Reconciliation between Buddhism and Christianity

• Fateemah

  26 Dec 07, 13:00

  This is what my friend told me:
  
  "The Jewish/Christian/Muslim god is the reincarnation of a great person, possibly a Philistine philanthropist or even the great Pharoah Tutakamen.
  
  As the lifespan of a god is typically 3000 to 6000 years, he made a last ditch effort to preserve his immortality by incarnating as a human being and left his legacy."
  
  Do you think it's plausible?
• An Eternal Now

  26 Dec 07, 13:15

  Actually, Buddhism's perspective and Abrahamic religions' understanding is very different in terms of belief in a theistic God.
  
  You do not hear concepts of there being a theistic, personal, creator/God in Buddhism. This concept is being rejected by the Buddha, and I will be posting something I wrote in the past for you to understand better:
  
  First of all Buddhism does not accept the Judeo-Christian or Brahmanist (certain school of Hinduism) or other theistic world religions' idea that there is a personal Creator. Personal God/creator means the Old Testament kind of God that has a personality of its own.. and you can actually meet him up for coffee . If there is a personal Creator it brings a lot of questions into mind. Therefore, Albert Einstein said,
  
  "Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity"
  
  and..
  
  “If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.”
  
  Regarding the question of Personal God in Buddhism,
  
  

  Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
  
  Slightly edited from the first topic in our forum regarding Creationism: How the Brahma believed He was God?
  
  In Buddha's days there were many many different teachings, one popular one was Brahmanism. In fact the Brahma was still worshipped nowadays. Brahma was known to be "The Supreme One, the All-mighty, the All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of All".
  
  In Buddhism, the Mahabrahma resides in the 1st Jhana plane, the first plane among the 8 jhanic planes. There were higher realms above where he lives that he was unaware of, and above it all, beyond the 8 Jhanic planes and all Samsaric planes, is Nirvana. Nevertheless all the devas below the 1st Jhana planes considered him as the Creator God. Buddha did not subscribe to the belief of such a notion that the Universe and its Inhabitants were the Creation of the Mahabrahma. He met with the Brahma, asked him questions which he could not answer. Eventually he has taken refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
  
  The Buddha was also known to have said this,
  
  If the creator of the world entire
  They call God, of every being be the Lord
  Why does he order such misfortune
  If the creator of the world entire
  They call God, of every being be the Lord
  Why prevail deceit, lies and ignorance
  And he such inequity and injustice create?
  If the creator of the world entire
  They call God, of every being be the Lord
  Then an evil master is he, (O Aritta)
  Knowing what's right did let wrong prevail!
  
  When the previous universe was destroyed and this universe was formed, the Mahabrahma was first to be reborn. Other subsequent brahmas/devas were to be reborn.
  
  'On this, brethren, the one who was first reborn thinks thus to himself: " I am Brahmà, the Great Brahmà, the Supreme One, the Mighty, the All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of all, appointing to each his place, the Ancient of days the Father of all that are and are to be. 'These other beings are of my creation. And why is that so? A while ago I thought, 'Would that they might come!' And on my mental aspiration, behold the beings came." DN 1 2:5
  
  In reality, the universe works by the law of Karma and he has no control over the system of karma.
  
  The Venerable Ledi Sayadaw, a highly renowned Myanmar scholar-monk of the first part of this century, gave a careful analysis of the powers of Maha Brahma in his Niyama Dipani (MB pp. 138-39). He states that although Maha Brahma can perform all sorts of transformations, he cannot actually create independent creatures, change the kammic law of cause and effect, or keep anyone from growing old or dying. Brahma can use his special powers to transport a man to the brahma plane for a short visit, but he cannot ensure that someone will be reborn there.
  
  from http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol5no3f.htm:
  
  When he came to know about Sakyamuni Buddha in the human world who speaks of the universal truth, he was curious and arrived at the human world with the intention to debate with the Buddha. The Buddha, with his ability to know another's mind, knew his intention and asked, "You claim to be the creator of the human race and all things in the universe, is this a fact?"
  
  The king replied, "Yes, it is."
  
  Buddha continued to question him, "Since you created life, why did you also create death? Is death created by you too?"
  
  The king paused for while, and thinking that everyone loves life and nobody welcomes death, he replied, "I did not create death."
  
  Buddha asked him again, "All human beings experience sickness, did you create sickness also?" The king knew that nobody likes to be ill, and he replied, "I did not create illness."
  
  Buddha asked many questions in succession, but the king denied that he created them. Eventually, he admitted that he did not create the universe and all things in it, and certainly not the human race. The king of heavens was full of regrets and he felt ashamed. Finally, he accepted Buddha as his teacher and invited Him to spread the Dharma in the heavens.

