Why do Buddhist's think that any part of Christianity was taken from this man's teachings?

Question

Buddha lived around 560 B.C., Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses even Isaiah (700)B.C. lived by God's covenants, truths and laws way before this guy came along. They prophecied of Jesus, they understood His principles and nature. Buddha himself when asked to define the state of nirvana replied that he himself had never tried to solve this question, He just wanted to show man the way to escape the suffering of life, not to describe what he would find once he had been liberated. Buddha appears to have been sincere but severly misguided and yet so many people worship him or his way instead of worshipping the one who is truth. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father but through me. How sad that people seek all else.

Answer 1

One can be both a Buddhist and a Christian, one just has to recognize the Four Noble Truths. The teachings are not mutually exlusive. Buddha was not fully concerned with the afterlife, but how to reach enlightment on Earth. How is his teachings misguided? He taught peace and understanding, much like Jesus (even before Jesus did).

Buddhist don't worship Buddha as a god; in fact, Buddha himself sayed he didn't want to be worshipped. Buddhism is about tolerence, even tolerence for other beliefs. They would not find it "sad" that you beleive something else.

Answer 2

I think that you are showing a bit of ignorance in this question. Buddha was alive before Jesus.Christians follow the New Testament more closely and indeed disregard many things in the Old Testament.
Christianity, in reference to what Jesus said, does have many common themes with Buddhism. Buddhists don't think Christianity "took" anything, though historically it's hard to argue against- early Christianity borrow heavily from many other religions. Here are a few parrell sayings of Buddha and Christ:

Buddha:Hatred do not ever cease in this world by hating, but by love; this is an eternal truth... Overcome anger by love, Overcome evil by good. overcome the miser by giving, overcome the liar by truth.

Jesus: Love your enemies, do good to those who you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. From anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.

Buddha:
Buddha never tried to Vasettha, those brahmins who know the three Vedas are just like a line of blind men tied together where the first sees nothing, the middle man nothing, and the last sees nothing (Tevijja-Sutta, Dighanikaya, 13:15).

Jesus:Can the blind lead the blind? Won't they both fall into a pit? A student is not better than his teacher. It is enough for a student to be like his teacher.
(QS 11).

There are many other resources online if you want to look further into it.


solve the "definition" of nirvana because it's not really something that can be defined. I think you should do much more research on Buddha before you call him misguided.
You should also do more research on Buddhist beliefs; if you had you would know that buddhists do not worship buddha, or any deity at all.
Here is a good place to start:http://www.buddhanet.net/

Answer 3

A Buddha is a person who has developed all positive qualities and has eliminated all negative qualities. A Buddha has been an "ordinary" living being, like you and me before he became enlightened or awakened. Enlightenment is compared to waking up, as a person makes a complete transformation in body and especially mind. A Buddha is said to be all-knowing. One could say that a Buddha represents the very peak of evolution. A Buddha is not omnipotent or all-powerful; otherwise the Buddha would have ended all suffering in the universe....
He did not claim that he was a god, the child of a god or even the messenger from a god.

***When someone worships a god, they praise him or her, making offerings and ask for favours, believing that the god will hear their praise, receive their offerings and answer their prayers. Real Buddhists do not indulge in this kind of worship.

Answer 4

It might have something to do with the history of Christianity. In the past, Christians did some pretty heinous things to people who didn't "accept Christ". Buddhism on the other hand is a lot more benign. If you choose not to follow the teachings of Buddha, nobody would burn you alive or boil you in oil.

Basically folks don't like to be threatened into a certain belief system. Christianity has yet to own up to it's vicious and hypocritical past. Maybe if Jesus came around and apologized to the rest of the world for the nasty things his followers have done, Christianity would gain some fanfare.

Answer 5

Christ refered to people as sheep when he said he was "the good shepherd". So, Christ did not arrive in anyother country but the one he chose. Yet, he did not leave the rest of the world abandoned. He gave them a set of rules to follow, a sensible plan. There was no media, no way of getting the news of God's goodness out. But still, people needed someone to follow. If they follow Buddha, then so be it. It's not a teaching that makes you ignoble, and for the time and place, instead of war and mayhem and disaccord, there was at least a voice of sensibility for those who could hear. That doesn't mean that Judaism is wrong, or that Buddism is right. That's just the way it happened, and you know what? It's God's Will, that this happened, so thank God there are Buddists in the world, and not more crazy war-mongers.

Answer 6

Buddha lived before Christ. It was thought and now proved by evidence in India, that a lone man from the west came into India and travelled widely learning Buddhism , DURING the missing years in Christs life. The description and even the name of the man was similar to that of Jesus. By the time he disappeared from India, he re-surfaced in Jerusalem.
He is thought to have studied Hinduism as well.
There is a lot of similarity between Buddhist teachings and Christianity (except for the existence of a single GOD). Buddhism does have several deities, gods in several realms/heavens. Ppl who do not attain Nirvana but have done good, may be fortunate enough to be born in one of these heavens instead of being reborn on earth. After the lapse of sometime...these ppl may be re-born on earth. The cycle of rebirth then continues unless attaining Nirvana when a person ceases to exist. So Buddhism does believe in heavenly beings.
There is a root of Hinduism and Jainism in Buddhism as Prince Siddhartha, before he attained enlightenment as Buddha was born into this environment and it is not objected by learnt Buddhist ppl.
All religions are affected by others teachings.
But I guess....as long as a religion teaches good, and does not offend other religions and teaches the followers to to live alongst ppl of other religions in harmony.... all is fine.

Answer 7

How sad that people are as closed-minded as you are...your religion is one of many possibilities that exist out there, you don't know the truth, just like the people that compiled the bible didn't know the truth...enjoy your faith, but don't pity anyone else, they're probably using logic and reason with their faith, which gives them a huge advantage over you...

Answer 8

The trouble is Jesus was a big-head. He wanted all the power AND the gory(sic). Buddha humbly lit the path for people to tread, to help them find their own way, not tell them to "Go this way or else" or "Keep off the grass".

Answer 9

I think the guy would be totally amazed if he could have seen into the future and found that he had started a whole religion!
How embarrassing!!

Answer 10

We don't say it that way. By the way, to each his own. So, what you believe is not always true for others. And what true for others, was not mean we want you to believe too. So, just do what you believe and let others with their believe. If you think so highly of yourself or your believe, then just do it. Don't interfere in others believe.