Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? (62 page)
Read Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? Online
Authors: R. E. Sherman
8
Dhammapada 193a.
9
Cioccolanti,
From Buddha to Jesus,
146.
10
Ibid., 150.
11
Jonathan Landaw and Stephan Bodian,
Buddhism for Dummies
(Indianapolis: Wiley, 2003), 118.
12
Ibid., 201.
13
Ibid., 199.
14
Ibid., 200.
15
Madasamy Thirumalai,
Sharing Your Faith with a Buddhist
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2003), 128.
16
Richard A Gard,
Buddhism
(New York: George Braziller, 1961), 201.
17
Dalai Lama, “Introductory Commentary,”
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
(New York: Penguin Classics, 2005), xxviii.
18
“A Brief Biography,” His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet,
www.dalailama.com/biography/a-brief-biography
.
19
Dalai Lama,
Becoming Enlightened,
221.
20
Luke 23:39–43 (NIV).
21
Matthew 11:30 (NKJV).
22
Mary Garden, “Can Meditation Be Bad for You?”
Humanist,
September/October 2007,
www.thehumanist.org/humanist/MaryGarden.html
, retrieved November 22, 2010. 23
23
Lorin Roche, “The Dangers of Meditation,”
www.lorinroche.com/page8/page8.html
, retrieved September 18, 2010.
24
Ibid.
25
Ibid.
26
Roche,
www.lorinroche.com/
, retrieved November 18, 2010.
27
Roche, “The Dangers of Meditation.”
28
Lorin Roche, “God and Meditation,”
www.lorinroche.com/page62/page62.html
, retrieved November 18, 2010. 29
29
Landaw and Bodian,
Buddhism for Dummies,
172.
30
Cioccolanti,
From Buddha to Jesus,
65.
31
Paraphrased from Galatians 6:7.
32
John 8:11b (NIV).
33
John 1:14.
34
For example, see Acts 10:42, Colossians 1:15–20 and Philippians 2:9–11. The Nicene Creed, which is the most widely accepted creed in Christianity, states, “He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”
35
Romans 8:28 (NIV).
36
In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhisattvas can transfer some of their merit to others in an effort to help them advance toward becoming enlightened. See
www.essortment.com/all/whatisbodhisat_rfld.htm
, retrieved July 29, 2010.
37
According to a well-documented Wikipedia article entitled “Korean Buddhism,” found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Buddhism
, retrieved March 31, 2011:
Some South Korean Buddhists have denounced what they view as discriminatory measures against them and their religion by the administration of President Lee Myung-bak, which they attribute to Lee being a Protestant. The Buddhist Jogye Order has accused the Lee government of discriminating against Buddhism by ignoring certain Buddhist temples in certain public documents. In 2006, according to the
Asia Times,
“Lee also sent a video prayer message to a Christian rally held in the southern city of Busan in which the worship leader prayed feverishly: ‘Lord, let the Buddhist temples in this country crumble down!’” Further, according to an article in
Buddhist-Christian Studies:
“Over the course of the last decade a fairly large number of Buddhist temples in South Korea have been destroyed or damaged by fire by misguided Christian fundamentalists. More recently, Buddhist statues have been identified as idols, attacked and decapitated. Arrests are hard to effect, as the arsonists and vandals work by stealth of night.” A 2008 incident in which police investigated protesters who had been given sanctuary in the Jogye temple in Seoul and searched a car driven by Jigwan, executive chief of the Jogye order, led to protests by some claiming police had treated Jigwan as a criminal.
Wikipedia cited “S. Korean Christians Praying for Buddhist Temple to Collapse,” YouTube; Kim Rahn, “President Embarrassed over Angry Buddhists,”
Korea Times,
July 30, 2008; “Buddhists Accuse Government of Favoring Christianity,”
Asia Times
(date not available); and Sunny Lee, “A ‘God-Given’ President-Elect,”
Asia Times,
February 1, 2008,
www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/JB01Dg01.html
.
38
See clickable map at “Restricted Nations,” Voice of the Martyrs,
www.persecution.com//files/01/80/46/f018046/public/restrictednations.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51
, retrieved July 28, 2010.
39
Burma is 83 percent Buddhist and 9 percent Christian. According to Voice of the Martyrs (VOM),
The government of Burma continues to discourage, harass and use other, more severe, forms of persecution on any group it considers harmful to the state. Christianity is high on the list, even though the government claims freedom of religion in Burma. A secret memo titled “Program to destroy the Christian religion in Burma,” details instructions on how to drive out Christians. It calls for anyone caught evangelizing to be imprisoned. VOM has received widespread reports of churches being burned,
forcible conversion of Christians to Buddhism
and Christian children being barred from schools. Ethnic Christians, in particular, are singled out for repression because of the government’s goal to create a uniform society of one language, one ethnicity and one religion.
Source: “Restricted Nations,” Voice of the Martyrs,
http://www.persecution.com//files/01/80/46/f018046/public/restrictednations.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51
(emphasis added).
40
Tibet is 80 percent Buddhist and 0.2 percent Christian. Voice of the Martyrs reported that
Most of the persecution against Christians comes from militant Tibetan Buddhists.
There may be about 1,000 evangelical and 2,000 Catholic Christians among the five million Tibetans in the world, and there are at least two groups of secret believers in Tibet. . . . Pastor Zhang Zhongxin was given two years of reeducation through labor in 2008 for his crimes, one of which was preaching the gospel in Tibet.”
Source: “Restricted Nations,” Voice of the Martyrs,
www.persecution.com//files/01/80/46/f018046/public/restrictednations.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51
, clickable map (emphasis added).
41
Bhutan is 72 percent Buddhist, 23 percent Hindu, and 0.5 percent Christian. According to Voice of the Martyrs:
Bhutan is one of the most restricted nations in the world for Christians.
