God and Buddhism

wisdomeye SG

I think the below is quite thought provoking and also fits in with what i believe. For anyone who is interested. Extracted from Yogi Chen's article...

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First of all, I would like to give some advice to the converts from Christianity to Buddhism. Don't make God, who was and still is ever ready to help you, a god of outsiders. The Bible is a good fundamental teaching of Buddhism. The one who is against the Bible is also against Buddhism. When Buddha Gautama was young, he studied many religious philosophies and went to temples to worship different gods. He was so accepted and honored by the deities that their teachings as well as stone images bowed to him. How can you be so much more than Lord Buddha himself? Anyone who is against good teachings and good deeds of any religion is not acting in accord with Buddhism. He acts against God and Buddha. Don't you know that God helped Buddha Gautama in everything. When Buddha Gautama lived in the Tusita heaven, it was God who requested him to bear the world and be our salvation. When he went through the four gates in the four directions, it was God who appeared as an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a monk at each gate in order to inspire him to become a monk. When he left the palace secretly with the help of servants and soldiers, it was God who helped him to be rid of all his hindrances. When he lived alone in the snowy mountains for six years and in forests, it was God who protected him. When he seated himself under the Bodhi tree, the entire family of Satan came to disturb him from meditation; it was God who helped him maintain his peaceful state and thereby get rid of Satan. After he became fully enlightened and remained silent for seven days, it was God who requested him to preach to all human beings. What a great help and blessing God gave to Lord Buddha. To praise God in the beginning and betray him in the end is the sign of an ungrateful heart.

Furthermore, evil persons such as robbers, thieves, murderers, cheats, procurers, and prostitutes in every nationality are led by Satan, Mara, and Lucifer, along with demons, elves, spirits, goblins and all the evil ghosts who have gathered as a cohesive, subversive force. They lack all faith of even their own religion and destroy it. Wherever they are, religion is not. On the other hand, religious persons of the world, deeply loving the spirit more than evil, envy one another. Instead of joining together with other religious people to convert all the wrong doers, they themselves are the ones converted. this is a very dangerous thing which makes the world go from bad to worse. We should, therefore, agree with the doctrines of every religion and unite ourselves with those spiritual forces (teachings, deeds) and religious persons to strengthen our cohesive force, thereby converting wrong-doers for the peace of the whole world. This will make God and Buddha happy.

Now, I would like to give some advice to our Christian brothers and sisters. We must learn to be as humble as Jesus himself was. Before he began to preach, even before his baptism, Jesus studied Buddhism. John the Baptist was also a Buddhist. Before John, there were many Buddhists in that Biblical area in which Christ gave his teachings. In 1014 B.C. Solomon began the construction of the temple of Jerusalem, as the Jews called it. Even at that time the Jews were in commercial relations with the East. Such intercourse is mentioned in the Bible (I Kings 10:22, 9:26,10:2).

The great Buddhist King Asoka not only spread Buddhism in India, but gathered a general council to establish cannons for a foreign mission. According to the following sutras: Mahavamso 1:71, Dipavamo 8:7-9, and Vibhango 1:317, Saint Maharakhohito, who was sent as a missionary to Greek countries, converted some 150,000 persons, 18,000 of whom entered monastic orders. A Greek disciple made 70,000 conversions, out of which 1,000 men and more than l,000 women embraced the monastic life. Kanishka, one of the great animators of the council who contributed so much to the propagation of the Dharma, issued a coin with the image of the Buddha engraved on it and with the name "Boddo" in Greek letters. Wassligew, after Daravath, states that Buddhist missionaries reached western Persia in 405 B.C. The Essenes of Palestine, the Magi of Persia, the Therapeuts of Egypt are nothing but the picture of Buddhism with the color of local peculiarities and different names.

Many Jews were Essene Buddhists and Jesus was not an exception. He came to India and studied at the Buddhist monastery in the Gothamide country for six years. He left there at the age of twenty-nine. This information was written in the book "Himas Monastery in Tibet" by the well-known Russian explorer Nicholas Notovitch. A manuscript was written during the first year of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ when it was learned from a Syrian merchant in India that a man was crucified in Palestine for preaching the doctrine. It was later found that it was the same man who had studied at the Gothamide monastery. The explorer took his information from this manuscript.

The way of life observed by John and by Jesus Christ and his eleven disciples is so described in Mark 1:6,6:8-9, Matthew 10:9-10; Luke 9:3. Teaching the disciples to take nothing on their journeys--neither staff nor wallet, nor bread, nor two coats, is not in accordance with the rules of the Old Testament but of Buddhism.

