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WHY THE BUDDHA WOULD LOVE JESUS
Matthew Anderson, D.Min.
Ravi Zacharias, a highly respected, contemporary Christian apologist has written a very
interesting ( and very brief )book about an imaginary dialogue between the Buddha and Jesus. I
found the book insightful and fun but, in my opinion, Ravi did not take the dialogue far enough.
Here are my thoughts on what I think would really occur if Jesus and Buddha had an actual
conversation.
As many of you know, I spent much of the last 40 years, away from Christianity in search of
spiritual truth and inspiration. I found quite a bit in Buddhism, especially in Zen and Tibetan
Buddhism (Dalai Lama especially). There is a beautiful saying that “Buddhism is a bird that flies
on two wings; wisdom and compassion.” It touched my heart when I first heard it and it does
today as I write these words. Buddhism is full of wisdom and great compassion for those who
suffer. It is also a religion that avoids violence and promotes peace and non-retaliation.
I will not attempt to list all the blessings and wonders of Buddhism here. They are many. My
point is simply this. In the end, Buddhism is lacking certain essentials that Jesus provides. I am
convinced that were the Buddha to meet Him, he (the Buddha) would immediately recognize
these and become a devoted follower of Christ.
I know that this is a seemingly outrageous assertion. I do not mean it to be an insult to my
Buddhist friends. They have all been good and kind to me. However, it is a thought that I have
given quite a bit of consideration to and I think this is a good time to share them. I am certainly
willing to interact with any serious thinker who finds difficulties in my position on this subject.
So let’s get to the heart of this matter. Why do I think the Buddha would become a follower of
Jesus?
Born somewhere between 563 BC and 483 BC in India, Siddhārtha Gautama rejected his riches
and native Hinduism, set out on an intense journey to find the source and solution to suffering
and thus became known as the awakened one. He was enlightened at age 29 and spent the
next 45 years as a spiritual teacher. He never claimed to be anything other than human and
died around the age of 80.
If one gives honest attention to the teachings of the Buddha, it will become obvious that he was
truly gifted in his insights into much of the difficulties of life. He dedicated himself to teaching
his followers how to forsake all attachments (a significant idea in Buddhism), treat all humans
with compassion and seek release from the cycle of birth and death through good action and
meditation.
The Buddha rejected Hinduism for many reasons including the belief in the caste system that
still plagues India today. While he did not call himself an atheist (this was not a word in use in
his time) he did not teach about a god of any kind. Instead he taught that life was suffering (see
below, Four Noble Truths) and the source of this suffering was attachment or craving. He
encouraged his disciples to let go of any attachments to people, places and things and to seek
release from the pain of life through spiritual practices. God, in any fashion, was not and is not
today, part of his teaching.
So if the Buddha was awakened/enlightened then why would he want, need or even consider
following Jesus?
The simple answer (I will expand on this below) to this question is: simply because he WAS
enlightened. Yes, it is possible to be a Christian and acknowledge that the Buddha was
enlightened. Keep reading and you will understand this and I hope agree with me.
Enlightenment means, in brief, that the veils of life are removed and that we can see what
really is. The Buddha believed he saw the cause of suffering and the path to release from its
hold on all humanity. Here is a story about how he often dealt with this issue.
One day a woman in great distress came to the Buddha. She told him that her 10 year old son
had died and begged the “lord Buddha” to revive him from the dead. The Buddha looked upon
her with great compassion and said, “I will do as you ask if you do one thing first. Bring me a
sesame seed from a household that has not experienced loss.” The woman felt great hope at
first. Every household had sesame seeds. This should be an easy task. But all day she searched
and every home told her they had lost a brother, a son, a daughter, a father or a mother. The
losses were endless. At the end of the day she returned to the Buddha with a new acceptance
of the reality of suffering and its presence in all life. She became his disciple and followed him
for the rest of her days.
I have found comfort in this story on many occasions. It does not offer hope but it helps me to
accept the fact that hard times come to all of us whether we are Christian, Buddhist or agnostic.
Life has its difficulties. The Buddha, because he was enlightened, seemed to face and know this
better than anyone. He also knew that he was not divine and could not offer a divine solution
to the suffering that life brings. In a sense the Buddha realized his limitations and could only
offer a path built on human behavior. He taught that each person holds the key to his or her
release from the dukkha (suffering) of life. We have no place to go but within our own beings
for a solution.
The Buddha’s solution, however, holds quite a few difficulties. The journey to enlightenment is
extremely hard. There is an old Buddhist saying “it takes 10,000 life times to reach
enlightenment”. Remember, the Buddha also believed in a form of reincarnation (not the new
age variety, although many of them do not know this). To be fair, the Buddhist also teach that
we have everything we need to be enlightened right in front of us at every moment. But it
could take quite a while to realize that…….maybe…..probably many lifetimes.
