Jesus and Buddha

Hi guys,
I’ve been teaching in South East Asia countries for 5 years and noticed something strange with their spiritual belief. It seems like they have altered the role of Jesus and Buddha into some sort of gods that have the power of giving health and prosperity. The come to the churches and pagodas to turn in their offerings and ask for more health and more money. Is that weird to you? I wonder what has caused that!

Hi David and welcome. It’s not weird to me. Westerners pray for health, getting a great job, getting the house of their dreams etc and Asians do the same in their own superstitious ways. I lived with Buddhist and Hindu monks and their selfishness astounded me. When second-hand dhotis or robes where thrown on the ground for the monks to help themselves, then you’d better get out of the way. The lust for food was almost as bad.

What causes it? I don’t think most people ‘get it’. They understand their religious principles intellectually but the principles are not part of them. They don’t understand them experiential so they just go through the motions. They’re still operating from the egoic self and trying to have their cake and eat it too.

I think it’s interesting that people like Osho said that the West (America in particular) was the modern spiritual centre of the world. I’ve heard another master say the same thing and I agree. Asia seems to be taking over the technology reigns and America seems to be breaking new spiritual ground far more advanced than the East.

I’ve been pretty good at picking up on powerful movements when they arise. I jumped on the hippy thing as soon as it started forming then, in the early 80’s, I jumped into the new IT/computer industry. I have no doubt that what’s happening in America today is part of a new paradigm shift. The old ways are crumbling and something new is coming into view. Birth is always painful. It won’t be pleasant but it’s necessary. It could turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to us.

.

No kidding??? Actually, that’s the impression I received while considering joining some Buddhist forums; it seemed the ego was the goal and I was quite shocked by that.

Quoting from Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

The last bit is particularly enlightening to me because anything you do to better yourself is something that you could boast about and therefore any works-centered religion is simply perpetuating your current condition. That is, trading chains of iron for chains of gold. The boasting of sins before the guys turns into boasting of virtues before the lord and it’s the same trap.

I’m not sure why people routinely gravitate to the development of the ego and pervert their own religion for that goal, but I suspect it had something to do with the fall of man (metaphorical or not).

My opinion is that Jesus and Buddha are quite consistent and the message is mostly the same: Be humble and try not to be proud of it.

I hope this helps someone, somewhere.

Unfortunately, that seems to be far more true than I prefer to believe.

A good chunk of the population in the East is tasting ‘sugar’ for the first time … or at least the first time in a long time … and they can’t get enough of it.

A good chunk of the population in the West has been on a ‘sugar’ diet for a long time and they are starting to experience the long term effects of a ‘sugar’ diet … depravity.

I agree with SC …

[b]

[/b]

The ancient Chinese labelled this condition … 物極必反 … wùjíbìfǎn … translated roughly to “Reversion of Extremes”

Mags expresses the same notion …

[b]

[/b]

I highly recommend “The Book of Joy” (2016), a dialogue between the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu. This book accurately traces the ills that plague our current societies and offers remedies based on harmonious Christian and Buddhist teachings. It’s the best book I’ve read in a lifetime.

i think it should be seen in correlation with buddhist leaders claiming to be reincarnations of Buddha himself, so they demands worship and being able to recite holy scriptures and do rituals makes the individual monk holy, that’s why their ego grows exponentially.

Look at Dalai Lama lived like an emperor while his subjects was piss poor and lived in the stone ages! Such immense arrogance and callousness!