In addition to the above, the parables used by Jesus were borrowed from Buddhism. Let us compare a few: the parable of the two sons in Luke 15:11-32 was borrowed from Saddharma Pundarika as follows:

"Once there lived a good and pious rich man. He lived in a house that had already shown the signs of time. Its rafters were eaten by the worms, its pillars were decayed and the thatch of the roof was so dry that it would flare up at any moment; but the old man loved the mansion. He had grown accustomed to it and his children were born and had grown up in it; that is why he could not make up his mind to tear it down and build a new one.

One day the old man saw the thatch of his roof on fire and to his horror he found that the children whom he loved so tenderly were inside the burning mansion, absorbed in their play and indifferent to everything.

The afflicted father thought to himself, "I will run in and save my children. Taking them with my strong arms, I will carry them through the falling rafters and the blazing beams." This feeling of security and satisfaction left him as he was rushing to the house to rescue the children because a discouraging thought came to his mind, "My children are ignorant and playful. If I tell them that the house is on fire, they will not understand me. If I try to seize them they will try to jump about and escape. Alas, not a moment is to be lost."

Suddenly, a bright idea flashed through his mind and he thought, "Yes, my children are ignorant but they love toys and glittering games. I will promise to give them toys of unheard of beauty, then they will listen to me."

So the father shouted with all his might, "Children, children, children, come out of the house and see these beautiful toys; chariots with white oxen, all golden and tinseled. See these exquisite antelopes. Who ever saw such goats as these. Children, children, come quickly or they will all be gone." All the children rushed forth from the burning mansion with great haste for the games were tempting them very much. This was the only thing they could understand. . ."

The parables of the sower in Mark 4:2-20,was borrowed from Buddhism. See the book, "A Manual of Buddhism." "Once while on a journey, the Buddha met a ploughman. As he was observing his work, the man insulted and reproached the Buddha for neglecting work in the fields. Buddha replied by saying that he both plows and sows, and from this labour he reaps immortal fruits. "My field is religion. the weeds I pluck out are the passions and attachments to this life. My plough is wisdom, my seed purity."

Buddha on another occasion described almsgiving as good seed sown on good soil that yields an abundance of fruits. But alms given to those who are yet under the tyrannical yoke of the passions of the one who receives the alms, checks the growth of merit.

The parable of the pearl in Matthew 13:45-46 is also borrowed from Buddhism, as the pearl is one of the sacred emblems of Buddhism. It is also the first word of the well-known incantation Om Mani Padme Hum. This is why Jesus used the pearl representing a very precious gem.

The parable of the blind in Matthew 15:14 is borrowed from the Tevigga Sutra 1:15. "As when a string of blind men are clinging one to the other, neither can the foremost see, nor the middle, nor the hindmost see. Just so methinks, Vassitha, is the talk of Brahmins versed in the Vedas."

The parable of heavenly treasures in Matthew 6:19-20 is borrowed from Khuddakagama. "Let the wise man do righteousness, A treasure that others can not share, which no thief can steal: A treasure which passeth not away."

Father Gruber was much struck with the extraordinary similarity he found in the doctrines and rituals of Buddhism as practiced by Buddhists of Lhasa and those of the Roman Catholic Church. He noticed first that the dress of the lamas corresponded to that handed down to us in ancient paintings as the dress of the apostles. Second, the discipline of the monasteries and of the different orders of lamas or priests bore the same resemblance with that of the Roman Catholic Church. Third, the notion of incarnation and purgatory was common to both. Fourth, he remarked that they make suffrages, alms, prayers, and sacrifices for the dead like Roman Catholics. Fifth, they had monasteries near Lhasa filled with monks and friars to the number of 30,000 who took the three main vows of poverty, obedience and chastity besides other vows, just as Catholic monks do. Sixth, they had confessors licensed by the superior Lamas or priests and were so empowered to receive confessions, impose penances and give absolution. Besides these, there were found the practices of using holy water, of singing service. There also was perfect similarity in terms of hierarchy as occurs in the Catholic Church."

Able Disderi, who visited Tibet in 1714 said, "The lamas have a tonsure like our priest and are bound over to perpetual celibacy."

Able Hue reporting on his celebrated travel in Tibet said, "The crozier, the mitre, the dalmatic, the cope of pluvial which the grand lamas wear on a journey or when they perform some ceremony outside the temple, the service with a double choir, psalmody, exorcism, the censor swinging on five chains and contrived to be opened and shut at will, benediction by the lamas with the right hand extended over the head of the faithful, the chaplet, sacerdotal celibacy, Lenten, retirement from the world, the worship of saints, fasting, processions, litanies, holy water, these are the points of contact between the Buddhists and ourselves."

