What if Jesus was a Buddhist?

Question

For anyone who has studied early Christianity with open eyes it is known that all the information we have on the life of Jesus is hearsay, and not very good hearsay at that. What is clear however, is that many teachings supposedely credited to Jesus seem to be taken directly from the Buddha who lived 400 years earlier. This could of course be coincidence, but his use of exact sayings coined by the Buddha could not. Jesus exact words can be found in the Buddhist Somadeva, which of course predates Christianity. What if Jesus was just a Buddhist teacher whos teachings were used by literary artists(already who most think wrote the gospel's, read the Jesus Papers and the Jesus Party by religion professors at top colleges), in the aid of a theological movement.

Sherry, at the adult table one must back up their arguments.

Again Andy, please do something to discredit the possibility.

sunflow, your logic is horrible. I don't even know where to start. Again, I know Judaism is older, but that has nothing to do with my point. Jesus' teaching actually go against many of what the OT says, while it apparently borrows, or even coins directly, many teachings and sayings from Buddhism.

About the level of intellectual thought I believed I would get from the closeminded.

Like a Rolling Stone, your logic is even worse. You are using a theological document to prove points in the same theological document. I'll let you try and soak that one in real quick, though I doubt anyone who would use such logic in the first place could be helped.

I don't know of any scholar that takes the bible as historical truth, it might have bits of history in it which lie in truth, but certainly it is not used for history, it is theology.

Answer 1

actually, the life of Jesus was written to fulfill the prophesies of the early Jews...since Buddhism only dates to the 5th Century B.C. and Judaism dates to the covenant made between Abraham and God, about 2000B.C. (preceding the stories of Buddha by 1500 years) then it is clear to see that Jesus' life is actually borne from the older Jewish faith and not the young upstart Buddhist faith...

Answer 2

Buddhists and christians believe the same things but most of the time use different languages. The teachings are the same. Jesus was a teacher like Buddha. Deep inside all religions are the same
but use a different style.

Answer 3

Eyewitnesses wrote about Jesus/ They wrote about what He did, what He said, what He taught, and about His death and resurrection. Eyewitnesses!!! They saw Him, they heard Him, some had been with Him for years. They were there. Jesus life death and deeds were prophesied of long before Jesus was born. PLEASE, Please, please, read Psalm 22:13-22. Now read Matthew 27:28-37 These accounts speak of Jesus death and what was going on around Him. You will see that much of what is written in Psalm came about in Matthew. Psalm was written in the Old Testament by King David hundreds of years before the Matthew account was written. If Jesus came as a Buddhist, why didn't He say so? His actions, words, and deeds didn't point people to Buddhism. The idea of Jesus being a Buddhist is observed. Thar's about like saying Bill Gates is broke. Have you completely read the Somadeva and the Bible? If you lean toward Buddhism, how are you saved? Jesus didn't teach and die for such salvation (not even the right word) is Buddhism teaches.

Answer 4

In human history, most teachers created their rules of worship ...to make it easy to govern,thus the rule of blind faith; do what I do and everything will be alright. Go find more fellowmen ,expand your army and you'll be the winner. This has always been the leaders' trend.
But Buddha tried to undo many things that came before him; such as caste system,nationalism, male or feminine rights to access ultra-stage of real happiness,and many more ..without trying to call for blind faith. He wants everybody to find one's own refuge, by proving all the theories one hears, not believing before practicing nor praying to gods. Its your own action that counts. I can't imagine Jesus has ever heard of this piece of wisdom from the Buddha otherwise he would have learned about the 4Noble Truths;Life is Dukka=impermanent, all phenomena have their causes and effects, since we are living the consequences of our own investment so the" now" is one's opportunity to make new accounts of karma and improve your future, the last noble truth is that everyone has the same chance to apply the techniques he discovered(not created) to conquer Dukka in the end. The humble Lord Buddha even predicted that his spiritual science will only last 5000 years as everything is impermanent. You see anything common between these 2 Teachers?

Imagining Jesus as Buddhist is out of question.

Answer 5

There were Jews in India at that time. There were Buddhists in the Mediterranean region at that time. There are alleged records of Jesus visiting India. There are interesting parallels in their teachings. I'd say it's possible, but that it's also possible that Jesus never existed and that he was a Semitic version of the Dyonisis/Osiris myth.

I personally think the least probable version of Jesus is the one propagated by the Christians.

Answer 6

Some so-called Buddhist ways are actually correct, so they may have descended with Jesus. But many people came after Jesus and faked Christianity, so I'd say maybe the so-called Buddhist ideas you're speaking about didn't come with Jesus.

Answer 7

Good idea...probable...but Buddha was believed to be a prophet just like some believe Jesus was...it's not difficult to believe that those same beliefs could survive more than 400 years of history...

But then...what if our estimation of when Jesus lived is off by 400 years??? Since the documentation is spotty...

Answer 8

It's a very valid point. If you watch the movie "Zeitgeist", you'll see that it is very possible that this could be true. Actually, it could be very possible that Jesus could be purveying the beliefs of many religions (Islam, Buddhism, Judaism). Very many religions share the same thoughts about conduct, and many of the biblical stories from Christianity are popular stories in other religions with other deities.

Answer 9

Not to mention records of his visiting India, and the similarities of Christ's birth with that of Sri Krishna's.

See:
http://religion.krishna.org/Articles/2000/09/00107.html

Answer 10

Just because you don't want to acknowledge the truth of history doesn't change that history. Intellectual dishonesty can get you into all kinds of trouble. You might as well say that World War 1 and World War 2 never happened, as to pretend that jesus wasn't who he claimed to be!