Buddha and Jesus: Could Solomon Be the Missing Link? (48 page)

We have looked at parallel sayings on sixteen different topics in this chapter. Further research would undoubtedly yield additional parallels of thought. There is much to suggest that similarities
between the sayings of Buddha and Jesus may be due to each being influenced by Judaism in general and Solomon in particular. Jesus readily acknowledged that his teachings were in line with Jewish writings and traditions, saying:

Indeed, Christians believe that everything that happened to the Jewish people before the coming of Christ was part of God’s plan of salvation for humanity that was fulfilled in Jesus’ death on the cross. Many Old Testament events thus foreshadowed the events of the New Testament. In this light, it makes sense for Jesus to reiterate and confirm Old Testament teachings. There would be no reason to add a trip to India on Jesus’ part or a desire to teach something brand new.

In fact, from the collection in this chapter, one is left contemplating the plausibility of an assertion of Solomon’s: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”
⁸⁶
Buddhism claims that Buddha came up with the fundamentals of his new religion by meditating nonstop for forty-nine days under a bodhi tree, and that somehow from this experience he divulged from deep within himself a compendium of life-transforming revelations. Can this view of Buddha be correct? The idea that he may have had contact with Solomon’s ideas and drawn from them in his teachings would suggest otherwise. Perhaps Buddha’s sudden enlightenment was more down to earth: He suddenly realized that by melding together the wisdom of Solomon and parts of the Jain religion, he would have a profound new religion to offer to mankind.

Chapter Fifteen

Realizing Liberation

As we saw in
Chapters Three
through
Eleven
, there are sweeping similarities between Buddhism and Judeo-Christian teachings. In those chapters we reviewed extensive precursors from Solomon’s writings that tightly covered every detail of Buddha’s Four Noble Truths and his Noble Eightfold Path. Those writings pre-dated Buddha’s public teachings by four hundred years. It is as if Buddha grafted Solomon’s teachings into the framework of his contemporaries, the detractors from Hinduism, to formulate his new religion. When Buddha realized how revolutionary that infusion of West into East might be, that may have been the crux of his enlightenment. We saw in
Chapters One
and
Two
that this may have been what actually happened.

Realizing Liberation

Buddhism and Christianity share a common goal: realizing liberation. Yet their paths to liberation are radically different, as are the envisioned ultimate destinations. The Sanskrit word for liberation is
moksha,
which also means “enlightenment” or “nirvana.” Whatever nirvana is, it is not the heaven of Christians. For all of the Western elements present in Buddhism, its Eastern tilt prevails.

Each path, both Buddhist and Christian, is littered with hazards. Dramatic differences in the nature of these hazards reveal sharp contrasts in the true nature of each religion. Buddhism appeals to intelligent, highly educated, free-thinking, very disciplined, self-directed people. It offers down-to-earth methodologies for self-improvement: right living and meditation. However, the possibility of liberation is limited to the elite few who have the mental discipline and the intense commitment to consistently meditate for prolonged periods for many years, and possibly many lifetimes.

Liberation through Buddhism is restricted to those who have maintained a very high standard of ethical conduct throughout their life. Otherwise, the weight of bad karma from past misdeeds is too
debilitating to allow a sincere seeker to progress toward enlightenment. Since Buddhists do not have access to the mercy and forgiveness of God to clear them of the weight of past bad karma, they must struggle against its daunting consequences.

The Buddhist path is so demanding and unnatural to westerners that it will quickly demoralize them—if they seriously try to follow it. Nirvana is as unreachable spiritually as the top of Mt. Everest. As noted in the “Invitation to the Reader” at the beginning of this book, the Dalai Lama had this to say: “In the West, I do not think it advisable to follow Buddhism. Changing religions is not like changing professions. Excitement lessens over the years, and soon you are not excited, and then where are you? Homeless inside yourself.”
¹

Westerners are initially attracted to the parts of Buddhism that may have originated from the West, as described in
Chapters Three
through
Nine
. But then they become estranged from it as they encounter and try to adapt to its truly Eastern elements, such as homelessness and utter solitude. These were extolled by Buddha:

While Buddhism is largely restricted to highly intelligent, disciplined people, Christianity, and its heaven, are wide open to people of virtually every level of intelligence and ability to exert self-discipline. If anything, pride, exceptional intelligence, good self-discipline, and worldly success are obstacles to becoming a Christian, though they are not insurmountable. Each of these admirable qualities can be serious obstacles to understanding that one is in need of a savior, of accepting the notion of grace through faith alone, and of following the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit. While the Buddhist path is slow and arduous, conversion to Christianity and entering a state of salvation can be rapid, causing a radical upgrade in moral behavior almost overnight.

