Jesus and Buddha: Two Messengers of Light

I. Prologue

JESUS AND BUDDHA: Two Messengers of Light

Two sons of Wisdom, two sages and prophets

Two World teachers with hundreds of millions of followers.

Two moral and spiritual revolutionaries who changed everything in their times and much in ours.

Their ministries even altered how their cultures measure time: Christian calendars start with the death & resurrection of Jesus Buddhist calendars begin with the death and paranirvana of Buddha.

I will be offering side by side comparison of the teachings of Jesus and Buddha on 3 key points:

Their Diagnosis of what ails us
Their ministerial responses to the reality of Life and Death and
What they offer their followers.

Come, let us inquire together with an open heart and an open mind: how might the ethical & spiritual teachings of Jesus and Buddha light our path as Unitarian Universalists?

II. Two Diagnosis of What Ails Us: Sin and Suffering

Both Jesus and Buddha are portrayed as “Great Physicians”.

They hear the cries of human sorrow and come to heal us or to help us heal ourselves. Their diagnoses of the human condition are distinct and yet alike. Jesus speaks out the tradition of Biblical prophets who find humankind marred by “Sin.”

Buddha speaks out the tradition of Asian sages who find humankind marked by “Suffering.” Sin and Suffering is where their ministries began.

The Biblical doctrine of “sin” operates on two levels: it has a vertical axis that connects humankind to God and it has a horizontal axis that connects us to our neighbors. Put these two axes together and you have a cross or a cross in a circle.

According to Christian theologian Paul Tillich, the vertical dimension of SIN, sin with a capital “S” points to the way that humans are separated, estranged, and alienated from “God” or the “Ground of our Being”. (Paul Tillich, The Dynamics of Faith) This tendency to be estranged from the Creator and his Plan pre-dates any action. It is “original sin.” It does not begin with us, it comes down to us from Adam and Eve, and is transmitted from generation to generation.

Our world is “fallen,” we are “fallen” as the old Episcopal catechism of my father’s ancestors says:

We are sick and there is no health in us.

The horizontal axis of sin is particular actions that “miss the mark.”

The Hebrew word for “sin” is borrowed from archery; we keep missing the target most of the time despite or because of our best efforts. These sins involve our doing not our being. They estrange us from our neighbors, and they cause us to lose track of our “best selves.”

Buddhism offers a different diagnosis and a different treatment plan. Buddhism focuses its attention on human suffering or Dukkha.

The term Dukkha comes from blacksmithing, a wheel is “out of joint.” If it is not round, it does not turns smoothly around its axle. If you have ever tried to drive on a flat tire, you know Dukkha: the whole car shakes and it might be hazardous to drive.

Dukkha is not easy to translate but we could say it is our reactive responses to stress that can transform pain into systemic suffering. In early Buddhism, Dukkha exists on the horizontal axis of humanity in this world. Later forms of “Pure Land” Buddhism will add in much that original Buddhism left out—transforming Buddha into a supernatural savior with three bodies who carries his faithful followers to a “Western Paradise.” (John Cobbe: Beyond Dialogue)

The causes of Dukkha are habits of our heart, mind, and actions that create suffering for ourselves and others. For Buddhists pain is a persistent feature of embodied life; these bad habits transform pain into great suffering. In early Buddhism, as shocking as it may seem, there is no vertical axis to explain or cure suffering—there is no supernatural Creator, Judge or Savior. There are no supernatural “angels” to help alleviate our suffering. The teachings of Old Buddha are naturalistic, humanistic, and agnostic.

Later Mahayana Buddhists will add a vertical axis and Buddha becomes a supernatural Savior: the “Buddha of Invincible Light” (D. T. Suzuki, The Buddha of Invincible Light)

Sin & Suffering: Points of Convergence

With those differences in mind, I want to point out two areas of possible common ground where these paths cross.

Common Ground #1: Persistent imperfection

The world, our selves, and our neighbors are rarely perfect; we can always imagine a better self, a better neighbor, a better sermon than the one we are experiencing right now.

Christian and Buddhist teachings invite us to embrace persistent imperfection in ourselves & others.

If we can admit that we are imperfect we are much less likely to need a scapegoat—someone else to blame for our own shortcomings. That makes us less dangerous beings and maybe better neighbors. As I have said in every congregation I have served:

we don't do perfect here, we do better.

If you're hoping for perfection here, you've come to the wrong place. This sermon which returns to the full manuscripts of my early ministry is an attempt to try something new. Maybe better, maybe worse… too soon to tell.

Common Ground #2: Habits of Heart, Mind & Action

As Christian teachings evolved, the Church began to map the “Deadly Sins” which keep us alienated from God and each other (gluttony, lust, sloth, anger, pride, envy, greed.) Buddhist tradition identified four toxins that multiply pain into suffering: fear, anger, desire, and ignorance. Not identical lists, but parallel lists.

