Buddhism & Christianity: A Buddy Tale

 I’d like to approach this topic a unique, hopefully fun way. The iconic Buddhist teacher to the West, Thich Nhat Hanh, wrote a couple books on the relationship between Buddhism and Christianity, the first the classic Living Buddha, Living Christ and the sequel, Going Home: The Buddha and Christ as Brothers. By the way, there’s no mandatory reading for these 3 classes, but those two books are a great suggested reading list, as is Jesus & Buddha, the Parallel Sayings, compiled and introduced by Marcus Borg

Anyway, instead of Buddha and Christ as brothers, I’d like to a slightly different approach. Buddhism and Christianity as buddies in a buddy story. Here’s a little snippet from one of the best buddy tales ever that will get us in the right mindset as well as give us a fun way to introduce our two buddies.

 

In this buddy tale, we focus today on the Buddha and Buddhism, which we’ll dub Rico Buddhism. The name Richard, by the way, means brave in power. We’ll also meet Christ and Christianity, or Sonny Christianity.

Buddhism is the older of the two, more than 500 years older than Christianity. Rico Buddhism is also more of a mystery to most folks. As Christians, we’re much more familiar with Sonny Christianity. So we must begin this Buddy tale by introducing Buddhism.

Before I share a short video presenting a short bio of the Buddha, let me say this buddy tale is really a tale of two traditions that meet in America and, to me anyway, become buddies. This is the story of Sonny Christianity and Rico Buddhism in America, confronting a lot of differences but delving deeper than the superficial level and finding a lot more in common. In fact, they find a strong affinity. But to get there, we must do the delving deeper. That’s what this 3 part class is all about – delving deeper into the differences and commonalities the two traditions share in the process of showing their buddy brotherhood.

Let’s begin with a brief bio of the Buddha:

With that basic bio, let’s look at the basic teaching of Buddhism, the first teaching the Buddha gave, known as the first turning of the wheel of dharma - the Four Truths and the Eightfold Path of the Buddha. By the way, Dharma is an important, nuanced word. It means ultimate truth, the teaching of truth, as well as the way of truth. Again, a very important concept.

The four truths teaching is the first and basic dharma of the Buddha. To understand it, we might consider the work of a physician. Like Christ in Christianity, Buddha is seen as the great physician.

What do doctors do? A doctor examines a patient and then makes a diagnosis and states the reasoning behind that diagnosis, the cause behind it. Out of this diagnosis of the sickness and the roots behind it comes a prescription. Including in this is a definition of the makeup of that prescription and the directions for using the prescription.

The basic teaching of Buddhism – known as the Four Noble Truths – states first that the diagnosis of the human condition is that we suffer. That is pretty obvious. There is pain in childbirth. There is hardship and sickness in life. We age if we’re lucky. We die. Suffering.

The second truth is the cause of our suffering, or in doctor lingo, the pathology of human suffering. So, what is the pathology of our suffering:

It begins with us craving to possess what we like. We see something we like and we have to have it, and suffer in the process.

Secondly, we hate and avoid what we don’t like. Maybe we come to have what we once thought we liked, but eventually we come to see we actually don’t like it at all. We see to get rid of it, avoid it, hide away, suffer in the process.

Lastly, with what we come to truly like, we struggle to hold onto it and grasp onto what is bound to change. All things come and go. All things are in flux. Even if we can’t see it, change is happening. We struggle to grab and keep hold onto it anyway, onto what in the end is like sand slipping through our hands. All of this leads to suffering.

The pathology of our suffering is our human grasping.

The treatment for this means the extinguishing of suffering. Nirvana – you’ve heard of that word. Nirvana literally means to extinguish or blow out. Nirvana means we live a life that is swallowed up by the fires of suffering. That Nirvana exists and can be realized is the third truth.

How do we do this extinguishing of suffering? Well, we must partake in a treatment plan. This treatment plan combines the medicines of wisdom, compassion, and spiritual practice. This treatment that combines wisdom, compassion, and spiritual practice and which leads to Nirvana is called the Eightfold path.

