Jesus was a Buddhist

[jonmarkgo]

you just dont get it.

 

[greatcalgarian]

According to research by CUT (The New Age Movement (NAM) is usually characterized as a broad cultural trend that is impacting Western society with non-Christian (i.e., non-Biblical) philosophic and religious ideas of primarily Eastern origin) :

A third source of information is legendary accounts of Jesus' travels to India and various points in the Far East during his young manhood (the so-called "lost years" or "silent years" between the ages of 12 and 30). In 1894 Russian journalist Nicolas Notovitch published an account of his claimed discovery of ancient records chronicling Jesus' travels to India and Tibet where he purportedly studied the Hindu and Buddhist scriptures; Notovitch's book (English translation, The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ) contains a translation of the ancient text he claimed to have seen, called "The Life of Saint Issa: the Best of the Sons of Men"; it includes specific teachings attributed to Jesus. Although no one claims to have a manuscript copy of this Tibetan Jesus story, in the twentieth century at least three people have traveled to Tibet and claimed in separate published accounts to have verified Notovitch's story; one of these accounts contains a second translation of the ancient Issa story. The two claimed translations inform us that Jesus (Issa) left Israel at age 13 and traveled to India with the conscious intention of studying the teachings of Buddha. He taught a religious universalism and on returning to Israel was killed not at the instigation of the Jews, but of the Romans, who viewed him as politically subversive.26 Needless to say, these claims will be scrutinized in the next section of this paper.

http://www.irr.org/cut1.html

And quite apart from the rejection of their interpretation of Matt. 24:27, the implication of CUT's argument regarding the "lost years" is that we are seriously disadvantaged in trying to understand Jesus' life and message by this supposed omission. However, this is simply another argument from silence and can support little weight. Clearly, we are at the mercy of those who write historical records for our knowledge of any historical subject, including that of Jesus. However, we have no reason to suspect that either by design or accident such a momentous event as Jesus spending seventeen years in the Far East studying Hindu and Buddhist scriptures and then returning to his monotheistic Jewish kinsmen with a message of religious pantheism has been excluded from the New Testament. Edgar J. Goodspeed observed that one could well spend ten years immersed in the study of the Hebrew Bible without acquiring a knowledge of it as profound as Jesus exhibited. If Jesus is thought to have spent the entire period from age thirteen to twenty-nine studying the Eastern scriptures, this does not allow for his demonstrated mastery of the Old Testament.54 The nearly exclusive emphasis on Jesus' public ministry in the New Testament canonical writings, and the heavily disproportionate emphasis on the events of the week of his crucifixion, is evidently part of their estimation of the meaning of his life. Meanwhile, CUT provides no convincing grounds for concluding that missing details are crucial to understanding Jesus' message, or more specifically, that missing information would support the radical interpretation of Jesus' message which they propose.

 

[joeboonda]

you just dont get it.

that's good.

 

[opensoul7]

Joeboonda,
Whats up , happy to see you again!

 

[jonmarkgo]

that's good

thats a pretty stupid thing to say

 

[Buttons*]

thats a pretty stupid thing to say

now, now, lets be nice to one another *smiles*

No need to start a fight over an opinion
Knockout :tsk:

 

[jonmarkgo]

joeboonda is obviously too closed minded for this thread and he cant understand what i am trying to say.

 

[Buttons*]

joeboonda is obviously too closed minded for this thread and he cant understand what i am trying to say.

Instead of focusing on Joe's opinions, why dont we try going back to the subject at hand: Was Yeshua Buddhist?

 

[greatcalgarian]

Another rebutal of Jesus being influenced by Bhuddism by spending some years in India:

In line with numerous other New Age groups, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, current leader of CUT, espouses a distorted and heretical view of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In her book, The Lost Years of Jesus, Prophet sets forth an idea which is both unoriginal and historically inaccurate. She writes, "Many Hindus believe that Jesus' Lost Years were, partly at least, spent in India, getting much of his best teaching from the Vedas."

http://www.watchman.org/cults/cutjesus.htm

This actually may be an attractive starting point or a good way to convert Bhuddists to Christianity. Once the Bhuddists accepted Jesus as their Savior, then it may be easy to show them that there is no connection between Jesus and Bhudda.

