Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? (11 page)
Read Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? Online
Authors: R. E. Sherman
The Law of Karma
Karma is “that universal law by which every act of good or of evil will be rewarded or punished in this life, or in some later incarnation of the soul.”
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A number of Solomon’s proverbs affirm the power of karma in dictating people’s lives:
The integrity of the upright will guide them,
But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
But righteousness delivers from death.
The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright,
But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness.
The righteousness of the upright will deliver them,
But the unfaithful will be caught by their lust.
When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish,
And the hope of the unjust perishes.
The righteous is delivered from trouble,
And it comes to the wicked instead.
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This set of six continuous proverbs repeatedly asserts the Law of Karma. We also see it clearly in two verses in Ecclesiastes:
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
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The
InterVarsity Press Bible Background Commentary
on these two verses offers these comments:
Bread on waters.
This proverb has been found in the Egyptian source the
Instruction of Ankhsheshonqy
(“do a good deed and throw it in the river; when it dries up you shall find it”) and in Arabic proverbs. If Ecclesiastes follows the route of
Ankhsheshonqy,
it suggests that a spontaneous good deed carries no guarantees of reciprocity but that “what goes around, comes around.”
Giving of portions.
The giving of portions generally assumes a situation in which goods or assets are being distributed (not just invested). This could be in the context of inheritance or generosity.
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In other words, Solomon subscribed to the concept that, as a general rule, one is ultimately rewarded when one is generous to others and does what is right, but bad things are in store for those who hoard wealth or act wickedly. The Buddhist idea of karma is almost identical, except that Buddhism allows for the consequences, whether good or bad, to occur in later lifetimes, whereas for Solomon the results are more immediate.
Like Solomon, Buddha touched on both the positive and negative effects of karma in his proverbs. As for good karma, he said:
He who always greets and constantly reveres the aged, four things will increase to him, viz. life, beauty, happiness, power.
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The following series of successive proverbs offers the most dramatic portrayal in the Dhammapada of negative karma:
He who inflicts pain on innocent and harmless persons, will soon come to one of these ten states: He will have cruel suffering, loss, injury of the body, heavy affliction, or loss of mind, or a misfortune coming from the king, or a fearful accusation, or loss of relations, or destruction of treasures, or lightning-fire will burn his houses; and when his body is destroyed, the fool will go to hell.
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So extensive are Solomon’s and Buddha’s proverbs that provide various expressions of the Law of Karma that
Chapter Nine
of this book is devoted entirely to this subject. Neither sage ever used the specific word “karma” in any of his proverbs, however.
Facing Death
Though it should be expected that any philosopher who contemplates his own death, and that of others, will have negative thoughts about it, it is intriguing that both Solomon and Buddha expressed similar styles of such views. There are three main points each of them made about the subject.
1. The Universality of Death
Solomon was painfully aware that all people must die, and he believed that awareness of this fact was necessary. It was a sobering influence and should cause people to act with greater wisdom and compassion:
Buddha stressed the same things:
The world does not know that we must all come to an end here;—but those who know it, their quarrels cease at once.
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Not in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, not if we enter into the clefts of the mountains, is there known a spot in the whole world where death could not overcome (the mortal).
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As a cowherd with his staff drives his cows into the stable, so do Age and Death drive the life of men.
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2. The Abject Fate of Dying
Solomon emphasized the fact that we will all die stripped of our dignity and utterly exposed to the elements:
Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.
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Buddha stressed this same theme while adding some graphic descriptions of the horrible fate of our fleshly bodies when we die:
Before long, alas! this body will lie on the earth, despised, without understanding, like a useless log.
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This body is wasted, full of sickness, and frail; this heap of corruption breaks to pieces, life indeed ends in death.
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This world is dark, few only can see here; a few only go to heaven, like birds escaped from the net.
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3. Death and One’s Children
Given that Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, he undoubtedly had “a hundred children,” and may have been thinking of himself when he wrote the following section of Ecclesiastes:
If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he, for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity. It never sees the sun and it never knows anything; it is better off than he. Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice and does not enjoy good things—do not all go to one place?”
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Solomon realized that finding contentment and happiness in this life had real value. Without it, one is worse off than the miscarried fetus. In contrast, Buddha gave no value to possible wholesome satisfaction in this life, but instead urged people to seek the ultimate contentment attained in nirvana:
Death comes and carries off that man, praised for his children and flocks, his mind distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.
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Sons are no help, nor a father, nor relations; there is no help from kinsfolk for one whom death has seized.
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A wise and good man who knows the meaning of this, should quickly clear the way that leads to Nirvana.
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For both Buddha and Solomon, life was just as fleeting for the child as for the parent. The child’s life could be very fleeting indeed, in Solomon’s view, as even the fetus could be taken in death. Buddha also makes clear that, regardless of age, no one is protected from being “assailed by death.” For both thinkers, awareness of the
brevity of life is part of the right view of things and highlights the need to live wisely.
Immortality
Solomon affirmed a belief in life after death, at least for righteous people:
When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone. The righteous will stand firm forever.
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Buddha declared a similar belief in immortality—for people who are vigilant:
Earnestness is the path of immortality (Nirvana), thoughtlessness the path of death. Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already.
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We have reviewed several different aspects of Right View, and have seen how close Buddha’s views were to Solomon’s on the issues of wisdom, existence, the cyclical nature of life, the relationship between humans and animals, the Law of Karma, death, and immortality. Now we will turn to the concept of Right Intention.
Right Intention
“
The kind of mental energy that controls our actions.
Right intention can be described best as
commitment
to ethical and mental self-improvement.
Buddha distinguishes three types of right intentions: 1. the intention of
renunciation,
which means resistance to the pull of desire, 2. the intention of
good will
, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion, and 3. the intention of
harmlessness,
meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop
compassion.
”
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Solomon repeatedly set forth exhortations about the critical importance of Right Intention, urging one of his sons to have an intense “commitment to ethical and mental self-improvement”. The italicized synonyms below highlight this level of devotion:
When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me, and said to me:
“Let your heart retain my words; keep
my commands, and live.
Get
wisdom!
Get
understanding!
Do not forget, nor turn away
from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you;
Love her,
and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.
Exalt
her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you
embrace her
.
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My son,
keep
your father’s commands and
do not forsake
your mother’s teaching.
Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck.
When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life, keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.
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Choose
my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
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We see this same concept succinctly stated by Buddha:
Through zeal knowledge is gotten, through lack of zeal knowledge is lost; let a man who knows this double path of gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow.
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Both sages strongly emphasized how essential it was to have an intense commitment to valuing and seeking more wisdom.
Each of the four types of Right Intention Buddha enumerated have clear precursors in one or more proverbs of Solomon. We will look at each in turn.
The Right Intention of Renunciation
Although Solomon did not espouse the sweeping practice of renunciation that Buddha did, he clearly advocated renunciation of any desires to indulge in immoral pleasures:
For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,
keeping you from the immoral woman,
from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.
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One of the hallmark differences between Solomon and Buddha is in the extent of the practice of renunciation. Buddha’s extreme version of the practice is well illustrated in the following proverbs: