Jesus and The Buddha:
Study of Two Spiritual Leaders
Jason R. Choi
World Religions, Period 7
Mr. J. Rogers
October 15,2014
For each religion there is a spiritual leader or founder, and in Christianity and Buddhism, Jesus and Buddha play these figures. While they both have some similar views and also similar practices, they differ in many ways. They both hold unique views on the afterlife, desire, the body, and suffering. While Jesus believes and preaches about heaven, the afterlife, Buddha created his own form of afterlife which he called nirvana.
The Buddha believed in and taught of an end goal, which he called nirvana. In literal terms, nirvana means extinguishing or to unbind, hinting to its meaning to Buddha. Nirvana
…show more content…
is buddhism's after life and is where an individual is freed from all of his or hers sufferings. While Buddha did not have many insightful things to say about nirvana, he was still able to pick up many followers who truly believed in his teachings. The Buddha created the eight fold path, in which nirvana is the end goal and is what an individual should strive for. The Resurrection of the Body and Nirvana: Nirvana Explained, written by Bhikkhu Bodhi, explained nirvana as " the estinguishimg of the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion-- the roots of karma that lead to suffering now and in the future." The Buddha's belief in karma and the suffering that the world brings to an individual brought him to make overcoming the temptations and suffering that the world brings to you the goal of Buddha's teachings, which we call nirvana. Jesus brought about the teachings of the Christian afterlife, heaven. While in a broad view of heaven and nirvana, the two seem to utilize the same concepts, there are many things that set the two apart. A big difference between the two is that nirvana is achieved after several lives, while reincarnation is not a belief that Jesus taught to his followers. A key difference between Buddha and Jesus is their teachings. While Buddha was uncertain of nirvana and what it was like, Jesus teached about heaven with confidence and knowledge of the place. In Jn 18:36, Jesus stated " My kingdom is not of this world." Unlike Buddha, Jesus knew of the after life and what heaven was like. Buddha and Jesus had opposing views on cravings and desires, Buddha teaching that it is harmful, and Jesus teaching that it is perfectly fine if for the right reasons.
While Jesus and the bible teach that desire should only be pushed away when it is an evil desire, which may cause you to sin. Buddha teaches that all desire is bad for you. In the Resurrection of the Body and Nirvana: Nirvana Explained the author, Bhikkhu Bodhi, explained Buddha's teachings in simpler form, he said, "we find that our unhappiness or " suffering" results from the tension between desire and the lack of the thing desired." So we find that Buddha accuses all desire of causing unhappiness and suffering, and Jesus only teaches that evil temptation or desire will lead you to …show more content…
sin. The importance of the body to Jesus and to Buddha differ greatly and shape the religion that they teach. To Jesus, the body is more than just matter. Jesus teaches his followers that we are all made in his/God's image. This makes the body a part of God and also a big part of the religion that Jesus teaches. While Buddha gives the body importance, Buddha view the body as positive as Jesus does. Although Buddha came from Hindu background, he does not disregard the body as they do. Instead, Buddha views the body as an essential part of reaching nirvana. Buddha recognizes the body and the senses the body holds, and he believes that the senses all help in making you desire and crave more, which is a negative thing. But, Buddha also sees that the body is good because the senses are needed so that one can reach nirvana by pushing away all desires. To Jesus, the body plays many roles, symbolically and also literally. Symbolically, John 6:54 says, "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." In this quote from the bible, Jesus states that his body, although symbolic, can give a man eternal life and his body will be given back to him at the end of time. While Buddha sees the body as some type of obstacle, Jesus have a very different view, which is more positive. The Buddha and Jesus have very different views on suffering.
Jesus suffered himself in order for the sins of his followers to be forgiven, and to open up eternal life(heaven) to those who strive for it. On the other hand, Buddha believes and teaches that everyone must suffer in their lifetime due to desires and cravings, to achieve nirvana, where there is no suffering and one has reached liberation. The Resurrection of the Body and Nirvana: Nirvana Explained, written by Bhikkhu Bodhi, says, " Suffering comes from attachment and loss of the thing we are attached to." This explains the concept said by Buddha that suffering comes from not being able to have or losing what we crave or desire. Jesus taught that his followers sufferings would be taken away by his own suffering by his death, while Buddha teaches that for one to overcome suffering is the end goal and he or she has reached
nirvana.
By learning from the Dharma, understanding The Four Noble Truths, three jewels, living by the five precepts, and following the eightfold path will assist to the completed path of enlightenment. Nirvana, which means to extinguish or unbind, is when a Buddhist has reached a state in which he has gained knowledge and freedom from what ever has bound him from reaching nirvana. Whether it be passion, desire, jealousy, egotism, or ignorance. When nirvana has been reached then there will be complete release from the samsara and karmic cycles.
