Jesus and Buddhism?

Question

Can you Believe in Jesus Christ and God and be a Buddhist?

Answer 1

Sure....Why not. If it will make you a better person.

I believe the aim of religions is to make you a better person and create the whole world live in harmony.

Answer 2

Many Buddhists say "Yes" since Buddhism is primarily the practice of the 4 Noble Truths, the 8fold Path and the 5 Precepts;others could say "No" or "Maybe".

Most Christians I know say "No" since the "No Self" view of humans,Nirvana( as extinction of all distinction as well as passions and dukkha) and finding salvation/liberation in one's own Buddha Nature's enlightenment and release is very different from living with Jesus Christ as the savior of the self, Eternal Life as an individual in the Communion of Saints fullfilled in Heaven and salvation of the human creature by Grace through faith that works through love by the incarnation,death and resurrection of Jesus are incompatible.
Other Christians find many Buddhist practices and approaches useful and interesting and ,if "Christ-directed" ,compatible with faith in Jesus,but not the incororation of pre-Buddhist practices and theologies like recognizing worshipping gods or giving "divine attention" to masters o rboddhisatvas,arhants or transcended beings.

Answer 3

Why not? The Dalai Lama gave a deeply insightful talk to Anglican Bishops about the New Testament.

Buddhism is neither theist nor atheist. There is a story about the Buddha - when asked if God existed he replied 'No'. He was later asked the same question by another, and he replied 'Yes'. One of his followers challenged him on this discrepancy, and his answer was that he gave to each questioner the answer which most helped them at the time.

If you read the Gospel of Thomas, you will find a number of sayings of Jesus which are very similar to Buddhism.

Answer 4

It's not who u believe to, but what u do in ur life. Buddhism never blame or even judge you for believe on another as long as u believe the real truth.
As I can tell you that in Buddhism you can find the real truth, why u must be confused. Try to learn about Buddhism more, I believe you'll not be confused anymore.

Answer 5

No. Buddhists do not believe in God. Jesus is God. Their teachings are only superficially similar. Buddha does not offer eternal life no can he. Jesus conquered the death. Jesus lives. : )

Answer 6

It depends on how, exactly, you "believe" in these entities. For example you could take a deist approach when it comes to God, or find and admire the Buddha-like qualities in Jesus, and not have any problems. But if it's to the point where you're losing perspective and causing conflict and guilt, then you have to reexamine things. There are reasons why Buddhism is called "the middle path".

And course, the people who say "You cannot serve 2 masters" are obviously clueless about Buddhism. Buddhism does not operate on the western master/slave relationship.

Answer 7

of course
Buddhism is a philosophy ( and a great one at that ) that can be held along side other beliefs
and there are many similarites with the teachings of both Jesus and Buddha , that it wouldnt be too conflicting

edit
there are no two masters
there is no master in Buddhism
it is an enlightening philosophy , there are no Gods or idols worshipped

Answer 8

Certainly. Read Thich Nhat Hanh's Going Home- Jesus and Buddha as Brothers.

Not one for the fundamentalist though.

Answer 9

i don't see why not. Buddhism is a philosophy and does not negate the idea of Jesus. however, some Christians may consider it idolatry or putting other gods before THE God. i could be wrong...if so, someone please enlighten me.

Answer 10

You can practice Buddhism, but if you belived in Christianity, why bother with Buddhism? Sounds conflicting. Although, Buddhism is respectful of all religions, unlike all religions!