Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? (50 page)
Read Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? Online
Authors: R. E. Sherman
Will the Christian who confesses his or her sin and repents be spared from the attack of the bulldog? After all, “As you sow, so shall you reap,”
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is a well-known verse in the New Testament. When Jesus confronted the woman caught in adultery in John 8:3–11, did he hold her to account for the bad karma of her sin? He sent away the bulldog of the angry crowd that threatened to stone her, but exacted something far more important from her. He commanded her to “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
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So, the compassionate Jesus opened the way for her to be freed from her bad karma and begin a new life, unencumbered, as long as she would actually do just that. Jesus also did what only God can do: He forgave her sins. He gave her the chance to be liberated from her old life and empowered her to begin a radically better life. He didn’t force her to change, but he opened the door wide for that to happen, if she would submit to his command.
What if the woman caught in adultery had followed Jesus’ command, but later fell back into her former lifestyle? Would Jesus offer her another chance? Since Jesus is full of grace,
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he would in all likelihood have offered another chance. But how many times could she fall again and be offered a fresh start? One indication can be found in his words to the apostle Peter, who had asked him how many times he had to forgive someone who had sinned against him. Peter thought that possibly seven times was enough, but Jesus said: ““I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Since
seven is the number of perfection in the Bible, he probably meant an infinite number of times, not 490.
But it would be entirely up to Jesus to decide. And he would make that decision knowing everything about what she was thinking and feeling and whether she would be able to handle the liberation he offered her. Jesus is the judge
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of all human beings, and as such, he can pardon, or he can sentence. He can also choose something in between, such as bringing upon her a series of character-building difficulties, in order to offer her the chance to grow. Isn’t that what is meant by Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”?
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When Jesus offers forgiveness for past sins and his offer is accepted, it is enormously empowering and liberating. However, we all know that Christians fall prey to various temptations and will be repeatedly in need of the grace, mercy, and forgiveness of God. Since God is patient and loving, he will provide it, in some measure and some form or another, as long as that person has put his or her faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness is based on the work of Jesus on the cross, not our works.
Christianity’s emphasis on mercy, grace, and forgiveness make it much more attractive to people who are less disciplined morally or who have troubling past sins. It offers them a chance Buddhism does not offer, for these concepts are generally absent in Buddhism, except in a truly limited way.
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On the downside, this tendency can result in churches having a number of members who have struggled with various addictions and weaknesses. Such amazing grace might result in some Christians developing a cavalier attitude about the need for moral purity by (falsely) presuming that God will automatically forgive them of their present sins, no matter how rotten their attitude is. Forgiveness should never be presumed to be automatic.
The Nature of Empowerment: Spirit Led vs. Self-Help
Buddhists believe that positive current actions produce good karma, which will cause good things to happen in the future. Positive
thoughts and expressions of positive intentions can change reality going forward. However, Buddhists also believe that virtually all of their current life circumstances are predetermined by the working out of positive and negative karma from prior actions, both in this life and previous lives. For someone with many past bad actions, the resulting negative karma can be crippling, affording them little opportunity to progress spiritually. The weight of the karma results in extensive suffering and personal limitations that must be endured while one tries to generate good karma to offset these past misdeeds. The effects of negative karma can even seriously constrain people who have some positive karma to their credit.
Buddhism appeals to those who want to pursue a solitary quest for spirituality. It is built on the premise that empowerment comes from deep within one’s self. It gives the adherent the sense of charting his or her own path. Buddhists experience a sense of community while chanting, and may draw some degree of empowerment from that. However, even when Buddhists are gathered together, their primary spiritual activity, meditation, is solitary.
Christianity provides access to the enabling power of the Holy Spirit in transforming one’s life. Radical conversions and dramatic upgrades in moral behavior have been commonplace in the history of the Christian church. Faith in an almighty God who rules the universe can enable believers to face great adversity and even death with peace and joy.
Rampant Hypocrisy
Sadly, believers in an almighty God can sometimes act harshly toward those of other beliefs, based on their assumption that they have been commissioned by God to chastise those with different beliefs or who engage in prohibited behaviors. Christians have difficulty appreciating the perspectives of those with different beliefs and lifestyles. The tendency to regard having “correct” beliefs as essential can easily foster a judgmental spirit toward those
with different views. A dramatic example of this has been the serious persecution of Buddhists by Christians in South Korea.
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On the other hand, in spite of the widespread emphasis on tolerance of those with other beliefs in Buddhism, there are a number of countries with a Buddhist majority where Christians claim they are being actively and harshly persecuted by Buddhists.
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Among them are Burma,
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Tibet,
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Bhutan,
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Sri Lanka,
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and Vietnam
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. Perhaps the real problem is that when a majority of people in a country share a common belief, followers of contrasting minority religions may be treated poorly or harshly.
It is quite common today for Buddha seekers to applaud the great degree of tolerance of other faiths that is characteristic of Buddhism. Arguably, such tolerance is part of a subtle Buddhist strategy for expanding its influence. They will claim that what you believe isn’t so important as long as you meditate, and that meditative practices can be adapted to any set of beliefs. However, Eastern-style meditation tends to subtly convert its devotee to Buddhism, or some other Eastern religion, whereas Western-style meditation is more straightforward in terms of its effects.
