The Buddha and the Christ: Paths to Enlightenment
Our sermon series on world religions is based on the notion that since Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors, we ought to begin by trying to understand and appreciate their religious perspectives, which may differ from ours.
In this series, we are exploring a basic understanding of various religious beliefs and practices. We aim to increase awareness and highlight similarities and differences with the Christian tradition. We’ll also consider how we can be inspired to become better Christians.
Buddhism is the world’s fourth-largest religion/philosophy.
Today, we’ll explore the big questions of Buddhism. Who is the Buddha? How does it work? What’s the deal with all the Buddhist monks in town? And does rubbing the belly of a Buddha statue in a Chinese restaurant bring good luck?
We enjoy a robust and diverse Buddhist presence in Long Beach. You can find many varieties here–everything from very simple to elaborate, very spiritual to more philosophical. There are temples, monasteries, and the Long Beach Meditation Center, which meets here, use Buddhist teachings in their meditation practice.
Buddhism is the world’s fourth-largest religion, with about half a billion adherents. The fun fact about Buddhism is that it has all the bells and whistles of other faiths (literally) and addresses the same questions of human existence, but Buddhism isn’t focused on a god.
The Buddha was a human, and he never claimed to be a god. Raised as a Hindu, he acknowledged the existence of gods, but he taught that the gods don’t help with the fundamental struggle of human existence; only you, as an individual, can do that.
Buddhism is concerned with practices that address the human condition to alleviate suffering. That’s why many Christians can incorporate Buddhist practices into their spirituality–it’s not about worshiping some other god. The most famous Buddhist, the Dali Lama, is pragmatic. He said to take whatever you find helpful about Buddhism and disregard the rest.
Who was the Buddha?
His name was Siddhartha Gautama, and his title was Buddha, which means enlightened or awakened. (If the term “woke” is offensive to you, Buddhism may not be your jam). Buddha is similar to Christ it’s a title, not a name. Followers of Christ are Christians; followers of Buddha are Buddhists. So, Buddhism is about an enlightened understanding of life.
There are many legends about the Buddha’s early life. According to some, he was born to a king about 500 years before Jesus in modern-day Tibet. His mother died, and a seer told his dad that Siddhartha was destined to become king of all of India or a religious leader. “Not that!” The prophet said he could prevent the horrible fate of becoming clergy by keeping his son at home, away from the world’s troubles.
His father, desperate to make him a ruler, not a clergyman, surrounded his son with luxury and a lavish lifestyle. He was afforded every self-indulgent whim, a team of dancing girls. Only the youngest and prettiest, smiliest servants were allowed in his line of sight. If only my father could have afforded to save me from becoming clergy! To be fair, he tried, but he used sarcasm.
Siddhartha got married, had a son, and knew no hardship. At age 29, he ventured outside the palace confines and saw an old person, a sick person, a corpse, and an impoverished monk who sought happiness apart from materialism. The bubble burst when he realized we all get old, can get sick, and die. This threw him into an existential crisis, so he renounced his throne and left his wife and child to seek answers to life’s persistent questions. Remember, Jesus started his ministry at 30. Late bloomer?
Ascetic life
He spent a year with philosophers, learning their wisdom, and then joined a band of ascetics who said that depriving oneself and overcoming your physical body was the path to fulfillment. For six years, he hung out with them, depriving himself of every creaturely comfort. We always see fat Buddha statues, but he was so thin that he seemed like a skeleton. He tried living on a single grain of rice daily for a while. And one day, he thought, “This isn’t working.” I’m killing myself and no more enlightened than when I started.”
So he had lived with extreme wealth and comfort and with extreme poverty but found neither fulfilling. He developed a concept called the Middle Way, or third approach, to find happiness without going to extremes. This concept of finding a middle way is part of Buddhist lifestyles.
Enlightenment under the fig tree.
Still searching for enlightenment, he sat and meditated under a fig tree for 49 days. Some traditions say spiritual beings tempted him with distractions in his meditations and tried to convince him to teach what he had discovered. Remember: Jesus began with 40 days in the wilderness, being tempted.
Finally, he gained insight and the answers to all his questions, felt a great release, and went around teaching the things he had learned for the rest of his life. Although he wasn’t keen on women following his path, he converted his wife. She must have forgiven him for leaving her with the kid.
But there weren’t many converts. He tried to spread it through India, but Hinduism found a way to incorporate it into its theology, and it mostly died out. Later, an emperor became a Buddhist, and similar to the Christian story of Emperor Constantine, he made it the official religion and spread it throughout Asia, where it flourished.
The teachings center around what he called the Four Noble Truths
The core of his teachings centers around what he called the four noble truths.
The first Nobel Truth: Dukkha
The First Noble Truth Is… Life is Dukkha, an ancient Sanskrit word often translated as “suffering.” But it’s more like dissatisfaction. Life will always be dissatisfying because humans cling to temporary things.
Dukkha is literally a “bad wheel.” I think of the bad-wheeled carts I get at the grocery store. You can get by, but it’s just annoyingly off and imperfect. So it is with life. Something always feels off.
Old Age, Sickness, and Death are Dukkha. Not getting what you want is Dukkha. Even when you get what you want, that good feeling doesn’t last. Life is always moving. Things never measure up to expectations—Dukkha. We want, desire, and crave more. Dukkha.