Such observations were not only made by religious persons, but also by scientists. Victor Jacquemot, the French botanist who made a tour from Simla into Tibet during a period of three years wrote: The grand lamas of Kanum have the episcopal mitre and crozier: He is dressed like our bishops. A superficial observer from a little distance would take the Tibetan Buddhist mass for the Roman Catholic one of the first water. The lama makes twenty genuflections at the right interval, turns to the alter and then to the congregation. He rings a bell, drinks a chalice of water that has been poured by an acolyte. He intones paternosters. The resemblance is really quite shocking."

The sign of the cross is borrowed from Tantric Buddhism, since the parts of the body touched with the hand while making the sign of the cross are the same, only the meaning is different. Certainly according to natural law, what comes later follows that which comes before. What are we, wiser and greater than Lord Jesus? Why should we not follow Jesus and the doctrines of Buddhism as have been described in the last ten chapters.

Perhaps someone will object saying, "We should keep one God (I Cor. 8:6), one Lord, one faith and one baptism (Eph. 4:5). This is in accordance with the Bible, but you advocate two of them. Then, are you not against the Bible?" To this question I will answer as follows: No, one does not mean the single one, but the whole. If you say God is single you make him like an ordinary person, but if I say that all the gods of various religions are our God, I praise Him and acknowledge the greatness and universality that is His. This will please God. Buddha Gautama had been God in his previous lives. One of his disciples, Kuan-Yin, has 32 bodily forms so that he may save people by use of the appropriate form. When a person has to be saved by God, Kuan-Yin transforms himself into God.

Once I dreamed and saw an image of Jesus Christ but I was told that the image was Kuan-Yin, the Savior. Since that day I have had faith in the oneness of Jesus and Kuan-Yin.

Therefore, the God of Christianity, Gautama of Buddhism, Confucius of Confucianism, Lao Tse of Taoism, Krishna of Hinduism, Mahavira of Jainism, are all God.

My friend Professor Chen-Chi Chang also had a similar dream. He dreamed that while he kneeled down before Kuan-yin or Avalokitesvara, Lord Jesus transformed that Bodhisattva into his own form and said, "I will help you to spread the Dharma widely."

If we, in our narrow-mindedness, make God "singular", then even the God of Judaism and that of Islam becomes enemies (which is in actuality to try to make God an enemy of himself). What a cruel thing we have done. Today God as interpreted by the Protestants seems different from the God of Catholicism. Each sect or religion believes in his own God and defiles the God of others. According to the Bible, Christians believe that Jesus was God or the son of God, while Moslems according to the Koran, believe he was neither and only another prophet like Mohammed.

Each sect says that there is only one church and that the one church is theirs. They thereby separate themselves from others. This is not the true meaning of one church. One church means the whole church which contains all churches. In Buddhism, the one church is the Dharmakaya which covers the entire universe. It is beyond heaven and earth. Not only God, Jesus, angels, saints and religious persons, but even all non-religious persons will become Buddha sooner or later. There is not a single being that will not attain it.

At this point someone will perhaps ask, "Why did Jesus not teach us Buddhism after he had learned it?" The answer is written in John 16:12, "I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now." But, the time has come for you. Jesus foretold it in St. John 16:13, "When he, the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself: but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come." Good readers, try to reflect upon this verse. What is all truth and who is the Spirit of Truth?

Buddha Gautama has commanded that I be sent for you. No matter whether you believe in Buddhism or not, it is certain that you will be converted sometime. By God's will, by Buddha's will, and by our own will, we hope the Catholics may be corrected by the Protestants by adopting those Protestant practices that are in accordance with Christ's teachings. We hope that the Protestants become Catholics and the Catholics convert to Buddhism. In this way they will learn to convert the non-religious persons and make the entire world into one Buddhist church that will keep the world in peace for ever and ever.

Let us Pray: May God help us to attain the enlightenment of Buddhahood. May all the religious persons under God's protection gather together and make a powerful force to convert those who are non-religious. May God's kingdom come and this earth completely rise. May the Dharma of Buddhism spread widely over the world, to the heavens and down to the depths of the ocean. May every person who sees this article be able to destroy his sectarianism and receive the truth of Buddhism. May God grant this--that where this article is, there is Jesus; where Jesus is, there is Buddha Gautama; where Buddha Gautama is, there is a large number of converts.

Thank you, good readers, for having given so much attention to my work. May I meet you personally or spiritually very soon.

wisdomeye SG

Up to the highest heaven, down to the oceans and hells of all beings who have sensation; whether gods of higher animals, or of lower animals, insects or just cells, they are all members of Buddhism and followers of Buddhism in spite of the religion to which they belong. As the heavenly beings and men are the higher sentient beings, they have good knowledge by which they can understand what a Buddha is and what Buddhism is; therefore, many of them have joined the assembly of the Dharma. In every Sutra, whether Hinayana or Mahayana, all the eight kinds of "supernatural beings" such as Gods, Nagas, Yakshas, Gandharvas, Asuras, Garudas, Kinnaras, Maharagas, and the group of Demons who are followers of the four Maharagas such as Pisacas, Kumbhandas, Pretas, Nagas, Putanas, Yakshas and Rakshasas. The Mahaparinirvana Sutra states: "Now of the eight kinds, Ananda, of these assemblies, which are the eight? Assemblies of nobles, Brahmins, householders and wanderers and of the angel hosts of the guardian kings of the thirty-three maras and Brahma". There is this special description in the Avatamsaka Sutra which states that when the Dharma Assembly opened, many gods appeared. "Those divinities mentioned in the Rig-Veda, Atharva-Veda and Brahma Sutra--the three groups of eleven Gods distributed on the earth, in the air and heaven (the three divisions of the universe)--appeared without exception. Vasus, Rudras, and Adityas were not exceptions. Indrani, Agnani and Varunani of the Brahmana were not exceptions either. All the gods of Hinduism such as Shatr, the great supporter, Vidhatr, the disposer, Tratr, the protector, Neti, the Idear, Prajapati, the Lord of creatures, Visvakarman, the creating, Brhaspati, the lord of the spell, were not exceptions. The many gods of the sun and stars appeared. The five sun gods of Hinduism, Mitra, Surya, Savitri, Pusan and Usas were present. Many divinities of light appeared: Trita in Tantric Hinduism was not an exception. Matairsvan, Vaya and Vata in Tantric Hinduism were not exceptions. Many divinities of water ppeared: Saraswati, Napat, Sindhu, Vipas and Sutudri in Tantric Hinduism were no exception. Many divinities of rain appeared, Parjany in Tantric Hinduism was not an exception. Many divinities of fire appeared; Agni in Tantric Hinduism was not an exception. Many divinities of the earth appeared, Prithivi in Tantric Hinduism was not an exception. The many gods of plants and the Lord of Forests appeared: the twenty-four Sam as in Hinduism were not exceptions. Many female divinities of the Lord of forests appeared: Aranyani in Tantric Hinduism was not an exception. Many divinities of night appeared: Ratri in Tantric Hinduism was not an exception. Many demons appeared: the Asuras, Susna, Samabara, Pitru, Dhuni, Cumuri, Yatu and Yatudhana in Tantric Hinduism were not exceptions.

Not only those gods and divinities in Tantric Hinduism appeared at every Buddhist assembly, but also those gods of other religions such as Jehovah of Judaism, Jesus of Christianity, Ra of the Egyptian religion, Allah of Islam, Isanmi-no-Mikoto of Shinto, Ahura Mazda of Zoroastrianism, Tien of Confucianism, Sen-Chin, Sen-Wong, Sen-Dee of Taoism, and all the other gods and divinities of all other religions appeared. None were left out of the assembly of the Dharma.

My good readers, it is human nature that people of various nationalities call the gods by different names according to their language. The gods themselves, however, have a higher heavenly nature and do not make petty differences based on language, land area, etc. as we humans do. He who has faith in Buddhism, makes a fellowship with all the gods and divinities of all religions. The one that clings to a higher self, under his god as Brahma against the other religions, makes one friend but more enemies. It is a foolish misconception. Other religions are religions of a part while Buddhism is a religion of the whole.

I don't want to make this chapter too long concerning the gods and divinities of Buddhism so I will not write further about this. However, I will write a few lines about Buddhas. Some Westerners and even Easterners call the Buddha a God. This is quite wrong! A god is the highest being of all those in transmigration. A Buddha is the highest being of the four kinds of Buddhist enlightened sages who are out of transmigration and the six kinds of beings in transmigration. This is the main difference in brief. Even as there is only one sun in the sky, so there is only one Buddha in each generation. Time is infinite and many ages have passed and many will come. Before Lord Gautama there were many Buddhas and after him there will be many others. It is said that every being will recover his Buddha-nature sooner or later.