Buddhism teaches that humans have a repetitive cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Each reincarnated life is decided into a better, worse, or a similar life, depending upon the person's Karma. The goal is to escape from this cycle and reach Nirvana, and once this is attained, the mind is free from suffering. Buddhism teaches a lesson through its followers in order to make them fully understand that one lives for a reason, which is to eliminate all their desires. Document 6 it quotes,
Epithets of nirvana in Buddhism include "the free," "the immortal," and "the unconditioned." Nirvana is attainable in life, and the death. of one who has attained it is termed parinirvana, or complete nirvana.
The idea of finding peace and a better life in Nirvana served as the fundamental cause of Buddhism’s spread in China, which is outlined in documents 1 and 2. Document 1 explicitly explains how one could enter Nirvana, defined as the absence of all desire (doc 1). Chinese scholar and author Zhi Dun writes how one should serve and obey the Buddha, but also promise to not forget the main goal in life, that obviously being to achieve Nirvana (doc 1). It is important to note the historical context of this document. In addition to his career as a scholar and author, Zhi Dun served as a confidant of Chinese aristocrats and high officials in a time when northern China was being invaded by central Asian steppe nomads. Therefore, this was a time on conflict and fear, so Buddhism offered the means to escape the violent world and enter into Nirvana after seeing and being enlightened in the Buddha. Furthermore, written 56 years later, document 2
Desire is seen as one of the main sources of suffering in Buddhism because it can create an attachment to certain things in life, whether they be people or inanimate objects, and this sets one up for more suffering. The bodhisattva’s father epitomizes desire in the Buddhacarita. He wishes for his son to eventually be the ruler of the earth rather than simply a religious leader. This base desire sets him up for suffering since upon his son’s rejection of the regal way of life he is disappointed in a way that would not be possible if he did not have desire in the first place. The king’s desires, and selfish ones at that, end up not going as planned since the bodhisattva eventually sees suffering and is determined to fix suffering in the world leading to his father trying to sorrowfully persuade the bodhisattva to stay while “shedding copious amounts of tears” (B. 5.40). This event clearly depicts how desire is able to directly lead to suffering; however, the king was not learned in the ways of Buddhism so he would have easily been manipulated by desires of the world, but desire is even able to corrupt those that are more learned in the teachings of Buddhism, even though it was an early form. Even the gods were upset when the Buddha neared the end of his life because they did not want to see him die.
While Nirvana is the ultimate spiritual attainment, most ordinary Buddhists show their commitment to the Buddha through several religious practices. The basic motives behind Buddhist practices mirror with those behind the Catholic tradition (Seay (2001,p.58). Both traditions aim to create togetherness within their community by developing a sense of communion with all present through a group activity. Some of these activities include group prayer/meditation and group singing/chanting. Another motive behind some Buddhist and Catholic practices is the principle of suffering, a significant element of religious tradition. This principle was formed on the basis of the suffering endured by Saddartha Gutama and Jesus Christ and is put into practice through traditions like achieving Nirvana and Le...
Nirvana is a remembrance to the day of the Buddha’s death and how he enters Nirvana and it means to extinguish or blow out (O’Brien). Schools of Buddhism explain Nirvana as a state of bliss or peace and that Nirvana can be entered in both life and death (O’Brien). O’Brien writes that the Buddha died at the age of 80. She explains that when he died, he was accompanied by monks. The Buddha told them that he did not keep any of his teaching from them and that he needed them to keep his teachings alive to help the people for the years and years to come. O’Brien writes that Nirvana day is a day to really look at the Buddhas teachings. Monasteries and temples have meditation retreats and lay people bring money or things from their home for the monks to live off of (O’Brien). What Buddhists mostly want is to reach
In both Hindu and Buddhist philosophies, they follow and focus on similar yet different concepts of liberating themselves from ‘Samsara’ and the suffering that comes with it. Samsara in both Hindu and Buddhist philosophies is the endless cycle of death and rebirth. So, the end goal is to work towards the enlightenment from this cycle. Though the two concepts are similar in that the goal is the same, the two have distinctive and important differences on how they view this “release” from the rebirth-death cycle; they both follow different paths to reach that end goal which, in basic terms, is to live a happy life.
In today’s world, there are various religions that are worshipped by millions of devout followers every year. Of these religions, two of these include Buddhism and Christianity, which have dated back for thousands of years. According to. Experiencing the World 's Religions and The World’s Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World’s Religions, both Buddhism and Christianity originated through a single enlightened leader and were known as each religion’s teachers: Buddha and Jesus Christ. Both of these prophets became what shaped their respective religions and had a large influence on being bringers of hope to the world and proclaiming peace among the nations.
Throughout the history of humankind, man has always searched to find answers to the many existential questions. Numerous different religions and denominations have developed around the world over time. Though, most wonder about the origin and purpose of our existence. Buddhism was founded on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama about 2,600 years ago in India. After he had experienced that everyone was subject to “birth, sickness, death, and old age”, he tried to find a way to break from the cycle of rebirth (Bloom). Siddhartha Gautama experimented with a number of methods to find the cause of suffering which led him to what he called the Middle Way – a path between “licentiousness and extreme mortification” (Bloom). Once he achieved enlightenment, he turned into ‘the Buddha – the enlightened or awakened one’. Christianity is one of the largest and most prevailing religions of the world and largely based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians trust that Jesus was sent by God to save humanity. Therefore, the faith of the followers of the Christian belief is primarily based on the preaching of Jesus and later the spreading of those by his disciples. Although Buddhism and Christianity show several parallels, their three key differences are that Buddhists do not believe in one divine being, and have different views about both the purpose of life and the concept of afterlife.
Buddha believed that by following the Eightfold Path, one could fulfill and find legitimacy in the Four Noble Truths, and reach Nirvana; the release from selfishness and pain. Like the Hindu, Buddha believed in reincarnation, a major factor in achieving Nirvana, as...
Buddhism is centered upon the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha, whereas Christianity is centered on the Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ. Buddhism is a nontheistic religion, i.e., it does not believe in a supreme creator being God. Christianity is a monotheistic religion and believes that Christ Is the Son Of God. In Christianity, they believe in Jesus. Christianity is monotheistic because they only believe in one God, unlike Buddhism whom believes in several Gods. First and foremost, I will start by looking at the various similarities between Buddhism and Christianity. Both religions are based on the golden rule which concerns individual wellbeing as well as the interests of other people. Both Lord Buddha and Jesus Christ taught their disciples about the welfare of all human beings. They encouraged their followers to do good to others the same way they would like others do unto them. Jesus and Buddha preached the importance of social values and ethics. Both Buddha and Jesus rejected and highly condemned excessive asceticism and emphasized on self-liberation. Both Buddhism and Christianity doctrines lay emphasis on equal love for all human beings. According to Buddhism, this love should be extended to human beings as well as other living things. Similarly, Christian doctrines are based on the principle of loving a neighbor as much as one loves him/herself. This special kind of love, usually referred to as Agape by Christians, begins at individual levels and should be extended to all people, including friends and enemies. Both Buddhism and Christianity entail worships that involve use of rosaries, incense and performance of rituals among other spiritual practices. Buddhists and Christians worship through personal confessions, monasticism, bowing before holy images and mediations. Often, bells are rung to indicate transitions within prayer
Before setting into the concepts of Buddhism that were the most intriguing, I think it is noteworthy about the creation of it. The Buddha was not a remarkable man in the beginning. He was a privileged boy who was to be a warrior. He ran off and starved under a tree in order to find a solution on how to end suffering. The Buddha voluntarily starved himself to near death until he was able to reach that point in his life of enlightenment. The Buddha did not go around curing people of their diseases and miraculasing turning elements into another. He led a simple life traveling around teaching others on how to reach the enlightment as well. The Dharma was not a book about his life rather than simply his teachings. This is very different from the idea of Jesus within the Christian religion. My point of view is coming from a very biased position I must ass because I do not support the Christian religion as much. The Holy Bible first differs from the Dharma because it is a book of stories as well as the teaching of Jesus. Jesus is a man held in high regard for he was able to cure the sick of their aliments and turn water into wine. He died...
Peace of mind, body and spirit, in a personal sense, a social sense and a universal sense. Although they share the same goal, adherents of the faiths have difference conceptions of what a ‘state of peace’ encompasses, and the path to which it may be attained. For Christians, the ultimate peace is in the afterlife, in heaven, where believers will find their salvation. In heaven there is no sin, Christians can see God, and live in his presence, whilst anyone who does not choose to believe within their lifetime on earth, will go to hell, a place of eternal pain and suffering. For Buddhists, peace is found in nirvana, through enlightenment, whereby one experiences perpetual rebirth until this ultimate harmony is achieved. Buddhism and Christianity both care about the Self and the Other, but the order is reversed. Buddhists believe that in serving yourself you serve others, focusing on your own path to enlightenment, and practicing loving kindness, will leads to social transformation and world peace. Christians on the other hand serve others in order to serve self, believing that by following Jesus’ instructions and entering relationship with
...only through Christ can a person find salvation (Acts 17:30–31). Ultimately, Christ entered into human suffering, sin and debt, emptied and redeemed humanity from the curse of sin to give humans eternal life with God; whereas Buddha taught humans to disattach themselves from suffering, sin, and debt in order to be enlightened and dissolve into emptiness.