Was jesus another buddha? (Buddhist, soul, hell, prophecy)
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I ask this becuse over my many years of studying buddhism i've noticed that there are way too many similarities between the story of the life of buddha and that of jesus christ. Most can't even be called similarities becuse they are identical. for example buddha's mom Maya conceived buddha immaculatly as did jesus's mom Mary (even the mothers names are similar.) buddha meditated for 40 days and 40 night's before being enlightened all while being tempted by demons as did jesus christ (demons being just one in jesus's case) buddha had 12 original desiples as did jesus christ. And, both returned after there deaths buddha as a spirit and jesus in the flesh but both returned nonetheless. Both where extremely tolerant and peaceful and taught accordingly. Mind you buddha lived 500 years BC. was jesus the future buddha that buddha said would come?
Doesn't "Buddha" pretty much mean "teacher"?
Which is what Jesus was considered too, so yea, after translation Jesus could be called a "Buddha" .
Now this is interesting...June doesn't see too many similarities between Jesus or the Buddha at all. (An occasional parallel, perhaps, but that's about all.) For one thing, the Buddha never claimed divinity, whereas Jesus claimed to be sent by God the Father, who (reference Genesis 1) was the creator of all mankind and the world at large. Buddhists do not adhere to any such notion or belief. Buddhism is fundamentally non-theist.
In looking at the underlying theology of Christianity, and the precepts/philosophy of Buddhism, the 'similarities' become that much more obscure, if not altogether non-existent. The two have incredibly different 'world views' if not messages. Buddhism is not the most positive of mindsets, as compared to Christianity. Buddhism underscores the 'pain and sorrow/suffering' of the worldly condition and emphasizes the means by which to escape that. Christianity, on the other hand, would appear to emphasize the more positive attributes; one emphasizes the ways and means by which one can escape the world, the other, those ways and means by which one can better engage in this world.
As a result of Buddha's life and teaching, nirvana is the ultimate goal to be attained by Buddhists. Jesus, on the other hand, advocated for eternal life. There is no concept of "eternal life" in Buddhist mindset, thought, or philosophy; there is reincarnation, instead. Unless one wishes to make the (very broad) leap that Jesus somehow advocated (if not existsed) as a means by which to break the chain of samsara, June's just not getting the similarities between the two figures.
Buddha attained at "oneness" in his achieving nirvana, just as Jesus reunited with the Father in his resurrection. While this could perhaps be perceived as a similarity, there nonetheless exists such a vast difference between the two concepts, beginning with the very definition of 'mankind' in terms of orientation and mindset. The ultimate goal as advocated by Buddha entails an "inward" directiveness, as opposed to the 'outward' message advocated by Jesus.
If nothing else, the negation of the Divine would stand out in June's mind as the greatest dissimilarity. While both Buddha and Jesus advocated for, and taught similiar messages of love/loving-kindness and the means by which mankind could be 'redeemed' that concept of "redemption/salvation" is SO dissimiliar in both orientation and underlying philosophy.
So at the end of the day, June sees far more of that which Jesus and Buddha did NOT have in common than she does the similarities...
This post is filled with misspellings and poorly written, as June is late for work.
Take gentle Friday care.
This is a one-dimensional perspective that sees "differences", and is taken verbatim from Evangelical teaching, without any independent thought or analysis or insight. Other ways of looking at the problem don't reveal as many differences.
It's a matter of perspective, though. From one way of looking at the issue, differences emerge. From another way of looking at the issue, differences evaporate.
Interesting question... I've heard Jesus and Buddha referred to as two of the "Axial sages," which also included Confucius, Plato, Socrates, and others. I don't believe in the supernatural aspects attributed to Jesus, so I look at Christianity from a philosophical standpoint. Jesus and Buddha were similar in that they both sought the best way to live as humans in this world, but their approaches were different, as June points out.
About a decade ago, I went though a standard-issue mid-life/spiritual crisis. I spent some time attending a Buddhist temple, and then, after I started dating a Christian woman (whom I eventually married), I attended a Christian church for over a year. I got one valuable lesson from each. I'd spent most of my life as a control freak, and Buddhism taught me that we can control very little in life. I became the reed that bends in the breeze, rather than the branch that breaks, and I'm much more relaxed and happy because of it. I had also been a solitary and self-centered person. Christianity taught me about empathy and the joy that comes from doing things for others. I couldn't have become a good husband and stepfather without those lessons. So each religion/philosophy gave me something I needed. Pursuing Buddhism longer than I did probably wouldn't have been a good thing for me at the time, because I needed to look outward rather than inward.
So how similar were Jesus and Buddha? It depends on how you look at it. I pick and choose wisdom from many sources, and each had wisdom to offer me. I liken different religions and philosophies to different styles of painting. Renoir, Monet, and Picasso were all trying to express truths about what it means to be human, but they went about it in different ways.
Just curious: why does June refer to himself or herself in the third person?
