Buddhism Vs. Christianity

We can find by a simple search that Buddhism is a growing religion that started in India about 2,500 years ago, with a mixture of many religions and practices. The reason they are a mix of many is that Buddha did not get his ideas from himself. He took practices that he had seen or done and put them together, thinking this was the answer to life.

This all being said, there are two types of Buddhists. There are more than two, but we will review the two most popular forms of Buddhism. There are huge differences between these two classes of Buddhism, though, which is why? Has Buddhism just been based on feelings and how they interpret reality? Is Buddhism subjective or based on objective laws? Is Buddhism worshipping the self or a creator?

The two classes of Buddhism are the regular Buddhist Vs. the Zen Buddhist, and again, there are significant differences between these two classes of Buddhism.

The practices of Buddhism are simple unless you dig deeper into the spiritual side of it all. Buddhism involves meditation and the eightfold path. The Buddhists reject an Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent God. Buddhists believe we are in an endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. This is known as reincarnation. They believe that this cycle of reincarnation can be broken by achieving Nirvana. Buddhists think all humans are ignorant and need to wake up to what reality is and attain Nirvana. By achieving Nirvana, you can then make your way to what they call the eightfold path, which is salvation.

The Zen Buddhist is focused on non-dualism, simplicity, meditation, and non-conceptualism. Zen Buddhists believe there is a Buddha inside us, and it lives. In Zen Buddhism, there is no eightfold path and only nirvana. Zen Buddhists believe that everyone already has the light in them; it’s just a matter of activating it. The way of achieving nirvana is through meditation and practice called a Koan.

Let’s look at a few beliefs Buddhism has that can be looked at and dismantled. One is Karma. Now Karma is just getting what you deserve. It’s cause and effect. It’s a law that is universal and applies to everyone. This is why Buddhists either believe a God exists and he’s not involved in his creation when he created it, or that there is no God to begin with. This is an exciting take because now we are faced with an impersonal God. A God who doesn’t care about which direction his creation takes and goes. This is not only false, but it opens the door to acts of evil with no accountability after death or on earth.

In Christianity, we believe God is a personal God, meaning when He created the world, He remained involved in His creation. We can know this by reading Genesis through Revelation. God is active in His creation by performing miracles, speaking to His creation, and more. If God didn’t care about the direction of his creation, then murder is nothing more than an action we choose to take. Rapists have their own path and will face no judgment in the end. The very fact that we can know God gives us a better foundation for what reality is and what is true. This is the opposite for Buddhists.

Buddhism holds the belief that certain emotions are nothing more than illusions. Greed, anger, foolishness, arrogance, and even doubt are illusions. Buddha once stated, “Life is an illusion, a dream, a bubble, a shadow, nothing permanent, nothing worthy of anger or dispute. Nothing…” Buddha made it clear, though, that what our minds project onto reality are illusions. Take this as an example: take every element of the world and look at what holds everything together. It’s the same atom. In other words, we put costumes over everything, and we trick ourselves into believing one thing more than the other when all things are the same.

What Buddhism does is take God out of the picture entirely and make it about themselves. That it’s them who can change, it’s they who can save themselves; they are the only ones who can help themselves. This is not only common in Buddhism but also in any major religion except for Christianity, where they depend on their God to save them.

When Buddhists go into meditation, they are trying to achieve enlightenment. Meditation is said to help them remain focused and alert. They also use meditation to learn more and practice what they call the Noble Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path consists of characteristics that are viewed as essential to achieve the goal of entering Nirvana, which is a state of mind where they have entirely rid themselves of all negative emotions and broken the cycle of Karma.

The path consists of having the right understanding, right intentions, right speech, right actions, living right, having the right effort, right attentiveness, and right concentration. It’s considered the highest aim in another class of Buddhism called Theravada Buddhism. This is where we know and start to understand that Buddhism is nothing more than a system to help the individual and is up to interpretation entirely. Theravada Buddhists believe Nirvana is not the last step but includes four levels.

Stream-Enterers – Those who have destroyed the first three chains of life (false view of self, doubt, and clinging to rites and rituals)
Once-Returners – Those who have destroyed three chains of life and have lessened the chains of lust and hatred
Non-returners – Those who have destroyed five chains of life, which bind to the world of senses.
Arahants – Those who have reached Nirvana.

At the end of all this achieving, Nirvana (or Moksha) breaks the Karmic cycle.

Above, I mentioned a practice of meditation called Koan. What is this exactly? Well, it comes from another class of Buddhism called Chinese Chan Buddhism and from a class called Japanese Zen. Koans are riddles or phrases that encourage people to think about ideas and ways of seeing the world. For example, “What is the color of the sea?” Simple answer, but it makes you think of different answers.

The history of Buddhism is a trip, but we will be going over the basics of this group.

Who was Buddha?
What was going on during his time?
How did he become famous?
What was his life like?

