Buddhism
In reading this account on Buddhism, the goal is, for you (the
reader) to understand a fascinating belief system, that has been around since
before Christ ever set foot on this earth. This will provide a connection to the
minds and hearts of the people who live and die in this sacred world, so that an
understanding may be aroused and ultimately give an acceptance as well as a
clear path to minister to these people. The most important aspect of reaching
out to people of other cults or religions could possibly be an understanding and
common ground with your neighbor. Therefore, knowing Buddhism and learning about
it will help give you a stepping stone in you mission on spreading the gospel of
Christianity, plus expose you to some of the profoundly interesting culture of
Asia. (Yamamoto 1)
History
We have all seen and heard about Buddha and
the yin and yang, do to the exploitation of an ancient religion, however aside
from this popular fad is a complex and ancient religion deriving from a place
called Kapilavastu located in southern Nepal. It began with a man named
Siddhartha Gautama, who in fact was the son of a chieftain of the Sakya Clan.
Basically he was a prince, enjoying all the luxuries accompanying it. He was
born in at about 560 BC, it is debatable as to the exact history of his life,
because of the many different forms of Buddhism, however there are substantial
bits and peace’s that are agreed on among the different Buddhists. (Mead 23)
He grew up in a sheltered type of life, in that his father refused to let
him see any human misery, so he was secluded from the outside world he was never
meant know. However, one day at the age of twenty-nine he came to the conclusion
of how empty his life had become. As an effect of this, he decided to renounce
all his worldly possessions and break all attachments he had in order to set out
on a journey. A journey in search of peace and enlightenment. He then, on one
fateful day set out on his voyage, eluding the royal attendants his father had
contained him with. When reaching the outside, he experienced the effects of
human suffering, by viewing an old man, a leper, a corpse, and an ascetic. With
this newfound truth he had discovered he realized that worldly happiness was
merely and illusion. After his departing from captivity he decided to give up
everything and become a wandering monk. During this time Gautama practiced many
forms of extreme austerity or painful rituals, such as sleeping on brambles to
mortify the desires of his body and denying his body of sitting by instead
crouching on his heels to develop his concentration. He did these things for six
or seven years in order, so he believed, to attain truth. One day while on his
pilgrimage of enlightenment he came to the realization that his life as an
ascetic was of no greater value than that of his previous existence as a prince.
His self-torturing acts were then viewed by him as vain and fruitless, just as a
life with worldly pleasures would be described as. Once he discovered the
importance of the “middle way”, (the way to truth, which averts both worldly
pleasures and extreme austerities) he abandoned his life of extreme austerities
and moved on in his search for truth. (Mead 30)
Later on in his life, it is
not certain exactly when, Gautama sat under a particular fig tree in Gaya, which
now is christened the Bodhi-tree. Gautama sat at the foot of that tree and
meditated, he meditated until he became enlightened. At the point of
enlightenment he discovered the “Four Noble Truths”, which became the focal
point of his teachings, and of his Buddhist philosophy. This marked perhaps the
most important point in his spiritual journey, where he became the Buddha or
“the Enlightened One”.
With his newly found title as the Buddha he decided
to set out and share the enlightenment he experienced and the “Four Noble
Truths” to all who would be willing to receive his message. Buddha’s (Gautama)
choice to share his teaching rather than withdrawing from all human contact, as
did many holy men had done symbolized a very important point in the Buddha’s
teaching and philosophy. The decision symbolized the compassion of Buddha or his
unselfish concern for others. Therefore establishing the Buddhist teachings on
wisdom and compassion. Shortly after his enlightenment, approximately two
months, Buddha gave his first sermon, in the Deer Park at Rishipatana. This
brings us to another concept, it is believed that this event sparked the motion
that Buddhists call the “Wheel of the Law” (stages in comprehending ultimate
reality). Consequently his actions inspired people to begin to believe in his
sermons and eventually follow him; thus a community of beggar monks called
Sangha was formed. Unique from many religions, Buddha’s followers did not have
to be submissive to him nor give any vow of any sort. The people merely followed
because of faith rather than leadership. Buddha devoted his life to the creation
and growing of the Buddhist faith. He was dedicated to his ministry in full
force up until his death at the ripe old age of eighty. (Encarta Encyclopedia,
Buddhism 3)
Despite the great Buddha’s death, the religion continued on and
growing quite considerably as well. His followers continued his work, of
spreading the gospel of Buddhism to all people. They wandered from village to
village seeking out and obtaining more and more followers. However as the Sangha
grew larger, the monks had different opinions and ways of interpreting the
religion and Buddha’s word. Hence, a separation was eminent; the monks now
formed numerous groups each interpreting the Buddha’s teachings differently from
one another, however still spreading the similar word more quickly. The monks
eventually grew to such a significant number that they created monasteries,
evolving from, a time when the wealthy landowners would invite the monks into
their homes and provide shelters during the rainy season. Buddhism therefore
continued to grow by leaps and bounds spreading like a fire run of control. King
