dose anyone else think that jesus has a lot in common with budda?

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spacebeast13

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i have read a lot about jesus on the internet and other places and think his teachings are more like Buddhism than Judaism or islam who both preach an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth . If you think im wrong that's ok but look here before you say im wrong http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/beliefs/jesusandbuddhism_1.shtml http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD_xxQe2sVs
 
I think they are very similar, yes. :] My mother has a theory that they may have even either known each other or been the same person at some point. Like, Jesus traveled, and in traveling to a different area, was called by a different name. That's a stretch though :]

Either way, they both had amazing visions, and were both amazing people.
 
There are similarities between many religious leaders - though their corresponding religions often diverge after they die.

There are also major differences. Jesus emphasises putting your faith in God, Buddha doesn't believe that is a Supreme Being (though some branches of contemporary Buddhism believe in Gods). The last words the Buddha is supposed to have said are "Be a light unto yourself" i.e. work out your own way to salvation.

Perhaps the main difference is the Buddhist emphasis on a way of life rather than the Christian one of belief in a set of dogmas. Most Buddhists would say there are many ways to nirvana - Christian, Muslim, etc. But of course both religions have their fundamentalist - so they have that in common.

The theory that Jesus and Buddha may have met is unlikely given that the Buddha died some 400 years before Jesus was born.

City_Girls comments about sexual abuse having nothing to do with the teaching of either figure. It happens (see link) but it is clear that it is directly against Buddhist teaching and a member of the Sangha would be expelled if found guilty. All religions have members who practice sexual abuse - it isn't unknown in Christianity - but neither religion supports it.
 
I am an ordained Buddhist priest and I want that known right from the start before I share my thoughts.

1. I absolutely do not believe any of those old Russian hoaxes about Jesus having been in India. There is absolutely no real evidence for such a claim. Even if someone named "Yeshua" had been in India that is no big deal as it was a common name and there was trade between India and the Roman Empire at that time. So would it have been possible? Sure. Likely? No, not if Jesus was in fact merely the son of a carpenter and not of, say, a merchant or a scribe.

2. There is absolutely no reason to try to derive Jesus teachings from Buddhism. A near contemporary of Jesus, Hillel, also taught about a loving God and about mercy and compassion and no one ever ties to claim he went to India. The fact is that just about everything Jesus taught has precedents for it in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the religious and spiritual climate of 1st century CE Israel. You don't need to be Indian or Buddhist to have an insight into the true nature of reality or to realize that love and compassion is perhaps better than vengeance and feuding, and that if there is a God it is better to relate to God or Ultimate Reality as a loving presence, like a father (Jesus used the word "abba" or "daddy") rather than as some kind of petty dictator (or even a Roman Emperor). Read some of Shelby Spong's books about Jesus and you will see how Jesus was in fact very much a Jewish sage.

3. Even from the Buddhist side there is the teaching that there are pratyekabuddhas (solitary buddhas) who awaken to the truth in lands and times where there is no Buddha Dharma. Or from the Mahayana point of view the bodhisattvas can appear anywhere, even in lands and times where there is no Buddha Dharma. They do not teach the four noble truths or dependent origination, but they do demonstrate kindness and compassion, generosity and detachment, in a skillful way that accords with the culture of the land and time they appear in, but they are not self-consciously Buddhists.

4. There are parables of Jesus that sound similar to Buddhist parables. This may be just coincidence, and in fact the parables do have significant differences in detail and even overall intent. It may also be that certain stories traveled the trade routes from China to India to the Roman Empire and teachers and storytellers in all lands drew upon this common stock of stories. I think that is very possible. As an example, compare the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible with the story of prodigal son in the Lotus Sutra and you will see the similarity but also the differences.

5. People do not give Judaism enough credit. They read the wrathful God portions of the Hebrew Scriptures but never seem to pay much attention to the parts that Jesus himself honed in on - esp. the more universalizing and justice centered teachings of the prophets like Isaiah. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles also contain books like The Book of WIsdom and Ecclesiasticus which shows the direction Judaism was moving during the times of Hellenization and the Roman occupation. Judaism was transforming from a tribal law code or the religion of a small kingdom into a more cosmopolitan wisdom tradition (though that is oversimplifying a bit perhaps), and this especially true of the rabbinical Judaism that developed after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romand in 70 CE. In fact, I think it is kind of anti-Semitic to constantly claim that Jesus was more of a Buddhist rather than a Jewish sage of his time.

Would I like to be able to claim Jesus as a crypto-Buddhist? Sure I would, but I think that it is a completely irresponsible and unnecessary move to make. I think there is no evidence for it, it overlooks the actual sources in the Jewish tradition and culture of the time, and I suspect anti-Semitic motivations for the original hoaxes. I think such a claim, in the end, does a disservice to both Jesus and to Buddhism and glosses over some pretty significant differences, whereas the similarities can be accounted for by a common human nature that is at heart insightful and compassionate.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
 
Jesus was Buddhist in a sense.
http://humanity-philosophy.blogspot.com/
 
Jesus came to India and got lot of knowledge about Peace, Meditation etc in Kashmir.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_years_of_Jesus#Jesus_in_India
 
I, through studies, have noted the similarities in teachings and closeness in parables that both taught. So I agree with you.
 
Yes. Many of their philosophies were the same, but many scholars believe that Jesus went to hide out and learn from a Buddhist temple during his missing years.
 
Sure, Buddha fed thousands while he taught against materialism, didn't he? And didn't Buddha also heal thousands of people as well? And, isn't it an historical fact that he also raised the dead and in fact, didn't he also come back from the grave and stay on the earth another 40 days?

Nope.

Buddha did none of those things.

Buddhists initiate their monks with illicit sex with children. No wonder child sex trafficking is such a major problem in countries where buddhism is the major religion.

Jesus on the other hand said if anyone were to harm one hair on the head of a child it would be better for that person to be fitted with a millstone and thrown into the sea.
 
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