"Was Jesus A Western Buddha?"
HOW THINGS WORK – SPECIAL EDITION: Consideration #125 (Book II Science & Religion)
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Tuesday March 5, 2024
“For many years, I have kept in my office an ink drawing of two smiling figures with their arms around each other: Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha, with the caption: ‘Jesus and Buddha must be very good friends.’ They are not the same, but they are friends, not enemies, and they are not indifferent to one another.”
– Tilden Edwards
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
The question as to whether Jesus was a kind of Western Buddha is itself an oxymoron. The Buddha reflects an inherently Eastern interpretation of reality, while Jesus reflects an inherently Western interpretation of reality. Therefore, a “Western Buddha” or an “Eastern Jesus” is inherently incongruent. However, that doesn’t mean that they do not share common insights; they just disagree over how to implement them.
“Christianity is focused on recognizing the delusion of duality that is manifested through choice that generates sin into the empirical world…”
The key distinctions between Buddha and Jesus are reflected in the key distinctions between Eastern and Western interpretations of reality and how best to experience and manifest it. The East, as reflected in Taoism and Buddhism, focuses on separating oneself from the illusion of duality, or maya, which appears as the empirical world, in order to experience the bliss of unity called Nirvana. The West, as reflected in Christianity, is focused on recognizing the delusion of duality that is manifested through choice that generates sin into the empirical world and replacing it with a more rational, or spiritual, dimension called the Kingdom of Heaven.
“Buddhists reach Enlightenment by separating themselves from the physical world; Christians establish the Kingdom of Heaven by actively engaging with the physical world.”
Buddha’s process for reaching Nirvana involves complete non-attachment from, and non-action in, the physical world through a discipline leading to a total loss of self; essentially giving up one’s free will or ego. Jesus’ process for entering the Kingdom of Heaven involves a dynamic faith that transforms an individual’s will into God’s will, which can then be manifested into physical reality through the individual. Individuals are ultimately responsible for ushering in the Kingdom of Heaven. Buddhists reach Enlightenment by separating themselves from the physical world; Christians establish the Kingdom of Heaven by actively engaging with the physical world.
“Buddhism reflects a discipline based on giving up choice and free will as the way to achieve complete Enlightenment…”
Buddhism is a religion based on “non-doing” and “non-action,” which are the key factors in recognizing the truth about reality. Christianity is a religion based on “doing” and “implementing action” in the empirical world as a way of transforming reality. Buddhism reflects a discipline based on giving up choice and free will as the way to achieve complete Enlightenment, a state of bliss beyond the limited reality of the empirical world. Christianity reflects a narrative about the power of choice, and how it is possible to choose a different reality.
The East focuses on accepting reality as it is; you should not exercise your will through individual choice. Simply understand and accept “what is.” The West focuses on manifesting a potential reality that could be, if free will and choice were exercised rationally, or spiritually. Simply understand and accept “what is possible.”
CONSIDERATION #125 – Was Jesus A Western Buddha?
From a traditional Western frame of reference Jesus can appear as a somewhat passive hero. He was not, for example, the warrior messiah expected by the Jews. Jesus does not initially seem to share a strong similarity with other traditional Western heroes such as Hercules, Odysseus, and Achilles; although some heroes, such as Prometheus, demonstrate the virtue of sacrifice.
“…the virtues of courage, strength, commitment, and sacrifice are the foundation for all of Jesus’ words and actions…”
However, Jesus’ teachings are not as passive as the teachings of Buddha, he is simply exemplifying traditional Western values in a more non-violent and less physically aggressive manner. Violence is not a quality associated with the hero in this narrative, but with his antagonists and the wickedness of the world itself. However, the virtues of courage, strength, commitment, and sacrifice are the foundation for all of Jesus’ words and actions, his narrative. He sacrifices himself not out of weakness or passivity; but out of courage and love. A heroic narrative.
Western heroes take action: they are the protagonist in their narrative. Regarding morality, Jesus is more proactive than Buddha, and even Immanuel Kant, in terms of acting and doing. Jesus condenses the Law of Moses into one positive affirmation: “Do unto others what you would have them do unto to you.” Jesus’ connotation is one of acting; or doing. Kant and Buddha, however, reflect a negative formulation of morality based on “not doing.”
“…if you do not want to be treated rudely, you should not treat others rudely.”
Kant’s Categorical Imperative reflects the same basic message as the Golden Rule, although in a more passive and negative connotation: “Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you.” Therefore, if you do not want to be treated rudely, you should not treat others rudely. A typical synopsis is “do not” do anything that you “would not” want to become a universal law. Even here, Kant is more focused on law than on love: it is not transformational.
“Both Kant and Buddha reflect an inherent connection to the law, or not doing what is wrong; similar to the Old Testament’s ‘Thou shall not.’”
The Buddhist concept of compassion is also based on a negative connotation of morality. For example, being compassionate means not working in a profession that hurts, kills, or brings pain to animals. Buddha says to be compassionate; Jesus says to love your neighbor, and your enemy.