The prevalent image of Buddhists as passive, nonviolent people is very largely true. However, there are a few vivid counterexamples. Burma (Myanmar) is at least 90 percent Buddhist, and yet it has had a very long, bloody past of conflict with its neighbors as well as internally. Warfare and internal strife have characterized Burmese history since around
A.D.
1300, and since 1962, when a military junta seized power, Burma has been ruled by one of the most oppressive, violent governments in the world.
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Under its present government, it was ranked as the fourteenth worst country
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in terms of human rights violations.
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When a Christian pastor or leader becomes embroiled in a scandal, their hypocrisy is often highlighted by anti-Christian media.
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When a Buddhist fails to live righteously, however, it usually takes place with little notice and little or no media coverage. When Buddhist scandals are exposed, it is assumed that the individual is at fault, and not that Buddhism is somehow inadequate. One
exception to this is Patrick French, author of
Tibet, Tibet,
who summarized his disillusionment with Buddhism this way:
As I studied Buddhism more closely, some of the failings began to show, and I noticed the schisms, bigots, frauds, hypocrites and predators that you will find in any ecclesiastical system. I was put off too by the tone of many of the foreign converts, who thought they could strip the tradition of its tough ethical underpinnings. They were implausible, with their showy accountrements of conversion, their beads and bracelets, their devotion to instant spiritual empowerment, their reliance on airport-hopping teachers who were not always taken seriously by Tibetans. Then there were the prominent blunders: the teacher and promoter Sogyal Rinpoche, served with a lawsuit for seducing a student; and the Nyingmapa monk Penor Rinpocke who, in the most dubious circumstances, identified the high-kicking Hollywood action hero Steven Seagal
(Marked for Death, Hard to Kill)
as a reincarnation of the seventeenth-century master Chungdrag Dorje.
I was also cautioned by the Dalai Lama’s own refusal to proselytize. After long observation, he had decided that conversion usually led to confusion, and that without the support of the prevailing culture, it was hard to maintain your spiritual practice: “In the West, I do not think it advisable to follow Buddhism. Changing religions is not like changing professions. Excitement lessens over the years, and soon you are not excited, and then where are you? Homeless inside yourself.”
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Perhaps out of sympathy for oppressed Tibet, or out of distaste for Christianity and a desire to promote alternatives to it, or all of the above, with few exceptions the media have only projected attractive images of Buddhists. However, a February 2011 article in the Los
Angeles Times
noted that:
Tibetan Buddhism’s image of placid chanting and sublime meditation belies a more edgy history, analysts say, replete with religious figures attacking each other and alliances between monasteries and brutal warlords. . . .
“We in the West tend to project all our fantasies about mystical spiritualism onto Tibetan Buddhism,” said Erik Curren, author of “Buddha’s Not Smiling: Uncovering Corruption at the Heart of Tibetan Buddhism Today.” It’s really like a civil war. There’s lots of acrimony.” . . .
Some analysts said some Westerners have a rosy-eyed view of Tibetan Buddhism, perhaps a reflection of their disillusionment with Western religions. . . .
“Inter-sect conflicts involving physical violence is nothing new,” Curren said. “It’s just like any religion. It has its share of bad apples, but that doesn’t spoil the whole barrel. The sooner Westerners realize that, the better.”
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There have also been media silences about unpopular things that the Dalai Lama has said, such as about sexuality. According to Patrick French:
In 1999 he stated: “I am a Buddhist, and, for a Buddhist, a relationship between two men is wrong. Some sexual conduct in marriage is also wrong. . . . For example, using one’s mouth and the other hole.” His adamant stand on sexual morality is close to that of Pope John Paul II, a fact which his Western followers tend to find embarrassing, and prefer to ignore. The Dalai Lama’s US publisher even asked him to remove the injunctions against homosexuality from his book
Ethics for the New Millennium,
for fear that they would offend American readers, and the Dalai Lama acquiesced.
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Most of the similarities between Christianity and Buddhism can be attributed to the altruism that both teach as a model of personal conduct and attitude, or to the existence and practices of monks, nuns, and monasteries among Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and Theravada Buddhists. Apart from these similarities, in many ways Buddhism and Christianity are virtual opposites. In this chapter we will look further at these contrasts.
In spite of the numerous similarities, the Christian and Buddhist paths to liberation are miles apart. At their core, they are radically different religions. The paths of Buddha and Jesus part irreparably over three key issues:
- Are we going to seek a close, interactive relationship with a personal God, and mutually encouraging fellowship with those of the same faith, or are we going to try to zone out of this world and burrow deep within, seeking the divine within on a solo basis, apart from a personal God?
- Will our spirituality be based on faith in God and the compassion for others that such faith can inspire, or will it be based on self-disciplined efforts to meditate, do good works, and think good thoughts?
- Are we going to avail ourselves of God’s ways of dealing with our bad karma, through his mercy, grace, and forgiveness, or are we going to try to work it off through lifetimes of stoic coping with its consequences, while taking every opportunity to generate positive karma through good deeds?
The religion someone practices is largely determined by his or her answers to these three questions. Two other critical decisions also come into play: