Since the arrival of

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

missionaries in India in the 1st century (traces of Christians in Kerala from 1st-century

Saint Thomas Christians The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians of India, ''Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani'', ''Malankara Nasrani'', or ''Nasrani Mappila'', are an ethno-religious An ethnoreligious group (or an ethno-religious group) is a grouping of ...

), followed by the arrival of

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

in Western Europe in the 4th and 5th centuries, similarities have been perceived between the practices of Buddhism and Christianity.Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004, page 160 During the 20th century, the differences between these two belief systems were also highlighted. Despite surface level and non-scholarly analogies, Buddhism and Christianity have inherent and fundamental differences at the deepest levels, beginning with

monotheism Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford ...

's place at the core of Christianity and Buddhism's orientation towards

non-theism Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in the existence of god or gods. Nontheism has generally been used to describe apathy or silence towards the subject o ...

and its rejection of the notion of a creator deity, which runs counter to teachings about

God in Christianity God in Christianity is believed to be the God and eternity, eternal, supreme being who Creator god, created and God the Sustainer, preserves all things. Christians believe in a Monotheism, monotheistic conception of God, which is both Transcend ...

; and extending to the importance of

Grace in Christianity In Western Christian theology, grace is created by God who gives it as help to one because God desires one to have it, not necessarily because of anything one has done to earn it. It is understood by Western Christians to be a spontaneous gift ...

against the rejection of interference with

Karma Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...

Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

, etc. The central iconic imagery of the two traditions underscore the difference in their belief structure, when the death of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

at an old age is contrasted with the image of the

crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consid ...

as a willing sacrifice for the atonement for the sins of humanity. Buddhist scholars such as Masao Abe see the centrality of crucifixion in Christianity as an irreconcilable gap between the two belief systems. Most modern scholarship has rejected the claims for the travels of Jesus to India or Tibet or influences between the teachings of Christianity and Buddhism as not historical,''The Historical Jesus in Recent Research'' edited by James D. G. Dunn and Scot McKnight 2006 page 303 and has seen the attempts at parallel symbolism as cases of

parallelomania In historical analysis, biblical criticism and comparative mythology/religion, parallelomania has been used to refer to a phenomenon ( mania) where authors perceive apparent similarities and construct parallels and analogies without historical ...

which exaggerate the importance of trifling resemblances.''Jesus: The Complete Guide'' 2006 by Leslie Houlden page 140

Initial suggestions of similarity

Reports of Buddhist practices started to arrive in Western Europe by the 11th century, and were followed by trips by

Christian missionaries A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

such as John of Montecorvino, and reports began to arrive in the 16th century as missionaries such as St. Francis Xavier arrived in the East. In the 19th century, some authors began to perceive similarities between Buddhist and Christian practices, e.g. in 1878

T.W. Rhys Davids Thomas William Rhys Davids (12 May 1843 – 27 December 1922) was an English scholar of the Pāli language and founder of the Pāli Text Society. He took an active part in founding the British Academy and London School for Oriental Studies. ...

wrote that the earliest missionaries to Tibet observed that similarities have been seen since the first known contact: "

Lamaism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

with its shaven priests, its bells and rosaries, its images and

holy water Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...

, its popes and bishops, its abbots and monks of many grades, its processions and feast days, its

confessional A confessional is a box, cabinet, booth, or stall in which the priest in some Christian churches sits to hear the confessions of penitents. It is the usual venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Churches, but sim ...

and

purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

, and its worship of the double Virgin, so strongly resembles

Romanism Romanism is a derogatory term for Roman Catholicism used when anti-Catholicism was more common in the United States. The term was frequently used in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Republican invectives against the Democrats, as par ...

that the first Catholic missionaries thought it must be an imitation by the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

of the religion of Christ."''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 1878 edition, article ''Buddhism'' by T.W. Rhys Davids In 1880 Ernest De Bunsen made similar observations in that with the exception of the death of Jesus on the cross, and of the Christian doctrine of atonement, the most ancient Buddhist records resemble the traditions recorded in the Gospels about the life and doctrines of Jesus. The author of ''Jesus's Godama Sources'' claims that Western, or Christian, culture has not even developed the manner of expressions which would allow the very idea of borrowings to be considered. To support this claim the author quotes the admittedly prejudicial speech of Max Muller from his ''India, What Can it Teach Us'', which states: "Our natural inclination would be to suppose that the Buddhist stories borrowed from our Christian sources and not vice versa. But here the conscience of the scholar comes in. Some of these stories are found in the Hinayana Buddhist Canon and date, therefore, before the Christian era." In 1904 William Crooke suggested that Christian

rosaries The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

had originated in India and arrived in Western Europe during the

Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

s via its Muslim version, the tasbih. In 1921 Charles Eliot, the British ambassador to Japan also wrote of apparent similarities between Christian practices and their counterparts in Buddhist tradition, and suggested a dependent origin for both traditions. Early in the 20th century Burnett Hillman Streeter suggested that the moral teaching of the Buddha has four resemblances to the Sermon on the Mount. Late in the 20th century, historian

Jerry H. Bentley Jerry Harrell Bentley (December 12, 1949 – July 15, 2012) was an American academic and professor of world history. He was a founding editor of the ''Journal of World History'' since 1990. He wrote on the cultural history of early modern Europe an ...

also wrote of similarities and stated that it is possible "that Buddhism influenced the early development of Christianity" and suggested "attention to many parallels concerning the births, lives, doctrines, and deaths of the Buddha and Jesus". Some high level Buddhists have drawn analogies between Jesus and Buddhism, e.g. in 2001 the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

stated that "Jesus Christ also lived previous lives", and added that "So, you see, he reached a high state, either as a Bodhisattva, or an enlightened person, through Buddhist practice or something like that."

