Buddhism and Christiainity

aboyceltaboy

Can the two religions maybe be interlinked, compliment each other ? to some extent ? What are your thoughts on Buddhist beliefs, customs ?

homer911

No. Christianity stands alone. Buddhism is about self. The Christian faith is about a relationship.

Geomy

homer911 wrote: »

No. Christianity stands alone. Buddhism is about self. The Christian faith is about a relationship.

Buddhism picks up what Christianity leaves behind.

homer911

Geomy wrote: »

Buddhism picks up what Christianity leaves behind.

This is the Christianity Forum. Christianity leaves nothing and nobody behind for those who bother to study it and commit to a relationship with their God. Rather than post stupid comments, if you want to engage in a debate on the subject, why not post something to support your claim?

Fanny Cradock

Geomy wrote: »

Buddhism picks up what Christianity leaves behind.

Not sure what this is supposed to mean?

Anyway, in answer to the OP, while it might be nice to think that all religions are inclusive in so far as they are all true or mutually compatible, the reality is that they are making exclusive claims to truth, especially when it comes to the nature of God(s), creation, ourselves and soteriology. This means that they can't all be true all of the time.

Short answer: no.

nagirrac

There are many points of simularity between Gnostic Christianity and the spiritual traditions of India and Tibet. In fact if you read the Gospel of Thomas (Elaine Pagels' book "The Gnostic Gospels" is a good source), some of the phrases and stanzas used are almost identical to those in the Vedas. The Nag Hammadi library is regarded as an accurate portrayal of gnostic thought as it was effectivly hidden away for 2 millenia.

This is a personal opinion and not meant to be offensive to anyone's beliefs, but my somewhat limited study of early Christianity would suggest that Gnostic thought, which was heavily influenced by Eastern spirituality, was very significant in early Christianity before being deemed heresy. In fact one group of gnostics called the Naassenes claimed their teachings came directly from Jesus. I understand this is not the orthodox Christian position, but there is imo both reasonably good reasons historically to think so, and good reasons why reviving gnostic thought might facilitate a kind of Christian renewal as more and more people become disillusioned with orthodox beliefs.

Geomy

homer911 wrote: »

This is the Christianity Forum. Christianity leaves nothing and nobody behind for those who bother to study it and commit to a relationship with their God. Rather than post stupid comments, if you want to engage in a debate on the subject, why not post something to support your claim?

Oh getting offended now, stupid comments and all that....

The Catholic church sure did leave a lot of it's flock behind.

There's posts all over Facebook about some bishop who couldn't walk 40 yards up the road to report paedo Brendan Smith.
But can go walkabout everywhere else.....

Geomy

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Not sure what this is supposed to mean?

Anyway, in answer to the OP, while it might be nice to think that all religions are inclusive in so far as they are all true or mutually compatible, the reality is that they are making exclusive claims to truth, especially when it comes to the nature of God(s), creation, ourselves and soteriology. This means that they can't all be true all of the time.

Short answer: no.

It's very hard to define truth as there's so many factions in the Christian world who say their way or the highway. .

Maybe Buddhism is better for some and Christianity is better for others.

I know Buddhists who appreciate Christs teachings but don't agree with the Church.

Im sure if Jesus was around today he would probably hang out with rebellious people,winos,beggars...x cons etc

And not goodie two shoe...he'd probably laugh at organised religion :-)

homer911

Geomy wrote: »

The Catholic church sure did leave a lot of it's flock behind.

There's posts all over Facebook about some bishop who couldn't walk 40 yards up the road to report paedo Brendan Smith.
But can go walkabout everywhere else.....

If this is the best that you can post to support your statement, then it seems a meaningful debate is off the cards. I thought you actually meant Christianity, not a subset of it, or a single individual who is a member of one subset of it

homer911

Geomy wrote: »

It's very hard to define truth as there's so many factions in the Christian world who say their way or the highway. .

When it comes to the core tenets of the gospel, every Christian church is in agreement

Im sure if Jesus was around today he would probably hang out with rebellious people,winos,beggars...x cons etc

And not goodie two shoe...he'd probably laugh at organised religion :-)

I'm sure he would too - perhaps some more than others. He threw the money changers out of the temple after all.. The fact is that central to the Christian faith is a community of believers - we are called to come together to worship God and encourage one another, its not about self. To do that requires some form of organisation. Whether it be at a local, member-run community church, or a hierarchical international organisation, its still organised

Geomy

homer911 wrote: »

If this is the best that you can post to support your statement, then it seems a meaningful debate is off the cards. I thought you actually meant Christianity, not a subset of it, or a single individual who is a member of one subset of it

I didn't ask anyone for a debate,as you're a Christian im sure your confident enough with Christianity.
Therefore a debate would be futile.

lmaopml

There is a difference between Buddhism and Christianity. It's almost symbolised by the symbols one is 'circular' and the other is the 'Cross' -

I found, having dabbled in Buddhist spirituality that there is a vast amount of peace in it and meditation and appreciation of life etc. However, the difference is 'stark' - Christianity incorporates all of those fundamental truths, and of course is the continuity of Judaism - Christianity sets 'boundaries' and also is based on revelation of those 'boundaries' and who set them, that finds it's ultimate in a person - an actual real person that of Jesus Christ.

Jesus, is different, he fulfills not only the Buddhist mindset of 'oneness' with oneself, but asks something radically different of the person - that they see their 'separate' person.

There is a song during Advent, and God knows each of us who post on boards will have our last 'Advent' at some stage - but it's called 'O Holy Night' and one of the lines of it is one of my favourite lines of all times -

Also, it expresses the vast difference between the Buddhist meditation of losing oneself to either nirvana of nothingness, or Oneness or inward looking collective naturalism- or indeed their circular rational of being connected to the earth etc. etc. - it's the part where the choir sings -

'and the soul knew it's worth' - that's the drastically different thing between East and Western thought. Similar in many respects but totally different too -

Jesus came to bring a sword - when the soul finds it's worth it tends to understand that better I think.

Leverarchfile

Buddhism has some nice elements, but basically when you study it in depth, it fails, because it's ultimate aim is merely self extinguishment and nihilism.

Christ is an infinitely better teacher and example than Buddha.

returnNull

I think the OP meant can it be practised with christian beliefs,or am i reading the OP wrong?

maguffin

Leverarchfile wrote: »

Buddhism has some nice elements, but basically when you study it in depth, it fails, because it's ultimate aim is merely self extinguishment and nihilism.

I disagree....The Buddhist notion of emptiness is often misunderstood as nihilism. Unfortunately, 19th century Western philosophy has contributed much to this misconstruction. Meanwhile Western scholars have acquired enough knowledge about Buddhism to realise that this view is far from accurate. The only thing that nihilism and the teaching of emptiness can be said to have in common is a sceptical outset. While nihilism concludes that reality is unknowable, that nothing exists, that nothing meaningful can be communicated about the world, the Buddhist notion of emptiness arrives at just the opposite, namely that ultimate reality is knowable, that there is a clear-cut ontological basis for phenomena, and that we can communicate and derive useful knowledge from it about the world. Emptiness (sunyata) must not be confused with nothingness. Emptiness is not non-existence and it is not non-reality.

Christ is an infinitely better teacher and example than Buddha.

Why?

Geomy

Oh here we go again, my religion is better than yours, we're so much better. ...

Division is what s wrong with humanity, typical of a strident or zealous nature. ..

That might be why agnosticism or spirituality is more appealing to the masses. ...

Im sure Jesus and The Buddha would walk away from the likes of that.

They would surely come up with a parable that dismantle s the statement of one teacher being better than the other. ..

Well done bravo bravo :-)

JimiTime

Geomy wrote: »

Oh here we go again, my religion is better than yours, we're so much better. ...

Division is what s wrong with humanity, typical of a strident or zealous nature. ..

That might be why agnosticism or spirituality is more appealing to the masses. ...

Im sure Jesus and The Buddha would walk away from the likes of that.

They would surely come up with a parable that dismantle s the statement of one teacher being better than the other. ..