There is a Buddhist sutra that contains 300 Buddha's names. There are 88 Buddhas who are commonly known. Their names are repeated most often. There are 35 Buddhas who witness our confessions.

In the Sung dynasty (960 A.D.) Mrs. Sen Lo-An read the entire Tripitaka after her husband died and wanted to write all the Buddhas names that she had seen in the Sutras and Sastras into one book. More than one myriad names of Buddhas had been gathered. Mrs. Sen Lo-An asked her two sons to write the names. This sutra turned out to be in 10 volumes and is titled the "Myriad Buddhas Sutra."

For a detailed description of Buddhas there is the "Seven Buddhas Sutra". Below I have only presented a list giving some information about them. (See end of chapter)

Even in Buddhahood every Buddha has his own special vows, characteristics, pure lands, and family of sages. The most important thing is the wisdom of the Buddha which I shall write about in another chapter.

wisdomeye SG

In order to rectify the mistake of regarding Buddhism as atheism made by not only western scholars but also by modern eastern workers, an accessory supplement should be made here.

Atheism is a Greek term which not only means no creator but means no god at all. There are three kinds of Atheism among which none should be attributed to Buddhism: 1. Dogmatic Atheism is positive in its assertion. Buddha never denies any god's conditional existence. He denies the absolute God and Creator only. 2. Skeptical Atheism maintains that the finite mind of man is incapable of determining the question of whether God exists or not. Buddha is a fully enlightened man, not like those Agnostics. If he could not determine, who can? 3. Critical Atheism holds that the evidence for theism is inadequate. Buddha teaches his disciples the evidence for God in a certain reasonable limitation and often denies blind faith even in himself. Buddha does not hold that any deity has absolute ego but admits there is a God of every religion in a shadow-like appearance.

The knowledge of religion is one of Metaphysics, unlike those animals or plants which may be easily classified into Phyla, subphyla, classes, orders, families, genera, and species. All those terms for religion such as Atheism, Theism, Monotheis, Pantheism and Polytheism are of non-sense. Whichever religion there is, we find Theism and not Atheism. Whichever religion there is formed, there is Pantheism or Polytheism but not Monotheism. Mahavira and Parasvanath are said to be Omniscient but Jainism is said to be Atheism. Is Omniscience not a name and an actual characteristic of God? Besides these two, there were 22 proceeding Tirthankaras in Jainism. Is Jainism not Pantheism? In the Jainist Scripture, verse No. 41 it is written, "One must worship God". Why should one say Jainism is Atheism? Christianity is said to be Theism and Monotheism but in Genesis Chapter 1, verse 26, Cod said: "Let us make man in our own image." Chapter 11, verse 7, "Let us go down". Should "us" be used for Monotheism? Jesus is God too, the Trinity is not single. There is no room in the religious sphere for Monotheism at all. Buddhist writers should not follow the foolish western philosophers. To particularize the philosophic emphasis and the unique practice of each religion is better than to generalize the similarities of common conditions of all religions. Sunyata and wisdom energy of Buddhism, pure soul and Ahimsa of Jainism, High-self and yogic asanas of Hinduism, and so on should be learned by the readers. This is my advice.

hasene SG

Too long an article to read. Gist of it is saying is I guess, if religions teach good stuff they are all good religions.

I believe the christians will not agree with the article.

Anyway, let those who seek peace and practise good to people be blessed. A good heart matters most whether one has a religion or not.

Weychin SG

Too long an article to read. Gist of it is saying is I guess, if religions teach good stuff they are all good religions.

I believe the christians will not agree with the article.

Anyway, let those who seek peace and practise good to people be blessed. A good heart matters most whether one has a religion or not.

There are those who see the world as "I" and/vs "them"

They fail see everyone as a collective whole or "us". They lose their empathy and compassion somewhere down the line due to improper indoctrination and dogmatism.

They faik to engage in the "Oneness" in all of us, and instead choose tribalism with "God" as there totem.

Weychin SG

Too long an article to read. Gist of it is saying is I guess, if religions teach good stuff they are all good religions.

I believe the christians will not agree with the article.

Anyway, let those who seek peace and practise good to people be blessed. A good heart matters most whether one has a religion or not.

There are those who see the world as "I" and/vs "them"

They fail see everyone as a collective whole or "us". They lose their empathy and compassion somewhere down the line due to improper indoctrination and dogmatism.

They fail to engage in the "Oneness" in all of us, and instead choose tribalism with "God" as there totem.

Interestingly, most people has a dual mode, a religious and a secular mode, with convergent and divergent identities especially in our multicultural,ethnic and religious society.