Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? (22 page)
Read Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? Online
Authors: R. E. Sherman
Teach me,
O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.
Give me
understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me
in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
Turn my heart
toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from
worthless things;
preserve my life
according to your word.
Fulfill
your promise
to your servant, so that you may be feared.
Take away the disgrace
I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for your precepts!
Preserve my life
in your righteousness.
65
God and God’s laws were a critical part of Jewish meditation in Solomon’s time. Divine involvement in Jewish meditation adds numerous enriching elements to this spiritual practice. The importance of meditation is illustrated by the following verses from Psalm 119:
45. I will walk about in
freedom,
for I have sought out your precepts.
46. I will
speak
of your statutes
before kings
and will
not be put to shame.
54. Your decrees are the
theme of my song
wherever I lodge.
58a. I have
sought your face
with all my heart.
64. The earth is filled with your love, O LORD; teach me your decrees.
71. It was
good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.
120. My flesh trembles in fear of you; I stand in awe of your laws.
135. Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your decrees.
161b. But my heart trembles at your word.
162. I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil.
164a. Seven times a day I praise you.
171. May
my lips overflow with praise,
for you teach me your decrees.
172. May
my tongue sing
of your word, for all your commands are righteous.
Judaic meditation in Solomon’s time was a practice rich in vitality and diversity of experience. Buddha’s proverbs achieve this richness in only one proverb, where it is a virtual copy of a framework of spiritual practice accompanying meditation that appears seven times in Psalm 119:
He who dwells in the law, delights in the law, meditates on the law, follows the law, that Bhikshu will never fall away from the true law.
66
We have seen that several key facets of meditation fundamental to Buddhism have precursors in Judaic texts written centuries before Buddha lived. Chief among those facets are:
- The consistent practice of deep meditation as a central, critical element in living a moral life.
- The importance of renunciation and extended absorption in meditation.
- The idea that those who fail to seriously practice meditation will be particularly susceptible to the temptations offered by immoral women and other worldly pleasures.
- The claim that persistent, prolonged meditation can enable a practitioner to achieve a state of enlightenment far above the spiritual condition even of generally devout people. This notion, detailed in Psalm 119:99, is very central to Buddhism.
In Chapters Three through Eight, we have seen that every one of the Four Noble Truths and steps in the Noble Eightfold Path (including meditation) are major parts of the teachings of Solomon and Judaism.
The concept of karma was a key component of classical Hinduism, which flourished from around 200
B.C.
through
A.D.
1100, but evidence suggests that it did not appear in India before about 800
B.C.
1
Since Solomon reigned as King of Israel from 967 to 938
B.C.
, it is quite possible that the concept of karma, which is clearly present in many of his proverbs, could have come to India through the spread of his writings. As noted in
Chapter Two
, the literal text of the Old Testament makes a bold claim about this kind of possibility:
King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.
The whole world
sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.
2
Did Solomon come up with, or at least champion prior beliefs in, the Law of Karma, an integral part of both Hinduism and Buddhism? To convey a sense of this possibility, key proverbs will be reviewed in this chapter that clearly express the essence of this law. Although “karma” is not a Jewish word, the implicit presence of the concept is quite common in Solomon’s writings. We will also see that there is a very strong correspondence between the content of the karma proverbs of Solomon and Buddha.
Historian Will Durant defined karma as “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.”
3
Belief in this law may have had its roots in the Jewish culture of Solomon’s time, or it may have been imported into Solomon’s culture from earlier or neighboring cultures.
The Law of Karma is not exactly the same in Judaism as it is in Hinduism and Buddhism. The different versions of the concept relate to differing beliefs about life after death. The Jewish style of application may have naturally shifted when transplanted to a Hindu culture as Hindus adapted it to their way of thinking and integrated it with their other beliefs. Jews believed in a single life
after death, if they believed in an afterlife at all, whereas Hindus believed in reincarnation. It would have been an easy matter to extend the concept of good and bad consequences to the long view of many lives as opposed to one lifetime.
Hindus were captivated by the far-reaching implications of a belief in repeated reincarnation. If you believe you are the reincarnation of a prior being, which could have been some kind of animal, and you are an heir to the good or bad karma of that prior being, you look at the tragedies and good fortunes of your life quite differently than if you did not believe you could have existed previously. To a Hindu, the misfortunes of this life are most likely the result of bad deeds from one of your prior lives. Because of this belief, it is not uncommon in India for people to choose not to help someone who is struggling—to do so would be to interfere in the natural consequences of their bad karma. Buddha disagreed with this perspective, calling his followers to help those in need—not to subvert the workings of karma, but to practice compassion for all sentient beings. However, Buddha assumed reincarnation as a fact, as we will see in many of his proverbs quoted in this chapter.
The Law of Karma is evident in dozens of vivid proverbs of Solomon. For example:
The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.
4
In proverbs like this, it is very evident that being righteous produces the consequences of good karma, while being wicked produces bad karma. This concept also appears in the book of Ecclesiastes:
Be generous: Invest in acts of charity. Charity yields high returns.”
5
Karma is so key to Buddhism that Buddha’s
first two
proverbs in the Dhammapada highlight it:
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a
man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.
6
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
7
The Law of Karma is strongly implied by other proverbs of Buddha:
The evil-doer mourns in this world, and he mourns in the next; he mourns in both. He mourns and suffers when he sees the evil of his own work. The virtuous man delights in this world, and he delights in the next; he delights in both. He delights and rejoices, when he sees the purity of his own work.
8
An evil deed is better left undone, for a man repents of it afterwards; a good deed is better done, for having done it, one does not repent.
9
If a man offend a harmless, pure, and innocent person, the evil falls back upon that fool, like light dust thrown up against the wind.
10
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.
11
Karmic Proverbs
Almost all of the karmic proverbs of Solomon and Buddha fall into one of three categories:
- Those in which the karmic result is
security
or lack of it. - Those in which the karmic result is
happiness
or its opposite. - Those in which the karmic result is impact, or
influence,
on other people.
What is curious is that, within each of these groupings, the individual verses can easily be paired off, much as if each separate proverb of Solomon had inspired a specific proverb of Buddha. Naturally, some of Buddha’s karmic proverbs have their own Indian twist. Yet there tended to be a nearly direct relationship, one-to-one, with a corresponding proverb of Solomon.
Security Karmic Proverbs
In each source there are numerous proverbs that focus on good karma resulting in security and bad karma in a lack of security. Let’s review examples of these side by side.
Solomon | Buddha |
| |
The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth. The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand. | By rousing himself, by earnestness, by restraint and control, the wise man may make for himself an island which no flood can overwhelm. |