Both Kant and Buddha reflect an inherent connection to the law, or not doing what is wrong; similar to the Old Testament’s “thou shall not.” Jesus reflects an inherent connection to love through action, or doing what is right, as opposed to simply recognizing the concept of law and not doing what is wrong. If you actively love your neighbor you cannot intentionally hurt your neighbor.
“Therefore, in terms of morality, action is more powerful than non-action…”
From Jesus’ perspective, you do not need a multitude of laws telling you what “not” to do if you are actively engaged in doing what is right; loving your neighbor. Doing this one thing, replaces “not doing” a lot of other things. Therefore, in terms of morality, action is more powerful than non-action because one action can replace hundreds of non-actions. However, we continue to focus on what “not to do” because we cannot truly understand, embrace, and implement that one “righteous” action.
“Jesus aggressively confronts the Jewish authority…”
In terms of direct action, Jesus aggressively confronts the Jewish authority; disrupts, and overturns the money-changers’ tables in the Temple; and refuses to back down from the power of Rome when confronted by Pontius Pilate. It is difficult to imagine Buddha “doing” such things or “taking such direct actions.”
POSTSCRIPT
Buddha and Kant reach the same conclusion about God; He is a lot of trouble.
The complex and never-ending metaphysical paradoxes related to God have never been, and according to Buddha and Kant can never be, empirically knowable, solvable, or provable. Neither dismissed the possibility of God, or even the ontological necessity, but both recognized the impossibility of ever empirically proving the existence of God and the trouble that came from it. Therefore, Kant created a completely empirical form of morality that did not require God called the Categorical Imperative and Buddha created a spiritual discipline without a God called Buddhism.
“…the Jews were monotheistic, having only one God to focus on…”
Jesus, on the other hand, was born into a reality that was very focused on God, Judaism. Specifically, unlike other polytheistic Western societies, the Jews were monotheistic, having only one God to focus on. Jesus, unlike Kant and Buddha, does choose to take on the metaphysical mysteries related to that God, which of course does bring trouble.
Jesus not only talks about God, but he models God in the physical world through his actions, or what he does. According to the New Testament these actions included miracles of faith such as healing the sick, raising the dead, and forgiving sins in addition to public sermons and teachings; eventually leading to his excruciating death and miraculous resurrection. In the New Testament Jesus is either in a state of prayer or in a state of engaging the empirical world through specific critical actions.
“Ultimately, Jesus is not a Western Buddha…”
In the Biblical narrative, God, and His physical incarnation Jesus, are the protagonist. Like all Western heroes they fall from power, struggle to overcome their downfall, suffer unbearable trials and tribulations, but eventually overcome it all to succeed despite impossible odds. Ultimately, Jesus is not a Western Buddha, he is a traditional Western hero, with a spiritual twist.
Next week we begin a consideration briefly exploring the unique perspectives of the remaining three Gospels and some of the critical differences between them and Matthew….
Expand the Conversation by Upgrading to “Reality by a Thread!”
Excerpt From This Week’s “Untangling the Knots of Reality” Podcast:
• UNTANGLING THE KNOTS OF REALITY: Podcast #85 – “A Brief History of the Microscope: Part One”
(“How does the microscope encapsulate the journey of modern science?” “How did the microscope originally shatter the foundation of rationalism?” “Why is the microscope an excellent analogy for the shift in modern science from empiricism to rationalism?” “How did the microscope transition from a simple empirical tool for discovering the nature of reality to a complex rational expression of quantum abstractions?” “How did the simple microscope change our perception of reality?” These are some of the knots we will attempt to untangle in this week’s podcast. That’s a lot of microscopic wisdom for one podcast! So, let’s get started…)
• REALITY BY A THREAD: The Artificial Intelligence Elephant (Excerpt) – “Last week, the Artificial Intelligence Elephant walked into the room. The Google Gemini fiasco brought the problematic potential of AI to the forefront in a big way. The questions are what happened? Why did it happen? And what does it mean? What can we as human beings learn about Artificial Intelligence from what just happened with Google Gemini?”
•FREE PDF Downloads of Book IV: “The Cosmic Symphony – Overtones of String Theory” plus other Free Books, Discounts and Benefits. Also Gain Complete Access to all Previous Podcasts and Threads!
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The first link in the causal chain leading to Artificial Intelligence begins with Dualism…
“Our fascination with reality begins with our ability to distinguish between opposites. It is the source and foundation of all higher intelligence.” – Book I-Dualism (Substack Edition)
“The first glimpse of reality came through our direct experience with the incongruent patterns of existence… This duality served as the gateway for considerations far beyond the world of experience, into the world of understanding.” – Book I-Dualism (Substack Edition)
The final link in the causal chain leading to Artificial Intelligence is the emergence of Quantum Consciousness…
“Quantum level thinking embraces the world of probability over physicality. It refocuses Awareness and Consciousness beyond the empirical world of Physical Reality to a totally abstract world of Quantum Possibility…” – BOOK V Quantum Consciousness
Book V considers the questions related to what Consciousness is, how it evolves through levels of Perception and Awareness, why each step in the process is important, where we are currently on the “Arch of Consciousness,” and how all of this connects to Artificial Intelligence. (166 pages)