 The Eightfold Path has eight elements categorized into three –

right view and thinking, which are characteristics of wisdom;

the difference between right view and right thinking is a bit tricky. But the right view means having the correct worldview, the Buddhist worldview. You see the world the way it really is. This is the language Buddhism uses. Seeing things as they are – that is right view. Your view of the world is sound. That is what we mean by right – true and sound.

On the basis of that sound worldview, you think about the world around you and discern what confronts you day to day, moment to moment. Thinking about the world around you in a way that is in line with your sound worldview, that is right thinking. It is all about sound discernment.

For example, I rightly see that interconnectedness marks life in this world. My worldview is true. All things, including human beings, are interconnected at the most basic level. As Dr. King once noted, “We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” That’s the right view of things.

On that basis, I think about things going on around me. I realize the harmfulness of prejudice in my daily experience. I see the harms of thinking one group should be treated differently or discriminated against just because they are not part of our group. I think that this is wrong thinking. Instead, I apply the right view of how the world works – we are all interconnected -  to my thinking about what is true and right day to day. This is right thinking.

So right view is broad. It is similar to right worldview. Right thinking applies that broader view as we look and consider specific things going on in front of us.

right speech, action, and livelihood are characteristics of compassion;

This medicine is much easier to understand. From my right worldview and my right discernment based on that worldview, I also speak, act, and make a living accordingly. If I see all is interconnected, and from that basis think people should be treated fairly, I say things to you that are fair, act toward your fairly, make a living in a way that doesn’t harm you, or work for your betterment.  

Related to these three practical guidelines are what is known as the five precepts. This is what Buddhist lay people vow to follow. If someone formally converts to Buddhism, they ceremonially commit to abstain from killing living beings, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and intoxication. 

And lastly there is right resolve, right mindfulness and concentration, which are characteristics of spiritual practice.

Right resolve means an internal commitment to follow the eightfold path, giving your best effort to see the world as a good Buddhist, following the precepts, and cultivating your mind-heart. (By the way, the mind and heart are one and the same word in most Buddhist languages.)

Right mindfulness is basically the practice of slowing the mind down so you don’t move too fast ahead of the moment at hand or get stuck in the past. Mindfulness is the middle way between being stuck in the past and being too fast moving to the future. When your mind is paralyzed or moves too quickly it is prone to forget wisdom and compassion. Mindfulness means being in the moment which helps with wisdom and compassion. Having a mindfulness practice amounts to exercising the muscle of being present in the moment.

Right concentration is related. Not only do we slow the mind down, but we focus our mind on one particular thing, namely whatever is right at hand. Again, this is rooted in a particular meditation practice where we exercise the muscle of focusing on whatever is right at hand. This meditation practice entails pinpointing our mind on a single object whether it be mantra, our breath, or even on a spot on the ground or the wall in front of us.

Okay, that’s Buddhism’s essential teaching. Did you notice anything about our friend Buddha? Did the basic teaching of Buddhism strike you in that its missing something essential to Christianity?

Buddhism, our Ricardo Tubbs, and Christianity, our Sonny Crockett, here they meet. They are opposites through and through. At least at the surface level this holds true.

In their conversation, Sonny asks does God exist, yes or no?

There’s no God mentioned in the Buddha’s first turning of the dharma wheel. Does this mean that Buddhism doesn’t have a conception of God?

The Buddha was once asked a metaphysical question like this, a question that involved things we cannot see or touch, that are beyond the physical. The Buddha gave a famous parable – famous in Buddhism anyway - in response. Here it is:

Buddhism doesn’t consider creation or a supreme being’s involvement in creation important. The situation at hand, what is here and now, should be our unequivocal focus. What difference does it make who created the universe? Does that help us deal with the situations at hand? The Buddha said no. The Buddha wasn’t into metaphysics, in other words. Big questions like is there a God and did that God create the universe wasn’t primary in his mind. He only dealt with what is and what is at hand. He told a famous parable that made this point.