The Christian author and apologist C. S. Lewis
³
observed that the spiritual life of a Christian is like the opportunities and risks available to an egg. If an egg never advances beyond just being an egg, it will rot and decay. It is designed to hatch, become a bird, and take flight. A major problem with Christianity is that too many of its followers:

The third option is much like a bird leaping from a tree branch without spreading its wings. It will plummet even though it wants to fly. The opportunity to receive the uplifting wind of the Holy Spirit is always available, but it requires not only an initial leap of faith but also the ongoing, moment-by-moment surrender of one’s life to God. Without that surrender, the believer’s behavior can easily become a blight on the reputation of Christianity.

Practicing Buddhism is much like swimming,
⁴
while attempting to be a Christian is like flying. If a way can be found to fly, it is a more efficient way of getting around. Yet an air crash draws much more attention than a drowning. Like meditation, swimming is incredibly repetitive and inward focused. Like seeking the direction in which the spirit of God is leading you as a Christian, the flying bird can easily be blown this way or that by puffs of wind.

How Feasible Is Liberation?

Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path is a very demanding way to become a better person. It is so challenging we must ask how feasible it is as a path to true liberation. Consider Buddha’s own spiritual journey. As the Dalai Lama noted, Buddhist “texts speak of the Buddha as having practiced life after life over three periods of countless eons to
complete the requisite stores of merit and wisdom, and bring his development to perfection.”
⁵

It is only fair to ask, if achieving enlightenment took Buddha close to forever, how much longer would it take seekers today? Were eons required because Buddha was a trailblazer, having to wrestle endlessly with Mara, the Evil One, as he explored different possible avenues for advancing spiritually? Or was it because there is something inherent in human nature that would cause the path to enlightenment to be imperceptibly slow?

A sacred Buddhist text tells the story about an old Brahman who asked Buddha, “How can . . . a priest follow all the commandments and escape from all his sins?” Buddha answered that even if he were to do all manner of good deeds and keep all the commandments every day,

Did Buddha say this because he realized that he had not found a feasible way to true liberation? How long are three eons? According to scientists, they would amount to about 13,500,000,000 years.
⁷
We don’t know what an “eon” meant to Buddha, but it is clear that the prospects of any one person reaching enlightenment and liberation from suffering through Buddhism are very remote, or at least very far in the future.

Initially, the Buddhist aspirant is hopeful of experiencing substantive empowerment and freedom from suffering. Practicing deep, prolonged meditation can noticeably reduce stress levels and have a calming effect. So far, so good. After a while, another reality begins to set in. Making progress spiritually as a Buddhist is amazingly slow—to the point where the feasibility of achieving liberation comes into question. To use the swimming analogy, it is often refreshing initially to dive into the water and begin swimming. However, attaining enlightenment is much like swimming the 26 miles from Long Beach to Catalina Island. Most can swim out from the shoreline and make progress for a while, but only a very select few have trained to the point where they can go the distance. And so it is that while Buddhism has its appeal initially, over the long run it delivers what it promises to at most a select few seekers who somehow endure to the end.

Christians would argue that receiving salvation by sheer human effort is not possible. It would be like swimming from California to Hawaii. No one, by good works, can traverse the 2,400 miles of ocean to get there. Rather, becoming saved is like entrusting yourself to a ship or jet to transport you there. You have to board, committing yourself to the entire journey. You can’t wander out on the wings during flight, or dive into the ocean for a bit to swim part of the way.

The reality is that each human lifetime is fraught with billions of opportunities to commit bad deeds or think bad thoughts, and that each stumbling takes untold human effort to work off the bad karma it creates. Given such a dynamic, the likely path of virtually every Buddhist is to become more and more deeply mired in the thickening swamp of bad karma generated by past misdeeds. Furthermore, Buddhists believe that their present lives are very largely predetermined by the effects of good and bad karma generated during this and prior lives. So if your past is marred by chronic sins, there is little freedom to seize a moral initiative to become a much better person from this point forward. This is a formula for enduring despair. It is like trying to swim upstream in a beautiful river that is flowing down almost as fast as you can swim
up it. Sooner or later fatigue sets in and the downward flow of the river gains the upper hand. As Buddha said, “an illuminated person (a Buddha) is indeed very rare.”

Is there any solution? As Christian author and pastor Steve Cioccolanti, who was born in Thailand in a family that included Buddhists, Muslims, Catholics, and Methodists, wrote, “it is common knowledge among Buddhists that Buddha prophesied the coming of a Savior after him. He is called the Maitreya in Sanskrit. . . . He is expected to be a world teacher and a world ruler who will end death.
⁹