I imagine that, from a Westerner’s viewpoint of “make it happen right now ” this attitude about
enlightenment has some drawbacks. But the Buddha’s given (human) and chosen (he rejected
the gods of Hinduism) limitations left him with few options and his solution was incredibly
insightful under the circumstances. He saw no other path and he committed himself to it
completely.
Now enters Jesus.
There is a story in the New Testament about a child who died. Here is the abbreviated version.
You can read the entire story in Matthew 5:21-43.
A man named Jairus came to Jesus and begged him to come and save his dying daughter. Jesus
agreed but was delayed on the way because he healed a bleeding woman. When he arrived, he
was told that the little girl was dead. He went immediately to her and brought her back to life
and “they were completely astonished”.
In all the four Gospels there is no account of Jesus ever refusing to heal anyone of any illness
including death. Not one. In fact, overcoming death is a central part of his message to his
disciples and to all who followed him. Jesus saw the suffering in life and he was deeply affected
by it. However, unlike the Buddha, he did not bow to its power. He overcame it. When
confronted with the death of a child, he did not say, “We all must accept the harshness of life.
Look around and see that everyone experiences this. Life is suffering and if you want to get out
of this terrible thing we call life then you must work and work and work for years and even life
times to find release.” No! He said nothing of the kind.
Imagine for a moment that Jesus and the Buddha are standing at the bedside of a dead child.
Both would feel compassion. I am certain of this. But only Jesus would see an immediate and
life-transforming solution that would be activated by faith (see Matthew 5:36) and not endless
works as prescribed by the Buddha.
I am convinced that the Buddha was enlightened and a man of incredible insight into life. If he
had been, even for a moment, in Jesus’ presence, he would have immediately recognized that
he was face to face with living Truth. He would see instantly that hope based in love is better
than an almost cynical acceptance of the pain of life and that faith based on a living God is far
more effective than trust in one’s own individual power as a human being.
Yes, he might have a bit of hesitation when introduced to the idea of a God who cares about
every individual so much that he came and lived among us and sacrificed His only son so that
our suffering caused not by craving but by separation from God could be healed forever. But, I
believe all this would be overcome as he looked upon the face of the only true Master life has
ever known. His eyes, so accustomed to seeking truth, would recognize it when he saw Him.
I think that the Buddha would also recognize the following:
The God that comes to us in the living presence of Christ is far superior to the vast varieties of
gods that Hinduism offers. This God is One and cannot be compared to the confusing panoply
of Hindu deities.
This God loves us so much that He was willing to offer the supreme sacrifice of His only Son as a
way to save us from all suffering and even death. Enlightenment pales in every way when
compared to this offering. We not only receive peace but we also get life and joy and we get it
forever.
This can all be accomplished today in this moment, right now in the present by faith: Faith
alone and not in any fashion by doing, by being good or righteous. Faith in Christ is the solution
to all the difficulties that the Buddha exposed as central to life. Faith in Christ is the answer to
dukkha.
Grace from God who loves us, in my opinion, would be astoundingly appealing to the Buddha.
Why? Because of the vow of the bodhisattva. Oh boy! A new term this far into this rather long
article? Yes, but it is worth it. Hang in with me.
The Vow of the Bodhisattva is a vow made by a Buddhist who has reached enlightenment and
who can, by his or her achievement, leave the cycle of birth and death. This person vows to
return to the cycle of birth and death over and over and over again until all beings reach
enlightenment. It is an incredible act of self-sacrifice and compassion. I believe that the
Buddha would recognize the similarities between this vow and what Jesus has done and see
that Jesus has done it once and for all. It does not need to be repeated. And because of his
great compassion for humanity, the Buddha would see that Jesus is the supreme bodhisattava
(if we are to speak in Buddhist terms) and no other is needed.
Ok, end of story. Yes, I could go on about this for a very long time but I will not. I hope that
these few words have helped each of you as God sees fit. As usual, I would love to hear your
responses. [email protected]
In Christ. Matthew Anderson.
BUDDHA’S FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
1. "This is the noble truth of dukkha (SEE BELOW): birth is dukkha, aging is
dukkha, illness is dukkha, death is dukkha; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair
are dukkha; union with what is displeasing is dukkha; separation from what is pleasing
is dukkha; not to get what one wants is dukkha; in brief, the five aggregates subject
to clinging are dukkha."
2. "This is the noble truth of the origin of dukkha: it is this craving which leads to renewed
existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there, that is,
craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination."
3. "This is the noble truth of the cessation of dukkha: it is the remainderless fading away
and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from
it, nonreliance on it."
4. "This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of dukkha: it is the Noble
Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right
livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration."
*dukkha (suffering, anxiety, stress)