Asoka was responsible for many conversions, do to the fact that he used his
great power and wealth to vigorously promote the campaign to spread the Buddhist
doctrine throughout Asia and the East. During this time Buddhism graduated into
a world religion, being etched in the stone of history forever. (Laymen 45)
Buddhism soon grew to such a large number of believers that a leadership or
organizer would have to be formed. There was a grouping of leaders referred to
as the moralistic order, they met periodically to discuss and reach agreements
on the matters of the doctrine and the practice. These meetings were known as
major councils. There were four of these large and very important meetings
throughout Buddhist history. The first occurred after Buddha’s death at
Rajagrha. A monk named Mahakasyapa ordered the meeting, calling it to order; in
order to go over and come to an agreement on the actual teaching of the Buddha.
The second happened about a century later, it is believed that this council met
at Vaihall. Its sole purpose was to discuss ten practices, more specifically the
ten questionable monastic practices. The first being use of money, then the
drinking of palm wine, and other practiced that were called to be questionable
by the higher Buddhist monks. This meeting was very influencial in that it was
said to have cause one of the first major splits in the religion, as spoken of
prior. Later meetings occurred and eventually two major groups emerged out of
the disagreements. Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. (Mead 35)
Theravada Buddhism is said to be the purest or most traditional branch of
Buddhism because of its great effort in conserving the original nature of the
Buddhist teachings. At about the first century BC, some of the first Buddhist
scriptures arose, by the Theravada Buddhists, they were written in the Pali
language, a vernacular that descended from Indian Sanskrit. These scriptures
then became known as the Pali Canon, they provided a written basis for the
Theravada belief system and practices. According to the Tharavadians this
written document is an accurate account as to what the Buddha taught. (Encarta
4-5)
There are major points in the beliefs of the Tharavadains that differ
from that of the Mahayana beliefs. Most importantly, the teaching that Buddha
was a man, but a great man who was an ethical teacher, contrary to the
Mahayanains who say he is a god. Secondly they reserve their teachings just for
the saints (arhants), their most holy people, the common Buddhist believers are
forbidden from the teachings. Coinciding with this it is a belief that only a
saint may obtain ultimate deliverance or Nirvana, in order for a common person
to obtain Nirvana he/ she must accumulate merits or in other words gain good
Karma and possibly be reincarnate as saint in his or her next life. One of the
most influential persons in the Tharavadain Buddhists was Buddhaghos who
composed compiled an extensive encyclopedia of Buddhist literature written in
the Pali language. He was born in the latter half of the latter half of the
fourth century AD into a Brahman family, but had converted away from his family
to the Buddhist faith. Theravadins regard this scholar as one of the most
important writers of there faith. Theravada Buddhism today primarily thrives in
Sri Lanka while at the same time also residing in parts of Southeast Asia and
India. While receiving opposition and discrimination from other religions, the
Tharavadains have a surprisingly peaceful relationship with the Mahayana
Buddhists. (Yamamoto 8-10)
In reaction against the severe austerity and
individualism of the early Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhists emerged; they had a
newer radical view of the Buddhist faith. In this denomination of Buddhism a
more relaxed modern view is taken as well as gives the common man a chance to
have faith in and for the devotion of Buddha. In the Mahayana belief, nirvana
(the attainment of enlightenment during life) is reached by the realization that
the essence of suffering is empty. Mahayana Buddhism, sometimes called the
Northern School of Buddhism, is yet again divided up into two even smaller and
more concentrated denominations called the Madhyamika School and the Yogacara
School. These two schools basically are just conflicting ideas that have been
broken up and peace back together into two separate groupings. (Yamamoto 10-12)
The importance of the many groups and branches of Buddhism, including;
Amida, Zen, Nichiren, as well as Taoism and Confucianism, Bon, and Shinto, are
for the most part similar to the basic Buddhist belief. The importance of them
is quite trivial in learning about general Buddhist beliefs because they break
down the religion and change vital bits and peace’s so much that it really
takes away from traditional Buddhist teachings. For the most part most of Asia
is Buddhist not a collection of smaller Buddhist branches, except for the small
noted exceptions. In fact, worldwide there are about 314,939,000 Buddhists
(approximately 313,000,000 in Asia alone), and only 19,000,000 other Buddhist
branches, with the exception of Toaists ranging from about 180,000,000, however,
the reason being that they are not very similar to Buddhist teachings. (Yamamoto
22)
Theology
The beliefs and values of the Buddhists are very different
from the tradition Christian based realigns of the west we know so well. Their
religion is based more on nature and the world around us, or the mysterious
force that drives nature. Any real religion will answer many questions and
enlighten on various concepts. These concepts include the obvious mysteries
people struggle to solve every day in every form possible. Such things as human
suffering, the idea of a soul, in the Buddhists case they have a concept called
“Emptiness”. As well as other topics including, the way to salvation or
forgiveness, and probably the biggest issue of all: God. Who and what is he?
Does he exist? Buddhism, like Christianity has its story on these subjects and
they differ greatly from that of a Christians, however the basses of this belief
is thousands upon thousands of years old and has today developed into a complex
network of people coming together in the belief of Buddhism. So what do they
believe?
Lets begin with the idea of suffering, in the Christian world and
Buddhist as well as all others, suffering is present, it is not a thing you can
run or hide from and is a part of life. Every being suffers. So how do explain
why bad things happen to obviously good people or why some people even need to
suffer. Well Christianity simply says it is Gods intricate plan at work and we
have neither the brain power nor the logic that God has to understand it, so
they believe it to be all part of the big picture. This, however, is hugely
different form that of the Buddhists. The Buddhists believe that one suffers
because of there past lives, if they have done bad they will be punished in the
present life. They also have the idea that all human life is really not
important there are much higher things then it, this is about as close as
Buddhism comes to Christians, in that they believe God is above all. Moving on,
Buddhists use something they call the “Four Noble Truths”, in other words the
way the world goes. (Yamamoto 27) (Rahula 56)
The first of four noble truths
is what Buddhists call dukkha. Dukkha basically means suffering, pain or misery,
sorrow. This translation is very loose, it does get the basic meaning, but still
does not portray the word as it is meant in its native language, thereby giving
the Buddhists a bit of a deceptive look. So from our vantage point there is no
full proof translation for this word, however the concept of it can be
explained. The Buddha’s outlook on suffering is described as realistic. A good
explanation of this is, how Buddhists priests would describe Buddha, they say
that he is a doctor who tells you the absolute truth, by not giving the whole
truth to make you feel better nor tell you such bad news you will as if you were
dyeing. The Buddha simply tells the truth, understanding the cause of and effect
of our problems. Dukkha has three major aspects, one; it is all forms of
suffering weather it be mental or physical. Two; it is change, and the third is
the essence of life, this is the equivalent to what we would describe as the
soul. (Yamamoto 27) (Rahula 56)
The Second Noble Truth is “samudaya” or the
origin of suffering; this is where dukkha comes from, samudaya. This concept
reveals that suffering is originated from this idea, that a craving or thirst
(sin) called Tanha is one of the causes of suffering. Within samudaya is the
Twelvefold Chain of Causation, this is Buddha’s explanation of suffering and
where it is arisen from. (Yamamoto 28)
The Third Noble Truth is called
nirodha, nirodha is yet again in relation to dukkha, and it is described as the
sensation of dukkha or the feeling of the dukkha. This reveal in some way that
there is a liberation from suffering. The term Nirvana (nothingness) comes into
play with nirodha because when one attains Nirvana he is experiencing nirodha.
