Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? (27 page)
Read Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? Online
Authors: R. E. Sherman
For Solomon, freedom involves an escape from punishment or judgment. Buddha, too, describes what it is (to him) to go free: “There is no fear for him,” he says of the vigilant man. It is fear that imprisons people spiritually, and both Solomon and Buddha recognize this, describing the positive consequences of doing good deeds in terms of deliverance, freedom, and rejoicing and the negative consequences of being wicked in terms of being fearful or being entrapped or punished.
Both Buddha and Solomon point out that we are members of a community and our greatest deeds involve our relationships with or impact on others.
Solomon | Buddha |
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The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise. | Happy is the arising of the awakened, happy is the teaching of the True Law, happy is peace in the church, happy is the devotion of those who are at peace. The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their thoughts day and night are always set on the church. |
For Solomon, one of the wisest things a person can do is to “win souls.” Doing that doesn’t involve preaching on street corners, but rather living a life that others find attractive, and then being there to
help when people are struggling with specific needs or questions. To a Buddhist, encouraging people to join a monastic order (sangha) is an act of “winning a soul.”
Although for Buddha, the consequences of our actions can extend over many lifetimes, they can also be quite immediate, as they are for Solomon.
Solomon | Buddha |
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The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. | Those whose mind is well grounded in the (seven) elements of knowledge, who without clinging to anything, rejoice in freedom from attachment, whose appetites have been conquered, and who are full of light, are free (even) in this world. |
The tent (i.e., mind and life) will flourish in amazing ways, Solomon claimed, for the upright, and dozens of his proverbs give us clues about what is involved in being upright. In a single proverb, Buddha describes five states of being that would hasten the attainment of nirvana during a person’s lifetime on earth (listed below in the second column). Each of these elements have a precursor in one or more of the proverbs of Solomon.
Solomon (Various Proverbs) | |
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But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. | Those whose mind is well grounded in the (seven) elements of knowledge . . . |
A sound heart is life to the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones. | . . . who without clinging to anything . . . |
Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. | . . . rejoice in freedom from attachment. . . |
. . . cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless. | . . . whose appetites have been conquered . . . |
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. | . . . who are full of light, are free (even) in this world. |
Buddha’s single proverb, broken into the parts shown above, is a wonderful, compact version of the essence of the ideal life of a Buddhist. And every element of it is also present in Solomon’s writings.
The richness of a life of joy and honor is expressed in other proverbs of Solomon and Buddha as well.