I ask this becuse over my many years of studying buddhism i've noticed that there are way too many similarities between the story of the life of buddha and that of jesus christ. Most can't even be called similarities becuse they are identical. for example buddha's mom Maya conceived buddha immaculatly as did jesus's mom Mary (even the mothers names are similar.) buddha meditated for 40 days and 40 night's before being enlightened all while being tempted by demons as did jesus christ (demons being just one in jesus's case) buddha had 12 original desiples as did jesus christ. And, both returned after there deaths buddha as a spirit and jesus in the flesh but both returned nonetheless. Both where extremely tolerant and peaceful and taught accordingly. Mind you buddha lived 500 years BC. was jesus the future buddha that buddha said would come?
The word Buddha simply means awakened one.
There are countless buddhas ... "here" and not "here".
The buddha that you are referring to is the historical buddha ... Siddhartha.
The question is whether or not Jesus was a fully enlightened being ... whether, during the relatively short span of his life, he attained complete enlightenment / liberation.
I can imagine that he did.
I see a few major differences. Buddha was a person (not a deity) who could be documented in history, while the Jesus character can not be documented other than in a book which is not much more than mythology. The other main difference was Buddha preached peach and the christian faith's preaching is filled with wars, killings, intolerance, child abuse, slavery, rapes, prejudice, and genocide. With the differences I would say the Jesus figure does not come close to being a Buddha figure in history.
The historical Buddha gave many, many teaching to many, many people for more than 40 years.
And you need to make a distinction between Jesus and his the teachings and the religion called "Christianity" with all of its many vile manifestations / expressions of hypocrisy.
Now this is interesting...June doesn't see too many similarities between Jesus or the Buddha at all. (An occasional parallel, perhaps, but that's about all.) For one thing, the Buddha never claimed divinity, whereas Jesus claimed to be sent by God the Father, who (reference Genesis 1) was the creator of all mankind and the world at large. Buddhists do not adhere to any such notion or belief. Buddhism is fundamentally non-theist.
In looking at the underlying theology of Christianity, and the precepts/philosophy of Buddhism, the 'similarities' become that much more obscure, if not altogether non-existent. The two have incredibly different 'world views' if not messages. Buddhism is not the most positive of mindsets, as compared to Christianity. Buddhism underscores the 'pain and sorrow/suffering' of the worldly condition and emphasizes the means by which to escape that. Christianity, on the other hand, would appear to emphasize the more positive attributes; one emphasizes the ways and means by which one can escape the world, the other, those ways and means by which one can better engage in this world.
As a result of Buddha's life and teaching, nirvana is the ultimate goal to be attained by Buddhists. Jesus, on the other hand, advocated for eternal life. There is no concept of "eternal life" in Buddhist mindset, thought, or philosophy; there is reincarnation, instead. Unless one wishes to make the (very broad) leap that Jesus somehow advocated (if not existsed) as a means by which to break the chain of samsara, June's just not getting the similarities between the two figures.
Buddha attained at "oneness" in his achieving nirvana, just as Jesus reunited with the Father in his resurrection. While this could perhaps be perceived as a similarity, there nonetheless exists such a vast difference between the two concepts, beginning with the very definition of 'mankind' in terms of orientation and mindset. The ultimate goal as advocated by Buddha entails an "inward" directiveness, as opposed to the 'outward' message advocated by Jesus.
If nothing else, the negation of the Divine would stand out in June's mind as the greatest dissimilarity. While both Buddha and Jesus advocated for, and taught similiar messages of love/loving-kindness and the means by which mankind could be 'redeemed' that concept of "redemption/salvation" is SO dissimiliar in both orientation and underlying philosophy.
So at the end of the day, June sees far more of that which Jesus and Buddha did NOT have in common than she does the similarities...
This post is filled with misspellings and poorly written, as June is late for work.
Take gentle Friday care.
June . . . this is a misunderstanding of the spiritual import of these two figures. The "religions" or "philosophies" that grew out of them are not similar at all being derivatives of the cultures and societal influences in which they evolved. Your discussion is more properly a comparative religion discussion . . . NOT a comparision of the spiritual attainments of the two figures. Guatama was less developed spiritually . . . but responding to the same source of enlightenment driving human spiritual evolution that eventually produced Jesus.
Gautama rejected the idea of permanence because of the reincarnation and seeming endless tedium of lives. He didn't trust God (essentially) and therefore didn't want ANY form of permanent entity or sense of self to endure . . . hence no "God." This is also why he did not succeed in achieving the spiritual development that he intuitively knew should be possible and would eventually manifest in the Maitreya . . . i.e. Jesus. It is our entrapment in the varied contexts of our worldly and carnal milieus created by human society that blinds us to the underlying spiritual template being manifested in the spiritual evolution of the species. In English . . . spiritual development has little to do with the societal context in which it exists.
Be well,
Mystic
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