Was Jesus a Jewish Buddhist?

[Straw Dog]

Hey folks of all faiths!

I recently watched a BBC documentary which explores many of the plausible possibilities surrounding Jesus of Nazareth. It eventually turns in the logical and fairly grounded direction that concludes Jesus was a dedicated practitioner of Buddhism. Considering the differences between his teachings and Jewish tradition before him, it would seem that he had originally constructed an amalgamation of sorts between the Judaism of his childhood and the Buddhism he may have encountered during the "missing years" of his life between his preteens and his thirties while traveling east. I know the video is kind of long, but I would invite everyone to suspend judgment based on preconceived notions at least long enough to look at the theory and evidence presented. Was original Christianity a combination of Judaic and Buddhist thought and practice? I'm not so sure that I've concluded this to be the case in any way, but I think it is at least plausible and probably the most compelling theory I've come across to date. Enjoy.


[youtube]-YbUEZfJJaQ[/youtube]
Jesus was a Buddhist Monk BBC Documentary - YouTube

 

[Me Myself]

EPIC! I am totally checking this up! =D

 

[Straw Dog]

I decided to post the whole thing because I thought the documentary gave a pretty objective approach to different view points while analyzing evidence before drawing a logical conclusion from it.

 

[idav]

As a Buddhist Jesus would have the fault of obsessing over a personal god type deity. Other than that Jesus shares a lot of Buddhist philosophy.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

I've been questioning this too a lot lately. I think he is an offspring of Jewish parents and Middle-Way philosophy.

 

[Sunstone]

OK. You asked and so you shall receive....

Jesus was one of those folks who suddenly, without effort, preparation, or explanation, has a mystical experience. Later, he or she interprets that experience in light of his or her culture. In Jesus' case, interpreting it in light of his culture involved thinking his experience was a call to reform Judaism.

There! I just told you what Jesus was all about. Obviously I'm right. You need have no more questions now forever. Move along, then!

 

[Penumbra]

I wouldn't say Jesus was a Jewish Buddhist, but I would say that the Gospel of Thomas seems a bit more "eastern" to me in terms of religion compared to any other content I've read regarding his character.

 

[Levite]

It's been argued before....

 

[internationalist]

Foolish thread. Not many ppl knew about India or buddhism at that time. Besides, Buddhism rejects god completely, whereas Jesus didn't.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Foolish thread. Not many ppl knew about India or buddhism at that time. Besides, Buddhism rejects god completely, whereas Jesus didn't.

Second part isn't completely true

 

[1137]

Hey folks of all faiths!

I recently watched a BBC documentary which explores many of the plausible possibilities surrounding Jesus of Nazareth. It eventually turns in the logical and fairly grounded direction that concludes Jesus was a dedicated practitioner of Buddhism. Considering the differences between his teachings and Jewish tradition before him, it would seem that he had originally constructed an amalgamation of sorts between the Judaism of his childhood and the Buddhism he may have encountered during the "missing years" of his life between his preteens and his thirties while traveling east. I know the video is kind of long, but I would invite everyone to suspend judgment based on preconceived notions at least long enough to look at the theory and evidence presented. Was original Christianity a combination of Judaic and Buddhist thought and practice? I'm not so sure that I've concluded this to be the case in any way, but I think it is at least plausible and probably the most compelling theory I've come across to date. Enjoy.

I can see it. Although not necessarily Buddhist, but simply a seeker of enlightenment. What we do know is that the greatest source of information on Jesus is severely perverted. I would think more mystic than simply Buddhist, as he seemed to believe in an All-god. Perhaps Gnostic, although the idea of Gnostic we have today would have been viewed differently by Christ.

 

[Straw Dog]

I can see it. Although not necessarily Buddhist, but simply a seeker of enlightenment. What we do know is that the greatest source of information on Jesus is severely perverted. I would think more mystic than simply Buddhist, as he seemed to believe in an All-god. Perhaps Gnostic, although the idea of Gnostic we have today would have been viewed differently by Christ.

