Both Jesus and The Buddha differ in various ways, each of their spiritual paths are completely different. The Buddha said to be human, there is God. He preached that the root of suffering was the cause of desire. Jesus was teacher, a Galilean Jewish Rabbi that Christians believed that he was the Messiah and the son of God. The concept is the Holy Trinity which is the God (the Father), Christ (the Son) and the holy spirit. Both of their existence is very meaningful but in an entirely different way. The historicity of Gautama Buddha has never been an issue for Buddhism: “According to the doctrine of Buddhism, the dharma kaya [the body of truth] is eternal, and so it does not depend upon the historicity of Gautama” (Bishop). Buddhism can still exist with or without Gautama. On the other hand, the history of Jesus is beyond important to Christianity. The apostle Paul stated in his letter to the Corinthians, “if Jesus was not raised from the dead then the Christian faith is futile and useless, and we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:14–19). If you were to take out Jesus, there would be no Christianity as a religion.
An angel named Gabriel, visited a young woman named Mary to tell her news that she will be carrying a child named Jesus, who is the son of God. Mary and her husband Joseph started their journey to the little town of Bethlehem. Once they got to the town, they found out that there is no where for them to stay except a stable, which they chose to spend the night there. Jesus arrived that evening in the stable with no crib, the manger had hay which they used for the new baby’s bed. Shepherds were near flocking their sheep, when an angel appearing bearing the great new of the birth of baby Jesus. In addition, the three wise men (magi) came from the eastern countries, seeing a bright star in the sky which signified the of a new king. The story of Jesus’s birth was influenced by the tradition that is relevant is many stories about great men (Part 2 of 2: Myths…). Christianity is known to celebrate the birth of Jesus as a holy holiday. Still to this day, people question the actual date of Jesus’s birth, is it actually on December 25th? The Bible seems to be silent on any date of his birth but there are some areas hinting that Jesus’s birth didn’t happen in the winter, (Jones). There has been historical evidence that illustrate that Jesus’s birth is said to be in the winter to match up with the winter solstice (Jones).
Queen Maya of Sakya, who was married to King Suddhodana, one day in the summer, she went to her room to rest and when she fell asleep, she had a very vivid dream. Queen Maya saw four angles who brought her to a mountain peak, she was said to be clothed in flowers. A white bull elephant appeared and walked around her three times. Suddenly, the elephant struck her right side and disappeared into her. She then woke up and shared the vivid dream with her husband (Gyatso). Of course, the king reacted and found 64 brahmans to interpret her dream, they stated that Queen Maya will give birth to a son who will become a world conqueror known as the buddha (Gyatso). Queen Maya decided she wanted to go back to her hometown, she received the King’s blessing before she left. She gave birth to her son surrounded by blossoms of trees. Both of them were showered with water from the sky to bathe and perfumed blossoms, the infant took seven steps and stated “I alone am the World-Honored One!”, (O’Brien). Soon after, Queen Maya and her son went back to Kapilavatthu, sadly seven days later Maya died. Siddhartha (which means "he who achieves his aim”), known as the Buddha is the ‘enlightened one’.
The Buddha and Jesus clearly have different outlooks on their historicity, their self-concept, their answer to the human predicament, spiritual liberation and a matter of an empty tomb. Jesus has many sources such as epistles and the gospels. There have been many scribes to revisit and edit Jesus’s life. Bishop states that, “Our early apostolic church fathers as well as others further corroborate Jesus’ historicity and the events in his life independently, such being the likes of the historians Josephus Flavius and Cornelius Tacitus”, (Bishop). We have many books and findings on Jesus to follow and adsorb. On the other hand, Buddha’s sources have been removed and thats why there is so much uncertainty about his presence and life. Most of the Buddhist scriptures didn’t appear till the end of the 1 century BC and Buddha lived supposedly from 566-486 BC or 448-368 BC (Bishop). Many scriptures came during the 2nd century AD such as Buddhacarita, The Acts of the Buddha which is an epic poem written by Aśvaghoṣa (Bishop). Clearly, we see that all the sources that came to be showed up 400 years after Buddha’s life. In comparison to Jesus, we see the beginnings of his followers in a short time of his actual life span unlike Buddha.
