The Hidden Story Of Jesus part 2/7

I've already heard of the remarkable similarities between the life stories of of Krishna and Jesus, but here in India there's another important religious figure also the result of a miraculous birth, who was tempted by the devil before beginning his public ministry at the age of thirty, who performed miracles such as walking on water and the feeding of five hundred and he challenged the established religious order and presented an alternative way of understanding the world he spread his teachings and wisdom through parables and sayings now, all sounds extraordinary familiar, but I'm not talking about Jesus But the prince Siddhartha Gautama or Buddha I am now on northern India in the four hills of the Himalayas After the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950, this area became the spiritual home of Tibetan Buddhism. In my search of the hidden story of Jesus I've come here to investigate the similarities between Jesus and Buddha. More than four hundred years before Jesus appear in Palestain, prince Siddhartha Gautama was born. The only son of a local king. According to tradition, his mother Maya gave birth to him miraculously. Like Jesus he was also predicted to become a great man from birth, and wise men travelled to see him As Siddhartha neared his thirty years birthday, He began to realize the world was full of pain and suffering, so he decided to leave home and take up a life of a wandering monk. for the next six years he meditated on the sufferings of the world. Like Jesus he was also tempted by a devil figure but resisted. finally one day was sitting under a tree he found enlightenment, and began his ministry to teach the world about Dharma, or the right way of living. Today, Buddhism has spread all over the world and has over 3 hundred million followers. I had arranged to meet Tai Situ Rinpoche, the twelfth incarnation of a Buddhist Lama or spiritual master. He can trace his lineage back to one of prince Siddhartha's original disciples. Buddha as we know was born miraculously and we know that he like Jesus was tempted by the devil and we know that he performed miracles, and there's some miracles which are very similar to the miracles of Jesus, walking on water we know that Jesus' life, he challenges the religious order and so does Buddha So, I mean, how do you understand the similarities that there are in their lifes, just in their lifes, and the way that they matter? This is interesting because on Earth we cannot find one person who don't like to be happy and who like to suffer. We cannot find one. Everybody like to be happy everybody don't want to suffer. So the teaching of Buddha is based on that, the teaching of Christ is based on that. And the why I think is because both of them are humans. But the good thing is if you're following pure Christian lineage and then You are following the path already. In the new testament in John's Gospel, Jesus taught that "I am the way the truth and the life" And then by following him you can enter the kingdom of god Buddha told that if you follow his path and live a moral life a mind full of your thoughts and actions and develop wisdom and compassion You can reach enlightenment too; in their teachings both Jesus and Buddha provide a very practical guide to personal transformation that is remarkably similar Do to others as you have been doing to you Consider others as yourself Professor Duncan Derrett has been studying Buddhism for the past fifty years Any Buddhist hearing the sermon about in the way to save himself Here is the teaching of a Buddha for sure. If someone strikes on the right cheek offer him the other also If anyone should give you a blow with his hand with a stick or with a knife you should abandon any desires and utter no evil words the Buddha and Jesus were attempting to achieve the same object. That an individual could be shown how to be righteous. righteousness is a technical term amongst the Jews and amongst Christians. A righteous person will always look out for his duty to his neighbor * The Buddha on the other hand is looking for what is called Dharma. And that can also be translated righteousness. he wanted the individual to have a module*, somebody who has got rid of anything which stands in way of he's being a perfect man. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, Pray for those who abuse you. For anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Hatreds do not ever cease in this world by hating but by love, This is an eternal truth, overcome anger by love, overcome evil by good, overcome the miser by giving, overcome the liar by truth. The Buddhists think that there is a continuum of life and by perfecting yourself where reaches a stage where is not ribbon and suffers no warm. Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven which exists on the Earth amongst those who are real subjects of the real king, It is God himself These teachings are very similar, the Buddhist would understand the Christian and vice versa. There's so much similarity even in that aspect in Buddhism and Christianity because I spent time in monasteries and they use incense and they use rosary. And also they use the folding in the hand during the prayer And also we have a double duty* the cross of the bhadra * And you have the cross, so these are... lot of similarities are there. When you are following a path with one motivation to make everything better make everyone free from suffering and then regardless of how long it will take we're all going into the same direction. do you understand? I understand, understand. So as a Christian when I look at the teachings of Buddha and see the similarities, in some ways I'm not just following Jesus I'm also following Buddha. Well, I can respect that, I can respect that, but I cannot speak for you! You have spoken! In Tibetan Buddhism there's a type of holy figure known as a Bodhisattva. Someone who was put a full enlightenment so they can help others along the right path here on Earth. Many Buddhist think Jesus was a Bodhisattva. Before I left northern India I wanted to meet one of Tibetan's Buddhism holiest leaders. The Gyalwa Karmapa or the one who carries out the teachings of Buddha the seventeenth reincarnation in a line stretching back over eight hundred years. I was granted a private audience. How would you explain Jesus as a Buddhist, Where would you place him? Jesus was undoubtly a great holy being for the world and from a Buddhist perspective We can definitely recognize him as a Holy being. When someone abandons his own self interests for the benefit of others We can call him a Bodhisattva, although Jesus wasn't a Buddhist We can still call him a Bodhisattva. One of the things that amazes me about the story of Jesus and the story of Buddha is the similarities in their teachings. Their thoughts or teachings are similar because their motivation is to guide others towards the right path. If we look back into history the stories of these holy beings are always similar During Buddha psych monist time *, the cast system was extremely prevalent He worked very hard to undo the cast system and bring equality to all For example there were many nouns* as there were monks. Jesus also brought about many similar changes such as equality and justice. Their both understood their societies problems and so challenged those dogmas. So what could be the cause of these similarities? At the time that the Bible was being writing, We know that trade routes existed between India and Palestain via the Silk Road in the north and the sea in the south. And there are even western historical accounts of travelers, diplomats and monks journeying from India to the middle east. According to Indian sources, the Emperor Ashoka who ruled most of India two hundred e fifty years before Jesus was born sent Buddhist missionaries all over Asia and some may even had made it to Greece and Egypt. So there is a possibility that Buddhist and early Christians could have met and exchange ideas. In the course of this missionary in Deva. * Buddhist have found their way to all the major centers of learning. And so lifes of Buddha would have found their ways to Alexandria and we can be sure of it. They were engaging in a common search for truth, not only to find the truth but how individuals might achieve it whatever their backgrounds. So you may say that there's a two ways exchange. Yes, It is very possible. We have stories where sailors and soldiers who went on campaigns took Buddhist teachings with them. Some believe, and I've been informed how during Jesus' lost years he came to India at the peak of Buddhism. He was impressed by the teaching and took it back with him. So yes, It is very possible. And as Buddhism developed, the representatives of the Buddha said that there are Buddhas in other lands and where the story of Jesus is told and how he knowingly and deliberately throw his life away to show the result of his teaching. That we are, that's a Buddha! Whether Buddhist and Christians did meet or not, the similarities between the teachings Of Jesus and Buddha are remarkable, but many Christians still find it easy to reject this As there are thousands of miles and hundred of years away from each other. In the next part I'll investigate two pagan gods much closer to home and much harder to dismiss. P.S.: I'm not sure of the accuracy of the transcription in all the words marked with * Email me for any corrections, thank you! [email protected]