Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? (46 page)
Read Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? Online
Authors: R. E. Sherman
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Buddha (525 | Christ ( |
“It is easy to see the fault of others, but much harder to see your own faults. You can point out other people’s faults as easily as pointing out chaff blowing in the wind. But you are liable to conceal your own faults as a cunning gambler conceals his dice.” “The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour’s faults like chaff, but his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the gambler.” | “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” |
Solomon was so right in pointing out the tremendous powers of self-rationalization that all human beings have. One way or another, we will find a way to justify what we really want to do. He repeatedly warns against self-pride, on one hand, and speaking critically of others, on the other. Both Buddha and Jesus add vivid and dramatic imagery to contrast the relative ease of finding fault with others (chaff vs. dice for Buddha; a fine speck in the eye vs. a
log for Jesus). There is no reason to suspect that Jesus must have gotten this idea from Buddha, however, since it is fully expressed in Solomon.
Life Is Full of Trouble
Solomon (950
B.C.
)
“So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”
“What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.”
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Buddha (525 | Christ ( |
“‘All created things perish,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way to purity.” “‘All created things are grief and pain,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.” | “In this world you will have trouble.” “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” |
In the first book of Moses (Genesis), God speaks sternly to Adam after the fall:
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
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This sounds a bit like Buddha’s dictum that life is suffering. And then there is this excerpt from the Book of Job:
For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground. Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
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Thus, when Jesus spoke of tribulation in this world, he was firmly in the tradition of Judaic doctrine.
Good and Bad Things Happen to Every Kind of Person
Solomon, Buddha, and Christ all believed that each person would reap as they had sown. How, then, could it be true that some things, such as sunlight, rain, death, and not being remembered after dying, were common both to wise men and to fools, and to good and bad people alike? How fair is that? They made similar observations about this conundrum.
Solomon (950
B.C.
)
“The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both. Then I thought in my heart, ‘The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?’ I said in my heart, ‘This too is meaningless.’ For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die!”
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Buddha (525 | (Christ ( |
“That great cloud rains down on all whether their nature is superior or inferior. The light of the sun and the moon illuminates the whole world, both him who does well and him who does ill, both him who stands high and him who stands low.” | “. . . love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” |
Solomon’s quotation emphasizes that death (and being forgotten after death) come to both the just and the unjust. Buddha and Christ point out that naturally good things, such as sunlight and rain, happen to both the just and the unjust. So, is this an example of an area where Jesus’ view is closer to Buddha’s than to Solomon’s? If you only look at one aspect of this comparison (nature bringing good to all kinds of people), Jesus would be closer to Buddha. On the other hand, there is a striking difference, even within the short excerpts quoted above. For Buddha, this is just the way things are, whereas for Jesus, it is a result of God’s lovingkindness and compassion for everyone.
Still, you might object that Solomon’s example deals with negative events happening to every kind of person, while Jesus’ illustration only cites positive events. While the immediate context of Jesus’ words clearly refers to positive events, the same Sermon on the Mount that Jesus’ words come from dramatically ends with an example of rain having very negative consequences:
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for
it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.
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Speak Little, But Wisely
Solomon (950
B.C.
)
“Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”
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“When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.”
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“A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.”
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“A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.”
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Buddha (525 | Christ ( |
Buddha (525 | Christ ( |
“If a man for a hundred years sacrifice month after month with a thousand, and if he but for one moment pay homage to a man whose soul is grounded (in true knowledge), better is that homage than sacrifice for a hundred years.” | “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” |
“But he who lives a hundred years, vicious and unrestrained, a life of one day is better if a man is virtuous and reflecting.” | |
“As the impurity which springs from the iron, when it springs from it, destroys it; thus do a transgressor’s own works lead him to the evil path.” |