Expert: Joe McSorley - 6/11/2006

Question
I wondered what Bhuddists believed about Jesus. I am a Roman Catholic and so I believe in God as the Trinity and that Jesus is like a designated driver, the safe most certain way to get to heaven. I know Muslims believe he was a prophet and Jews believe he was just a historical figure. I wondered what the Bhuddist teaching is. I also wondered what the best books on meditation are. I heard the Dalai Lama speak and thought he was a fabulous person.  

Answer
Hi Michael,
 This is a question I've been asked many times. There is really nothing similar between the lives of Yeshua (Jesus, the Christ) and Siddhartha (the historical Buddha) nor is there any official Buddhist stance on the historical Christ.  They are separated both by history and geography, Buddhism being 500 years before the birth of the historical Christ.
  The historical Buddha was born in 563 AD in the city of Kapilavatsu, 160 miles northeast of Benares, India.  Technically speaking Buddhism is not a religion, it is not theistic and does not have an external means of salvation.  In Buddhism one’s awakening and redemption is all through self effort alone.  Historically speaking Buddhism came about because of the life of the Prince Gautama Siddhartha, who at age 29, encountered for the first time suffering, sickness and death and  wanted to find an answer to the cause of suffering for humans.  He tried to lose himself in the pleasures of the world but found no solace.  He then became an ascetic and this too yielded no answers.  After many years of searching and frustration he finally sat under a tree and declared that he would not move until he understood the solution.  According to legend, several days later, as he glanced up at the morning star his mind became clear and he was enlightened.  From this he postulated the Four Noble truths of Buddhism:
Life (human) is dukkha . (suffering, with no apparent cause),  There is a cause for the suffering. ( avidya or ignorance.), the cause can be abated, and there is a path ( Margo yoga).  What the crux of this is that our minds do not see reality clearly, we do not know who we are, both to ourselves and in relation to the universe.  The cause for this is ignorance of ourselves as egos that blinds us to seeing beyond ourselves.  This can be remedied.  And there are many ways to do this, such as yoga, contemplation, self examination, etc.  When one realizes the true nature of reality, often called ‘seeing things as they are’, one has an identical experience to the historical Buddha so there is no hierarchy.  The word ‘buddha’ means ‘awakened one’ so anyone can become a buddha.  
Buddhism is the religion of self awakening while in Christianity salvation is through the historical Jesus as evidenced in the idea that ‘none come to the Father but through me’ as is taught in the Bible.
   Jesus taught a moral and ethical code and belonged to a lineage of preachers in the Judaic tradition.  He did not teach any of the precepts of Buddhism and believed in a creator that was God.  His teachings are more anthropomorphic than Buddhism; man is a apart from the universe and unto himself and separate from God and created by God in his image. To Buddhism humanity is a concept created by humans.  We separate ourselves from each other, the world and the Universe when in fact we are an expression of the Universe or nature like everything else is.  We are not a separate creation but interdependently co-originate with all things.  In the East the equation might look like this: man=nature=man but in Christianity it  would be: God/ man/ nature, all separate from one another.  The Christian concept of humanity is as independently created and separate from God and nature, never equaling God or approaching God but under God and subservient to God.  This is a very anthropomorphic view of this dichotomy while in the East anthropomorphism would have to be abandoned as an incorrect viewpoint.  In Buddhism man is no more ‘sacred’ then anything else, he is as important as all creations and all creations all mutually defining.  Creation itself is a bad word to use, in the East it would be all things arise simultaneously.  One thing defines the other.  It is man’s attachment to self or ego that creates his problem according to Buddhism, that he sees himself as separate and alienated.  When he is awakened he sees that this was an illusion and that his life is an expression of all life and being and beyond.  In Christianity man’s problem is that he offended God and must return to his good graces.  He can only do this through God and his son.  The God of the old testament is involved in all the mundane matters of man from war to marital affairs and actually lead man into war.  Buddhism does not get involved in this as it considers the affairs of man as myopic and problematic arising from ignorance and egotism.  Man must rise above his desires and see that his perspective is skewed and does not see true reality.  Again there is no savior in Buddhism and all salvation/awakening is self achieved and not by the grace of some other.
  There are many types of mediation from the Indian versions to Zen and they can be very different.  It’s according to what you want to get out of it which one you would choose so I don’t know what to recommend to you.
  I hope this helps you.
        Take care,
                Joe