Is Jesus Actually Buddha?

[jinc1019]

I am not sure if you have heard this argument before, but someone recently argued with me that Christianity, and possibly even parts of the Old Testament, are nothing more than borrowed stories and traditions about Buddha with name-changes to fit the Jewish perspective of the writers. Obviously I don't believe this...but some people have written rather extensive articles on it (I have included one below) and some of the claims are definitely interesting, especially those claims about the simalarities of parables, stories, and names of apostles, etc. between Jesus and Buddha. Has anyone actually done any research on this?

[jinc1019]

Here is a link making some of the arguments:

http://www.jesusisbuddha.com/Q.html

and another as well that I think is more interesting:

http://www.jesusisbuddha.com/pope.html

[constantconvert]

That first link looks to me like an incoherent argument for a book that doesn't exist. So in answer to your question, I'm going to go with "no"

[George Stegmeir]

Pish tish, Poppy-cock, and fiddle de dee! No intelligent, well educated person would fall for such nonsense!
The references cited are a clear example of someone trying to lure unsophisticated and uninformed people into believing something false.

[Allen2Saint]

Yeah, there are some pretty big differences in the points of view. The Buddha, though wise, taught a way of avoiding suffering through detachment, whereas Christianity, especially Catholicism, sees suffering very differently. Christ accepted suffering as, in my view, He knew we ourselves would experience it.

The list goes on and on. I think we as Christians agree with Buddhists on many things and I have always been welcomed by Tibetans, for instance, but theologically speaking, we're very different.

[PazzoGrande]

I heard this before, but the thing is, the two guys lived like 500 years apart.

Their life stories are different. Buddha was a wealthy prince who only saw how the world was when he left the palace. Jesus was born part of the poor world.

Also their theology is different. You cannot be a Christian atheist, but you can be a Buddhist atheist -- big difference there.

[InspiritCarol]

You'd not be so easily confused if you had a basic grasp of the religious premises.

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/reli...ns-summary.htm

No. Jesus is God.

Buddah is not God.

Nothing more need be said.

[constantconvert]

Originally Posted by PazzoGrande

I heard this before, but the thing is, the two guys lived like 500 years apart.

Well, if someone is foolish enough to think Jesus is Buddah, reincarnation isn't much of a stretch

[CaptFun]

Nah. You can tell. One of them fasted for 40 days and died on a cross for our sins. The other one lived a life of luxury and from the looks of him never missed a meal in his life.

In all fairness to Buddha, he didn't have Jesus Christ's example to go by. Maybe he'd have been a Christian if he'd had the chance.

There's not an equivalence. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And as this Sunday's first reading reminds us, the Holy Spirit filled Peter gave this testimony concerning Jesus

"There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race by which we are to be saved."


As for a Catholic looking into Buddha as an interesting historical philosopher NOT in competition with Christ maybe this scripture applies


Galatians 5:16
I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.

17 For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want.

18 But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions,
21 occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

24 Now those who belong to Christ (Jesus) have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit. 26 Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another.


What is good in Buddhism we hold in common with it. We should always offer them Jesus in love. If Buddha is in heaven now, he'd tell ya "... It was HIM and his sacrifice on the cross that saved us."

[ConstantineTG]

There are indeed many similarities with many ancient religions and Judaism. People say this means Judaism is not the true religion of the time, and that they borrowed from other religions. Haven't they thought that it could be the other way around? I see all these other pagan faiths of the past as nothing more as the "Protestants" of the time. They veered from the true religion and made some changes, but still recognizable enough from the original.

[rossum]

Originally Posted by jinc1019

Is Jesus Actually Buddha?

No. Most Buddhists see Jesus as a Bodhisattva, someone who will become a Buddha in a later life.

What may have driven this idea is that at one time the Catholic Church did canonise the Buddha. See Barlaam and Josaphat.

rossum

[PazzoGrande]

Originally Posted by rossum

No. Most Buddhists see Jesus as a Bodhisattva, someone who will become a Buddha in a later life.

What may have driven this idea is that at one time the Catholic Church did canonise the Buddha. See Barlaam and Josaphat.

rossum

Actually Josaphat wasn't canonised. See the last paragraph of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barlaam...hat#The_legend

[jinc1019]

Originally Posted by ConstantineTG

There are indeed many similarities with many ancient religions and Judaism. People say this means Judaism is not the true religion of the time, and that they borrowed from other religions. Haven't they thought that it could be the other way around? I see all these other pagan faiths of the past as nothing more as the "Protestants" of the time. They veered from the true religion and made some changes, but still recognizable enough from the original.

I don't really agree with the "Protestants" comment at all, but I do agree with the idea that it may be possible Buddhists actually borrowed from Christianity...I am not saying that definitely happened, but there is certainly some very interesting simalarities.

[jinc1019]

Originally Posted by InspiritCarol

You'd not be so easily confused if you had a basic grasp of the religious premises.

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/reli...ns-summary.htm

No. Jesus is God.

Buddah is not God.

Nothing more need be said.

I am not sure if people are not reading the first post or are just choosing to ignore it, but as I mentioned previously, I do not believe this at all, but I obviously don't know ANYTHING about Buddhism, so when someone comes to me and points to several quotes from Bddha that are just like Jesus and then shows that the names of the many followers of Buddha are very similar to that of Jesus' followers, and then explains that both have strange birth narratives, and many other similarities as well, it's hard to reply to that. Surely I can argue in favor of the history on the side of Christianity and the notion of apostolic succession, etc...but still, my main question was whether anyone actually took the time to look into this at all and come up with specific ways of refuting it?

[JharekCarnelian]

Nah. You can tell. One of them fasted for 40 days and died on a cross for our sins. The other one lived a life of luxury and from the looks of him never missed a meal in his life

While I don for a moment equate Our Lord with Buddha that's rather dismissive of Buddhism, I suggest you read about Guatama Buddha and his life before making such a sweeping statement about a whole faith as that.