• An Eternal Now

  26 Dec 07, 13:16

  (continued from previous post)
  
  

  http://www.mahindarama.com/e-library/whybuddhism2.html
  
  "To those who talked about the first cause of this world, the Buddha responded by saying that it is impossible to find a first cause since everything is changing, interdependent and conditioned by other things. Something that acts as the cause in the present may become the effect in the future. Later that same effect may again become the cause. Such phenomenon continues ad infinitum. It is called the universal law of Anicca or impermanency.”
  
  However, Buddhism is largely Agnostic rather than Atheist. We believe that pondering over such things brings no benefits at all to our spiritual practice, enlightenment, and liberation from samsara.
  
  Kinds of speech to be avoided by contemplatives
  
  "Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, are addicted to talking about lowly topics such as these -- talking about kings, robbers, ministers of state; armies, alarms, and battles; food and drink; clothing, furniture, garlands, and scents; relatives; vehicles; villages, towns, cities, the countryside; women and heroes; the gossip of the street and the well; tales of the dead; tales of diversity [philosophical discussions of the past and future], the creation of the world and of the sea, and talk of whether things exist or not -- he abstains from talking about lowly topics such as these. This, too, is part of his virtue.
  
  "Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, are addicted to debates such as these -- 'You understand this doctrine and discipline? I'm the one who understands this doctrine and discipline. How could you understand this doctrine and discipline? You're practicing wrongly. I'm practicing rightly. I'm being consistent. You're not. What should be said first you said last. What should be said last you said first. What you took so long to think out has been refuted. Your doctrine has been overthrown. You're defeated. Go and try to salvage your doctrine; extricate yourself if you can!' -- he abstains from debates such as these. This, too, is part of his virtue."
  
  -- DN 2
  
  Ten wholesome topics of conversation
  
  "There are these ten topics of [proper] conversation. Which ten? Talk on modesty, on contentment, on seclusion, on non-entanglement, on arousing persistence, on virtue, on concentration, on discernment, on release, and on the knowledge & vision of release. These are the ten topics of conversation. If you were to engage repeatedly in these ten topics of conversation, you would outshine even the sun & moon, so mighty, so powerful -- to say nothing of the wanderers of other sects."
  
  -- AN X.69
  
  -------
  
  "Malunkhyaputta Sutta stresses that whether the universe was created or uncreated, finite or infinite, is irrelevant to our main spiritual concerns: the cause and cessation of suffering:
  
  "Therefore Malunkhyaputta, bear the undeclared as undeclared. Malunkhyaputta, what are the not declared? The world is eternal, is not declared by me. The world is not eternal, is not declared by me. They are not essential for the principles of the holy life, they do not lead to turning away, to detachment, to cessation, to appeasement, to realisation, to enlightenment and to extinction. Malunkhyaputta, what are the declared by me? This, is unpleasant, is declared. This, is its arising, is declared. This, is its cessation is declared. This is the path to its cessation, is declared. Malunkhyaputta, why are these declared by me? These are the essentials for the principles of the holy life; they lead to turning away, to detachment, to cessation, to appeasement, to realisation, to enlightenment and to extinction. Malunkhyaputta, I declare them." MN 64"

  Therefore in Buddhism, the question of God is irrelevant and not given importance. Instead, like a scientist, the Buddha encouraged the Buddhist practitioners to find out for themselves the truths that the Buddha said, to put it to test, and to see for ourselves, and to get enlightened. Buddhism does not encourage any blind belief and dogmas (see Kalama Sutra), and also encourages analytical questioning -- whether this teaching actually helps us.
  
  

  Kalama Sutra
  
  "Rely not on the teacher/person, but on the teaching. Rely not on the words of the teaching, but on the
  spirit of the words. Rely not on theory, but on experience.Do not believe in anything simply because you
  have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do
  not believe anything because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because it is
  written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and
  elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is
  conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."
  
  - the Buddha
  
  Note: this is just a summary, please read the entire sutra here: http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/resources/kalama_sutra.html

  There are countless enlightened persons from Buddha's times till today, some of them even posting in this forum (not me), who have awakened to the ultimate reality and seen for themselves the truths that the Buddha taught. Beliefs in divine etc are not important and irrelevant in Buddhism, Buddhism being a man-centered (means having great love and compassion for all sentient being, as well as to practise for one's own spiritual development) rather than God-centered teaching, which is a reason why it is the only religion that does not have a history of having fought religious wars, --
  
  

  Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
  No fanaticism
  
  Of Buddhism alone can it be affirmed it is free from all fanaticism. Its aim being to produce in every man a thorough internal transforming by self-conquest, how can it have recourse to might or money or even persuasion for effecting conversion? The Buddha has only shown the way to salvation, and it is left to each individual to decide for himself if he would follow it.
  
  - Prof. Lakshmi Narasu, "The Essence of Buddhism"