Well done bravo bravo :-)

The ignorance on display here really astounds sometimes. The offence and surprise that people have when a Christian says, 'No, all roads don't lead to God. There is ONE way. ONE door. ONE life giving message.' Christ is the Way! It may sound nice and flowery to say 'each to their own', and it may resonate through this modern world, but that IS FAR FROM THE GOSPEL JESUS BROUGHT.

'Do not think I came to bring peace to this earth, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword!'

Jesus knew how divisive his message was in this rebellious sinful world.

'Friendship with this world, is enmity with God'

HE gave us explicit and implicit teachings about what is expected of us. Who to pray to, how to pray, what it is to be holy, Who offers salvation, and how can we attain it etc etc. He left NO ROOM AT ALL, for cowardly fence sitting concepts such as 'spirituality' or spiritually defunct notions of 'Well as long as you dont hurt anyone'. He didn't say 'Do unto others...', 'Love your neighbour...' and then up and leave. there is A LOT more to the Gospel than these things. The gospel message was radical then, and its radical now. It doesn't look to make friends, but rather deliver hope and truth in Love, and this truth can offend the sinner. Jesus made no apologies for the truth, and nor do his true followers. Just like God wittled down Gideons 32000 soldiers to just 300 and defeated the Midianites, so God will also not look for quantities of compromised followers but qualities in followers. Qualities espoused CONCISELY by Jesus, the image of the Living God. 'Broad is the road leading to destruction, and many are the number who find it. Narrow is the road to salvation, and few are the number who find it.'

Anyone who thinks Christianity is about making friends and compromising the Gospel, is severely mistaken. Christianity's message is not live and let live, but rather the Truth about our state, I.E. We are all dead. Followed by the truth, hope and love of the Kingdom message. I.E. Through Christ, we have The Way to salvation, and will gain life eternal. We are washed clean in Him, and thus sins wages, death, is defeated. A concise message. ONLY IN HIM IS SALVATION.

We then have this warning:

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."

returnNull

JimiTime wrote: »

The ignorance on display here really astounds sometimes. The offence and surprise that people have when a Christian says, 'No, all roads don't lead to God. There is ONE way. ONE door. ONE life giving message.' Christ is the Way! It may sound 'nice' and flowery, and the message of 'each to their own' may resonate through this modern world, but that IS FAR FROM THE GOSPEL JESUS BROUGHT.

'Do not think I came to bring peace to this earth, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword!'

Jesus knew how divisive his message was in this rebellious sinful world.

'Friendship with this world, is enmity with God'

HE gave us explicit and implicit teachings about what is expected of us. Who to pray to, how to pray, what it is to be holy, Who offers salvation, and how can we attain it etc etc. He left NO ROOM AT ALL, for cowardly fence sitting concepts such as 'spirituality' or spiritually defunct notions of 'Well as long as you dont hurt anyone'. He didn't say 'Do unto others...', 'Love your neighbour...' and then up and leave. there is A LOT more to the Gospel than these things. The gospel message was radical then, and its radical now. It doesn't look to make friends, but rather deliver hope and truth in Love, and this truth can offend the sinner. Jesus made no apologies for the truth, and nor do his true followers. Just like God wittled down Gideons 32000 soldiers to just 300 and defeated the Midianites, so God will also not look for quantities of compromised followers but qualities in followers. Qualities espoused CONCISELY by Jesus, the image of the Living God. 'Broad is the road leading to destruction, and many are the number who find it. Narrow is the road to salvation, and few are the number who find it.'

Anyone who thinks Christianity is about making friends and compromising the Gospel, is severely mistaken. Christianity's message is not live and let live, but rather the Truth about our state, I.E. We are all dead. Followed by the truth, hope and love of the Kingdom message. I.E. Through Christ, we have The Way to salvation, and will gain life eternal. We are washed clean in Him, and thus sins wages, death, is defeated. A concise message. ONLY IN HIM IS SALVATION.

We then have this warning:

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."

amen

Geomy

We then have this warning:

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."[/quote]

Go on explain that more, are you referring to Islam ?

JimiTime

Geomy wrote: »

We then have this warning:

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed."

Go on explain that more, are you referring to Islam ?

