm,p. 82).

Repentance

“[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing apart, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people – thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all of my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I say to you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18: 9-14.

These words above from the Bible place importance in the act of true repentance for all who committed their sins. By humbly coming to God and asking forgiveness, one can come back to the righteous path and expect the mercy of God. In the Buddhist point-of-view, a person is reborn each step towards achieving Nirvana. This person must cast away wrongful actions and vow to never do these again. There must be heartfelt acceptance of being wrong to achieve self-restraint in the future. Repentance is therefore an important process for Buddhists, a process that can enable one to see his past actions and mistakes (Salm, p. 62). An acknowledgment of these wrongs is necessary to fully change and strive to attain perfection (Dhammanada, p. 11).

In summary, From the understanding of the Christian Gospel can be achieved by looking through the eyes of the Buddhist believer. Bible’s definition and commandments on Love, Giving, Service, the kingdom of God, The Commandments, The Golden Rule, Perfection and Repentance, a Buddhists point-of-view was found to have common grounds to understand Christian views.

Christ’s teachings are an amalgamation of lessons that are highly regarded and widely accepted while Buddhist teachings provide for these relevant concepts sufficiently for a Buddhist to understand the lessons of the Bible. If a person understands Dharma (Dhammanada, p. 6), karma, Nirvana and annatta then he can easily grasp what the service to others, the kingdom of God, and the Golden rule stand for (Ryusei, p. 16). The above analysis of these teachings offers proof of congruence in the two religions in question. Superficial differences are glaring but the essential concepts are significantly identical (Santina, p. 4). With an in-depth understanding of these core concepts, anyone including Buddhists can develop a saving faith in Christ.

Works Cited

Dhammanada, K. S. Buddhism as a Religion. Buddha Dharma Education Association, 1994. Web.

Knierim, T. Introduction to Buddhism. Web.

Ryusei, Takeda. Mutual Transformation of Pure Land Buddhism and Christianity. Nanzan Bulletin 22 (1998)

Salm, Rene. Buddhist and Christian Parallels: Compiled from the Earliest Scriptures.

Santina, P. D. Fundamentals of Buddhism. Buddha Dharma Education Association, 1984. Web.