Nirodha is the annihilation of the false ideas of the world or the so-called
soul you have on earth, because they believe in no soul. The only way to achieve
Nirvana (which is like salvation) is to illuminate craving or coveting (like
sin) called tanha. Once you have eliminated craving and experienced nirodha, a
way is paved for you to achieve your salvation or deliverance from the ignorance
of the world. (Yamamoto 29)
The Fourth and last Noble Truth is “magga”, this
is the path paved I spoke of. The magga is made up of Buddhist ethics called the
Noble Eightfold Path. This is like the right way; similar to Jesus this is what
to follow how to live you live the difference between right and wrong. This
concept is taught to perfect Buddhist tradition of discipline and wisdom, their
way of life. The Eightfold Path spoke of is a sort of new dimension a new way of
life rather than a path, this can guide a person away from selfish desires which
cause suffering. So put into simple terms magga is a guidance of what is needed
for deliverance. (Yamamoto 30)
Another big issue is the idea of humans
having a soul an unseen life force that drives them. Buddhists have the idea
that the soul does not exist, other wise called anatta to them. “All the factors
of a human personality form, feeling, perception, dispositions, and
consciousness are not identified with the self” (David J. Kalupahana). What this
means is that the human as a self is merely a collection of parts working in
unison. However, you may take parts away to construct a new living being when it
is reborn, much as an automobile is put together with parts and can be
dismantled and used for other cars. People are weak beings and the fear and
desire cause people want or in fact need a feeling of having something more than
just the obvious physical appearances. When a person searches for a soul he or
she really is searching for truth as Buddha explains, this truth is eventually
received at the point of enlightenment. This idea astonishes unique, being that
this is the only religion that rejects any idea of a soul. (Yamamoto 36) The
Buddhists have the idea that in having no soul nothing is permanent all is Empty
to them this is known as shunyata or openness, the void or simply put absolute
nothingness.
Finally, Salvation, how is it achieved in the Buddhist faith?
Salvation is achieved, briefly stated, by renouncing the world and becoming a
monk so that in being a monk you give up everything and your selfish desires are
annihilated and you are saved. Also going along with this concept, meditation is
very important to the salvation of an individual because it connects them with
the truth, and truth leads to deliverance, then to salvation. To be saved, you
must first attain the highest level of perfection called arhant, this is the end
of the Eightfold Path one who is free form all ignorance, selfish desires and so
on. After dying as an arhant you achieve nirvana, and simply die out and fade
away into nothingness. However when speaking of your salvation, God should be in
the game, well in Buddhism God is non-existent he is a hindrance in a person’s
quest for knowledge he is yet another one of the false teachings of the world.
God to the Buddha is not only non- existent, but is on equal plain with man.
Therefore, Buddhism is not atheistic because they believe a race of gods inhabit
the cosmos and as we do have to achieve Nirvana for salvation. Gods are not to
be worshiped in this religion, though, because the faith focuses on the self and
the attainment of knowledge, god is not needed. Even Buddha who is viewed as a
godlike figure is not worshipped or served just as no other gods are, Buddha was
a teacher not a god. To them God is pointless. (Rahula 60)
Evangelizing
These people in the Buddhist religion are being lead astray, so how would a
Christian onlooker try and evangelize and help the people. Well first of all,
look at who you are talking to, most Buddhists are speaking a different language
than you and I, so try to talk to the new generations of Buddhists. People who
speak the English language are easier to communicate with obviously, so begin
with them. So now that you have found you target group and know that a language
barrier does not protect them, find out what you will say, because in all
honesty you need a plan. If preaching the gospel word for word out of the Bible
is your plan, then just give up now, because the people you talk to will have no
real concept of your religion just as you do not with them because of the major
differences. Therefore, approach in a different manner; explain it at if it were
a part of their everyday life, relate the books of the Bible to for instance the
teaching of Buddha. Telling stories is the universal language, telling a story
of a great man named Jesus who saved so many from sin will surely spark anyone’s
interest and give them hope. Speaking of hope, it is a very powerful tool in
evangelizing, especially when people need hope and something to believe in. With
Buddhism people cannot interest there lives in a secure figure like God, they
are left to toil in the mysteries of ignorance and searching for truth, why
search for truth if all you are called is ignorant, there is no hope in that.
Heaven is especially influential because heaven is beautiful and full of life.
In comparison to the Buddhist Nirvana of nothingness and complete void ness,
people will understand that there is no hope in nothingness. Shouldn’t we be
searching for something if we are looking for truth? Not just a final answer of
nothingness, it poses no real reward or incentive to love or obey. As with all
religions they will fight back it is not unheard of. A spiritual warfare battle
is eminent because we need to let them get out their side, which is good and
fair. (Yamamoto 30-40) The only thing you need to know is how to respond and
know all the basis of what they believe so that you can refute it. There are
millions of unsaved souls in the world; helping just one is a task we should all
take on if not more.
Read this incredible story about a Burmese Buddhist Mon who died, came back and told us what he saw: http://bibleprobe.com/backfromthedead.htm