Knowing the Seven Deadly Sins or four/five Deadly Toxins can make us less likely to sin, and less likely to create suffering. These lists are a good diagnostic tool that might produce a more individualized treatment plan for sin or suffering. They also might make us more compassionate for the predictable ways that people like us get stuck in bad habits.

III. Two Responses to Life and Death

All spiritual and ethical teachings must deal with the terrible realization that we are alive now, but we won't always be. Jesus and Buddha were not only teachers and prophets they were ministers who had to respond personally to people like us caught between love and loss.

Here are two stories of these founding ministers in action.

Jesus Raises Lazarus (John 11. 1 - 44)

This story appears only in the Gospel of John which was written 200 years AFTER the death of Jesus. John emphasizes the divinity of Jesus the Christ more than earlier gospels like Mark which emphasize the humanity of Jesus.

Jesus received news that Lazarus, beloved brother of Mary and Martha is sick. He waited two days and then tells his disciples,

Let's go to Judae and wake up our friend Lazurus

One of the disciples points to us that they were just stoned in Judea and that if Lazarus is just asleep, he can wake up on his own. Jesus said:

I meant that Lazarus is dead, and I'm going to wake him from death, so that you might believe.

So Jesus and the disciples go to Bethany in Judea where Lazarus has already died.

Martha his sister says

Jesus...if only you had been here,our brother would still live.

Jesus says:

Your brother will rise again… do you believe in me, Martha?

After Martha says

Yes, Lord, I believe in you!

Jesus holds a similar interview with Mary,

who says when asked:

Yes Lord, I believe in you!

Jesus weeps with the sisters to share their grief, then he leads Mary and Martha to the grave of Lazarus. He commands that the stone be rolled away despite complaints that after 4 days Lazarus is likely to stink. The stone is rolled away, and Lazarus walks out alive, still wrapped in his funeral shroud.

Old Buddha was faced with a similar request from a young mother, still holding her dead child in her arms. She said:

O Lord Buddha, can't you raise my child from death?

Buddha replied,

Perhaps, but first you must bring me a single mustard seed from a house that has experienced no pain, no disease, no sorrow, no death.

The young mother goes to every home in the village; rich and poor, upper caste and out-caste. In every home what does she find? After a long day of searching, she comes back to Buddha and says:

Lord Buddha, there is no house in our village that has escaped pain, disease, suffering and death.

According to tradition, the young mother bowed to the Awakened One and went home to bury her daughter. The next morning, she joined the followers of the Buddha. She became known as “Karuna” whose name means tender-hearted compassion.

Do you see, do you hear, do you feel the power of these two Spiritual Doctors coming face to face with the mystery of life and death?

In the gospel of John Jesus says “Believe in me.”

Buddha in this story says, in effect, “Go and see for yourself”.

Which doctor do you prefer?
Who would you call upon in your hour of need?
Where do you find comfort and meaning In hoping for a better life beyond this one?
Or in embracing this life with all its limitations? Or do you prefer both? Or neither?

Who or what is the doctor of your soul?

IV. Salvation or Awakening?

The last turn on this two-fold path is perhaps more complicated: what do Jesus and Buddha promise their followers? Both of their names provide significant clues.

“Buddha” comes from a Sanskrit/Pali root (Bud) which means “wake up,” “awakened,” or “enlightened.”

“Jesus” or “Yeshua” comes from an Aramaic/Hebrew root which means “to save” or “savior.”

So we can say that from the beginning the emphasis in Buddhism has been waking up and the emphasis in Christianity has been on salvation. But religions are lively engines of ingenuity and given centuries to evolve, compete and hybridize they create new variations some of which are heresies compared to orthodox faith.

A school in early Christianity called the Gnostics emphasized not faith (belief beyond question) but “gnosis” (inner awakening) as the key to transformation. If you doubt this please consult the Gnostic “Gospel of Thomas” or “Thunder Perfect Mind” or the “Gospel of Mary Magdalene.” (Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief)

So too, as Buddhism evolved in India, China, Japan, and Tibet it spawned new versions called “Mahayana” (large vehicle) which turn Buddha into a supernatural Savior who welcomes his followers to a transcendent “western paradise.” In “Pure Land” Buddhism, the key to salvation is not awakening (“gnosis” or “bodhi”) but faith in the saving power of Buddha! As an evangelical friend and mentor of mine put it:

This is not really a theoretical question, Rev. Ted. The real question is: how deep is your vehicle in the ditch, Rev. Ted? Will a jump-start or tune-up from your regular spiritual/ethical practice suffice?
Or do you need to call the Transcendental Tow-Truck with the flashing white Light on top to haul your sorry vehicle out of the ditch and put it back on the road again?

If you imagine your body-mind-spirit as that vehicle, what do you require at this moment: a natural awakening or heavenly salvation? How far is your car into the ditch? I can’t answer that question for you, as the folk song goes:

You gotta walk that lonesome valley
You gotta walk it by yourself
Nobody else can walk it for you
You gotta walk it by yourself.
“Lonesome Valley” by Woodie Guthrie