Was Jesus a Jewish Buddhist?

[SageTree]

It's hard to definitively suss out the difference when kids are all talking about the same thing in their own langauges.

 

[internationalist]

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.

Not very convincing. Sorry.

 

[gnostic]

Not very convincing. Sorry.

I don't think Jesus was a Buddhist. There are lots of foreign religions, closer to home, that could have influenced early Christianity than Buddhism.

However it is not beyond the realm of possibility for eastern religion to be known to those in the west. After all, there are Buddhist relics and statues found in central Asia, like in Afghanistan. Ideas can be exchanged as much as trade goods.

 

[SageTree]

'East in the West'......

The 'Middle East'/'Eastern Mediterranean isn't that far as to be called West yet.

The Similarity, imo, would be on the Mystic realm of the Abrahamic Faiths, which is 'direct experience', which is pretty much what all those 'Eastern Religions' are trying to teach You.

Sadly... that Mystical Element is far less present than it ought be in the Abrahamic scene...

IMO, Mystic techniques of meditation/contemplation and Knowing the Knower, seeing with the same Eye, will save Christianity and bring it into a modern Light and understanding so that it's 'reborn' to people. I guess I'm saying 'True' (which is a word I can't stand to use) Christianity is meant and has always been best held in the Mystic View.

 

[Straw Dog]

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.

I would think that those lost years would be of immense importance considering they must chronicle his transition to fully establishing his teachings before his ministry began.

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.

Yeah, he probably wasn't a Buddhist, but perhaps some form of Jewish Gnosticism or mysticism. It's really impossible to tell for sure. I just like entertaining possibilities for the sake of discussion. He must have ended up with something similar yet unique in its own way to cause a movement to spawn, or Jesus could have just been an amalgamation of popular mythological elements and ethical philosophy to begin with. Who knows?

 

[Me Myself]

As it has been said, I don´t think I would call him a "buddhist" but I would persnally think that a child that was already so knowledgeable of the jewish theologies and laws and whatnot to argue with grown men and for them to find him knowledgeable when he was around 14 would be getting to be bored fast of his immidiate spiritual ideas and in search for more.

It would make sense to me that Jesus traveled to find more about God, and that he learned about spirituality and morality in India. I am sure if he went there, that helped him a lot to develop the powers to do the miracles he did later.

 

[Desert Snake]

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.

Of course Yeshua wasn't Greek, either, so that influence may not even have been a consideration.

 

[Pineblossom]

In my own studies it would appear that Jesus was not aware of any religion (other than Greco-Roman paganism). Jesus was Jew and knew the Jewish scriptures enough to quote them back at his detractors with good effect.

If Jesus had moved anywhere from outside a narrow strip of country between Galilee and Jerusalem then he would have almost assuredly travelled to Alexander - which was the recognized seat of learning. Matthew records that his parents travelled to Egypt but this insertion by the gospel writer is done for effect and not as history.

I think the Temple scene is convincing evidence that Jesus wanted to change the corruption which he saw around him. He message was for Jews and in this he follows the modus operandi of the prophets replete within the Jewish texts. He was not about starting anything new, including a church, but wanted to stop Jews from their path of spiritual and material corruption.

I see no evidence that Jesus was in any way influenced by Buddhism.

 

[Twilight Hue]

If the character of Jesus reflects any Buddhist influence based on what is currently written about him, it just does not show. A lot of people however reflect "Buddhism" naturally, and at times engage aspects of practice unbeknownst of whom who had never practiced or even heard of Buddhism in their lives.

 

[Straw Dog]

If the character of Jesus reflects any Buddhist influence based on what is currently written about him, it just does not show. A lot of people however reflect "Buddhism" naturally, and at times engage aspects of practice unbeknownst of whom who had never practiced or even heard of Buddhism in their lives.

Yes, perhaps what I see in my own research of the character of Jesus reflects a certain universal sense of "awakening". I mean, I have experienced my sense of awakening in my own humble endeavors. It is quite akin to the natural process of waking from a dreamy slumber. What I had previously thought were dominant factors in my reality transformed into phantoms of a preconceived play about how things should be. They were but mere extensions of the ego. It ultimately cannot be conveyed in words. How strange... I feel like there is more to say, and yet the proper words escape me. The concepts elude me. I guess you just have to experience it....

 

[Caladan]

Considering the differences between his teachings and Jewish tradition before him

That it is not necessarily accurate. Jesus represents plenty of major Jewish thought during his time. the House of Hillel, the House of Shamai, and other Jewish schools. there were Jewish schools at the time who promoted a more liberal approach to Jewish law and tradition, it is illogical to say Jesus stood alone in this, but rather that he represented a process in Jewish thinking, if one reads the New Testament and is familiar with some Jewish thought of the golden rule type, one can easily see that it is Jewish wisdom and thought, and not necessarily 'Jesus' wisdom and thought.'