Do Buddhists believe in Jesus Christ??

Question

I have a friend who professes to be a Christian and he has been a Buddhist in the past, now he's looking into it again. He tells me he's looking to 'increase his spirituality' . What do Buddhists believe in???

Answer 1

Buddhists probably beleive that jesus was a great prophet who walked the earth once upon a time and taught a lot of wonderful , good things. I don't know if they think about the crucification, rise again, son of god part of it.

Answer 2

Most Buddhists have a great respect for Jesus Christ and His teachings.
However, one of the main problems that Buddhists find with Christianity is that its philosophical basis is weak. Many of its tenets - for example Original Sin and the Fallen State of Man - rely on a literal interpretation of Genesis, and are completely at variance with the scientific evidence.
At a more philosophical rather than devotional level, there are certain difficulties with accepting the Judeo-Christian idea of an omniscient, omnipotent, logically necessary being or First Cause.

Answer 3

Buddha was not an atheist actually. He never stayed if there was a god or not. When asked if there was a god, he refused to answer, when asked if there was not a god, he did not answer. On the other hand he spoke heavily about the hindu gods which makes the whole topic pretty confusing. Only the theravada sect of Buddhism actualy has no gods(they leave the belief or lack of belief in a deity up to the individual) You say you are Catholic, well then you would know that you arnt required to believe everything in the Bible, only certain protestants and non denominational groups claim the Bible is the LITERAL word of God. Catholic church says the Bible is a collection of books, poems, letters and geneology written by man. The teachings of Buddha and Jesus is not compatible to answer your question.

Answer 4

Buddhists don't believe in any theology or dogma but in the efficacy of moral practice. They would revere anyone who spread the message of love and tolerance as an enlightened teacher which is how they would view Christ rather than as a divine being.

Answer 5

As a buddhist I respect and accept his messages of love and compassion;but cannot accept the idea of almighty GOD and creation.

Answer 6

There are many different sects of Buddhism and many different misinterpretations of it. Its main purpose is to use its concepts as a means to an end: a way to experience the same thing as the Buddha did. Unfortunately, many treat the concepts as beliefs and get caught in what most of us get caught in: treating the concepts and teachings as truth instead of using them to get to truth. With all that said, the Buddha came up with a set of teachings to help people get to his same experience (NONE of these things are meant to be taken as 'truth'). His teachings are found in 'sutras' and most people summarize his basic teaching by referring to the 4 noble truths and the 8-fold path (4 noble truths say there's suffering, what the cause is, and that there's a way out; 8-fold path provides the way out). Most sincere practitioners engage in some form of mind training (e.g. in Zen, the student is first taught breath watching then is either given a koan or another method) & the practice emphasizes bringing the mind to the current task/present moment in order to try and get rid of our tendency to dwell in perceptions and concepts and the past and the future. By training the mind in this way, the mind may realize itself [enlightenment] (realization that we're not these bodies or individuals and that we're literally part of the very thing that has always been -- call it god, the unmeasurable, whatever). The concepts that are used to help the student along are the following:
- there is no permanent self; therefore, there is no reincarnation (he came up with 'rebirth' to counter the idea of reincarnation). People often get confused with this because of the story about Buddha's past-life experience and because of Tibetan buddhism.
- the root of all suffering is the belief and attachment to this illusory self; ignorance of the true nature of ourselves (thinking that we are this ego/self) is the cause of suffering and there is a way out (the way out is to have the same experience he did; the 8-fold path provides a discipline as part of the means of reduction of this self [and its self interests] to get that experience)
- Karma is not some mystical force in the universe but instead a simple word that means conditioning (e.g. I abuse my kids and then they abuse theirs and their lives have problems -- my 'karma' lasts lifetimes this way).
- Many westerners try to make it into a philosophy but it's not - it's a religion and the enlightenment experience is its core.
- Buddha did not say anything about god or gods; he knew that belief and perceptions were part of the problem and, instead, emphasized having the same experience he did (basically, an experience of 'god' but it's hard to use that term because of its many definitions).
With all that said, many buddhists in other countries treat the concepts as beliefs and incorporate superstitions and ancestor worship in it. It's not what the buddha intended but so be it.
As for believing in Jesus, true buddhists would have no problem with it. They know that all concepts -- including their teachings -- are just tools and would emphasize that we would want to get to the same experience of 'god' that Jesus and the buddha had.
For an excellent book on zen, read '3 pillars of zen'. Also, if your friend is interested in zen, tell him to try out the 'intro to zen' weekend at zen mountain monastery in NY (www.mro.org). Note that the zen master there used the help of western christian contemplative communities to fashion a zen practice that would reflect the conditioning of westerners.
Finally, there are a number of christians who are also into zen. Check out the following: http://www.zcoc.org/chstzen.htm

Answer 7

They dont believe in christ but the teachings of budda himself