The World According to Jesus - and the Buddha
Reverend Benjamin Maucere
First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA
In December, there is a holiday celebrating a great holy man - a savior. Stories are told of his miraculous birth: His mother, the Queen, had a dream. From the sky a brilliant white light shone down on her. In the light was a magnificent elephant - pure white, with six tusks. The elephant flew closer and closer to her, then melted into her body. The wise men of the court wisely avoided Freudian interpretation and said that the dream announced the birth of a son whose greatness would benefit the entire world.
When he was born, four angels held out a golden net to receive him. The angels placed him before his mother, saying, "Rejoice, O queen, a mighty son has been born unto thee." The new-born baby immediately walked seven steps, an omen foretelling that his teachings would be received far and wide. Rainbows appeared in the sky. A sense of well-being pervaded the world. Everywhere people forgot their quarrels and felt great friendship and love for one another. A wandering holy man named Asita saw the baby and told his parents their son was destined for greatness - either as a king or as a religious teacher. The baby grew up and founded one of the world's major religions.
December 8 was Bodhi-day - the celebration of the day that Siddhartha was enlightened, re-born as the Buddha. Since Jesus' birthday is coming up, I wanted to invite the Buddha to the party - to consider their lives and ministries.
We know a lot more about the life of Buddha than we do of Jesus. Basically, Jesus was born in Palestine in about the year 5 in the Common Era, grew up uneventfully as far as we know, was baptized, traveled and preached, healed, and died.
Siddhartha Gotama was born in about the year 563 before the Common Era. He grew up in a palace, shielded from the world's misfortunes by his father who was worried about Asita's prophesy and wanted his son to become King - not an itinerant holy beggar. The palace was filled with the young, the healthy and the beautiful. But Siddhartha couldn't stay in the palaces forever - and as a young man, he traveled and saw for the first time an old person, a sick person, and a corpse. He was so moved his discovery of our common human fate that he left the palace, determined to find a way out of suffering.
He studied with two Brahmin teachers, and learned much. Then he joined a group of five men who practiced the harshest yogic disciplines. He sat outdoors for hours and hours, in blazing summer and the chill of winter. He ate only the few seeds and berries that blew into his lap. It is said that he starved himself to the point that he could feel his spine from the front, and that after sitting on the ground his imprint looked like a camel's footprint.
He became so weak that he almost drowned in a river while bathing - and he realized that, after six years of striving, he was no nearer to his goal. He understood that between the luxury of palace pleasures and harsh self-punishment there must be a middle way. He began eating normally, alienating his companions but regaining strength and mental clarity, then sat under the Bodhi tree until he received his great revelation of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
There are a number of similarities between Jesus and the Buddha. Both were precocious children. You may know that there's a bible story of Joseph and Mary going to Jerusalem for the Passover festival and losing Jesus. It takes them three days to find him - he's in the temple, [quote] sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. (Luke 2:46-7.)
In the Buddha story his father, a king, brings the wisest teachers in the kingdom to instruct the young Siddhartha, but after a few days they report to the king, [quote] "Your Majesty, the Prince does not need us anymore. After a few lessons he has learned everything we have to teach him. In fact, he has begun teaching us!" (The Story of Buddha.)
Jesus began his ministry at about age 27. Siddhartha began his quest for enlightenment at about age 29. Prior to their ministries, both were tempted by the Devil - Jesus in the desert, Buddha under the Bodhi tree. Both ministries began as reform movements - Jesus and Judaism, Buddha and Hinduism.
Both had 12 primary disciples, each had a former prostitute as a follower (A Buddhist Bible,p 14)
Both traveled, preaching to large crowds, both used stories and parables - in fact, both had a mustard-seed parable: Jesus' about how the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, it starts out tiny, but it's hard to control and can overrun a field. The Buddha's was in his response to a woman mad with grief at the death of her child. She implores the Buddha to brings her child back to life. "I will help you," he says. All I need is a tiny mustard seed - but you need to get it from a home where no one has ever died." She can't, of course. All the homes had been touched by death.
