There has been a email circulating for years already. Its subject header reads: ‘Siddharta [sic] Gautama Buddha (First Buddha) [sic] saw the Light of the World (Jesus Christ) at the End of Meditation’. The information in the email is so choked full of errors that I shan’t reproduce it here. Below are point by point clarifications of the mail instead. Please send it to friends who sent or received it before.
Dear friend, in the light of inter-religious harmony, this mail is sent to you – not to disparage any religion, but to clarify the hoax (as titled), as you were either a recipient or forwarder of it. The reasons on why this is a hoax are as below. Do kindly help to forward this to those whom you received the hoax from to do justice to the original teachings of the Buddha. Thank you very much. Namo Amituofo
1. The title of the so-called sutra (Buddhist scripture) is not mentioned. And the truth is, it can never be mentioned – because it simply does not exist. Note too, that the entire sutra is also not made available, also because it does not exist in the first place.
2. Nowhere in the vast volumes of proper sutras did the Buddha ever mention about the need to ‘Keep on making merit and look for another Holy One who will come and help the world and all of you in the future.’ The Buddha teaches the creation of merits via doing good and the realisation of wisdom as the path to liberation; not via the awaiting of anyone. The Dharma taught by the Buddha is clearly timeless; even mentioned so by himself. In Buddhism, there’s no need for someone to come along to ‘lead the people away from the old way, and introduce a new way.’
3. As the creator of the hoax is probably someone who sticks to scriptures dogmatically, and thinks that everyone else should do the same, including Buddhists, then it’s no wonder that s/he would create a false scriptural quote in the hope of misleading Buddhists to embrace Jesus. In Buddhism, all perfect teachers (Buddhas) bear the 32 perfect physical characteristics; not any imperfect scars.
4. If the so-called prophesy is true and important, most Buddhists would have stumbled upon it and embraced it already, while learning Buddhism. This is not so because it is not true and has never been a part of orthodox Buddhist belief. It is not part of the teachings of any Buddhist tradition.
5. The source of the so-called sutra is ambiguous. The web link to the identity of the monk does not work. The stating of the temple and monk stated is to create a false sense of credibility. If the information is real, the person who discovered it would be interviewed already, as it is big news. There is no reliable source of related information online too. Also, why should a Cambodian scripture be in Thailand?
6. Buddhism does not only advocate the creation of merits to better one’s life, but the realization of wisdom too. It is not true the merits can be created only with money. Merits can be created by all other forms of non-monetary charity too, such as offering of physical help, spiritual support and sharing of the Dharma.
7. Buddhism does not use the term ‘sin’ – there is no such term that is used in any sutra. It’s ridiculous to suggest that Buddhists think money that is stolen can create merits – because stealing already creates ‘demerits’.
8. The Buddha never taught that the creation of merits alone will lead to liberation. Neither did he teach entry into heaven as an ultimate goal. The use of this expression ‘enter heaven’ betrays the hoax material to be probably created by God-believers who postulate the existence of only one heaven, that ought to be entered. There are many levels of heavenly planes in Buddhist cosmology, none of which stands for ultimate liberation that is Nirvana.
9. The Buddha openly declared himself to be fully liberated very early in his teaching career, to be not a messenger of any god. One of his traditional titles is ‘Teacher of humans and gods.’ Even the gods have to learn from him as they are not free from the cycles of rebirth. It is preposterous to say that he considers himself not ‘saved from sin’s results even once’.
10. The stating of Nirvana as the ‘highest heaven’ betrays God-based thinking that liberation must end in being born in a heaven. Nirvana is clearly taught by the Buddha to be beyond all planes of existence.
11. The Buddha never taught anyone to quit his teachings as the ‘old way’. His teachings he clearly saw and taught to be the ‘new way’ to liberation already, that he rediscovered, like all past Buddhas.
12. As the Buddha clearly taught that there is no almighty and good creator God of everything, he would never suggest liberation through belief in someone who promotes faith in this non-existent God.
13. It does not make sense to say that the origin of life must be from a god – because this doesn’t explain the origin of this god and complicates matters. In Buddhism, it is taught that nature works in cycles naturally, that continually regenerates life in rebirth.
14. Science and Buddhism does not postulate that we are just apes. Physical and spiritual evolution means we can change… and eventually evolve to become Buddhas with perfect compassion and wisdom for all beings.
15. Christianity does not make better sense of the world than other worldviews to all. For example, Buddhists believe they have a more sound explanation.
16. Is it true that Christians have ‘waged most the great human rights’? What about the crusades and witch hunts that killed so many?
17. Buddhism as an Eastern religion does not see life as an endless cycle of suffering. The Buddha taught how to break free of it.
18. For an interesting comparison between Buddhism and Christianity, please see http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/beyond-belief02.pdf
Thank you, jianxie. Especially for the pdf that gives a detailed and logical comparison of Buddhism and Christianity.
Most, if not all arguments used by Christians to validate or justify their belief in a Creator God are logically dissected and explained in this pdf.
I’m someone who’s sitting on the fence between Christianity and Buddhism, even though I have taken the 3 refuges.
I’m glad that my doubts are somehow addressed in this pdf. I now have more referential resources I can use to convince myself to practise the Buddhist teachings to become an enlightened being, and not just to be an immortal being in heaven with God.
According to Buddhism, immortality in any heaven is impossible due to the limits of good karma, even if it is great. Even the gods in the highest formless heavens fall eventually when their good karma is depleted.
It is possible for gods to create good karma to extend their life, but many do fall due to spiritual complacence. In fact, some gods do wrongly assume they have eternal life.
Nowhere in Samsara is totally safe other than the Pure Abodes, as the beings there are bound for enlightenment.
Also, there is Amituofo’s Pureland, where life can be as long as needed as one advances towards enlightenment. Amituofo
😀