The teachings of Jesus vs. Buddha
Christianity and Buddhism have some similarities in belief:
(1) desire can cause suffering,
(2) personal peace will be found when we abide in that which is permanent,
(3) it is good to live a moral life,
(4) self-discipline has a spiritual value,
(5) mediation and prayer are important, and
(6) compassion is a virtue.
Buddhism even has a set of five precepts for living that Christianity would agree with: (1) do not harm any living being, (2) always tell the truth, (3) do not engage in illicit sexual activity, (4) do not steal, and (5) do not take any intoxicants (Corduan, n.d.).
However, the means to grasp these beliefs and truly carry them out fundamentally differ between Buddhism and Christianity.
There are several scriptures within Buddha’s teaching that could align with Christian teaching, such as, “A fool who thinks that he is a fool is, for that very reason, a wise man. The fool who thinks that he is wise is called a fool indeed (63)”, which coincides with the Biblical wisdom in scripture, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice (Proverbs 12:15).”
Another example would be Siddhartha’s thoughts, which resonate with Solomon’s book of Ecclesiastes, as he pondered, “The luxuries of the palace, this healthy body, this rejoicing youth! What do they mean to me? Someday we may be sick, we shall become aged; from death, there is no escape. Pride of youth, pride of health, pride of existence – all thoughtful people should cast them aside (5).” Solomon had similar thoughts: “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14).”
However, the Buddha’s logical formulas and reasoning on how to deal with these existential truths fell short of providing a fulfilling or satisfying answer for the human soul.
Buddha simply recognized an issue with the world and humanity, but had no option of salvation or restoration other than detaching from all desires. Jesus, on the other hand, offered a way of escape through Him that did not include isolating oneself, losing all desire, and extreme forms of aestheticism and/or self-examination.
Unlike Christ, the Buddha had no saving power or divine nature to save people from their condition. He could only point to ‘the way,’ which is not fulfilling or achievable due to the reality that the problem with man is not ignorance, but sin. We do not need freedom from ignorance but freedom from the bondage of sin and death, which Christ accomplished completely.
Here are some concrete differences between Buddha and Christ:
(1) Buddha never claimed divinity or inspiration from God or other external divinity. He attributed his achievements and realizations to human effort and intelligence (McIntire, n.d.). Jesus claimed to be divine, but more than just divine, when He claimed to be God in John 8:58.
(2) Buddha taught that spiritual liberation comes when a person learns to detach from their suffering and ego and reaches a state of nirvana (Halverson, 61). Jesus taught that spiritual liberation comes when we acknowledge our sins and trust in Him to forgive us, so that we can be reconciled to God (Matthew 11:28-30).
(3) Buddha claimed to point to the way by which people can escape suffering and attain enlightenment (Ibid, 63), but never claimed to be “the way” as Christ did in John 14:6; Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’
(4) Buddha taught that to eliminate suffering, you must eliminate all desire (Ibid); whereas Jesus taught that there will be suffering in this world that we will have to deal with (Matthew 10:22). He also taught that we are not to eliminate desire to eliminate suffering, but to have the right desires (Matthew 5:6).
(5) Buddha lived a life of extreme asceticism. He died an old man (around 80 yrs.) and was never considered to be ‘without sin’ (Ibid). Jesus entered His own creation to live, minister, suffer, and die for the people he came to save (John 1:1-14). Jesus dined with people, celebrated with people, and ministered to people. He was also sinless (1 John 3:5).
One of the biggest issues with Buddha’s teachings is that humans should detach from all desires to reach spiritual liberation. Speaking from a Christian perspective, this would invite people into a place of isolation and extreme self-examination to the point of neuroticism or solipsism. Since the goal of Buddha’s philosophy is “self-extinction,” it would be easy to believe that Buddha’s teachings are, in fact, the epitome of humility and selflessness.
According to the Buddha, self-extinction will enable someone to finally attain Nirvana. Even so, Nirvana doesn’t even have a clear definition, but a contradictory one: “Nirvana is not nothing or nonbeing, but neither is it anything that has being (Ibid, 319).” Buddha said that Nirvana is the “highest happiness” and that Nirvana is “eternal.” However, this euphoric state (if one could call it that, since the self is no longer ‘experiencing’ anything) is largely undefined and vague. A predominant characteristic of Nirvana is the “absence of self.”