Specific analogies

R.C. Amore refers to a miracle from the first chapter of ''

Mahavagga Khandhaka is the second book of the Theravadin '' Vinaya Pitaka'' and includes the following two volumes: * Mahāvagga: includes accounts of Gautama Buddha's and the ten principal disciples' awakenings, as well as rules for uposatha days and mon ...

'', the ''Book of the Discipline, IV'', where Buddha himself displayed his power over nature. Amore thinks that Jesus himself was influenced by Buddhist teachings and that Buddhist material continued to influence Christianity as it developed. R. Stehly gives six examples of parallel themes between the story of Peter's walking on the water and the Buddhist '' Jataka 190''. The Sinologist

Martin Palmer Martin Giles Palmer (born 14 October 1953) is a theologian, Sinologist, author and international specialist on all major faiths and religious traditions and cultures. He is the Founding President and Chief Executive oFaithInvest an international n ...

has commented on the similarity between the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

and

Guan Yin Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She w ...

. Guanyin is the Chinese name for a male bodhisattva in India and

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, Avalokitesvara, who underwent a gradual feminization process in China late in the first millennium CE, after a period of proselytization by Turkic

Nestorian Christian Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian N ...

s. The

Tzu-Chi Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, known for short as the Tzu Chi Foundation ( zh, t=佛教慈濟慈善事業基金會, p=Fójiào Cí Jì Císhàn Shìyè Jījīn Huì, l=Buddhist Compassionate Relief Charity Foundation), is a Taiwanese in ...

Foundation, a Taiwanese Buddhist organization, also noticing the similarity, commissioned a portrait of Guan Yin and a baby that resembles the typical Madonna and Child painting. Z. P. Thundy has surveyed the similarities and differences between the birth stories of Buddha by Maya and Jesus by Mary and notes that while there are similarities such as virgin birth, there are also differences, e.g. that Mary outlives Jesus after raising him, but Maya dies soon after the birth of Buddha, as all mothers of Buddhas do in the Buddhist tradition. Thundy does not assert that there is any historical evidence that the Christian birth stories of Jesus were derived from the Buddhist traditions, but suggests that as an avenue for further research.''Buddha and Christ'' by Zacharias P. Thundy (Jan 1, 1993) pages 95–96 Jonathan Silk emphasizes the miraculous and god-like behaviors and words of

the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

, Siddhartha Gautama, in his young years, an infant proclaiming he will attain a cease to suffering, and that he knows all spiritual knowledge there is to reach this goal. Silk continues on to describe the same Gautama Buddha as a surprised and appalled adolescent finding out the reality of sickness and death in life - something inevitable to all humans. Silk explicitly states the paradox: “The infant, upon his birth, knows everything; the young man he becomes knows nothing”, and spends the rest of the article attempting to persuade readers, specifically those who are Buddhist believers, to embark on this journey of attaining

nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

and facing the stark realities of life, just like the Buddha did. Silk argues that one possible reason for this paradox in the Buddha's life is to show Buddhist believers that there is darkness and ignorance in the world that can be overcome through practice and rebirth, just like the Buddha. Another author, Kristi Upson-Saia contemplates the purposes and reactions to ancient childhood stories of the boy

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

, especially as many of these stories are contradictory to the benevolent and tender-hearted savior most of the world knows him as. Upson-Saia presents the reader with stories of Jesus cursing and killing his teacher who had just reprimanded him. Upson-Saia speculates that many of the ill-fitting anecdotes of Jesus’ childhood may have been fabricated as a predictor of the future narratives of Jesus. One example Upson-Saia gives is the outburst of anger that Jesus shows in the temple as recorded in three of the four

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

s. One supposition in particular stuck out as many connections can be drawn to Silk's article on the account of the Buddha's life; Upson-Saia parallels the extraordinary knowledge and wisdom of the boy Jesus in the classroom to that of young

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

(of Hinduism) and young Buddha (of Buddhism). Upson-Saia goes on to link Jesus' actions to other ancient narratives of gods, like

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

Irreconcilable foundations

There are inherent and fundamental differences between Buddhism and Christianity, one significant difference being that while Christianity is at its core

monotheistic Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford ...

and relies on a God as a Creator, Buddhism is generally

non-theistic Nontheism or non-theism is a range of both religious and nonreligious attitudes characterized by the absence of espoused belief in the existence of god or gods. Nontheism has generally been used to describe apathy or silence towards the subject o ...

and rejects the notion of a Creator God which provides divine values for the world.''The Boundaries of Knowledge in Buddhism, Christianity, and Science'' by Paul D Numrich (Dec 31, 2008) page 10 SVouet

The

Nicene Creed The original Nicene Creed (; grc-gre, Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας; la, Symbolum Nicaenum) was first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople. The amended form is a ...

