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So many sayings of Buddha could just as easily have been said by Jesus and his followers: Quote:Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
– Buddha
Matthew 6: 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
Quote:Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Buddha
Matt 13: 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Quote:Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.
Buddha
Matt 23: 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant
Quote:Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.
Buddha
3 Ne 17:8 I see that your faith is sufficient that I should heal you
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Quote:Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.
Buddha
Matt 18: 27 – 33 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him aan hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Quote:He is able who thinks he is able.
Buddha
Matt 21: 21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Quote:He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye.
Buddha
D&C 38:27 Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.
Quote:He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.
Buddha
Mosiah 18:9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort
2 Cor 7:13 Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.
Mark 3: 35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
Quote:Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
Buddha
3 Ne 12: 22 But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of his judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Quote:However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?
Buddha
Matt 7: 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Matt 7: 24-27 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Quote:In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
Buddha
James 3:16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
2 Cor 12:20 For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults.
3 Ne 32: 2 2 Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel.
Quote:It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.
Buddha
Matt 16: 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
2 Tim 1: 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Quote:No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
Buddha
Philip 2: 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
The NT doesn’t give much insight into Jesus’ life between age 12 and 30. Did he encounter Buddhism and seek personal enlightenment? Or are these ideas just inherently the best ones humanity will continue to stumble upon in our spiritual lives? Buddha is viewed as an awakened teacher who provides insights to help people end their own cycles of suffering.
Your thoughts?
Fantastic Post, My favorite member of the LDS Relief Society was raised a Buddhist. Reared on a plantation in Hawaii, she grew to be the most delightful young women. My favorite quote of hers was, “cookie cutters are for cookies”, not for women. She was one of the very few LDS women in leadership positions who actually believed that women had souls of their own and were not just predestined to fit a specific mold.
Always loving the teachings of Chieko_N_Okazaki
Here are some of her books:
Hawkgrrrl- I wish I was in a better position (academically) to answer the reality of the possibility of your question. I will simply have to speculate. In any case, I found it striking, after reading “The Power of Myth” how many similarities there are throughout religious traditions. The differences are all in the details, but the similarities are almost global. I tend to think that the “absolute truths” in this world are these very things – the global, overarching similarities that give insight into helping us become better people. Indeed, I view the purpose of religion in that vein – to help me become a better person. I no longer view it as a set of rituals, ordinances, rules, and techniques for obtaining some reward in the afterlife (although that’s certainly still possible).
What I think is interesting is to ask why many Mormons aren’t aware of these similarities. Maybe it’s not important to be aware of them. I think it is because it can help dispel the us vs. them type of attitude that is so prevalent. When I started my faith crisis, one of the discussions with a family member involved me explaining that many of the “truths” in Mormonism were not in fact unique to Mormonism. I cited a few other churches and some of the influences on Joseph Smith. She came just short of calling me a liar. I was quite disturbed at the narrow view this individual seemed to have.
Maybe if we had more exposure of these types of things, we would be less inclined to view ourselves as an exclusive club. (hint hint hawkgrrrl for an MM post!)
I’m curious HG, did you get some of the parallels from Marcus Borg? He has a great book comparing the two I read a few years ago. The scholars I’ve read seem to have a consensus that we don’t have enough info about his life during his middle years, despite speculation otherwise. But with the more pure Gnostic gospels, we can see his teachings were very “eastern,” and the more dogmatic, controlling attributes given him by Paul and other later authors (long after his death) were most likely not his, lead me to believe that he was shaped by Buddhist type training. But like was mentioned, Campbell does such a great job showing similarities in all the major religions, who knows what was originally taught and by whom?
Fun to think about it though….
I’ll have to order some books from Amazon.com. There are at least one dozen. Should be great reading. I love the connections between the Eastern and Western World. I now have a great winter reading list.
By the way, I’m also going to try and read a book on the Turkic peoples. These are the people that flourished anciently and filled the vast expanses of Eurasia. I love to read about how some of them went East, and others went West. They converge once again in the Americas. I’m not trying to hiijack this post, just trying to understand how East meets West in language, culture, tradition, science, philosophy and religion.
Quote:I’m curious HG, did you get some of the parallels from Marcus Borg? He has a great book comparing the two I read a few years ago.
I didn’t, although there are a bunch of papers published on this. Interestingly, many Christians are completely closed off to the notion, considering Buddhism either a false, pagan religion (wrong on all 3 counts, IMO) or citing the fact that Buddha was only a teacher, not a God. Fair enough, but some early Christian docs refer to Jesus as not divine (gnostic texts often take this stance, IIRC). And certainly, if we are focused on becoming Christlike, that’s placing him primarily in the role of teacher.
No, I did this the old fashioned way, one quote at a time . . . I got the Buddha quotes from brainyquotes.com and then one by one found parallel statements on lds.org, mostly based on the ones that came to my mind.
The idea that Jesus was Buddhist was an underlying theme of the book Lamb: The Gospel of Biff, Childhood Pal of Christ, a somewhat irreverent novel that was nonetheless hilarious and insightful. In the book, Jesus & Biff (his BFF) take off at age 12 and explore the path to enlightenment by looking up the 3 wise men to find out what Jesus is supposed to do with all this divinity of his. He decides to become a Bodhisattva (savior) after his travails. I wouldn’t recommend the book for everyone, but I thought it was great.