So, the Buddha wasn’t all that concerned about God. For Christ, God was all! God was such a prominent idea in the spiritual life of Christ, that for him God is father, his father.

For Sonny Crockett, Tubb’s answer is not a satisfactory answer. Sonny says, Hey, pal, in NYC your question might not matter, but here in Miami it does. So I’ll ask again, does God exist or not?

Tubbs will have to dig a little deeper. Indeed, Miami is not New York! In the land of palm trees, God matters. So, Tubbs answers.

Well, it depends on how you define God.

If by God you mean a supreme being in heaven who created the universe and dictates what happens in that universe, then no, Buddhism doesn’t include a notion of God.

Buddhism doesn’t really have a theology, a view of God in the theistic sense. Human suffering and liberation is the point.

For Christianity, on the other hand, God is at the center of everything. God creates the universe, creates us, and creates our liberation by sending Christ.

It seems our buddies Sonny and Tubbs are at an impasse. They are so opposite, such different people, where can the conversation go?

They decide not to quit just yet. Like good detectives, they delve deeper.

Sonny puts the question a bit different. Does Buddhism contain a concept of God, something akin to God?

Tubbs - again, that really depends on how you define God. If by God you mean a kind of big man upstairs who like some supreme builder creates the universe and who thereafter involves himself in the goings-on of that universe, namely that part of the universe called the earth with God’s most cherished creation, human beings, then the answer to whether that God exists is no.

That said, if by God you mean an ultimate reality that is both beyond human conception, definition, or limitation yet that is available to us, pervading the here and now, if that’s how you define God, then the answer is yes.

An ultimate reality that is both beyond human conception, definition, or limitation yet that is available to us, pervading the here and now, exists. This is true for both the early form of Buddhism called Theravada and especially true for the later form of Buddhism called Mahayana.

Let’s look at the God-concepts in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism.

Theravada Buddhism is closer to the original form of Buddhism. It still lives in Southeast Asia, in countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand.

In Theravada, we see God-concepts in a couple ways. One is something we’ve already mentioned – Nirvana.

Nirvana means the end of suffering. Nirvana means liberation from the endless cycle of life, suffering, then death, a cycle called samsara. Some might say this sounds like heaven. If heaven is more akin to a realm of existence, not a place, then the heaven comparison is understandable.

There’s something else about Nirvana that goes deeper. Nirvana is the only reality that is not conditioned or limited by things like impermanence, change, external influences.  

Nirvana is a God-concept in that it is unconditioned by the material world. Nirvana, like God, resides prior to and outside of the realm of mere beings. Also like God, Nirvana is something we attain to. Nirvana is the end goal. So is God.

Here’s another God-concept in Theravada. One of the two sects of Theravada school hold that the Buddha possesses what is called a supermundane body, a body that transcends the earthly, material realm. At the deepest level, the Buddha that Siddartha Guatama came to be transcends the world of samsara, is all-knowing, all-powerful, infinite, and defined by peace and stillness. 

This is the earliest example of Buddhism pointing to a more transcendent and universal figure which came to be embodied in the historical Buddha known as Siddartha Guatama.

Mahayana is the later form of Buddhism that begins in India in the 100-200’s CE and spreads to China, Tibet, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan.

God-concepts are waiting for Buddhism once it arrives in East Asia, namely China. Tao is maybe the most prominent God-concept awaiting Buddhism. This is what the Tao Te Ching, Verse 25 says:

There was something formless and perfect

before the universe was born.
It is serene. Empty.
Solitary. Unchanging.
Infinite. Eternally present.
It is the mother of the universe.
For lack of a better name,
I call it the Tao.
It flows through all things,
inside and outside, and returns
to the origin of all things.

The Tao is great.
The universe is great.
Earth is great.
Man is great.
These are the four great powers.

Man follows the earth.
Earth follows the universe.
The universe follows the Tao.
The Tao follows only itself.