, the most widely used Christian

creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

, states that "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen."''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J'' by Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Mar 1982) pages 515-516 However, the notion of theistic creation is generally foreign to Buddhist thought, and the question of the existence of God is perhaps one of the most fundamental barriers between the teachings of Christianity and Buddhism.''Communicating Christ in the Buddhist World'' by Paul De Neui and David Lim (Jan 1, 2006) page 34 Although

Mahayana Buddhism ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...

expresses belief in

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

, this is very different from the notion of Creator God in Christianity. While some variations of Buddhism believe in an impersonal

eternal Buddha In East Asian Buddhism, Shakyamuni Buddha of the Essential Teachings (Chapters 15-28) of the Lotus Sutra is considered the eternal Buddha. In the sixteenth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha reveals that he actually attained Buddhahood ...

creative force Creative Force (30 March 2018 – 17 May 2023) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. After winning one of his two starts as a juvenile in 2020 he was gelded. In the following year he improved to become one of the best sprin ...

, in general Buddhism sees the universe as eternal and without a starting point of creation. There are inherent differences in the Christian and Buddhist beliefs regarding the End Times and

eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negati ...

.''The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology'' by Jerry L. Walls (Apr 16, 2010) page 552 Jan Nattier states that while Buddhism has a notion of "relative eschatology" that refers to specific cycles of life, the term "Buddhist eschatology" does not relate to any "final things", or that the world will end one day - Buddhist scripture routinely referring to the "beginning-less

Saṃsāra ''Saṃsāra'' (Devanagari: संसार) is a Pali/Sanskrit word that means "world". It is also the concept of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental belief of most Indian religions. Popularly, it is the c ...

" as a never ending cycle of birth and death with no starting point. However, Christian eschatology directly involves the concept of "end to all creation" at the Last Judgement when the world will reach its conclusion. Scholars generally regard the Buddhist and Christian views of the End Times as incompatible. There are other fundamental differences, e.g. while

grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

is part of the very fabric of Christian theology, in

no deity can interfere with

karma Karma (; sa, कर्म}, ; pi, kamma, italic=yes) in Sanskrit means an action, work, or deed, and its effect or consequences. In Indian religions, the term more specifically refers to a principle of cause and effect, often descriptivel ...

and hence the notion of any type of grace is inadmissible within these teachings.''Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma'' by Norman C. McClelland (Apr 1, 2010) page 149

however, differs on this issue.Richard K. Payne (ed.), ''Tantric Buddhism in East Asia'', Wisdom Publications, , 2006, p. 74 The

as a single event in history that acts for the atonement of sins is a central element of Christian belief.''Jesus: The Complete Guide'' by J. L. Houlden (Feb 8, 2006) pages 140-144 This, however, produces a strong difference between Christian and Buddhist teachings.''Buddhism and Interfaith Dialogue'' by Masao Abe and Steven Heine (Jun 1, 1995) ISBN pages 99-100 Buddhist scholar Masao Abe pointed out that while "the event of the Cross" is central to Christianity, it is not possible for Buddhism to accept its importance. Buddhist philosopher D. T. Suzuki stated that every time he saw a crucifixion scene it reminded him of the "gap that lies deep" between Christianity and Buddhism.''Mysticism, Christian and Buddhist'' by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki ((Aug 4, 2002)) page 113 This inherent difference in the belief systems is also reflected on the iconic imagery of the two traditions. The depiction of the harsh crucifixion of Jesus as a willing sacrifice for the atonement for the sins of humanity is central to Christian iconography, and is totally different from the peaceful death of an eighty-year-old

lying between two trees as he accepts final

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

. (Or

Parinirvana In Buddhism, ''parinirvana'' (Sanskrit: '; Pali: ') is commonly used to refer to nirvana-after-death, which occurs upon the death of someone who has attained ''nirvana'' during their lifetime. It implies a release from '' '', karma and rebirth a ...

) Moreover, modern scholarship has generally rejected suggestions of an influence from Buddhism on Christianity as fanciful and without any historical basis.Van Voorst, Robert E (2000). Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence. Eerdmans Publishing. page 17''Jesus: The Complete Guide'' 2006 by Leslie Houlden page 140''The Historical Jesus in Recent Research'' edited by James D. G. Dunn and Scot McKnight 2006 page 303 Paula Fredriksen states that no serious scholarly work places Jesus outside the backdrop of 1st-century Palestinian Judaism.Fredriksen, Paula. ''From Jesus to Christ''. Yale University Press, 2000, p. xxvi.

References

External links

Dalai Lama questions on Buddhism and Christianity

{{Christianity footer Buddhism and Christianity

Initial suggestions of similarity

Specific analogies

Irreconcilable foundations

See also

References

External links