Nirvana, to Buddhists, is an “abstract void.” The key differences between nirvana and the Kingdom of Heaven are
(a) the Kingdom of Heaven is believed to be a present and a future event, while nirvana is the destination of a journey,
(b) the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven will take away sin in human beings while the nirvana will eliminate the suffering of the mundane (illusive) world,
(c) the Kingdom of Heaven emphasizes the difference between good and the evil, while nirvana is when all living beings will be liberated from suffering and illusion, and
(d) God is the king and judge in the final judgment of the Kingdom of Heaven, while Buddha is a guide in the journey to Nirvana (Gao and Lan 2021).
Buddha’s teachings begin with the ‘Four Noble Truths”: (1) to live is to suffer, (2) suffering is caused by attachment, (3) to eliminate suffering, one must eliminate attachment, and (4) one can eliminate attachment by following the noble eight-fold path. Winfried Corduan describes this teaching this way:
“…an individual can eliminate suffering by eliminating attachment. Obviously, if suffering is caused by being attached to life, the solution to suffering is to eliminate the attachment. Simply put, we suffer due to poverty, poor health, or the death of a loved one, only as long as we consider having material goods, good health, or the loved one’s presence as essential to our happiness (Ibid, 320).”
The Buddha taught that to rid oneself of attachment, a person must lead a rigorous life of concentrated effort, which is the Eightfold Path. One must: (1) have the right view, (2) the right intention, (3) the right action, (4) the right speech, (5) the right livelihood, (6) the right effort, (7) the right mindfulness, and (8) the right concentration.
From a Christian perspective, the eightfold path is incredibly legalistic. Biblically, we know that those who believe they can be justified by ‘the law’ (or an eightfold path) are inevitably going to be self-righteous because no one can keep the law to reach spiritual liberation.
“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh… (Romans 8:3)”
“For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it (James 2:10).”
To address the Buddhist understanding of detachment by ridding oneself of all desire, the Bible teaches that we do not have to rid ourselves of all desire but instead have the right desires (Halverson, 63). The tireless effort of attempting to rid oneself of all desire and believing that everything is an illusion could likely lead to clinical depression or dissociative disorders. Derealization and depersonalization are dissociative conditions often caused by stress, trauma, or even illicit drugs that cause a person to feel as if ‘nothing is real’ and as if ‘they are in a dream.
These conditions entertain thoughts that are not considered to be psychologically healthy for a normal human being, but in fact, is what Buddhism teaches. Buddhism is an invitation to constant self-focus to almost neurotically (and hopelessly) rid oneself of desires, going against the very nature of man and what it means to be a healthy human being.
The Bible teaches that humans are created in the image of God (Genesis 2), which means we experience the same emotions as God and are built to be connected to Him and others (although, through the fall, our emotions and connections are affected by sin). Christ came to restore connection (reconciliation) to God through the forgiveness of sins, which is what we are created for. In turn, we learn to have the right relationship with others, which promotes and creates a healthy connection.
Further, to have and grow healthy relationships with others by loving them, the Bible tells us that we must “die to self,” which is likely what Buddha sensed but missed completely. Dying to self is dying to what is not of God, not killing the self completely. Christ came to save the soul, which is the individual self, created by God. God cherishes the individual souls that He has created and does not will for any to perish (2 Peter 3:9); and He certainly does not will for anyone to be absorbed into nothingness.
Buddha, on the other hand, indulged in self-examination, which, by definition, is selfish. What is not helpful in this type of self-examination is that the self is what is informing the self. Since detachment is the goal, there is no input from outside sources, like there is in Christianity (the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and other believers).
Self-examination is good if it is for the sake of loving God and others well. Biblically, when we are loving God and others well, we are properly connected to them. “Let us test and examine our ways and return to the LORD (Lamentations 3:40).”
Even though self-extermination may appear noble, the underlying attitude is one of selfishness due to the constant need for self-focus and an unhealthy discipline of law-keeping (eightfold path).
The scriptures even warn against those who teach extreme asceticism because of the fruitlessness and false sense of righteousness it produces, “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind… (Colossians 2:18).”
Notice that asceticism (which is what the Buddha taught and practiced rigorously) is noted in the Bible as being “puffed up,” not “noble” or “humble,” as some typically confuse it with.
I will end with the true definition of love, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).”