 

[jonmarkgo]

I see it as a very real posibility that Jesus was an enlightened Buddhist. He came back and started talking about Budhhism in metaphors involving the Jewish god but he didnt mean god literally. He knew he had to speak in a way that was familiar to the people and that involved a god. Maybe then some people understood him but because of the way the bible has been changed over the years everything has been distorted and people dont really understand what jesus ws getting at.

 

[NuGnostic]

There are many links between Buddhism and Christianity,particulary Gnostic Christianity,but they are far from identical.I really doubt Jesus went to India,however there was some knowledge of Buddhism in the Hellenistic and early Roman world.

 

[greatcalgarian]

More evidence:
(1) Professor James W. Deardorff Oregon State University
http://www.proaxis.com/~deardorj/resume.htm
A NEW ECUMENISM BASED UPON REEXAMINATION OF THE "LOST YEARS" EVIDENCE
http://www.proaxis.com/~deardorj/ecumensm.htm

(2) In 1894 Nicolas Notovitch published a book called The Unknown Life of Christ. He was a Russian doctor who journeyed extensively throughout Afghanistan, India, and Tibet.
http://reluctant-messenger.com/issa.htm
http://www.tombofjesus.com/core/majorplayers/notovitch/notovitch-p1.htm

(3) Sita Ram Goel http://hamsa.org/about.htm
and his version of Jesus in India 1994 book Jesus Christ: An Artifice for Aggression (not about early days):
http://hamsa.org/artifice-intro.htm

(4) Holger Kersten's book "Jesus Lived in India, again about after the cross event:
http://www.sol.com.au/kor/7_01.htm and also
http://www.geocities.com/emerging.geo/savior.html

(5) And some refute just to be fair to hear from Christian point of view, as evidence from silence:
http://www.ronrhodes.org/qjesusindia.html

Though the Gospels do not directly address Jesus' childhood, there are convincing indirect evidences that He remained in Palestine. Luke 2:52 summarizes Jesus' life from age 12: "And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."

This usually is enough evidence for Christians that based their belief on faith. One line in the Gospel can be expanded to explain Jesus life from age 12 to 29. Good work!

To sum up:

The Evangelists do not describe much of Jesus' life between birth and the beginning of his ministry, except that as a young teen he instructed the scholars in the temple. The apocryphal Infancy Gospels describe the child Jesus performing miraculous works. The 19th-century Russian scholar Nicolai Notovich suggested, based on a document he claimed to see in a Ladakh monastery in the Kashmir region, that Jesus traveled the world, including India, as an adolescent and youth, and was exposed to religious traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. While the monastery Jesus is alleged to have studied at by Notovich in India was not built until the 16th century, and there is no independent evidence confirming that particular story, there are still persisting minorities in some circles who say that references to a man named something like Issa place Jesus even in the holy Hindu city of Kashi. However, the evidence proffered here, too, has been deemed by most unreliable. These theories are not considered orthodox by any major Christian church.

http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/j/je/jesus.html

 

[Deut 13:1]

Does anyone else think it is possible that Jesus was actually just a Buddhist who wanted to spread Buddh's teachings? He did go to India at one point and a lot of the things he said were almost exactly the same as what Buddha said. It also wasn't like he was trying to start a new religion. Plus, Buddha said to teach people in a way they can understand so maybe everything he said about god he just said to help people understand what he was saying but then people took it too literally. There are books on this topic. Anyone else think this?

Some of the posts on this forum are worth reading just for their comedic value.

 

[jonmarkgo]

Some of the posts on this forum are worth reading just for their comedic value.

Did you even read any of this thread besides the first post?

 

[Smoke]

This actually may be an attractive starting point or a good way to convert Bhuddists to Christianity. Once the Bhuddists accepted Jesus as their Savior, then it may be easy to show them that there is no connection between Jesus and Bhudda.

Are you recommending tricking people into becoming Christians?

