If Jesus met Buddha on the Road... Posted by Sally on December 24, 1999 at 01:19:26:
In Reply to: A Christmas present for the class—the "unknown" Jesus. posted by The happy birthday boy. :-) on December 23, 1999 at 22:14:11:
"If Jesus Met the Buddha on the Road..."
by Paul A. Laughlin, Ph.D.
There is an old Zen koan or riddle that asks, "If you
meet the Buddha on the road, what should you do?" A variety of answers
have been offered to that question over the centuries, the most radical
and best known of which is: "Kill him!" Odd or outrageous as that
response sounds, given the principles of Buddhism, it makes perfect
sense -- in a Zen sort of way. But I pose to you a rather different
question: "If Jesus met the Buddha on the road, what would he do?"
That question is a timely one, for three books have
appeared recently with that very theme. The first is Vietnamese
Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh’s Living Buddha, Living Christ, which
draws parallels between the spirits and teachings of the two masters.
The second book, published just last year, is Jesus and Buddha: The
Parallel Sayings, by renowned New Testament Scholar Marcus Borg, which,
after a short introductory essay, merely juxtaposes similar sayings of
the two spiritual Masters. The third is The Good Heart: A Buddhist
Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus by The Dalai Lama. These three
books follow in the tradition of Two Masters, One Message: The Lives
and Teachings of Gautama and Jesus, published twenty years ago by
Canadian religion professor Roy C. Amore and documenting a century of
scholarly recognition of the incredible parallels between the careers
and messages of Jesus and the Buddha.
The parallels begin as the stories themselves do. After
incredibly long existences prior to their ultimate incarnations, both
Jesus and the Buddha were born of royal blood lines and of ritually
pure and chaste women (Mary and Maya), who had conceived miraculously
following heavenly nocturnal visitations and then gave birth while on a
journey. Those births were celebrated by celestial beings and
accompanied by unusual astronomical activity, and drew wise men from
afar to behold both infants and bestow them with precious gifts. Within
a week of each birth, an old seer beheld the infant at a naming
ceremony, and predicted great things for him. Only one canonical story
is told about the childhood of each Master, and in both cases, it is of
a young boy showing amazing knowledge beyond his years.
The events in the adult lives of Jesus and the Buddha
likewise show many similarities. Both began their ministries at about
age 30 with dramatic breaks from their respective communities,
families, and lives up to that point, immediately followed by a period
of self-denial and fasting in which each was tempted by a devil to
abandon the spiritual path for worldly things. Both men then took on
the role of itinerant spiritual master and teacher, living off the
hospitality of the villagers they visited, and sometimes associating
with the disreputable. Both attracted large crowds of hearers and
followers, but formed a smaller group of close disciples that itself
included an inner circle. Both Masters lived moderately -- unlike their
more ascetic, self-denying spiritual contemporaries -- and both
therefore drew harsh criticism for living too comfortably. Both
commended living simply and traveling light to their disciples, and
commissioned them to spread their messages with missionary zeal. Both
reportedly walked on water, and each helped a disciple to do so through
concentration or faith; and in both cases the disciple started to sink
until assisted by the Master. Both reportedly worked miracles of
multiplying food, each healed a blind man with moisture from his own
body and calmed a dangerous and threatening storm. Each experienced a
bodily transfiguration that made him appear supernaturally radiant.
Both asked for and received a drink of water from a ritually unclean
woman at a well; and both forgave and redeemed a thief. Both had a
disciple who was a slow learner, and who was later named the leader of
the community that would carry on the Master’s work. Each had a
disciple who plotted death against him.
The intentions of both Masters appear similar. Both worked
within a prevailing religious tradition and challenged and broke its
rituals and rules. Yet, neither appears to have been consciously
founding a new religion, both instead being intent on renewing the
religious and spiritual climate of their day. Nevertheless, both laid
the foundation for a spiritual revolution upon which an independent
religion would be built after his death. Neither wrote any scripture.
All we know about both Masters, therefore, was what was said about them
and remembered on their lips, then written down much later, much of
which consists of pithy sayings and miraculous doings.
The messages of Jesus and the Buddha show astounding
similarities. Both were teachers, not just of ethics, but of a
spiritual Wisdom that turned the attention of their audiences within
themselves. Both taught in indirect and sometimes puzzling ways,
including parables, metaphors, similes, and other comparisons. "Way"
or "Path" imagery was important in the teaching of both, as
were "Sight" and "Light." Neither attempted to make the spiritual path
sound easy: both said that their followers must give up security and
worldly things and break family ties. Both told their disciples to lay
up spiritual treasures that would be safe from theft, rather than
transitory material ones. Both told their followers to become as
children.. Both commended returning hatred with love, anger with
kindness, aggression with non-violence, and stinginess with generosity.
Both denounced adultery and judgmentalism, counseled contentment with
what one has, and told their disciples not to be anxious about food,
clothing, or shelter. Both specifically used sermon illustrations
involving birds, flowers, and trees, and the sowing of seeds. Both told
a story about a rich man with a prodigal son. Both delivered a
memorable sermon from a high place.
Finally, the two met similar ends. Both reportedly died
while consciously and symbolically absorbing the evils of the world
into themselves, thus sparing those around them much misery, and both
instructed their followers to forgive the persons responsible for their
deaths. The deaths of both were cosmic events, accompanied by
earthquakes. In dying, both reportedly conquered death; thus a symbol
of the death of each subsequently took on a positive meaning and became
emblematic for the religion that he inspired. Both men were venerated
as gods after their deaths.
There are differences in the life stories and teachings
of the two men, of course, as you would expect of individuals living in
different cultures, and particularly in different religious and
theological milieus. But these contextual differences really serve to
make the many similarities all the more striking.
Whatever the reasons for the parallels (still a matter of
much speculation and debate), they suggest an answer to our initial
question. What would Jesus do if he met the Buddha on the road? First,
he would recognize him as a spiritual brother or partner with much in
common, including a message and a mission. Second, they would celebrate
that commonality and minimize the rest. Third, they would learn from
each other whatever they could. And finally, should we happen along,
they would encourage us to join and follow them -- both of them -- on a
single Way, one with no fork in the Path, a Road that leads within.
Marcus Borg relates the story of his experience of being
in Viet Nam during our war there, not fighting Communism, but studying
Buddhism. He tells of visiting a monastery in the Mekong Delta, built
on an island by a man of peace known simply as "The Coconut Monk." He
recalls being surprised to find, on a hill at one end of the island,
two enormous 50-foot statues -- one of the standing Buddha and one of
Jesus, the two standing, embracing each other, and smiling. "While
helicopter gunships flew overhead and the war raged around us," he
says, "Buddha and Jesus stood there like brothers, expressing
compassion and healing for all who would follow in their way." That, it
seems to me, is what would happen if Jesus met the Buddha on the road.
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen monk who has been
living in exile in France ever since that same war, says that on his
personal altar he has statues of the Buddha and Jesus. "...every time I
light incense," he says, "I touch both of them as my spiritual
ancestors." "When we are still," he says, "looking deeply, and touching
the source of our true wisdom, we touch the living Buddha and the
living Christ in ourselves and in each person we meet." What could
better describe what New Thought Christianity is all about
than "touching the living Christ in ourselves and each person we meet"?
And, if beholding and touching the Buddha as well as the Christ in our
imaginations can help us to that goal of touching our inner divinity,
what a good thing to do!
SallySurfer;-)
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