All public worship and evangelism by non-Buddhists is illegal.
Churches are never permitted to evangelize. Christian family members can meet together, but they cannot meet with other Christian families. Importing printed religious material is banned, and only Buddhist religious texts are allowed in the country. Bhutanese Christians face subtle forms of discrimination from their families as well as pressure to reconvert to Buddhism.
Source: “Restricted Nations,” Voice of the Martyrs,
www.persecution.com//files/01/80/46/f018046/public/restrictednations.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51
, clickable map (emphasis added).
42
Sri Lanka is 72 percent Buddhist, 12 percent Hindu, 8 percent Muslim, and 8 percent Christian. Voice of the Martyrs reports:
Although the constitution guarantees religious freedom, minority Protestant religions have experienced violent persecution as well as discrimination in employment and education. . . .
Much of the persecution comes from local Buddhist groups. . . .
Threats to close down churches have prevented some church members from meeting for worship.
Source: “Restricted Nations,” Voice of the Martyrs,
http://www.persecution.com//files/01/80/46/f018046/public/restrictednations.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51
, clickable map (emphasis added).
43
Vietnam is 54 percent Buddhist and 8 percent Christian. Voice of the Martyrs says:
Persecution of Christians is harsh, particularly for unregistered and ethnic minority churches. Many churches have chosen to remain unregistered because of the unreasonable restrictions the government imposes on registered churches and believers. Arbitrary arrests, harassment and fines are common. Many Christians are in prison. Only a few have been released, and many have been forced to renounce their faith. Several ethnic Christians reportedly died after being released from prison or while in police custody because of injuries caused by torture.
Source: “Restricted Nations,” Voice of the Martyrs,
www.persecution.com//files/01/80/46/f018046/public/restrictednations.aspx?clickfrom=bWFpbl9tZW51
, clickable map (emphasis added).
44
“History of Burma,” Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Burma
, retrieved November 4, 2010.
45
“The Observer Human Rights Index,”
www.guardian.co.uk/rightsindex/0„201749,00.html
, retrieved November 4, 2010.
46
“Myanmar (Burma) Human Rights,” Amnesty International,
www.amnestyusa.org/all-countries/myanmar-burma/page.do?id=1011205
, retrieved November 4, 2010.
47
“Christian Evangelist Scandals,” Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_evangelist_scandals
, retrieved February 14, 2011.
48
French,
Tibet, Tibet,
26–27.
49
Mark Magnier, “A Tempest in Tibetan Temples,” Los
Angeles Times,
February 7, 2011,
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-tibet-buddhist-tension-20110208,0,735876.story
, retrieved February 9, 2011.
50
French,
Tibet, Tibet,
218. For the quotation from the Dalai Lama, French cited the
Daily Telegraph,
May 7, 1999, as quoted by Jeffrey Hopkins, a scholar who has translated and edited much of the Dalai Lama’s work.
Chapter Sixteen Two Different Paths
1
Buddha’s life before his enlightenment was not exemplary by Western standards. While married he also had concubines. He then abandoned his wife and child to become a wandering monk. Sanderson Beck, “Buddha and Buddhism,”
http://san.beck.org/EC9-Buddha.html
, retrieved September 18, 2010.
2
Approximately 54 percent of the people of the world, or 3.6 billion people, are either Christians or Muslims. “Major Religions of the World, Ranked by Number of Adherents,”
www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html
, retrieved on September 28, 2010.
3
Madasamy Thirumalai,
Sharing Your Faith with a Buddhist
(Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2003), 153.
4
Ibid., 170.
5
Ibid., 181.
6
Ibid., 181–182.
7
Ibid., 193.
8
Ibid., 179.
9
Ibid., 123–131 (paraphrase).
10
Ibid., 182.
11
Mary Garden, “Can Meditation Be Bad for You?”
Humanist,
September/October 2007,
www.thehumanist.org/humanist/MaryGarden.html
, retrieved November 22, 2010.
12
Matthew 6:7b (NKJV).
13
1 Kings 18:26–39.
14
John 14:6b (NKJV).
15
Dhammapada 273–275 (emphasis added).
16
Ecclesiastes 7:20 (NIV).
17
Isaiah 64:6a (NIV).
18
Sample quotes appear at Matthew 11:27, John 3:16, John 5:17–23, John 8:19, John 10:30, 36–38 and John 14:1, 7–11.
19
Steven Gertz, “How Do We Know 10 of the Disciples Were Martyred?”
ChristianHistory.net
, August 8, 2008,
www.christianitytoday.com/ch/asktheexpert/sep23.html
, retrieved May 25, 2011.
20
C. S. Lewis popularized this argument in his BBC radio talks in the early 1940s, which were later adapted for his book
Mere Christianity,
first published in 1952. The argument is sometimes called “Lewis’s trilemma.” Other Christian thinkers often go back to this same argument, saying that Jesus must be “liar, lunatic, or lord.” If Jesus was a liar or a lunatic, he could not have been a good teacher; furthermore, he did not seem to be a liar or a lunatic. The only option left is that he was telling the truth and is Lord. Either way, the option of calling him a good teacher is untenable. See C. S. Lewis,
Mere Christianity,
3d ed. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001).
21
Romans 1:18–23; 2 Peter 3:9.
22
Luke 12:47–48 (NKJV).
23
John 14:6b (NIV).
24
John 3:16 (NIV).
25
Luke 23:34 (NASB).
26
Acts 10:42 (NIV).
27
Isaiah 63:9.
28
Joshua 5:14–15.
29
Psalm 110:4.
30
Job 19:25.
31
Isaiah 55:4b (NASB).
32
Colossians 1:15–20 (NASB).
33
Philippians 2:9–11 (NIV).