Another Jesus/Buddhism parallel is this notion that Jesus is buried on an island in Japan, and that the Jesus of the NT is his Japanese brother who took his place. That’s another theory that has evangelicals’ knickers in knots.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingo,_Aomorihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingo,_Aomori” class=”bbcode_url”> http://www.thiaoouba.com/tomb.htmhttp://www.thiaoouba.com/tomb.htm” class=”bbcode_url”> Interesting stuff. I tend to agree with Eu that some truths are just global, and spiritual-minded people will tap into them and share them. Likewise, there was an interesting article about NDEs (near death experiences), that they are universal because the brain is wired to create them when the body is in full crisis.
I think truth can be found in many places. The fact the similarities are so striking to me has recently made me a big fan of buddhism as words of wisdom and truth to show individuals “the way” – and that one limited to Mormon teachings is missing out on many of the great teachings other religions have to offer that fill the soul and enlighten the mind. Christ had to learn line upon line, and who knows where he got the perpetual lines of truth from, from Jewish temples and scriptures, angelic visitations, or other religions like buddhism. Religions (in my mind) are the vehicles mortals use to get to the universal truths. He was above religion, but established His church as a pure religion to help lesser beings like myself find that same path through His teachings. I believe Syddhartha did the same, established a path for people to find the way. I put Joseph Smith and Gautama Syddhartha on the same level as a vessel to distribute truth (prophets), but Christ was a level above them and other prophets. He is God.
I’ve said many times that if I weren’t Mormon, I’d be a Buddhist Christian. Quote:“cookie cutters are for cookies”, not for women.
I’m going to steal that and post in on my personal blog.
I have been studying Buddhism in an academic capacity for the past year, and my opinion (for what it’s worth) is that Jesus was definitely nota Buddhist. While there are some similarities between some of the concepts taught, the overall messages of these two influential figures are completely different. The goal of Buddhism is to become awakened from the “illusion” that we live in, and to break the cycle of rebirths known as “samsara”. It is based on the premise that the soul eternally reincarnates into various bodies throughout various realms, and the only hope to get out of that is to reach higher meditative states until you attain “nirvana” (literally: “snuffing out” of illusion).
In comparison, the goal of Christianity, as Jesus taught, is to be cleansed of sin and to enter the “Kingdom of God”. While advocating certain moral actions and principles, he repeatedly taught that HE was the source of salvation, and that he was exclusively the only begotten Son of God. Jesus taught a world-view that was linear (the earth had a beginning and will come to an eventual end), whereas the Buddha taught a circular view of birth, death, and rebirth. Jesus taught that humans will be judged at the end of time (and that he himself would do the judging), whereas Buddha had no such concept of judgement or the end of time.
I can see how some can conclude, at face value, that there are enough similarites to put them in the same camp, but their overall message and worldviews are completely different.
MapleLeaf, do you think overall Buddhist views or “mainstream” Protestant views are closer to the eternal theology of Mormonism? Old-Timer wrote:MapleLeaf, do you think overall Buddhist views or “mainstream” Protestant views are closer to the eternal theology of Mormonism?
I think they are both comparable in small ways. Mormonism is based within the framework of Jesus’ teachings rather than the Buddha’s, so I’m inclined to say that the Protestant view would be closer, since it is also based within Jesus’s teachings. Like Protestant Christians, Mormons accept the more linear view of a beginning and end of the world and a final judgement that Jesus taught. And they recognize the figure of Jesus as the source of salvation (despite differences in what that means to each group).
That said, I guess you could say that Buddhist views would be closer to Mormonism when it comes to the idea of eternal progression – Buddhists seek higher levels (including godhood, though that is not the actual goal) through obedience to the principles of dharma, and Mormons seek higher levels (the ultimate goal being godhood) through obedience to the principles and ordinances of the gospel. Buddhists believe in being subject to a teacher above them that will help them attain higher levels of understanding, and I suppose Mormons believe in being subject to the God above them in their own spiritual evolution (and so on up the chain, with God possibly even being subject to his own god).
Mormonism does present an interesting mix between the two philosophies. However, I think if Mormonism is to remain true to the framework of Jesus’ teachings, it cannot claim too close a kinship to Buddhism, because much of Buddhism is really at odds with Jesus’ message and mission. Buddhism places great precendent upon self-propulsion up the ladder (no god necessary), whereas Jesus’ main goal was to get people to rely on him and go to him as God and the exclusive source of salvation.
Is that what you meant by ‘eternal theology’?
Good summary MapleLeaf. I wonder about the implications of the Mormon idea of eternal progression in a circular fashion as well. That is, if we really do become gods, like God himself, then Mormonism also teaches a sort of circular progression in which we can create our worlds, have our own universe, etc. (Good response, MapleLeaf). Yes, I think for many of the similarities on works and eternal progression, the central key of Mormonism is reliance on a Savior not just for teaching the way, but making he way possible that would otherwise be unattainable clearly pushes the biggest similarities with Protestantism.
However, I sure identify a lot with Buddhism and enlightenment.
. Sorry to jump this up but this is a great thread! I was watching the first episode of the Campbell/Moyers “Myth” series with my kids yesterday (I know, too soon
😳 ) and I can’t help but wonder why not? Why couldn’t the early (original) writers of the NT have used eastern mythology? They didn’t seem to care about paralleling OT mythology, greek mythology, etc.It just seems way too coincidental, the parallels. And, many of these buddhist philosophies pre-dated Christ by hundreds of years. Those three wise men came from somewhere. Is it irreverent or blasphemous to just say it: Jesus’ teachings were heavily influenced by eastern philosophy. At least, what we have in the NT. I’m going to sound like a broken record again, but Thomas Jefferson edited the four gospels, taking out the miraculous/supernatural and still, he recognized the parallels between buddhist and christian philosophy.
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