I'm not referring to anything, the apostle Paul is, and no, he's not referring specifically to Islam. It goes without saying that all those in the church would know not to go after false gods. The context of the warning was more to do with internal affairs, I.E. People corrupting the Good News Jesus brought. Things like people saying you can EARN salvation, or only by secret knowledge can you attain salvation (Gnosticism), or the modern twist of 'all roads lead to God' etc
To give you it in context:

Galatians 1 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

maguffin

JimiTime wrote: »

I'm not referring to anything, the apostle Paul is, and no, he's not referring specifically to Islam.

He's addressing directly the Churches of Galatia.

It goes without saying that all those in the church would know not to go after false gods.

What false gods might these be?

The context of the warning was more to do with internal affairs, I.E. People corrupting the Good News Jesus brought. Things like people saying you can EARN salvation,

Surely the Church advocates the earning of salvation by the application by the people of its own laws?? eg. repentance for sin, abiding by the commandments, etc

The quote below is aimed directly at a specific group of people, the Galation Church, not at 21st Century modern humans:

Galatians 1 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

JimiTime

maguffin wrote: »

He's addressing directly the Churches of Galatia.

Yes, this was contained in the letter to the Galatians, but do you think it only applies to Galatia? You think that to other churches he was saying, 'Yeah, let the message be corrupted, knock yerselves out'. You think when he wrote to the Corinthians about immorality issues they were having, that these lessons were not applicable elsewhere? You thing the Corinthians were not allowed fornicate, but everyone else were?
Use yer noggin. These letters have universal truths and lessons. It applies to us today in the church, as much as it applied to EVERY Christian church back then. Just because it was an issue that seems to have been in needing of correcting in Galatia bac then, does not mean it does not apply anywhere else. The opposite is in fact OBVIOUSLY the case.

What false gods might these be?

All gods that are not The Living God as revealed by the law and the prophets, and as incarnate in Jesus Christ.

Surely the Church advocates the earning of salvation by the application by the people of its own laws?? eg. repentance for sin, abiding by the commandments, etc

Salvation is by Jesus Christ ONLY. Repenting of sin etc is part of the process of accepting Christ and his undeserved gift of Salvation. It is not that it EARNS us salvation. Jesus gives Salvation to those who accept him.

The quote below is aimed directly at a specific group of people, the Galation Church, not at 21st Century modern humans:

As previously stated, and I'm actually surprised it needs to be stated:
These letters have universal truths and lessons. It applies to us today in the church, as much as it applied to EVERY Christian church back then. Just because it was an issue that seems to have been in needing of correcting in Galatia back then, does not mean it does not apply anywhere else. The opposite is in fact OBVIOUSLY the case. Why on earth would you think that it would only apply to Galatia in the 1st Century AD?

Popular Hardback

Geomy wrote: »

Oh here we go again, my religion is better than yours, we're so much better. ...

Division is what s wrong with humanity, typical of a strident or zealous nature. ..

That might be why agnosticism or spirituality is more appealing to the masses. ...

Im sure Jesus and The Buddha would walk away from the likes of that.

They would surely come up with a parable that dismantle s the statement of one teacher being better than the other. ..

Well done bravo bravo :-)

Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but Syncretism is not a solution to people having differing beliefs and faith in what is true.

This is the Christianity forum.

If you're a seeker of ultimate truth and accuracy, either Jesus Christ's teaching is the complete and accurate truth, or Gautama Buddha was. Both of them cannot be correct.

Syncretism relies on the whim and confusion of man, not the teachings of Jesus Christ, or Gautama Buddha.

Neither Jesus Christ or Gautama Buddha taught pick and mix was the way.

Jesus said 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (John 14:6)

Religious syncretism, with Buddhism or any other religion, is simply not compatible with true Christianity.

If anyone wants to believe Buddhism is the way, let them follow and put their faith in what Gautama Buddha claimed.

For those who believe Christianity is the way, follow what Christ taught, and put your faith in him.

Jesus said “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other." (Matt 6:24)

mathepac

Popular Hardback wrote: »

... Jesus replied, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (John 14:6) ...