The idea of ‘Self Concept’ plays a huge role in every human’s life no matter what, being that it is thoughts and beliefs about yourself based on what you have experienced in life and how others can react. Buddha insisted he wasn’t divine, he wanted people to focus on why you are suffering and he wanted you to find the reason for that suffer in your life. You have to eliminate the suffering of your life with letting go of desires while living a life of self control and moderation to reach pure nirvana. Jesus was looked to be equal with God, Bishop states, “seen in his favorite self-designation of the “Son of Man” which was prophesied in Daniel 7 of the Old Testament, read my article for a slightly more detailed analysis of this title), (Bishop). Jesus wanted to help people so they would turn to God and be forgiven for their sins. Jesus’s answer to living a good life was to love God, other humans, repent and follow the Ten Commandants. Buddhists followed the three signs of existence, dukka (suffering), Anicca (impermanence of self) and Anatta-Anatman. Anicca illustrates the idea of how life is changing all the time and nothing is permanent. There are going to be obstacles in your life that you have to overcome, everyone has their type of problems, so you aren’t alone in your journey, which is the only process that is constant. Anatman means no soul or no self, clearly very different from Christianity and Jesus since as an individual that will self identify to heaven with an immortal soul. Also, Jesus has a bond with God which creates a relationship that is admirable and a personal experience. Nourie states, This leads to the belief that all things (on earth) are second to this and are to be used as a goal of achieving the ascension of the individual soul to God”, (Nourie). Buddhists see many connections between things but there is always a cause and effect. Bishop says, “ This stance explains the Buddhist mind-set of duty and commitment to all things in nature both animate and non- animate objects; as opposed to those of the Christian mind-set of the individuality concept of the self and the attainment of personal connection to God’s grace”, (Bishop).
Both view the concept of God differently, as we know Buddha has illustrated that the presence of God is unnecessary to suffering. According to one scholar of Buddhism if by “God” we mean a Creator God then “…the Buddha is an atheist and Buddhism in both its Theravada and Mahayana forms is atheistic. . . . In denying that the universe is a product of a Personal God, who creates it in time and plans a consummation at the end of time, Buddhism is a form of atheism” (Jayatilleke p. 105). Monotheistic means believing in only one God which is what Jesus follows, but he is an equal with God.
Human Predicament conveys a situation that all humans will face on earth when the number of people exceeds the actual amount earth can sustain which effects everyone’s standards of living. The Buddha made it very clear to remove ‘suffering’ you have to remove your desires. In different circumstances, Jesus wanted to mend the relationship between sin of man and God. Ravi Zacharias, an author who decided to convert to Christianity, stated in his book, “Why Sufffering?”, “It does not seem accidental that the night Gautama Buddha left his palace to pursue an answer to pain and suffering was the very night his wife was giving birth to their son. In his quest to eliminate suffering, he actually walked out and left his wife alone in the throes of her pain. Contrast this with the God of the Bible, who came into this world Himself in the person of His Son to suffer on the cross, to embrace pain and suffering for the sake of humanity. Buddha walked away from his son and from pain. In Christianity, God is part and parcel of the solution”, (Zacharias p.131). Sin is what Jesus thought the center of human predicament is, that is what keeps you from being in a healthy relationship with God.
In all religions, Spiritual Liberation is very important no matter the beliefs you follow. The Buddha’s main message is the only way you will reach enlightenment is getting rid of your desires and you will no longer suffer. For Jesus, you will find salvation in him and he is the only way to restore a relationship with God. In the New Testament, Jesus is redemption, he embraces those who suffer and sin with forgiveness from God. Also, Jesus demonstrated as a divine Messiah through his teachings, miracles and sacrificial death and resurrection. Moreover, The Buddha keeps within the teaching of letting go of your desires to satisfy and detach from the impermanent. The Buddha never claimed himself to be God, he kept his message of the only way to reach enlightenment is on an individual’s own responsibilities. As for images of the two, The Buddha is always seen in a tranquil position with his eyes closed and for Jesus, as he was nailed to the cross with bruises and blood visible, his gaze is of love because he came to redeem his people. The Dharma which is the way of teaching to other, The Buddha taught just that and showed the way to nirvana but Jesus after this death and resurrection opened the door to heaven (Bishop). What is in the Tomb? Both The Buddha and Jesus died, Jesus was crucified and The Buddha was cremated. “In fact in a bibliographical survey of over 2,200 publications on the resurrection in English, French and German since 1975, the researcher Gary Habermas found that 75 percent of scholars accepted the historicity of the discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb”,
(Craig). The tomb of Jesus was found empty because of his resurrections. The Buddha had to historical record of him resurrecting, just Jesus.
In conclusion, The Buddha and Jesus stand for different objectives and have different outlooks on life. The Buddha is the authority yet the individual has to take their own responsibility of their life. Christianity is based on the main purpose of God and Jesus Christ, salvation is possible when they are both praised. In addition. Jesus has kept the traditions such as communion and baptism unlike the Buddha is based on rituals and practices. The Buddha also rejected the idea if the world was eternal or not, Jesus and Christianity are for the concept of an external God. Both Jesus and The Buddha have differences on the concept of the divine and ‘suffering’. As a Buddhist you are in charge of your own destiny in which you redeem yourself from what you are suffering from by suppressing your desires. As a Christian, God and Jesus Christ will be your savior from your sufferings