Buddha can be traced back to the 5th century BCE. His name was Siddhartha or Siddhattha. Surprisingly, his name means “One who has accomplished a goal.” He was born in Nepal, which was known as the Kosala Kingdom in his time. During his time and in that area, Buddha was not the only one who had these ideas; even today, we know people who have done the same thing as Buddha did. So, what makes it more special than any class of Buddhism? Is Sadhguru not worthy enough to have a religion made based on what he accomplished? What about Guru Nanak? Buddha was an exception among all of them. The title Buddha was used in many religious groups in ancient India and had different meanings depending on the group. What every class of Buddhism can agree on is that the title usually refers to an enlightened person or someone who has woken up.

During his time, these spiritual groups were known to influence social, political, and even economic changes in cities and towns in India. These spiritual groups were here way before Siddhaetha (Buddha) came around. Buddhas were known to have followers. These followers would learn from the Buddha to achieve enlightenment. So having disciples was familiar. When Siddhartha died from old age, he claimed that there were deities who had come to see his passing. What deities is he speaking of?

Buddha became popular since he presented a different way of looking at the world and life, rather than according to the Brahmanical order, which was made up of members of the Varna of Hinduism. This order was involved in a system called the caste system. This system was set up with priests known as spiritual teachers and intellectual leaders during that time. These priests were focused not on themselves but on worshipping their gods. They performed sacrifices, taught, and studied their holy texts to the people in the surrounding areas.

So, imagine a man named Siddhartha who then tells everyone they could achieve enlightenment by themselves and through themselves. This means they no longer require the priests and the gods to help. This makes sense because rebelling against a system has always been a popular way to gain attention. This was the same with Christ, where the Pharisees and the Jewish people wanted a savior to come and take over Rome, or at least make it so that the Roman Empire no longer had a say in what they did.

What we know about the Buddha (Siddhaetha) is written in Buddhist texts. These texts tell us he was born into a clan called the “Shakya clan” and was a member of the Kshatriya warrior caste. His family was considered wealthy and could afford medicines that prevented him from contracting sicknesses. The interesting part I find familiar in today’s world is how he responded to seeing evil and suffering. When he went on chariot rides outside the palace grounds of his home, he renounced his wealth and his family to live life as an ascetic. His actions towards suffering and pain were an interesting take. I think he would use his power and wealth to help those suffering because there is nothing inherently wrong with being wealthy or having personal belongings. When we see suffering or pain, we should want to comfort and love them. But Buddha didn’t think to do that; instead, he abandoned everything and everyone he once knew. After he walked away from his former life, he started meditating with other teachers. After performing extreme practices that would help him escape suffering and pain, he fainted in a river from extreme weakness and loss of strength. When it comes to self-mortification in religious sects, it usually consists of self-inflicted pain. For example, in some extreme groups of Christianity, the priests or elders will perform acts of self-denial by hitting one’s shoulders and back with a whip, or even as close to what they used on Christ. It’s also known as “a process of sanctification” to some.

After Buddha passed out from weakness, he realized this was not the way to escape pain and suffering; he sat under a tree to meditate and receive enlightenment or, in this case, the Four Noble Truths. For the past 45 years after his enlightenment, he shared his experience and message all throughout the northeast side of India.

At the end of his life, when he was 80 years of age, he became very sick and knew his time was coming up. Buddha (Siddhaetha) had his disciples meet for the last time to give them instructions and pass away. He never rose from the dead after death. He remained dead. They cremated his body and distributed his relics, which were common artifacts like a casket that contained his ashes, sculptures, statues, cups, and drawings.

At the end of this small study, I find it still interesting that people refer to Buddhism with one man, Buddha (Siddhaetha) even though Buddhism has many classes and leaders that experienced the same thing or taught the same teachings. There are over 100 different looks to Buddhism that a person can take and practice. Not only that, but they can take other practices from other teachers and put them together as long as they achieve enlightenment and Nirvana. When religion becomes nothing but a pick and choose what you like and practice whatever makes you comfortable, this is a way of knowing there is no ultimate truth in all of it. Which class of Buddhism is true? Why is life suffering? Siddhartha had no reason to leave his life and endure pain and suffering on himself. It wasn't until he chose to go through extreme measures to master pain and suffering that he witnessed and experienced pain and suffering.

To conclude this study, I see Buddha (Siddhaetha) and every person who practices these teachings of meditation as regular people seeking the answer to why there is pain and how to escape it all. To leave all you know and seek truth is why there are so many classes and interpretations of Buddhism. The same goes for Christianity; when people leave the church and think they can know the truth without leadership and help to interpret the scriptures, they make up their own stories and spread misinformation about the scriptures. At the end of this all, to leave and endure self-afflicted pain will not lead you to the truth. What will lead you to the truth is looking at reality and what is true, and using logic to come to conclusions. Buddhism essentially ignores what is true in order not to feel discomfort or pain in their lives, thinking that they will achieve Nirvana. Humans are not gods, nor is god everything; instead, we know God created all things.

Isaiah 44:6 “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me, there is no god.” (1 Corinthians 8:6)