Buddha was a Great Teacher, Christ is Our Eternal Lord

Buddha was a Great Teacher, Christ is Our Eternal Lord

In Buddhism, one’s path to nirvana relies on the effort and discipline of the individual. By contrast, Jesus taught our goal is not a state of non-conscious being, but an eternal relationship with God. There is nothing one can do to earn a right relationship with God. Instead, we must receive His gift of grace, the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus Christ and this restores our relationship with our creator

Almost all religions teach that a person's personality continues after death. In fact, many religious historians believe that this belief was the prime reason that motivated people to originally create religions. Christianity and Buddhism are no exception. However, they conceive of life after death in very different forms: Buddhism teaches that humans are trapped in a repetitive cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. One's goal is to escape from this cycle and reach Nirvana. .. The term nirvana means "the blowing out" of existence. Nirvana is very different from the Christian concept of heaven. Nirvana is not a place like heaven, but rather an eternal state of being. It is the state in which the law of karma and the rebirth cycle come to an end. It is the end of suffering; a state where there are no desires and the individual consciousness comes to an end. Although to our Western minds this may sound like annihilation, Buddhists would object to such a notion. Gautama never gave an exact description of nirvana, but his closest reply was this. "There is disciples, a condition, where there is neither earth nor water, neither air nor light, neither limitless space, nor limitless time, neither any kind of being, neither ideation nor non-ideation, neither this world nor that world. There is neither arising nor passing-away, nor dying, neither cause nor effect, neither change nor standstill." The mind experiences complete freedom, liberation and non-attachment. Suffering ends because desire and craving -- the causes of suffering -- are no more. Christianity has historically taught that everyone has only a single life on earth. After death, an eternal life awaits everyone: either in Heaven or Hell. There is no suffering in Heaven; only joy. Suffering is eternal without any hope of cessation for the inhabitants of Hell.

In co...

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...ther major world religions share a basic rule of behavior which governs how they are to treat others. Two quotations from Buddhist texts which reflect this Ethic are:

"...a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?"

“ Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18. (www.hindunet.org)

This compares closely to Christianity's Golden Rule, which is seen in: Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Matthew 7:12.

"...and don't do what you hate...", Gospel of Thomas 6.

After comparative study we realize Buddha was a great teacher who lived a noble life, but Christ is the unique revelation of God who is to be worshipped as our eternal Lord and Savior.

Works Cited

Holy Bible,New International Version,(Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House,2001)

Lewis M. Hopfe and Mark Woodward, Religions of the world.(New Jersey: Pearson,

Prentice Hall, 2004)

www.religioustolerance.org (http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism4.htm) www.hindunet.org (http://www.hindunet.org/alt_hindu/1995_May_2/msg00015.html)