Second Noble Truth: Desire
The Second Noble Truth is that Dukkha is caused by desire, and suffering is desire. We desire or thirst for more. We cling to possessions, people, power, and life, and we end up constantly disappointed because all of those things end. People want things they don’t have and don’t want the things they have to change.
We want to stay on an emotional high, but you can’t catch a running stream, and you can’t have a permanent relationship with an impermanent world. It always ends in disappointment. As one Buddhist says, “Eventually, you discover that the bottomless breadsticks are, in fact, bottomed. Desire fuels suffering in the way that wood fuels a fire.”
Fire consumes everything you feed it and will always demand more fuel. The only way to kill the fire is to stop feeding. The Buddha taught that the secret to a happy life is to enjoy what you have without attachment and not want what you don’t have.
The Third Noble Truth: Nirvana
The Third Noble Truth is that there’s an end to suffering. Since we cause our suffering, we can also cure it. We cannot change what happens to us, but we can change our responses. When we stop the constant craving, we reach Nirvana (a spiritual state), which is like extinguishing a candle to the endless cycles of birth and suffering, only to be reincarnated and suffer again. More on this in a moment.
The Fourth Noble Truth: The Eightfold Path
The fourth Noble Truth is the Eightfold Path, which leads to the end of suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path, or the Middle Way, is an eight-step guide to deprogramming the desire-addicted brain. It’s called a Path, but you should think of it more as a wheel with eight spokes that should be spun together simultaneously.
The Eightfold Path in Buddhism outlines the path to enlightenment and the end of suffering. The eight dispositions resonate with Christian ethics and spiritual disciplines; nothing contradicts Christianity. The path includes the right understanding, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration.
Noble Truths and Eightfold Path Summary
The Truths and Path are about realizing you won’t find happiness by clinging to the world. Happiness comes from clearing your mind of Desire and replacing it with joy and compassion for all things. Instead of trying to control what happens, you accept what happens and enjoy every moment as it is.
Along with the Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, there are some other important Buddhist Core Beliefs.
Karma
Karma is an ancient Sanskrit word meaning action, but actions have consequences. When you commit bad or good actions, they cause a chain reaction that will later come back to you in this life or the next. Buddhists see Karma more like a natural law like gravity rather than some sort of judgmental system of reward and punishment meted out by a supreme being.
Reincarnation
Buddhists believe we live in a beginningless and endless cycle of birth, suffering, and death called Samsara. When the Buddha reached Nirvana, he escaped the cycle of rebirth. Desire and Karma push the cycle on and on. When a life ends in one body, karma drags that life into a new body with no memory of the previous life.
Karma, even if it’s good, keeps people stuck in the cycle. The only way to break out of the cycle is to stop desire, stop suffering, stop the creation of karma, and reach Nirvana. Nirvana or Enlightenment isn’t a place for you to go. It’s not Heaven. It’s a state of mind. The Buddha reached Nirvana and lived another 45 years.
Although some Buddhist traditions do have heavens and hells, they’re inside the cycle. Nirvana is an escape from the entire cycle. Nirvana means ‘blowing out’. You blow out the Fire of Desire when you stop thinking of yourself as ME and I and instead fill yourself with compassion for all things. Once you do this, you stop generating Karma, and you stop being reborn.
Buddhist Complexity
After the Buddha died, it didn’t take long for different expressions of his teachings to develop. One group had one set of teachings, and another group had secret teachings that he only gave to his closest followers. As Buddhism spread across Asia, different cultures and parts of Buddhism were emphasized, and they evolved in unique ways.
The basic “Bible” is called the Pali Canon, but different groups recognize lots of other scriptures too. Some forms emphasize spiritual beings, especially those who have achieved enlightenment. Some pray, and some honor and respect the enlightened reverentially. There are just so many branches and practices that are distinct from each other. Buddhism isn’t just one thing. I watched a Buddhist monk’s YouTube video called “Why Secular Buddhism is Baloney.”
Some branches focus on monks and generating good karma by supporting them. Others are more egalitarian and focused on cultivating compassion and a sense of connection to all things.
Worship
Buddhist worship services, while varying across schools, generally include incense, chanting, meditation, and ritual offerings, focusing on devotion, mindfulness, and generating merit/good karma. Candles, silence, prayer wheels, and flags are often found in worship. They have dharma talks, which are like sermons. Again, they do not worship the Buddha, but they ritualize ways of honoring him for the teachings he shared. Even without a personal God, they share a universal need for connection, ritual, orderliness, and devotion as they pay attention to their interior lives.
What we can learn
Although we may have different theologies, there is much we can learn from them. I appreciate the notion that we suffer because we develop unhealthy attachments. Science embraces the emphasis on meditation and mindfulness as deeply beneficial. We share with them a concern to help alleviate suffering, our own and that of others.
O–I promised to say a word about rubbing the belly of a Buddha. It’s confusing because it’s not a depiction of Siddhartha, but a jovial Chinese guy, called Budai, who also reached enlightenment. We have a man in the church named Don Budai. Please don’t try to rub his belly. Or, worse, Gretchen’s!