 

[mr.guy]

Some of the posts on this forum are worth reading just for their comedic value.

I agree. Shouldn't the OP ultimately pin Jesus as a hindu?

 

[Smoke]

I see it as a very real posibility that Jesus was an enlightened Buddhist. He came back and started talking about Budhhism in metaphors involving the Jewish god but he didnt mean god literally. He knew he had to speak in a way that was familiar to the people and that involved a god. Maybe then some people understood him but because of the way the bible has been changed over the years everything has been distorted and people dont really understand what jesus ws getting at.

Isn't it possible that Jesus was enlightened without being a Buddhist?

Isn't it possible that any number of enlightened people have lived and taught in different cultures and traditions? Some of the people we might (or might not) think were enlightened might include Gotama, Laozi, Jesus, Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya, Julian of Norwich, Gregory of Nyssa, the Ba'al Shem Tov, George Fox, Nakayama Miki, Rumi, Ramakrishna, and/or J. Krishnamurti. But when those who are enlightened try to speak to others about enlightment, they're speaking from their own culture and to their own culture, so their teachings may have different forms and emphases. Often those who follow after them construct a religion around their teachings, with dogmas, rites, and rules that may have little if anything to do with the putative "founder."

The way I look at it, it does no good to compare Buddhism to Christianity, or Islam to Taoism. Religions are external organizations, and always drift away from their origins. What has Christianity to do with Jesus? What has Buddhism to do with Gotama? Most of the time, very little. But if we compare Gotama to Jesus, or Julian to Ramakrishna, or Rabi'a to Krishnamurti, we begin to see common threads in their teachings. The Enlightenment of those who are enlightened is all one Enlightenment, and is greater than the religions the enlightened ones came from and greater than the religions that often grew up their wake.

He came back and started talking about Budhhism in metaphors involving the Jewish god but he didnt mean god literally.

Anything we say about God is a metaphor, and to my way of thinking it's not a matter of great importance whether one is a theist or a non-theist. As John Scotus Eriugena put it: "We do not know what God is. God himself doesn't know what He is because He is not anything. Literally God is not, because He transcends being."

 

[CaptainXeroid]

joeboonda is obviously too closed minded for this thread and he cant understand what i am trying to say.

So, you dismiss some one who disagrees with you as not understanding you and 'close minded'?? Frankly, that is something a 10 year old might say.

Your original post is that you believe Jesus was a Buddhist. Others have helped you make your case that Jesus might have been influenced by Buddhists and/or Hindus. You have not, however, even begun to support your assertion and ignored the items I posted that rather prove that Jesus was Jewish.

 

[opensoul7]

In 1894 Nicolas Notovitch published a book called The Unknown Life of Christ. He was a Russian doctor who journeyed extensively throughout Afghanistan, India, and Tibet. Notovitch journeyed through the lovely passes of Bolan, over the Punjab, down into the arid rocky land of Ladak, and into the majestic Vale of Kashmir of the Himalayas. During one of his jouneys he was visiting Leh, the capital of Ladak, near where the buddhist convent Himis is. He had an accident that resulted in his leg being broken. This gave him the unscheduled opportunity to stay awhile at the Himis convent.

Notovitch learned, while he was there, that there existed ancient records of the life of Jesus Christ. In the course of his visit at the great convent, he located a Tibetan translation of the legend and carefully noted in his carnet de voyage over two hundred verses from the curious document known as "The Life of St. Issa." He was shown two large yellowed volumes containing the biography of St. Issa. Notovitch enlisted a member of his party to translate the Tibetan volumes while he carefully noted each verse in the back pages of his journal.


This is a small bit from the link on my first post. Jesus was a jew regardless of wether he did or did not travel into India.

 

[Master Vigil]

I must spread some Karma around before giving it to MidnightBlue again. Fantastic post, and I agree!

Jesus's teachings may have resembled Buddhas in some respects because they were both enlightened beings. The same can be said about Lao Tzu, St. Francis of Assisi, etc... Another reason they may be similar, is they were both human. Which accounts for many similarities betwen cultures.