Jesus was presumably speaking as one of the three divine persons in the one true God, therefore by extension, he includes all monotheists in his statement as they all believe on one true God.

Popular Hardback

mathepac wrote: »

Jesus was presumably speaking as one of the three divine persons in the one true God, therefore by extension, he includes all monotheists in his statement as they all believe on one true God.

By that definition the pagan monotheists who worshipped Baal in the bible would also be worshipping the the one true God. The bible makes it very clear they are not.

Unless one believes in Jesus Christ, and has faith in him and what he taught, they don't.

"No one comes to the Father except though me" could not be much clearer.

mathepac

But Christians are taught that Jesus was God made man. Therefore when he speaks about God the father he means himself, God - father, son and holy spirit. Therefore the monotheist religions dating back at least to Parsiism worship the same God

Parsiism gave us Judaism which gave us Christinaity (in very simple terms) therefor they all worship the same God and will be saved.

mathepac

Although Buddhist monks, nuns and holy men spend their lives preparing for a good death, their respect for life is astonishing. By leading a good and blameless life here, they prepare themselves to enter Nirvana on their deaths so there is continuity to their lives and deaths. Death is part of life which is also a Christian belief. Death opens the door to a closeness / oneness with God (Buddhist Nirvana)

Zombrex

Geomy wrote: »

Oh here we go again, my religion is better than yours, we're so much better. ...

Division is what s wrong with humanity, typical of a strident or zealous nature. ..

That might be why agnosticism or spirituality is more appealing to the masses. ...

Im sure Jesus and The Buddha would walk away from the likes of that.

They would surely come up with a parable that dismantle s the statement of one teacher being better than the other. ..

Well done bravo bravo :-)

Well in fairness probably not. Jesus would have seen Buddism as ignoring God, something God gets awful annoyed at for some reason (and by proxy ignoring Jesus, he after all preached he was himself was crucial), and Buddha would have seen Christianity as ignorant of the cause of suffering and the solution to suffering (which Buddha wouldn't have seen as worshipping a man running around claiming to be a god).

nagirrac

Zombrex wrote: »

Well in fairness probably not. Jesus would have seen Buddism as ignoring God, something God gets awful annoyed at for some reason (and by proxy ignoring Jesus, he after all preached he was himself was crucial), and Buddha would have seen Christianity as ignorant of the cause of suffering and the solution to suffering (which Buddha wouldn't have seen as worshipping a man running around claiming to be a god).

I know this is the Christianity forum but my own personal theory is that Jesus was a gnostic and never made any claims about being God, nor did anything miraculous, including not raising himself physically from the dead. The only historical documents I trust are the Nag Hammadi library which has been carbon dated to the 1st century. The Gospel of Thomas consists of claimed first hand accounts of what Jesus actually said, and I have to say its sounds very Buddhist to me. Maybe its bogus as well, but it was hidden long before Christianity became a thing.

I am not convinced Jesus ever claimed to be God. I believe what he said was he was a son of man, and all men are part of God or God's creation. There is a reason the gnostics believed the God of the Old Testament was the Demiurge, that the Supreme Being was unknowable but that one of his offspring creators made this place. We are clearly the result of very fortunate random events, or very sloppy design, in a limitless universe... take your pick.

Popular Hardback

nagirrac wrote: »

I know this is the Christianity forum but my own personal theory is that Jesus was a gnostic and never made any claims about being God, nor did anything miraculous, including not raising himself physically from the dead. The only historical documents I trust are the Nag Hammadi library which has been carbon dated to the 1st century. The Gospel of Thomas consists of claimed first hand accounts of what Jesus actually said, and I have to say its sounds very Buddhist to me. Maybe its bogus as well, but it was hidden long before Christianity became a thing.

I am not convinced Jesus ever claimed to be God. I believe what he said was he was a son of man, and all men are part of God or God's creation. There is a reason the gnostics believed the God of the Old Testament was the Demiurge, that the Supreme Being was unknowable but that one of his offspring creators made this place. We are clearly the result of very fortunate random events, or very sloppy design, in a limitless universe... take your pick.

More pick and mix, and ignoring what Christ said on the subject.