Yeah, maybe it did surmount to something more akin to gnosticism and mysticism. He was more of an INFP personality type and maybe it determined how he finally expressed his own enlightenment. It takes all types, though.

Portrait of an INFP

 

[gnostic]

Foolish thread. Not many ppl knew about India or buddhism at that time. Besides, Buddhism rejects god completely, whereas Jesus didn't.

The army of Alexander the Great traveled all the way to the Indian subcontinent well at least as far as the Indus and the Hydaspes. Trades would have started after his death, with the Hellenistic kingdoms. Though, I doubt that they would have come across Buddhism, but it is safe bet that they have encountered Hindu religion.

 

[no-body]

More like a Jewish Mystic.

 

[fallingblood]

Like Levite said, this has been done before. Personally, I've watched a number of documentaries, searched through various websites, and read a few books on the subject. When I started studying Jesus seriously, I quickly came to realize that these theories are just weak at best.

Jesus does have various similarities to the Buddha. Many of their teachings are similar. That really can't be denied. However, we can find many of these similarities with other groups as well. In fact, most of what Jesus taught was in line with Judaism at that time.

There were Buddhist settlements in the Palestinian area, or close to it. I recently read an article from a journal that made a great case for just that. So it is possible that Judaism, or sects of Judaism from that time period, were influenced to a point by Buddhism. However, that really is the most that can be said.

As for the missing years, there really is no evidence that Jesus ever traveled to India. There is a very logical reason for those years being "missing." They were unimportant. Most likely, he worked in order to help support his family. And then when he started his ministry, that is the time that people covered when speaking about him as that was the time that was important in his life. That really is what we would expect as well, especially as that is what we see with a variety of other figures from around that time. Their early years just were not recorded as there was no real reason to, and not possible to considering that the vast majority of people were illiterate anyway.

But back to Jesus and his teachings. If we shed those teachings that scholars agree are later additions, then what we are left with is not a very unique message. We are left with something that was being taught by others during that time as well. And it all falls within the confines of Judaism. So really, there is no reason to assume that he was Buddhist when the same teachings can be found in Judaism.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

I kind of think not only he looked into Buddhism, but Taoism. "God is everywhere" sounds familiar to the Tao.

 

[idav]

But back to Jesus and his teachings. If we shed those teachings that scholars agree are later additions, then what we are left with is not a very unique message. We are left with something that was being taught by others during that time as well. And it all falls within the confines of Judaism. So really, there is no reason to assume that he was Buddhist when the same teachings can be found in Judaism.

I always figured Jesus was a bit of heretic for a Jew since he got so much flack for this message which you say was supposed to be unoriginal.

 

[Penumbra]

I kind of think not only he looked into Buddhism, but Taoism. "God is everywhere" sounds familiar to the Tao.

"God is everywhere" is a concept that presents itself in numerous religions.

I think Sunstone is largely correct that people have mystic experiences and then interpret them in their culture.

There was some trade and commerce between the far east and the middle east, but I suspect that this sort of insight wasn't primarily transmitted through that form of formal communication but instead pops up in more than one place because of the aforementioned mystic experiences that people from various cultures seem to have in common.

 

[fallingblood]

I always figured Jesus was a bit of heretic for a Jew since he got so much flack for this message which you say was supposed to be unoriginal.

I don't think he got any more flack than other religious leaders at that time. Most of the disagreements that we see are between very small ideas, and in fact, we have a number of records that show disagreements between Jews, and that they frequently had dialogue about those disagreements. Really, we just see that with Jesus.

 

[arcanum]

I don't think Buddhist but I do believe he was influenced by other cultures outside of judiasm. He was obviously exposed to greek and roman thought, most certainly zoroastrian and Egyptian influences as well. Buddhist idea's would have been a bit of a stretch but not impossible.