One renounced a kingdom, the other said his kingdom was not of this world.
They both emphasized deeds over creeds: One said, "Those who say you see me and yet have transgressed the Dharma, are not seen by me, but as though you were distant by ten thousand miles, whereas one who keeps the Dharma dwells ever at my sight."
The other: "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I tell you? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house." (Luke 6:46-9)
Both preached that we must return hatred with love. There were, of course, major differences: Buddha was born to royalty, married and had a son, and was an atheist. Jesus - well, you know. Buddha's ministry spanned 45 years, during which he founded monastic orders and generated an enormous body of religious texts. Jesus' ministry lasted only three years, and he left only a scattered band of followers and no written records.
So who was the greater religious leader? I've thought about some criteria.
If you consider consistency, Buddha. The words attributed to Jesus in the Gospels are frequently contradictory: sometimes he's God, sometimes not, sometimes he preaches peace, then he says he came not to bring peace but a sword.
If you consider coherence, Buddha again. Buddha taught a systematic and rational understanding of the world and how to live in it. Jesus, to be blunt, didn't.
How about ease of use? Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven, but didn't present a roadmap, just teased us with hints. The Buddha spoke of Nirvana, and explained in excruciating detail how it is to be achieved.
Intentionality? Buddha. He founded a religion to replace Hinduism. There's conflicting evidence regarding Jesus' intention, it probably was not to found an alternative to Judaism. Jesus was a Jew to the end.
Stability? Buddhism has divided into sects and factions, but it's essentially as Buddha saw it. In Jesus' case, the religion was founded later, by others, and has changed significantly. Still, his core teachings remain.
Size? There are about two billion Christians to Buddha's 360 million. Score one for Jesus!
Who would you rather invite to dinner? I'd go with Jesus on this one. Not just because Buddha was a teetotaling vegetarian - I know some perfectly delightful teetotaling vegetarians. But Jesus just had to be more fun. I mean, he went to a lot of parties: his first miracle was turning water into wine, right? He even says that some people considered him a drunkard and a glutton. I wouldn't go that far, but he did enjoy a good time.
What about the social justice aspect? This is a tough one, but here, I'm going with Jesus. Let's look at the first sermon preached by each:.
Now this, monks, is the noble truth of pain:birth is painful; old age is painful;sickness is painful; death is painful;sorrow, lamentation, dejection, and despair are painful.Contact with unpleasant things is painful;not getting what one wishes is painful.In short the five groups of grasping are painful.Now this, monks, is the noble truth of the cause of pain:the craving, which leads to rebirth,combined with pleasure and lust,finding pleasure here and there,namely the craving for passion,the craving for existence,and the craving for non-existence.Now this, monks, is the noble truthof the cessation of pain:the cessation without a remainder of craving,the abandonment, forsaking, release, and non-attachment.Now this, monks, is the noble truthof the way that leads to the cessation of pain:this is the noble eightfold path, namely,correct understanding, correct intention, correct speech, correct action, correct livelihood,correct attention, correct concentration,and correct meditation. (A Buddhist Bible)
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19.)
For each, that first sermon lays out the central concern of their ministries.
The Buddha focused on the issue of individual suffering, Jesus on communal suffering - justice. He spoke of wealth and poverty, of feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison.
The Buddha's admonition that you should "be a lamp unto your self" is just not as compelling to me as "the kingdom of God is among you." (Luke 17:21)
Buddha's four noble truths do not have the power, for me, of Jesus' "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22: 37-9)
But, lucky us, Unitarian Universalists don't have to pick only one religious truth. I can draw from the Buddha's insights into the nature of self, of craving and attachment, I can walk the eightfold path. I can practice Buddhist meditation to help me be more fully present in this world, and devote myself to improving it. I'm sure that both Jesus and Buddha would approve. AMEN.
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