Confucianism also points to an ultimate reality that pervades and is involved in the world. Tian - the way of heaven – governs the universe, bringing order and meaning to life and controlling the affairs of the world.

Tibet also has similar concepts of godlike realities at work in the world.

So, Buddhism from India comes into Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Tibet and China especially, it encounters religiosity that has a strong sense of singular, all-powerful ultimate reality, a God-concept that is given simple names that are invoked (e.g., Tao and Tian). And thus, Buddhism in East Asia develops in a way that’s more in line with what philosophers call monism.

There’s monotheism – one God that is personal. And there’s monism – a singular ultimate reality that is not personal.  

The Mahayana Buddhism of East Asia highlights a single, namable ultimate reality, called various things. Mahayana from here on becomes monistic in nature, containing a heavy dose of God-concepts.

Here are some of the God-concepts in Mahayana:

The God-concept that becomes most prominent in Mahayana and that most closely resembles our concept of God is called Dharmakaya Buddha. Dharmakaya translates as the body of truth. Dharmakaya Buddha is infinite, absolute, transcendent, and unconditioned.

We might consider Dharmkaya as the Primordial Buddha, the Buddha before and beyond all other incarnations of Buddhas. Dharmakaya like theism’s God is self-existent and self-originating and from “him” comes all things. Unlike the traditional God of theism, Dharmakaya is an impersonal power like Tao, and like Tao, from whom emanates the universe.

The most popular form of Buddhism in East Asia today is known as Pure Land Buddhism. Pure Land Buddhism points to the reality of Other-Power. Other-Power connotes the power of Amitabha Buddha, a manifestation of Dharmakaya. Amitabha translates as infinite light. The Buddha of Infinite Light - because self-power is not sufficient, the Other-Power of Divine Light helps individuals find their way to enlightenment, Nirvana.

Our friend Sonny Christianity has taken all of this in and is floored.  It seemed to him at first, they didn’t have much in common at all. Tubbs Buddhism doesn’t care about God-talk, doesn’t have a strong view of creation or a creator God. Christianity on the other hand is all about God-talk. In the beginning, God… and God created the heavens and the earth. And, here’s the biggie, God is a being, personally able to relate to us.

But as Buddhism and Christianity spend more time together and talk it out, they come to see there’s more in common beneath the surface, more in common than it first seemed.

As for Christianity, yes, Christianity sees God as a supreme being and as personal. But not solely. There’s a philosophical side to Christianity that talks of God in more monistic ways, ways that Buddhism more easily understands.

In the Greek philosophical tradition Neoplatonism, God is referred to as the One. The One is “beyond all diversity and forms,” as well as inconceivable and ineffable. Early Christian theologians like Origen entitle the One as “The Father,” the origin of all things. This more impersonal take on God took hold in Christian theology and developed.

Some 2000 years later, seminal theologian Paul Tillich refers to God as the Ground of Being, as the inconceivable God beyond God, as not a person but not less than personal.

Some biblical notions helped this process of God as impersonal, ultimate reality beyond all concepts and notions. God is given a definitive identity 3 times in the New Testament. God is light (I John 1:5). Remember Amitabha – infinite light. God for Christians is that!

John 4:24 says, God is spirit. Or put another way, God is the breath of life. Or expanding on this, we can say God is Life. The breath and life are sacred to both Christianity and Buddhism, and God as the essence of life, God as breath pervading the universe, makes a great deal of sense to Buddhists.

Lastly, God is Love. This is found in I John 4:8 and 16. Again, love is more than personal, more than a being loving us, God is love itself. This amounts to Christianity speaking Buddhism’s language.

Psalm 139 refers to God as ever present everywhere, pervading the universe. In the heavens. God is there. In the lowest parts of earth, God is there. In the depths of the sea, God is there. Within me, God is there too.

In Acts 17, Paul says this – in God, we live and move and have our very being.

This infinite, limitless, universe presence pervading the here and now. Christianity points to this as truth. And Buddhism understands every word.