Examining Buddhism | Galatians 5:22-23

Answering: Similarities & Differences in Belief Systems

Nov 11

Description text goes hereBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23

The world’s four largest religions are: (1) Christianity; (2) Islam; (3) Hinduism; and (4) Buddhism, with approximately 350 million followers. There are millions of Buddhists in Asia and many in the U.S.; among public figures who have identified with Buddhism are Joan Baez, Tina Turner, Richard Gere, Harrison Ford, and Goldie Hawn.

What is Buddhism? It is a practice aimed at liberating the human mind from anguish. Its three vital elements are: (1) the narrative of the life of Buddha; (2) the philosophical worldview he put forward; and (3) the institution of Buddhism (Buddha’s followers).

THE BEGINNING

Buddhism began in India about 500 years before the birth of Jesus. Many were disillusioned with Hinduism’s complex caste system and dreaded the endless cycle of births, deaths, and rebirths. People turned to varied beliefs (including animal worship) to fill the spiritual vacuum. Out of several Hindu sects arose Buddhism, which denies the authority of the Vedas. Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism points to a single founder: Siddhartha Gautama, born a Hindu around 560 B.C., near today’s Nepal.

THE BUDDHA

Accounts of the Buddha’s life are impossible to verify historically; what follows is traditional and partly legendary. A seer at Siddhartha’s birth prophesied he would be the greatest ruler—unless he saw sickness, old age, death, and a renouncing monk; then he would abandon rule and discover salvation for mankind. To resist this, his father built a palace and restricted such sights. Siddhartha grew in luxury; when he needed cheering, 40,000 dancing girls were summoned. He married Yasodhara at 16, and they had a son. In his early twenties, he ventured outside the palace and observed the four sights.

At 29, seeking an answer to life, he shaved his head, adorned a yellow robe, and became a monk. He studied the Upanishads but found no satisfaction. He tried severe self-denial—starving himself to a skeleton—without peace.

SIDDHARTHA GAUTAMA CLAIMED TO BE THE “ENLIGHTENED ONE”

Finally, he sat beneath a tree for 40 days and nights and vowed not to move until he found what he sought. Mara, the evil one, tempted him to abandon the quest. At the end, he experienced NIRVANA—literally the “blowing out” of desire and the professed elimination of suffering. Convinced he had found “salvation,” he was called the Buddha (“Enlightened One”).

He returned to public life preaching the way to Nirvana and founded the Sangha (order of monks). Traveling and begging for food, he established groups to extend his teaching. With missionary zeal, he charged his followers: “Go ye now out of compassion for the world and preach the doctrine which is glorious.” He died of dysentery at 80. At the Bodhi (“wisdom”) tree, he concluded life’s riddle; at the Deer Park, he told five disciples: “Birth is sorrow, and death is sorrow.” Suffering results from craving; grief ends when cravings end. The religion is based on three principles: (1) Existence is suffering; (2) Desire causes suffering; (3) Ridding all desire ends suffering.

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES WITH HINDUISM

Differences (teachings Buddha rejected):

The Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, and the Upanishads, written later and considered Hindu scriptures, serve as divine guides to nirvana.
Atman (soul) is part of Brahman (world soul), and the world is maya (unreal).
Brahmin priesthood and sacrificial system—Buddha emphasized ethics over ritual.
Caste system—enlightenment is open to anyone, including women.
Countless gods—deemed unimportant to enlightenment (without denying deity’s possibility).

Similarities:

Reincarnation.
Karma (merit/demerit) and dharma (duty by station); rebirth as human, animal, hungry ghost, demon, or Hindu god.
Yoga and meditation are incorporated into his teaching.

BUDDHISTS’ SUPREME DESIRES

Seek dharma (essentially, “insight”).
Achieve nirvana—relief from the world’s pain and anxiety; true refuge, eternal realm, liberation from karma—through meditation, austerity, and intense personal effort.
Freedom from karma—humans, with free will, bear consequences through reincarnation.

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS & THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

Suffering exists.
Cause of suffering: craving for sensual pleasures and prosperity.
End of suffering: extinguish craving so no passion or desire remains.
Path to the end: the Eightfold Path—

Right Views (accept the Four Truths and the Path)
Right Resolve (renounce sensual pleasure; harbor no ill will; harm no creature)
Right Speech (no lies, slander, abuse, or idle talk)
Right Behavior (do not destroy life; take only what is given; no unlawful sexual act)
Right Occupation (livelihood that harms no one)
Right Effort (reject evil qualities; cultivate and perfect good ones)
Right Contemplation (observant, alert, free of desire and sorrow)
Right Meditation (four degrees of concentration after abandoning sensuality and evil)

Buddha said those who follow this path reach nirvana—release from rebirth. He declined to define nirvana, focusing on the escape from suffering. Unlike Hinduism’s maya (world as illusion), Buddha taught that this world and its suffering are real and must be escaped via the Path.

BUDDHISM’S COMPLEXITIES

Arahatship, or spiritual enlightenment, entails 37 factors of enlightenment (29 beyond the Eightfold Path).
Five obstacles: sloth, pride, malice, lust, doubt.
Three refuges affirmed: Buddha, dharma, Sangha; monks keep 227 regulations (e.g., no touching women—even mothers—and no unstrained water).
No soul: humans exist as five conditions: body, feeling, ideas, will, and pure consciousness.
Ten commandments (last five for monks): prohibitions on killing, stealing, adultery, lying, intoxicants, eating after midday, performances, adornment/perfume, luxurious beds, and owning silver or gold.
Three principles guide seekers; the first maps 31 planes of existence (from higher beings down to beings-in-torment).

THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM

After Gautama, Buddhism spread across Central/Southeast Asia, Japan, China, the Far East. In India, it is divided into Theravada (the primary religion in Sri Lanka, frowning on rituals/images and rejecting prayer to the Buddha, who, it is claimed, attained nirvana) and Mahayana. It reached China in the first century B.C., complementing Taoism as a shared “Path.” Tibetan Buddhism (the Dalai Lama) is experiencing a revival and growing Western interest. (Confucianism, often paired in East Asia with Buddhism and Taoism, emphasizes social virtue and order rather than personal salvation.)

CHRISTIANITY’S CONFLICT WITH BUDDHISM

Man is sinful and cannot save himself.
Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:10.
Beware of philosophies that exclude the authority and divinity of Jesus Christ and promise enlightenment.
Colossians 2:8.
Only Christ leads to God and eternal life.
John 14:6.
Demons work through false religions and counterfeit peace.
Mark 1:21–28.